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Primary education

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Accelerated reader....sigh

58 replies

Badders123 · 02/12/2016 16:18

Hello
My son is 8 and in year 3
The teacher is a maternity leave cover and well....it's not going that well really.
Ds is very able. Teachers words, not mine. He is doing some year 4 work for maths and has lovely handwriting (for a leftie!) and loves reading.
Or should I say loved? 😞
The school uses the accelerated reader programme so the kids read a book then do a quiz. Children cannot move up a level til they have 4 "good" quiz scores.
However, the choice of books is really poor...the school do acknowledge this so I'm not sure there is anything to be done there.
Ds is starting to hate reading,
The books are boring and old.
He struggles to find one that interests him and ergo his scores aren't always great - sometimes only 60% - and I think it's also because he does the quizzes in class he gets distracted.
Anyway, I've written notes in his reading record and had a word at parents evening.
No joy. He has to do it and that's that.
So Wwyd?
We dont have time for 2 lots of reading each night (along with all the other homework and out of school activities)
I seem to be in the very odd position of saying
"No ds you can't read that book you really like, you have to read this school one So you can do a quiz on it"
Which just seems mad to me.
I've had a word with the head this week and she said she will get back to me.
Also since going back in September He has also been doing all the spellings he did in year 2! Why?
Should I just ignore school books?
That would upset ds as he would feel he wasn't doing as asked I think 😖
Should I just keep making him read books he dislikes?
I'm fed up and need advice!
(Lots of other parents in same boat btw and feeling the same...I know some plan to go and seee ht too)

OP posts:
mrz · 05/12/2016 20:49

AR is a programme produced in the 1980s you can only use books from the programme as there aren't quizzes available for other books.

The whole book level issue is contentious
In AR Harry Potter (order of the Phoenix ) has points value of 44 while The Illiad has a points value of just 25

mrz · 05/12/2016 20:49

Iliad

Badders123 · 05/12/2016 20:50

Whaaaaattttt?

OP posts:
MollyHuaCha · 05/12/2016 21:22

AR is a fad that won't be around for long. But OP's son's love of reading should be around for decades and therefore should be encouraged. If it were my DC, I would aim to give him access to loads of lovely reading material at home to rekindle his reading passion. Meanwhile, he has to somehow make the school's AR quiz routine work for him. Not easy. But it's part of the huge compromise kids have to make when being educated in a large group. What's good for the herd is not always the best for individuals. I don't have a solution as I see it from both sides. But it's sad if the school's reading programme is having the complete opposite effect to its probable aim...

Badders123 · 05/12/2016 21:26

Yes it is.
And it's not just my son

OP posts:
MindTheDrawings · 05/12/2016 22:06

Yes, our school has stated that you can read and bring in books from
home, if they're on the scheme and within the range.

What annoyed me greatly earlier this year is that ds had a book taken off him, by a TA because it was .2 outside his range. It was a good sized book, he'd read up to page 90, read on his way to school! I did have a word with the teacher at parents evening, was told the book shouldn't have been taken off him. Hmm

mrz · 06/12/2016 06:19

Molly it's been around for almost forty years! Some fad!

MollyHuaCha · 06/12/2016 07:59

😄

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