Reading in year 1 does this sound right?

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Hi! Would just like opinions from Mnetters who know about this sort of thing. My ds is in year 1. For reading he has guided (group) reading daily in school and also parents are expected to read daily at home. For both of these reading sessions the children have the same book and it is only changed once a week. So they would read one book an average of 10-12 times before they change it. In addition, they are not heard read individually and can only move up a level when all children in the group (about 7 I think) are ready to move up.
Ds is a fairly strong reader and I've noticed that towards the middle of the week he begins to be quite silly with his book and often covers the words with his hand and recites them rather than reads them, so I'm worried about him getting bored.
Just wondering if this is a normal set up or if I need to step in an give him a wider range of alternative books (I do this occasionally but always feel guilty like I did something a bit wrong )

I'd be doing silly voices by the time I was asked to read the same thing for the 5th time!
We get school books for 2 nights (changed 3 times a week), and are asked to read it the first night, and either re-read or talk around it the second evening.
I'd also be miffed with being yeld back by other members of a class for reading.
I think I'd be finding other stuff to read at home - local library, oxford owl has online books for free - just register- or use reading chest or a similar scheme.

Thanks @HotInWinter that confirms my feelings but I really don't want to be "that" parent. I do have access to a wide range of books so I can do that without a problem. Sometimes I'll comment in the reading diary "we had a change and read Horrid Henry today" but the teacher doesn't comment one way or the other.

Hi, my ds is also in year 1 and I can’t get him to read the same book more than twice. His school change them 2-3 times a week and I bought some biff & chip books from WH Smith for when he gets bored. Totally agree with you they need to change them more often, or accept that they will read less. Expectation at my son’s school is 3 times a week at home.

No it doesn't sound right at all

Thanks for replying @Hadehahaha we're a family of book worms so all pretty happy to read every night, just good to have it confirmed that others would find the current system a bit frustrating.

It’s different to my DC’s school.

In Reception, they get a reading book and reading record sent home daily. Parents are asked to listen to children read every night, and a new book is sent home every night provided you’ve filled in the reading record.
Not sure how often the teacher assessed the reading in school, but a child moving up a bookband isn’t dependent on other children.

In Year 1, they get sent home with 3 reading books at a time - no reading record sent home - and are expected to change their books at least once a week. Again, not sure how often the teacher assesses progress, but moving up bookbands isn’t dependent on the other children.

I’d be looking for other books to read at home. Our local library stocks a good number of reading scheme books, we’ve got extra ones from the library before for use in school holidays etc.

It's done very differently at DD's school.

Books can be changed daily if they've been read and the reading diary signed. Children move up a level when the teacher thinks they are ready, not when others in the group/class are ready.

Our kids just put their reading folders in a box if they're wanting to change their book and they're sent to pick a new one at various points during the day - we're asked to read it 2-3 times (depends on the class teacher) when they're still at the point of the book being easily readable on an evening, but when it gets to longer books we just tend to read it once and then change it and no one's raised any quibbles with us doing it that way.

They just get moved up a level whenever they get moved up a level - not tied to anyone else's levels of reading.

DD1 is in reception. She reads to us every night, her book is changed every day as long as her reading diary is filled in. She reads with her teacher or a TA (individually) 2-3 times a week. She also reads her own books at home as she finds her school reading books a bit easy (she’s a pretty strong reader).
She’s go insane with boredom if she has to read the same book that many times!

Jeez my daughter had the same book last time for 3 weeks 🙄 never mind changing it every day. We always end up reading her own books she gets that bored and can read the book without even looking at the page

@yourma555 three weeks, that's awful. Did you get any explanation?

At dgs's school reading books are changed once per week. I think he reads at school with a different book. He also has a library book which he chooses himself again changed weekly - if he remembers (we have had Gruffalo's Child for several weeks now).
Dgs is rather reluctant to read at home and usually only reads 3 to 4 pages per night so we don't have to keep rereading the same book, unlike last year in Reception when the books were so short he did have to read the same book over and over again.

Woah my kids would have gone crazy with boredom. We had new books twice a week and they hated it so we also signed up to The Reading Chest to supplement at the same reading level or above if we thought it was getting ridiculous. We never mentioned it to school though. Both kids now huge bookworms

My yr 1 reads to me every night and has book changed daily if I have filled out the reading record. Reads to teacher or t/a twice a week. Does guided reading in a small group once a week. Moves up a level individually based on how he is doing.

