Teacher listening to pupils reading one-to-one

[sportinguista]

What is normal? I thought the teachers were supposed to listen to each pupil read on a one-to-one basis around once each week, but my son doesn't seem to have done this for around a month or more also the reading diary has not been filled in on the schools part for around this time and then only group reading since early September, only my entries since then. I am somewhat concerned as his reading book hasn't been changed either. I've mentioned it to the teacher but she just says " Oh, he's been reading with X" (another teacher in her group). Communication is poor, we only got 5 mins which were rushed through at parents evening and I feel truly uneasy. DS is Year 2 so SATS looming so not a good time for this to be the case...can any teachers help out with an idea of what should be going on, worried I will sound like that parent but have talked to a couple of other parents and the feeling is similar.

I've now spoken to the TA in the class and the teacher that was taking the guided reading groups is supposed to write something in the reading diary, it appears this hasn't happened when it should. I did say that totally negates any value the homeschool diary may have as nobody is reading my comments and nobody putting anything except me.

ssphonix.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/throw-out-throwbacks-please_7.html

That was a really interesting article mrz. It was really interetsing to hear about the book bands thing because I think that does seem to happen at the school, he's brought some really random books home, sometimes the teacher has even failed to notice when books have missing pages and he was even given books in Urdu in reception (we're Portuguese/English) . All in all the approach has been patchy and I often feel we get more from the sessions we do at home. Therefore this year I'm feeling we need to step it up and work harder and smarter at home to give him the boost he needs. Are there any resources you can recommend? He's been doing 'Teach Your Monster to Read' on the computer and he really enjoys it and it appears to help him grasp many of the phonics concepts, he also enjoys doing writing sheets and various games.

I think the most important thing we can do at home is read with, read to and listen to our children read. It's important to talk about what we read, why did the character do that? What do you think will happen next? Where is the story set? Who are the main characters? When is the story set? Why do you think ....? Would you recommend the book? Why?

Does your school do 'whole class' reading in eyfs, Mrz? I was wondering how that worked with early readers?

I'm not a fan of guided reading (ok in y3+, I suppose) but struggle to hear everyone individually (no TA or parent helpers). I would like to know what 'whole class' Reading looks like in eyfs/ks1 in practice.

We mainly read one to one in reception no parent helpers but a teacher and very experienced nursery nurse (HLTA).
For whole class reading in reception we use simple texts linked to our phonics programme.
We also follow the Big Reading programme so children learn to retrieve information from, analyse, explore texts and to use inference and d diction skills in whole class lessons.

www.andrelleducation.com/big-reading/

I'll check that out-thank you! Do you all think it works well?

Interesting about guided reading and some schools still clinging on to that old strategy.

I'm not sure it's schools necessarily clinging on to the Literacy Strategy-prior to that, things were more relaxed and there was time for 1:1 readers.

When the LS came in, you needed to hear a groups of readers each day within the guided reading slot and the curriculum has since become so squeezed, there is lots to cover and High Quality Teaching is expected all of the time.

You can't have high quality teaching for the whole class all of the time if the teachers is individually hearing readers for three solid hours each week, so schools use guided reading because it's easier and quicker to timetable.

In my experience, many teachers hate guided reading and worry continually that what 'the rest of the class' are doing while it's going on isn't high quality teaching!!

I'd love to hear every single child read individually every week!

Well my DD is in year 3. Apart from guided reading (which I assume happens as she says so but there is never any record of it in her reading record) she has been heard read 1:1 with an adult a total of 9 times since she started school........as recorded in reading records by said adult. (School policy is any 1:1 has to be recorded).

My school has never used guided reading groups and have found whole class reading lessons very successful.

The Literacy Strategy was never statutory. Schools chose to follow it or not, mine chose not.

Don't forget to read for enjoyment, OP, as well as "working harder and smarter" at home

How does whole class reading work with a wide ability span? I have a range ( in old levels-we don't use them obviously) from Level 1 to level 6. How do all the children engage with a text which stretches the highest ability whilst being accessible to the lowest?

A teacher or ta listen to ours read 1-1 at least every 4 days out of 5 each week. The classes are relatively small in size and they have 1 teacher and 2 ta's per class so have enough people and time to do this.

Oh but I also think reading at home is just as if not more important as more time and dedication that at school. At school like I said they red to teacher most days but just a couple of pages so teacher hears and knows what they can do, and how they are progressing (5mins top), at home we listen to them 15-20 mins every night and can talk about book

I teach UKS2, we have to do guided reading everyday and I work with one group each week part of which involves hearing them read. Also on a Friday I hear readers 1:1 as I feel it's still needed even at this stage in primary school. The class TA will hear weaker readers on a more regular basis.

What strikes me most is the lack of sophisticated vocabulary in many modern children's books. In comparison, older books are far wordier and don't shy away from using long words.

This is a real problem IMO along with the general dumbing down of children's TV so that some children only hear or read a really limited range of vocabulary and consequently are unable to cope with more sophisticated texts.

I've bookmarked Big Reading and will have a more detailed look later. It sounds really interesting. I think what I've picked up on that is that it may be very pressured on resources in terms of manpower in the school, essentially it is a very diverse area and the school has been asked to take across all school years a large number of children from newly arrived families many of whom have little or no English so need substantial support and they are not necessarily getting the extra manpower for it. Don't get me wrong they do it well and the kids learn English reasonably fast but it's not easy. Whether whole class reading would work in this situation I'm not sure as you might get some blankly staring into space as they couldn't follow it.

rhonda good point, we do read together and DS gets to choose the book so it's something additional to the school readers and we go to Waterstones every couple of months or so and choose some books together (local library is terrible, books torn, defaced and missing pages so gave up as disappointed DS). We talk about the stories and characters and he does love books. He just feels reading at school is a bit of a turn off I think.

It was just that they made a big deal of parents using the homeschool diaries and then they don't bother themselves!

Many children from English speaking homes have huge language deficits that's why they all need to be exposed to high quality texts and not just scheme books commonly used in guided reading groups (where there may be a vast difference in the quality of vocabulary children are meeting in different groups)

Apart from what I'm already doing, is there more that I can do to support him without extracting any fun from it all? He is keen to demonstrate what he can do.

Also how can I find out what he is doing at school without seeming like 'that parent'?

Also how can I find out what he is doing at school without seeming like 'that parent'?

Have you had parents' evening yet? If not, you could ask then. As long as you ask in an open way and make it clear you're asking so you can support your child, rather than catch them out, the teacher should be fine with that.