Year 1 Reading

[Emmie412]

DD1 goes to Ofsted oustanding school and I'm wondering if the following is normal practice in all schools. There's 30 kids in each class and a teacher + teaching assistant for each class. They have divided the children into three groups, the least able read with a teacher or TA three times a week, intermediate twice a week and the advanced just once a week. My DD is in the advanced group (currently on last book band of blue books) so we have the same reading book ALL week. They are not changed daily.

I find this system really unfair as while it is important that the least able get more help, the more able ones are not really challenged at all and in fact all reading/sourcing reading material is left for the parents to do. It looks like the school is just gearing everyone to be average.

How is it in other schools?

Book once a week is fine. With the short books they should read them multiple times for confidence anyway.

Is this guided reading or home reading book, by the way? It may be that they're allowed to change books as soon as they've finished them but are only obliged to change them once a week.

By the way, read over your post again. It sounds very much like you want resources taken from those who are struggling so as to give a further advantage to those who find reading easy.

I help with reading in year one and have done for about 8 years. I usually read with those who need extra support and who have little or no support at home with reading. This seems sensible to me as without good reading skills they will find it difficult, in later years, to access the curriculum.
I think parents should be involved in choosing reading material for their child - going to the library together etc.
Books in my school are changed more frequently though - 2-3 times per week and extra books over the holidays. Perhaps you could ask for two books to be sent home.

Thanks for the responses.

Mrs Horsham - of course I don't want resources taken away from those, who struggle but surely it shouldn't be that much of an effort to send 2-3 books home that we'll happily read at home rather than being stuck with just the one ALL week.

ShanghaiDiva - I will do what you suggested and ask for 2-3 books to be sent home with the reading book. The guided reading book and home reading book appear to be the same, she reads it at school and brings it home so it is literally just one book all week. Naturally we go to the library and get other books too but it is also helpful to read books that are pitched to her level as if they are too difficult she loses interest.

Our school has different reading books in school, the books sent home are picked by the children from the resource library and the ones read in school are kept in class and changed when they have been read, either to the TA, the teacher or a parent volunteer.

Read every day, change book when it is finished was the rule in y1 at our school. They were only MADE to exchange (or explain they haven't finished yet) twice weekly though, are you sure she isn't allowed to change or does she chose not to?

DS was in yr 1 last year. He is a more able reader. He was given 2-3 books a week (but only changed weekly). I think they read 2x a week with teacher/TA - there were several reading groups and they rotated each week who they read with so the teacher heard them reading every 3 weeks.

DS (Yr1) has three books sent home from school each week, book change day is on Monday. This has been the case since Foundation. That has always seemed like the right amount as it can take us up to four evenings to get through them, which gives time for clubs/tiredness etc.

DD gets two books, changed once a week.

Our library has a whole section of early readers/ reading scheme books so we've been supplementing with these at the appropriate level.

DD2 Y1 and a good reader came home with 5 books last week, one a week doesn't really sound like much.

Have you asked the teacher if she can have more?

Dd gets a new reading book every day. Not sure how often she reads at school as she's only been in yr 1 a week. Remember you can read lots of books at home and still put them in the reading diary

DS in year one is heard read once a week in class (by ta only so far). However he is given free access to a box of suitable books and can change them as often as he likes (daily). We also have a pile of suitable phonics books at home to choose from and do record these in his reading diary too - school is sadly wedded to the dreaded Chiff, Flip and Boppy )

I wouldn't be happy with books rationed to one or two a week - mine would know them by heart by the second reading anyway. However, I would be quite happy at only reading once a week with the teacher/TA as listening to everyone read multiple times is a real waste of resources and I did see that as 'our' job.

Re the number of books you could:
-ask to be allowed to change them yourself
-change them yourself anyway
-buy some phonics reading scheme books yourself to use/look in the local library.

Seriously, if you are worried about the reading, get a library card and then you can have as many books as you want. I had an advanced reader (still do) I had to fight to get anyone to read with my child - eventually, after much crossness on the parental part, they took the three Y1 free readers and did guided reading with them once a week, which didn't take place if anything else was happening at all.

The same frustration was had in maths to get any extension work. My child is not a genius btw. Y2 seems to currently be better.

I don't think one book a week is enough at all. I don't really see any benefit to reading a blue level book more than once or twice unless a child is struggling with language and comprehension.

Daily or 2-3 times a week is more usual. the only school I know that only changes books once a week sends home 4-6 at a time in the early stages and 2-3 when the books get longer.

My DD always claimed she 'wasn't allowed' to change her book in year 1 - it wasn't true, she just didn't want to. Fortunately, I was able to provide something suitable each night. If I hadn't been, I'd have ensured she changed it (didn't do the school run so it was tricky).

She hasn't had a book in year 2 yet - only online ones that she struggles with.

DS would be bored witless if he had to read a book multiple times - they're not exactly deep plots at this age!

Our school changes them whenever you've said they've been read. They did try having kids have to have notes to say they've read them twice, but that seems to have changed again this year and DS brings a new one home every day now.

My children come home with up to four books and can change them twice a week. We have a lot of other books at home and they are encouraged generally to read but neither are keen. My year one child because he's five and has about fifteen million other things he'd rather do (like create 'experiments') and my year 3 child because he's dyslexic and finds it very hard. If I had a child that didn't have a problem reading I don't think I would be concerned about the school providing books for them to read. There is a plenty of much more interesting reading material elsewhere.

At DS's school it was similar.
Last year (Y1), he had his books changed once a week which was when someone heard him read (quite often a TA, maybe once a month the main teacher).

Because he was quite an able reader and loved reading, he had started choosing more than one book on his own and his teachers were happy with this (unless he was trying to bring more than 5 books or so!). But they said he was welcome to change his books at any time in the middle of the week if he needed to.

He also had guided reading once a week with a TA.

I don't know what the arrangements were for the other children who might have been struggling with reading, but if they were the same as the ones you described I wouldn't have minded because even if he only had to read to his TA/teacher once a week, it didn't hinder his progress at all.

I think the important thing is that the children read every day (or as many days as possible!) at home to an adult, or hear an adult read to them.

If you are worried about not having enough books at home, don't rely on the school books, you can get some at the library, or charity shops are great for this. We have so many interesting books at home that I didn't mind if he only had one or two from school for the whole week.
Also, once he got to the point of choosing chapter books, they took longer to read than the books with colour bands, so we had to ask him to start bringing fewer books.

DD is in year 1 and only reads with the teacher/TA once a week but if she finishes a book at home with us then she can change it as often as she likes which is a better system. She has just started on the green books which are nice and short so she is changing them daily at the moment (I'm sure that will slow down once the novelty wears off).

I think that, unless they are struggling, kids just need lots of practice at this age and it makes sense for her to do that at home with me. She is coming home every day excited about all the science, dancing, art, IT, history and maths they are doing. That seems a much better use of the teachers time than listening to 30 kids read every day so I don't have a problem with the once a week thing. If they are struggling then obviously they need more help from the teacher so it makes sense to read more often at school.

I hope that the teacher will sort out some more books for you. If not then its worth having a look at the book people site - I bought a set of early readers really cheap over the summer and they often have cheap sets of reading scheme books so you can have loads of books at the right level at home without spending too much. I know some people use Oxford Owls too so that might be worth a look if the school are difficult.

What kind of level of book is your DC reading? Early books do need to be read several time to develop fluency but once your child is fluent, this is not necessary. Does your DD have to read the school book every night? Surely there are other books that she could read.

We get between 4 and 6 books a week (depending on if they've managed to get the guided reading done) - they are changed on Monday and Friday. I would not be happy with 1 book a week either!