Year 1 reading and golden time

[Micksy]

I'm feeling a little grumpy with my daughter's year one teacher. It's parents' evening on Monday, so I wanted to offload before I went in to see her.
Up until the beginning of this week, my daughter had been given a grand total of two reading books, both of which she had already read last year. My daughter, who is pretty reliable, says she has not read with an adult at all this term.
At the beginning of this week, I sent in her planner with a little note, asking if she could have a new reading book, please, smiley face. On Wednesday, two and a half weeks since her last reading book came home, she got a new book.
She's on level 6, the books are usually about 23 short pages and we tend to read them over two or three nights. Last night, I had to stay at work till 9pm. My daughter got the class bear, overnight, and had to draw a picture and fill in the diary. I popped home for an hour at tea, we somehow got the bear book done, but no reading.
Today, my daughter told me that she lost ten minutes golden time because she hadn't finished reading her book. She had to sit and read by herself (something she has never done in her life).
I am thinking that if her teacher is expecting a book to be read every two days, surely we should have had fifteen books by now, not three? And I'm worried that her expectation that my daughter can sit and read without correction at this stage shows a lack of understanding of her stage of reading development.
I'm hoping someone here can ground me with some realistic expectations, and offer advice for Monday. I would love to end up with a steady flow of books and don't want to put backs up with the antagonistic approach that I really feel like taking.
In addition, and this is by no means a stealth boast, I'm concerned about the work she is being set. Last year, she was sent up to work with the year 1s for numeracy and literacy. This year, she is not, so she is now doing work a year below where she was at last year. Tonight, she was asking me to set her sums dividing by fives. At school she is doing number bonds to ten. She says the teacher extends her by her doing subtraction instead of addition, but she's been doing single digit subtraction with sum swamp since she was three. I'd say she's around an old level 2c and needs to be thinking about 100 squares and place value.
We're supposed to bring our kid in so they can show us what work they've been doing. How can I make this parents evening a positive experience for my daughter and still make sure she's getting work at the right level? I've never met her teacher before, she's new to the school (and maybe teaching) and I don't have any confidence in her at the moment. Please talk me down, because I feel torn between wanting to be a bit pushy in a school with a tendency to coast, but on the other hand I don't want to have unrealistic expectations and be that twatty teacher mom.

I know what you feel, I have been there! Unfortunately, I know that saying most of the things you wrote about would only lead to the teacher getting defensive and, most importantly, won't help your daughter.

I think, according to the new curriculum the kids are no longer allowed to be taught material above their grade. They are supposed to be "stretched sideways" - whatever that means...

If I were you - I'd try very hard to hide your anger and try to have a conversation about "how to ensure that my daughter is stretched appropriately".

As to the reading books - I'd inquire about how often it should be changed/ read with at school, rather than accuse them of not doing it often enough. Even though you are right to be furious about it. But as per above - it's not helpful to make them defensive.

What I ended up doing with Dd1 - was stretching her myself. We did a bit of harder math on weekends - loved Schofields and Sims workbooks. Also used games to learn time (including digital clock), money operations and times tables - all in Y1. I ignored school books - let her read them herself and had a standard comment "Dd1 read well and finished the book". Also - gave her a lot of books at her level to read by herself. And on weekends she read to me books that were actually interesting and challenging - Roald Dahl, etc. And, yes eventually she took 7+ exam and I moved her to another school that fits her much better!

Why has she never sat and read a book by herself?

I am in Scotland, my daughter is in primary three, which I believe is the same as English year two (she is six, seven in December). That doesn't sound like much reading- we have two reading books per week, plus a library book, and are also expected to do our own reading with the children at night (currently working through 'my naughty little sister' chapter books. I wouldn't be happy. With regards to maths, we have finished number bonds to twenty, and are doing sums within 100, and will be starting multiplication after half term.

Sorry- just realised she is Scotland p2! Ignore my last post!

Thanks for the replies. I will definitely not go in all guns blazing. I think I'll try asking about the process of getting books changed and how does she want us to let her know were done (other than writing in the bloody book like we do already).
My daughter doesn't read books herself because she sadly isn't really very interested in them. I'm hoping when she gets to the chapter book stage that might change, as she enjoys the stories I read on a night.
I didn't think reading alone was particularly typical at her age. We're definitely still in the reading aloud with corrections stage, even though she's getting more fluent now.
When we go to the library, she's never very interested in reading the books she's picked. When we get books from school, she reads them nightly without fuss, because she is a stickler for the rules and does whatever her teachers tell her. When we don't have a school book, I get her to read a line from each page of whatever book I'm reading, but it's not really building up stamina for longer passages, or checking she can read with comprehension.
Today was the first time she's ever had any kind of sanction at school and she was a bit upset about it as she didn't understand what she'd done wrong. She said she was a bit cheeky, though, as she didn't really read the book during the ten minutes she was supposed to be doing so. She just looked at the pictures.

I would be furious about a child so young being sanctioned in class because of work/reading that has not been completed at home. Sanctions should be for behavioural issues that take place at school, and that alone. If the school are worried that parents are not supporting at home, then they should be speaking to the parents, not punishing the children. I am not saying that you are not supportive, just that even if you weren't that is not your DD's issue.

I would take the approach of 'DD came home and said X happened, I'm sure that can't be the case, please can you clarify', and see where that leads you.

