Y1 & Reading books

[GiddyOnZackHunt]

How often does your Y1 change their school reading book? Does the teacher prompt them or tell them to do it? Are they given a free choice of book or are they guided to choose books that progress their reading?
DS is a reluctant reader. He often has the same 'red' book for weeks unless I send him back into school at the end of the day to change it. We have some ORT books at home that he reads but it's a struggle.
We have parents evening coming up and I don't know whether I should be raising this.

Delia it's a lack of interest. He has 50 million things he'd rather be doing. We noted last year with his YR teacher that he is very good at not doing things that don't interest him. Well above average in that area!

And we've tried superhero books etc to pique his interest but no dice.

my dd is year 1, this year school introduced keep me/change me basket .So they can change everyday or when they finish reading. my dd has finished 45 books in same level from beginning of the school academic year from September, but TA or teacher hasn't been assessed for next level. in school they are doing guided reading one level below .

Once a week by teacher or TA, depending on which guided reading group they are in but they are allowed to change it everyday themselves if they want.
They don't have to choose books from "their level" although dd tends to.
I have no idea what level their guided reading is at.
Reading log is for anything they read not just school books & for anything read to them. Background principle is developing enjoyment of reading.

Right thanks to everyone. He came out of school with a changed book! However buoyed up by this thread I sent him back to collect something he's forgotten and took the opportunity to tackle this.
I said thanks for changing his book and we would read it tonight. (We have done) Asked her to keep an eye on it and she said sshe' try to send a new one home each week. I countered with can he have at least 2 to bring home and making sure he doesn't pick easy books. That was OK so I asked if he could have some from the level above red to push him on a bit. She looked surprised and said "He's not on red!" So that led into he's a level or two higher but nobody told me. He hasn't got a clue what level he's on either So she's going to check and reassess.
So really thank you all. I wish I'd asked you before :)

I change reading books daily (as they are returned and checked). I allocate the book.

My class give me their reading book as they come to school each morning if they've read it at home. I do ask if anyone has their book in their bag but I don't check ...

Some children rarely return books so they read in school so it may be your child is being heard in school despite failing to change his book.

Book goes back in his bag every night & Reading log updated but it hasn't been making a difference to the book churn.

Same here as mrz's school. Books changed daily.
Some independent ones are encouraged to do it by themselves from start of reception(my ds was one of them)
In yr1, all children are prompted to change books first thing in the morning themselves, unless children are reading chapter books, which may takes longer. Same in YR2.
They are encouraged to read everyday, but not necessarily school books. School says they are happy as long as the child reads.
They also have a option to read books online, on bugclub.

Maybe the subject matter just doesn't interest him? Have you tried your local library and pointing out books that are maybe factual on things he likes as opposed to stories?
I would ask the teacher and emphasise that you are concerned and simply want to help his reading in general. If you don't think you can remain calm in parents evening try 'catching her at the end of the day'?

He should have a mixture of fiction and non fiction books matching his phonic skills and knowledge to read. For most children in Y1 the books souls be chosen by the teacher to reinforce classroom teaching.

Honestly we are a house full of books and are on first name terms with our local library staff :) It isn't a lack of choice or variety.

If you have lots of books at home and go to library often, what he brings home from school really doesn't matter so much?

My ds loves reading, but he learns new vocabulary from other sources as well. Reading doesn't need to be just a book.

I disagree. The books sent home should reflect what is being taught in class and is there to provide opportunities to assimilate new knowledge and further develop skills.

mrz I agree and it's very hard to ensure we are supporting his school learning with no guidance or lead from his teacher. We could have been putting effort into harder books rather than battling to get him to read books he finds easy and we've wasted all that effort and time rather than helping him to push forward.

In the class I work i,n children have to put their reading book and reading diary into a tray at the start of the day, I check them and if they have been signed as read the children can change their book. They are year3 so choose themselves from the correct box.

I do remind them but I don't check bags. If I've not seen a reading diary for at least a week I will look for it.
If your DS is not keen on books at the moment I would go for short sentences matched to whatever sound he's learning at school. Maybe 5 spread out over an evening. Just quickly jot them down on a piece of paper. So if he was doing igh at school, At night Sam puts on the light. This is what I did with DS1 when we used to have half an hour of moaning before he'd read one page of his book. He was end of year 1/year 2.

I'll maybe try that Coconut thanks. If I can get it out of him what they're doing!

I'm a teacher and we allow children to change their books as often as they wish. I have one child who changes her book 3 times a week and another once a fortnight. How much they read depends on the support and time parents give at home. I have about 6 children whose parents seemingly make no attempt or effort and we check their book bags daily on entering school. Any comments in their reading log usually means they are changed. Any child who is not reading at home is given a 'daily reader' at school and they do this at various times in the day.

Children know which book band they choose and this is reviewed half termly. They choose their own book and as well as logging it in their log book, we have a class log book too so we can track which books they have/have not read.

Lastly a home reader is SUPPOSED to be easy. A child reading at home needs to read for pleasure, practise their reading and comprehension skills etc. The last thing I want for any child of mine is to bring home an 'instructional' text that requires teaching and lots of decoding. It puts the joy out of reading as reading at home is often done when a child is tired and had enough. They are just 5 going on 6 afterall.

My own DS is just 4. He has had a home reader for 4 weeks now but I don't make him read it if he's tired. I make a log of this in his book too. He 'reads' every night when I read a bedtime story which for any child under the age of 7, is plentiful, IMO.

Mine gets a new book every day. Unless bad mummy failed to ensure the previous book read the day before ....

I know what you mean Giddy. DS1 is 13 now and I still don't get much out of him! Sometimes I'd just copy a sentence from his book and get him to read that in between him doing other things. Think when he could see it was just one sentence it didn't bother him so much.
He did always like to be read to so I used to ask him a few questions about the books I read to him so he was still getting some comprehension questions. Not loads, just things like why do you think he did that, how do you think he's feeling, wonder what will happen next..

Sorry, mrz!

Don't be sorry Irvine it worked for your son because he was an exceptional reader but for most children they need materials to reinforce learning/teaching.

We had this in year 1 with DS, they were supposed to be changing their own books, but they weren't supported in the transition to doing it themselves and many just didn't. Towards the end of the first term they gave up and the TA started changing them for the kids twice a week. Shame as I'm sure they could have learned to do it themselves with a bit of help to set up the habit.

Contrast with DD's school where the children are supported to change their own books first thing every morning from the beginning of reception. Most of them are doing it automatically by now. They're not reading books yet, just books for sharing, but it's got the habit set up from the start.

Sounds like your dd's school work like my ds'.
It worked well. They all change books first thing in the morning. In reception, with help from TA/teacher. They are encouraged to do it everyday through reception, then more independently from yr1, but with help if needed. Most of them learn to do it automatically soon enough.

Mine is listened to every day by a reader helper, who changes their books for them all too. Once a week or so by the teacher, to check levels.

They read a couple of pages with the helper, then we finish the book at home that evening. Doesn't matter if you don't do it.

System relies on reader helpers, but seems to work very well.