What do you think is more important - that a 5 year old reads a whole school book every night or that she gets half an hour extra sleep every night?

[sandyballs]

My DD's (year 1) are expected to read their whole school reading book every night and then change it the following morning and do the same again, EVERY NIGHT! This didn't seem a problem in reception as the books contained about 5 pages with approx 6 words on each. However, the books are getting longer and longer and last night it took my DD 40 minutes to finish it. I work 3 days a week and don't return home until nearly 7.00pm, which I feel is too late to read for that long. Both DDs are exhausted by then.

So I have only been reading with them at the weekends and the two week days that I don't work, leaving their school/home contact books blank for those days. This seemed to work ok but last night DD was in tears insisting that she had to read the whole book because her teacher had told her off for not reading every day.

Just seems excessive at 5 IMO.

Well, I got home from work last night and both DDs had read their books to MIL. Very pleased about that and had a little chat to MIL about trying to fit it in. My only concern about her doing it, rather than me, is that she goes on and on about how well DD2 is doing compared with DD1. "Could she be dyslexic ... she really doesn't try ..... DD2 is sooo good at reading etc etc". They're twins and I really hate this kind of comparison, they are very different academically but they don't need it pointing out all the time , but that's probably a topic for another thread . I don't actually think DD1 is "behind", it's just that DD2 has picked it up very quickly and we obviously have that comparison, being the same age.

Thanks for all your responses - haven't had a chance to speak to teacher yet, but will do so tomorrow morning. Even if she is saying that the whole book should be read every night, we won't be doing it. Agree with you all that it's far too much for a 5 year old.

Ah sandyballs it gets more complicated. And we all thought it was a good idea to get your MIL to do the reading. It is a shame she is so blatantly comparing twins. Any chance of DH having a word?

Sandyballs, that seems excessive to me. Dd has 1 book a week - about 32 pages cover to cover. We read it over 2 nights unless it's a good story. She likes the Ginn stories more than the ORT ones so if I made her read ORT cover to cover in one hit she'd refuse to do it and whats the point of that. Reading should be enjoyable imho not a punishment.

Sleep over work - every time!

My 6 year old is in Yr2 and aswell as having a reading book to read as often as possible her class have a weekly spelling test. They get 10 words to learn on Mon for a test on Fri. This week the words include 'ligthning, brightest, springtime, sightseeing, whiter'. Please tell me if I am wrong, but does anyone else think that these are too hard for 6 yr olds to learn. They are suppossed to have no more than a couple of hours homework per week. With the reading and the amount of time we spent trying to perfect the spelling, it certainly adds up to a lot more than 2 hrs.

She also goes to swimming lessions once a week, which I think are very important and to a gymnastic club, which is good exercise and she finds enjoyable aswell as the local Rainbow group.

Is the teacher trying to push too hard? Don't think I should stop her doing the other things that she enjoys to free up more time for schoolwork and 'funtime'

Sammie - agree these words seem much to hard for a 6 year old to learn. My Yr 1 DD has about 5 words to learn, mostly common 2 to 5 letter ones, sometimes odd longer word thrown in. At this age I think reading practice is most important, anything else should be kept pretty basic.

sorry, realise now your child is Yr 2, but I have 2 older ones and they weren't doing those spellings in Yr 2. What do other parents of children in the class think?

Sammie-the spellings are similar to dd1s (7, in yr2) and she gets reading books (as often as possible) we don't do anywhere near 2 hours though .Maybe 10 mins a night on reading books and spellings once or twice as there is only usually one or two she doesn't know (soryy don't mean to boast but dd1 has practically a photgraphiv=c memory.
If your dd is struggling with majority of words given maybe have a word with th teacher sa dd1s class all have different spellings and she may be better off moving down a group and getting more confident that having to work and work to learn them (disheartening her)

the amount of reading is certainly an issue...

but so is the time`she is expected to do her homework at. 7pm is too late for someone of her age.

is she with a CM or granny until then? could she do her reading before you get home most evenings?

sleep
sleep
sleep!!!
My son is in y2 and is supposed to read every night, but his book hardly ever gets changed, so its not much of an issue. However, he does like to read (just not always the boring school books ! I let him stay up in his room as a "treat" and read one of his books on whatever he is interested in (aircraft, tanks whatever) I think as long as he is reading and enjoying it. He is doing well though.

Definitely sleep. Though I have been guilty of making the wrong choices on occasion....

my ds is in yr2 and dd in yr1 and both teachers ahve said dont worry about homework i they don tfeel likeit , they would rather them do a tiny bit and enjoy it rather than labour over it and put them off!!very sensible if you as me but my kids love reading anyway and read everything they can get their hands on!!!

My p1 has homework handed out mon to be returned thursday, according to school policy. I complained bitterly to the teacher because - broken down over the week it was taking her 20 minutes a night. We argued. (and wrote a lovely note to say "sorry we got off on the wrong foot" at a later date)but the outcome was that she made the homework more child-friendly and less of it! Often teachers are bound to policy, but they can bend it to suit.