I think it's about time we got some Roald Dahl. Thanks for the suggestions mmkk. My naughty little sister is already a firm favourite for me to read to her, Flossie. They're lovely to read out loud and she has her very own naughty little sister just exactly like the one in the books.

I am quite angry, alibabs. Particularly since in the last two days she's read ten pages of a book, written half a page of writing and drawn and coloured in a picture of her and the blooming bear.
Who gives out the class bear overnight mid week anyway?

Sorry to hijack your thread op, but as Roald Dahl had been mentioned I just wanted to ask a quick question to those whose children have already read some of his books: which ones (of any) would you consider the easiest? We have got a "boxset" type thing with about 15 of them...just wondering where to start. We are approaching the stage where I think he could manage reading a bit and then perhaps me reading a bit.

Georges Marvellous medicine dd enjoyed being read to her at 4.

There is nothing in the new curriculum that prevents schools/teachers teaching children content from the next year group or key stage. It does encourage teachers to ensure children are secure in content from their own year group before moving on.
With number bonds to ten I would ask ...does your daughter have instant recall of all pairs of numbers that give the answer 10 (I'd also want 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 & 9) rather than just being able to add two numbers that gave a total if ten or below?
I'd also want her to recognise that subtraction is the reverse of adding and to be able to use her knowledge of number bonds to quickly work out the answer to a subtraction fact.
I would never use reading as a sanction for any action (never mind an unsigned reading record) as it gives a negative image of reading rather than encouraging a child to read.

I'd also say chaptear books aren't better than picture books (just longer) even though some parents see them as superior/next stage. For a child who isn't showing much interest in books even listening to longer texts requires more effort. It's a case of finding something that interests/excites the child and unfortunately no matter what we do we cant force a child to enjoy reading. We can teach them to read and show them lots of books and hope!

I think I'd ask for clarification about the school's expectation for sending home reading books/reading at home. I am wondering if your DD is meant to be selecting her own book, for example. Plus the expectation for reading might be to read every day or 3 times a week, rather than finishing a book in a set time.

Yes, she has instant recall of number bonds to ten. She can also double any number to ten, count in 2s 5s and 10s (forwards only) to 100, and count coins of all denominations, ie 50p + 20p + 5p + 1p. Using coins, she can add 2 digit numbers, switching out pennies for 10p pieces with a tiny bit of guidance (I haven't done this with her for a few months, so she might be past this now).
She has no problem listening to longer texts and would happily have me read an entire chapter book to her in one sitting if I had the patience for it. We have plenty of favourite picture books, but she still sees reading herself as a chore not a pleasure.
The reading process is really starting to click for her, she's only pausing now for unfamiliar words that are either irregular or have many potential phonic mappings. She'll read beautifully for the first few pages, then I can see her start to struggle, so I feel like it's still hard work for her and she just needs regular practise to build up her "stamina" and automaticy, if that's the right word. I was perhaps spoiled last year by having a constant stream of books at the correct level for her, and its frustrating that this flow has now dried up.

Redsky, my issue is that I can't see any logic to their reading policy. If it's supposed to be child led, with children choosing their books when they're ready, how does this work with reluctant readers? If we're supposed to read a book over and over, should they not relay this information to us?
The school has totally changed the format of the reading diary this year, from one that worked as a log of books read to one that resembles a student planner. We've been given zero guidance on filling these in, so I've been continuing as I did last year.

Sorry to chain post, but can anyone clarify how often my daughter should be reading with an adult at school at this stage of year 1?

I only know about our school - Dd2 is also in Y1 and she gets read with 2-3 times / week. Kids pick books from color coded boxes.

Generally - for shorter books they are expected to finish them in a couple of days. Kids on longer chapter books - there are several in her class - take as long as they need.

OP, I realise you don't see any logic which is why I suggested asking the school for their expectations!

In my DC's infants school they would have spent the first 2 or 3 weeks evaluating the children, before assigning them a "level". children then picked their own book from the appropriate box, and parents recorded reading in the reading diary. Teachers/TAs kept an eye on the diary and gave children who weren't reading at home very frequently opportunities at school to read.

TBH when I read your post I wondered if your school did similar and you/your DD had either not understood the process/ missed some important communication/the school was just bad at communicating. But it's no good me trying to read the teacher's mind!! I'd also suggest chatting to other parents or possibly parents of children in the year above as that often can be the best way of finding out the stuff the school doesn't tell you!

Re reading in Y1 - there is no "norm". When my DC were in Y1, they had guided reading once a week and read to an adult(either TA or teacher) generally once a week, though this tended to be dropped if they were busy doing other things.

I've spoken to some other parents. Some have had very few books, others three a week. I've kept the reading diary up to date, even writing things like "we've finished the school book, so DD has been helping me read the bedtime books."
In the first week, we got sent home two different reading logs. One was then taken off us. No accompanying information was sent.
I'm leaning towards poor communication/ teacher not on top of things.
There's been other issues, such as going to pick my daughter up from an after school activity and there being no supervising adults present (it was organised by an external group, but still, not very impressive to say the least). I also didn't receive any summarising information from the eyfs profile last year. It's starting to form a picture of a very disorganised school for me.
I've got another child who will be applying to start in September. I've recently got a car, opening up more schools locally, and I haven't entirely ruled out trying to do a switch to a more on the ball school. I'm just trying to figure out how usual/severe these problems are.