My year 1 DS has one guided reading book per week and also - library book plus his own reading book which is changed whenever he has finished it - so he could have up to seven books per week if he was doing a lot of reading.

I definitely wouldn't be reading the same book with him every night for a week! I'd just go to the library or go online and get him some books he actually wants to read. Mine would be heard reading (just for a few minutes) 4/5 days a week and would get a new book whenever they finished the one they were reading (by the end of Y1 lots of them were reading longer chapter books).

My dc is in reception and gets one book a week - we are expected to read 3times a week but they prefer nightly. I spoke to the teacher because she was bored and frustrated reading the same book, but when I started giving her different books at home the teacher wrote “please be sure to re-read books to help with sight reading”.
I thought they would just be focusing on phonics and initially the books were all decodable, but actually we now do the school book 2-3 times at home and it definitely has helped with sight reading/fluency generally. We supplement with other books some nights too.
The change from decodable books is frustrating though as I’m having to figure out how to explain split diagraphs etc

Ps the teacher did say she’d give us two books a week at one point but that only happened once

Group reading should be as well as individual reading, and moving levels should be child-dependent, not group. It sounds very wrong, if children are not heard individually, it must be difficult for teacher to assess progress, spot problems, etc. Especially in y1, when school should be trying to establish a love for books and reading. You wouldn't be that parent. I'm frankly disgusted at them.

My son's teacher allows him to take three books at a time so that they last six days with him reading each book twice. Would your child's teacher let him do a similar thing? It means that the child does not have to remember to change their book as often.

Well I've had a bit of a chat today and come away with two books for over the Christmas holidays. So maybe she'll try to send a few more home now it's been mentioned. Fingers crossed.

I would be surprised if the same book is used for guided reading as being sent home. - That would mean that all children are reading at the same level at home - which isn't right in a mixed ability class. I think you may have got that confused.

As for what others say - school often likes books read more than once (for my kids twice was the max before they were bored stupid), then just read something else you have at home. Remember to ask questions about what they read as this is part of the skill they require. - and note that you have done that in the reading record (e.g. DD summarised the story really well, DD was able to say what she thought the character might feel, DD told me what she thinks might happen next).

If you do school pick ups then you can often prompt - is it ok if DD just pops back and changes her book as we have read this twice. (I am THAT parent!! LOL)

That does sound like a very silly way of doing things. My dd is in year 1 and they have reading partners (another child they read to, with teacher/TA/volunteer supervision). They read each book at most twice. Sometimes she reads it in school during the day and then brings it home to read again at night. Sometimes it's just brought home to read together at night. They are swapped out as soon as we read them together and she gets a new book, usually 3-4 a week.

I can imagine that must be so frustrating as I know even when mine has read the book earlier in the day (so our reading together at home is her second time through), she gets a bit bored. Sounds like a great way to get them to memorise books, but I can't imagine it does much for their reading skills. Over holidays, she comes home with a stack of fresh books to read. For instance, yesterday she brought home about 5 to be taken back in the New Year.

I would be surprised if the same book is used for guided reading as being sent home. - That would mean that all children are reading at the same level at home - which isn't right in a mixed ability class. I think you may have got that confused.

@user1474894224
That was my first thought but I checked with the class teacher who confirmed it although she added that the group read through it once then did other activities around it, EG spelling and comprehension activities but no other books are read.

The children are grouped by ability in guided reading so he will always be taking home the same level book as 6 or 7 others in his group.

Sadly no opportunities to just pop back and change it as they're very strict and believe that focusing exclusively on this one book it the right way to go.

I see their point to a certain extent, they're trying to make sure that children can get a really good, in depth grasp of a text rather than just skim lots of different ones....... not at the risk of boring the pants off them though!!

My child year one is sen but also an amazing reader. I have also been given the same book all week! It’s totally inappropriate for my son, but rather than disagree with the teacher (I try to pick my battles, and she’s a great teacher in many ways) - I’ve reported back to her that
Thanks for the book, as my son is fine with reading, but not so good at comprehension, We have done this.. and I enclosed a sheet with questions and answers we’d done about the book instead.

Use it to expand what your child needs help with, does he want to draw the story? Is he creative? Does he understand the story? Can he recall it? Can you expand the subject?