How often should reception teacher listen to children read?

[flooredbored]

My daughter is in reception and her class teacher hasn't listened to her read in over 3 weeks. She is heard by a teacher assistant around once a week. For context, this is a small rural school and there are only 9 children in reception. Am I being unreasonable to think this is quite poor? My main issue is her books only get changed once a week and she is able to read level one books without any help and it is boring to read the same book each day for a week. I have already asked them to change the books more frequently which improved for a short while, but has slipped back to once a week. Is this usual?

At our school, changing books are up to the children themselves from start of reception. They had set time for children to do that first thing in the morning, before register. So, we were able to change everyday, if the child wanted to.
If the problem is just about changing books, can you ask school for her to do it?

My DD is year R changes books daily and the teacher hears him read once a week. I would be unhappy with the setup you describe.

I'm a parent and once a week I go into our primary school to listen to the children read. Tbh it's full on in the class all the time I'm there and certainly the reception class children are all very demanding. (Slightly different, I know, as there are 30 children in the class).

My point is it doesn't matter who listens to them read, as long as someone does. Maybe you could volunteer to go in and help out?

Single, I have to agree. It really doesn't matter as long as a child has opportunity to read, to parents, volunteer, ta, or the teacher.
If you think it's not doing well for your child, you should tell that to your dc's teacher, OP.
How each school do things doesn't really matter, if it's not working for your child, you have to to let them know.

My daughter is in reception ... She is heard by a teacher assistant around once a week

I think not unusual. (I volunteer in a reception class; the teacher aims to have each child read to an adult teacher, TA, volunteer, at least once a week; some children need more help from the teacher, of course, and I view my presence as enabling precisely that (to a very small extent, of course one day a week does not go very far).)

I think possibly you might help your own child best by getting some books for her to read to you at home; get a set of a different books from those in use at school, perhaps; there are several available, often not too expensive second-hand.

Half an hour a day of mum or dad sitting with a small child as the child tries to read for herself is worth more than gold, for all concerned. Do remember to apply unstinting (and what would in other circumstance often feel excessive ) praise as the ostensive motivation for the child. (Apologies if this latter remark is teaching granny-egg-sucking; it is something I remember I had to learn long ago, and I have long been grateful for the person who explained it to me.)

Depends on the size of the class. DS has 21 in his class and the teacher listens to him read about once every 5 weeks. In a class of 9 I would expect it to be weekly / every other week. The main thing is you are doing it daily at home. That will make all the difference. I used to volunteer to listen to children read and those who read daily are leaps ahead of those who read once or twice a week. I would change the book daily for your own sanity or get some from the library.

The teacher will also be hearing your child read during group activities.

In our school it was teacher once a week (30 kids), TA at least once, with extra for SEN and Reading Teachers who heard them daily. We were very lucky to have them though.

I would think once a week would be more the norm.
With my own children, I've always played the game with reading schemes, but got them onto reading library books at an appropriate level as soon as possible. The Book People also do cheap sets of Oxford Reading Tree.

"Half an hour a day of mum or dad sitting with a small child as the child tries to read for herself is worth more than gold, for all concerned."

Yep, totally agree.
It really doesn't matter who they read to. Doesn't even need to be half an hour, it can be 3 minutes/5 minutes/10 minutes, whatever. Doing it regularly makes a big difference, imo.

And the thing is, at my ds's school, the teacher only read with a child once a half term, it didn't make any problem at all. TA was experienced enough to assess the children, and my ds's reception TA was the best he ever had in whole primary years.

I think it really varies. My DC is in reception and reads to teacher once a week and TA twice a week. Small class of 12 though.

Jessstar, but what does that make any difference? To read to the teacher or to read to the TA, I mean. It really doesn't make any difference as for how the child can read and practicing reading out loud.
It makes a difference if the child can move on to new levels if only teacher hears the child read, but if not, listening to the child read a book is something anyone can do.

My DD usually reads to an adult at school once a week, she gets three books per week. The teacher probably hears her every 3-4 weeks, unless another adult suggests she needs to move up a level and the teacher wants to check something (they sub level their levels so there is frequent movement).

From reading mumsnet, each school seems to have a very different policy with regard to reading. Some read every book available in each band, some only move up when reading with full fluency and expression, some rush through the bands, etc.

If you are unhappy - you could speak to the school again or use an alternative service for books e.g. the library or reading chest?

I was definitely far more concerned with my older DS, but I feel relaxed doing this second time round. My DD is progressing and there is no rush

I don’t think it matters at all if it is the TA or the teacher. I think the teacher listens to them each week as she is the one who ultimately decides if they are at the right level etc. The importance is definitely that they are reading regularly rather than who it is they are reading to. It’s a team effort beteeen the child, parents, TA and teacher.