To the mum with the child who can't read the books given to her;
read it to her first, then let her see haw many she remembers. Give her praise even if she gets one right, but say "doesn't matter" if she gets it wrong. It will boost her self-esteem. You don't want her to get a failure complex at 5 years old!

Sandyballs...My DD2 was better at language are 2 years between them! We fully expect that DD2 will fly through reading, but DD1 only started reading properly last year. Now she's flying through Enid blyton novels and surfing the internet.

Tell MIL there is a thing called "reading readiness" You can give the child the skills to read (like jigsaw pieces), but you can't force the jigsaw pieces into place! NOr can you tell her where to put the peices. She has to work it out herself. By seven as a rule, they should be able to read. If they can't - that indicates a possible problem.

I think you are absolutely right about the comparison thing. Luckily my DD1 and DD2 hardly resemble each other and are entirely different in personality. No one ever compares them, but my DD1 and DD3 are so alike, I compare them all the time (like clones of each other!) 4 years in age means that I can't really remember what the eldest was like, but I do worry that teachers might expect later on down the line...

As for the homework issue: I am a teacher trained in infants/primary in Australia - often it is school policy for no homework until upper primary!

Sandy - My DS is in year 2 now and the reading gets a lot faster as they become more proficient. He can now read complete book in about 10/15 minutes.

I agree with others that 7pm is too late and it would be great if MIL could get into the swing of doing it earlier as it take far less time. I wouldn't spend more than 20 minutes a night either, otherwise its a huge chore for your LO.

Sleep!

Just read this quickly and I'm intrigued how teachers can tell if a 5 year old has not read at home every single evening. Is it really obvious if a child reads at home, only once or twice a week?

5 or 10 minutes each night is enough to make a big impact on reading skills I would say. Stick to that and read it together if she is tired. Can whoever looks after her after school do the 5-10 minutes before 7pm? Alternatively you could read before school.

Well today was really nice. DH went to golf and DD had a nap. DS and I curled up in my bed (I generally let him choose where we read) and we read his reading book (was second time through so fairly easy going) and then I let him choose his own book to read to me so he read Harry and the Bucketful of Dinasours Christmas Wish (would not have been my choice!) and we enjoyed it. So much nicer than in the week when there are time pressures.

tigermoth - imo it's not so much a matter of whether or not a teacher can 'tell' if a child has been reading at home. at age 5, the more often children read with adult, the better they will get, their confidence will grow and they will begin to enjoy reading more and more. listening to your child read for 10 mins every day will have a more positive impact on them and their reading than once a week for an hour.

when it comes down to it, the parent cares more than the teacher about how a child is progressing with their reading.

as a teacher, if a child in my class had clearly not had input from home with their reading in a week, i would be sad for them. i would be disappointed on their behalf and a little frustrated that that child is not being helped to reach their potential... but when it comes down to it, i really don't care. I know that i've done my best for that child.

Sandyballs hats off to you for recognising that yes you do have twins but they are different people. I have a similar problem although my DC are not twins- I have DD who is 13 and DD who is 9 and DD who is 9 is a better reader than her sister. I do not make comparisons but just encourage gently. I actually work in reception as a TA and I am horrified that your DDs are expected to read a whole book, IMO any kind of reading is better than none- if I made my DC read then they would soon get fed up with it and wouldnt choose to read for fun and I have to admit honestly that is what they do. I am so proud when DD1 asks can we go to the library or can she buy another book- I honestly dont mind that she is reading the same stuff her 9 yr old sister is reading in my eyes shes reading-end of....

One of the very few memories of early school days that I have , is learning to read with my dm. Nice memory too.

I think, although I'm no expert, is that what is really important is to read every day, even if it is just 2 pages. If dc are tired and making mistakes, stumbling over words they ordinarily recognise quickly, fidgeting a lot, I would stop because they're not in the right frame to learn from the reading they're doing. I don't think it's important to finish the book really. Why does the teacher think so? Is your dc falling behind the class or is it perhaps a case of limited vocabulary?

I do basically what the teacher apparently does. They read something in class and she writes up a page of text using some vocab from the book but different sentences, sometimes funny. Dd enjoys reading my worksheets. Then she copies out 5-10 words from the book (anything that takes her fancy) and uses some of them to write something about the book (I read it but don't correct it). I don't insist on finishing a book a day though by any means.

I may not be doing enough but I think if I did more, I would curb her pleasure IYSWIM

bloody hell, sleep sleep sleep

We have to sign to say we've done the reading each night. Can you get whoever looks after her to do the reading with her at about 4.30pm? Often they are less tired then. We do the reading in bed. Interesting differences between twins' classes sometimes over the years - one teacher will set more than the other. Sometimes we do less and sometimes one child is much faster than the other. Now they are 8 they can read themselves if they want to and when I was skiing last week they just signed it themselves. I think the process of being in bed close and warm and snuggling up to a mother and looking at a book is a great thing to do for 15 minutes before sleep but sometimes we'll ditch the school book if I want to read them something else and there isn't time.