Is it usual for Yr 1 one free reading children to help 'weaker' readers?

[katepol]

I only ask because my dc was one of three children asked to help others in her class today. The three children are all confident, fluent readers, and were paired up to listen to and help a child who is at the 8 words to a page stage.

I am not sure whether I should be pleased that dc was thought to be the kind of child able to help classmates, or annoyed that they weren't given their own work to do?

I think this is the first time, and if it is pretty much a one off, that's fine. If it becomes more regular, at what point should I say something?

I am possibly more about this than others might be, as we have felt that the school have not met dc's needs in turns of appropriate reading books for the whole of this year...

Any thoughts MNers??

this happened to someone's dd or ds last year - was it frogs or someone else? will look for you

It's good as long as not a regular way of keeping the quicker ones quiet.

At age 5, YR!, DS used to have to MARK other kids Maths!! When asked for him to do a different book was told "We can't cater for just 1 child!! You should consider a private school"!!!!

Luckily his YR2 teacher was great & he is now at the local grammar.

Had similar with my dd when she was reception / year 1. Not a good thing in my view. It made her feel different to other classmates and they weren't very happy with a peer "helping" them ( certainly their Mum's weren't). Her friendships fell apart and she became incredibly unhappy. Spoke to the school but they didn't see the problem. She has since moved schools for yr 2 and is a different child. Loves being part of the class and not set apart in any way.

Speccy, she liked giving the help, but she was too young to differentiate between helping people in class and taking it upon herself to "help" them in the playground, or when the teacher hadn't asked her to. She wanted to please her teacher and would have done anything they asked. It was just too confusing for her, and I think that it's far too much of a burden to put on a child. Ok she is bright, but she also wanted to "fit" in the class and not be made into some kind of teacher's pet.

Oh Katsh, that sounds crap for your dd... Sounds like the school got it very wrong.

Speccy - I agree with what you say about other skills - luckliy dc is already quite a well rounded child .

We have pretty much given up on what the school send home in terms of books. DC reads chapter books and uses the library extensively. At school, while on white level of the book bands, the books are still nothing like chapter books, with very little in the way of plot or characters...

Which brings me on to lostinfrance - lol!
I agree with everything you say. I can see why the school do it, and I do think it can benefit both children, However, why can't they do more for MY child lol!

I am pining my hopes on Yr 2 being more work oriented, which I think will suit dc's learning much better...we shall see.

Meanwhile, I shall ask dc if this was a one off - getting school news is like getting blood from a stone sometimes - and see what happens...

I think this is shocking and would be really if this happened to my DD. As far as I am concerned if a child (like your DD) is confident and fluent in reading they should be being challenged in the classroom not being stand in TAs! The teacher should be ashamed.

What would I do - I would be up the school in a flash.

I remember being a reading monitor at school nearly 40 years ago, but was a little bit older probably year 3. I used to listen to 2 or 3 other children read, so its not anything new, I used to really enjoy doing it.

christywhisty I understand that for some children, in fact probably many, this would give them a great feeling. Who doesn't get a good feeling when they are made to feel important and help out. However that isn't the point. The teacher should not be using these children, he/she should be ensuring they are challenged etc. If a child from a higher year was bought in to help the good readers in a lower year to read I am sure it wouldn't be popular.

Actually DS is in Year 6 and goes into Reception once a week to help with reading even in the lead up to his SATS

He has also helped out in Year 2 last week to help with DTI and they also have to help with playground duty in the infants playground 2 days a week for a term.

It certainly didn't stopped me being stretched my reading age was always years ahead. I don't remeber being bored at school.It probably made me appreciate that just because I found things like reading easy, others didn't.

AmI the only trendyleftyaginghippy who thinks this is a good idea? School is about lots of things besides learning to read - it's about learning how to help others and to be cooperative and supportive. It's about learning that everybody's good at something and we're not all the same. It's about looking after each other, and not having a "devil take the hindmost" attitude. My ds is a reading buddy in his class, and gets huge satisfaction and self confidence from being able to help. And the boys he reads with have found it easier to admit to finding it difficult to a peer than to the teacher. I think, properly handled, it's a win:win situation.

I am not a trendyleftyaginghippy, in fact complete opposite (except for the aging bit)
I agree with everything you said Katelyle

They don't do this at my school, and, while I can see why it might be helpful, I think it also sets up a division in the class; I would have thought it was potentially humiliating to be helped in reading by a child the same age as you, or even younger. I think it's a bit different if it's a child from an older year group.

Also, Y1 children, however fluent they are at reading, are not really able to 'help' other children who are struggling with reading. Have they been trained in how to help other children build up the words? What do they do if another child can't read something - just supply the word?

It was pamina I think FIS

I can see pros and cons tbh, as borne out by some of the posts on here

I like the idea but the way it is managed sometimes is not in the best interests of the children, especially the younger ones, who inevitably can get to grips with all the implications

I think it's a good thing.
In DS' school fluent Y1 readers go into reception and read aloud. reading aloud actually makes differnt parts of the brain work - if you want to keep your brain active when you get older - read aloud - it's a workout for the brain! Also, helping less fluent readers also develops critical powers - is what they hear what they see on the page? Thinking how to explain something to someone edvelops your own understanding of how things work. 'symolising' is an very important stage in cognitive development - understanding the relationship between a wor=d and an objetc, that the word is a symbol, and could be changed for a different symbol, in another language, say. Helping other readers develps this level of understaning in the same way that learning another language might.

teachers are responsible for a very wide range of skills - technical, social, co-operation, teamwork, kindness...lets give them a break and not pick apart everything that happens in the classroom. If your child is happy at school, at 6, imo, that is the best and top thing they could be.

I do agree, though, with stuff about how it is handled, division and makking children feel important or humiliated. Not good if that is the way it feels to them - on either side.

We've just had a lovely project at school where the Yr3s write and "publish" a storybook and then go in to Nursery and Reception to read it to the little ones.
Big success all round but slightly different to what's being discussed here

I think its a lovely idea

lol sorry meant to say I think its a lovely idea but I didn't particularly enjoy doing it when I was 6.

damn work colleages coming inot my office

Spoke to dc this am. Helping was a one-off, but it was definitely the three top readers in the class (all confident, friendly, kind children) being asked to listen to three weaker ones, while a TA listened to another.

Dc was fine about it, and said it was nice to help (was paired with a friend). Task was to listen to the child, and if the child got stuck, get them to see what the word started with, and if the child couldn't read the word from that, help them decode using the picture.

The only downside was that dc missed singing to take part in this - everyone else in the class went to the hall. Dc loves singing . DC was also surprised that her friend couldn't read very well...

I suppose the issue is confused with me because of the general issue of dc's needs not being met in the class -
helping others - I don't mind
missing singing which dc enjoys - I mind a bit
dc not being challenged at all at school, but being allowed to drift - I mind quite a lot...

Interesting views though - if it becomes a regular thing, I will ensure that dc still enjoys it, and doesn't start tofeel 'different' .