I think one thing that makes a difference is how much you are engaged as a parents. The children with engaged parents, if there's no other obstacles, do progress faster. So they need to remind the teacher, and ask them to assess occasionally, if the school work is fallen behind of their progression.

I think the aim at my kids' school is that they're heard read in school by an adult at least once a week (some year groups have more helpers who'll hear readers than others) - and that the teachers tend to rotate around trying to make sure they've checked in on listening to each child read every few weeks. In the past, purely because of where DD1 was on the class readers list and when in the week they had volunteers in, she would go a fair while being heard by various volunteers and I've had quick words with the teacher that could someone just give her a quick listen as she seemed to be hitting the point where she could use with being moved up a band - and that's never been a problem (but by that point in the year the teacher knew me and my judgement wasn't in the realms of parental delusion)

To be honest the staff also know that if they're really behind on readers and need to skip hearing some each week I'm the parent least likely to be fussed if mine's one of the ones missed out to buy them so breathing room! (My kids are good readers and I'm very hot on hearing them at home) This time of year in particular where things go a bit Christmas bonkers.

To me the only reason that a teacher really needs to listen to a child in ks1 is when they need to determine whether the child should go up to higher(KS2) levels or not. Otherwise, experienced TA is highly capable, imo.
You really need to make sure you communicate with your teacher. OP. Every child is different.

Thanks for all your responses. It seems to vary quite a lot. I should have made it clearer that they only change the books at school when they have been listened to. I do have an issue with this as to me it doesn't show much consideration for the children's enjoyment of reading, so I am going to raise this again. Part of my concern with the infrequent listening by the teacher is the lack of assessment. I would probably be less concerned if it were the same TA listening to her, but it is different people. The books she is sent home with vary by level and the one she was sent home with this week was far too simple. We have got a couple of reading scheme sets at home but as they only have 5 or 6 books per band we have nearly exhausted them. I will have to purchase some more.

Ds2 is in a class of 30, he reads with a ta once a week and has his 2 books changed weekly, i prefer him to read with the ta as she has read with him from the start and is more able to taylor new books to his needs. They also have a reading buddy from year 6, which ds2 is very excited about! We also spend 10 minutes a day reading and 5 minutes a day on his phonics. Just because the teacher has not heard a child read does not mean they are unaware of progress or lack off it.

www.readingchest.co.uk/prices-and-packages

We used this service as well as the library over the summer.

Primary here listens to each D.C. twice each day. All volunteers. It seems to be very successful.

One thing I can tell you OP, is that it really doesn't matter in ks2, that how much the children was listened to by the teacher in ks1. Most of the average children become at or above expected level in ks2. There are only few who have difficulty to be on lower level at the start of ks2.

Don't worry about it. Heard by another adult is fine, doesn't have to be the teacher.
And mine found the school reading books boring so we read lots of different things out of school. Much better to read other things, and they'd have been glad not to change book often as it meant more times for interesting home books.

I disagree and think it is very important for the teacher to listen to them frequently. Dd was only listened to about termly so that meant no jumps of levels. It is actually quite disrespectful to parents and kids to expect us to plough through ridiculously easy stuff for months at a time.
This does depend on the TA though and whether they are allowed to move them up. Also it makes movement unfair and uneven as 2 kids similar ability 1 happens to be heard and moved up because just ready another just not has to wait 6w to be heard again so they need 6w at that level.
True it doesnt matter long term but it is not the best strategy for individual children, particularly the fast learners or maybe slower learners. Some will end up missing whole levels rather than gradual progress.
It also wastes the TA time (listening to a child read something too easy plus changing the books).

Her reading book is extra to all the other reading she does every day. The reason you have it for a week is for the child to become confident in reading. You don't do that by reading new texts every time. She will have her reading ability assessed over the course of the term in various different ways, but not usually by her reading her bookbag book. It's much more likely she will be assessed during phonics.

TAs are trained to support reading and often have a great deal of expertise. At my daughter's school, there is a TA who leads on the reading scheme and is highly skilled at her job.

I understand the benefit of some repetition when faced with more challenging texts. However, the book she was given this week is one with the same 4 simple words throughout the book. She read it in one minute at the first attempt. It is frankly boring to keep repeating it. I feel that if the teacher were to be listening to her more, the reading material she is given would be more appropriate. I do also feel that as the class is so small, it should be manageable to listen to them more often.

In reception mine were heard twice a week (so we had two new books a week). Since lots of children aren't really reading well yet (although others will already be quite fluent) it seems common to start slow with reading. I would just go to the library and get some more to read at home, or book people have some decent bundles.