Filling in Reading Record Book

[NewSchoolNewName]

If your child reads an extra reading book at home - not a reading book provided by school - would you make a note of it in the school’s Reading Record Book?

I like the Project X books. They have a plot and things happen in them. I do get the impression that the people at OUP got a load of writers together and told them to come up with something that makes reading interesting for boys - but perhaps that’s the point.

We have ORT at our school. Some parents moan about it. The truth is that it costs thousands to replace a reading scheme and we have no money!

I really don't mind biff, chip and kipper, especially the magic key when they get there.

Read write Inc books are really exceptionally dull.

Possibly this is why I remember kipper fondly!

I don’t mind Biff, Chip and Kipper or Project X.

The reading books that annoy me are the ones which aren’t appropriately decodable.
Like when my DC were only just starting to blend 3 letter CVC words like “cat” and were coming home with books full of sentences like “It is a watermelon” or “He is sleeping”, and parent notes in the back all about encouraging children to guess at words based on the pictures

New that is part of learning to associate words through pictures.

That's not part of the National Curriculum though green. Schools in England are obliged to use the NC.
I just send those back if my DD brings them home.

I don't mind Biff et Al. I particularly enjoyed the Time Chronicals. Although the story was never finished (to my memory)...and they are all still stuck in the time vault. My youngest still like project X... although I noted today we haven't written in school book since 25/3.... although in that time he's read an entire David Walliams, a Jeremy Strong, an abridged version of Anne Frank's diary, a book about the fire of London and the newspaper etc etc

learning to associate words through pictures

That’s not really learning to read properly though, is it? That’s encouraging children to memorise whole words and guess at unknown words based on pictures.
The kids are supposed to be learning to use their phonics knowledge to decode the words, at least if I’m to believe the information sent home about how to support my child’s reading.

It's all part of learning. Picture clues, phonic knowledge to decode-whatever helps!

I have a child in my class who has learnt to read by memorising words. He began by using picture clues.

It's still not part of the NC. Ask mrz - she knows.

Doesn’t matter how they learn to read though does it? Just that they do. After year 1 no one is tested on phonics and most words are irregular /tricky in the English language anyway. We all managed on the look and say method!!

"I have a child in my class who has learnt to read by memorising words. He began by using picture clues." I'd classify him as high risk. Using picture clues is a fallback strategy for weak readers (alongside guessing from initial letters and what might fit the context).

After year 1 no one is tested on phonics and most words are irregular /tricky in the English language anyway. We all managed on the look and say method!!
Did we? Tell that to the thousands who were failed by Look and Say. The fortunate ones worked out how our spoken language is represented by symbols (in other words Phonics) without explicit teaching others were left to struggle or sink. We all need and use phonics whether consciously or not.
English is complex but all words are phonetic or they wouldn't be words. The check in Y1 is there to identify those children who may struggle with reading later. It's very similar to assessments used by Educational Psychologists and Dyslexia Screening tools.

I've only recorded a non school book once. We were really struggling to get DD1 (yr R) to do any reading of her school book, so she read some of a home book instead.
We read to her every night, encouraging her to read the odd word, then she reads to me in the morning before school. But its taken a while to get in that routine, and shes the type of person to give up if shes struggling. I don't really understand the different reading levels, shes on yellow but no idea what scheme they're using as they started a new one at October half term but didn't change the books!

"After year 1 no one is tested on phonics" children who don't achieve the expected standard are assessed again in Y2 and good schools will continue to assess phonics in KS2

I have a 10yo doing phonics revision because they hugely struggle with spelling and memory. They'd be stuffed under a whole word system, at least this way they've got a chance!

I don't know why people knock phonics so much, it's not new. It's certainly how I remember learning to read a very long time ago.

Just to be clear, 10yo that needs help with spelling reads very, very well - I don't think that they would be reading at anything like this level now if they had learnt to read with a whole word system when they were small as their processing ability would have maxed out early on.

Thankfully, they learnt with phonics which means they don't have to remember/process as many different things in order to read well.

My 7 yr old is terrible at spelling too. It puzzles me a bit because his reading is fine, and he can easily read all the spelling words he gets sent home.

But he can’t seem to hold the correct spelling in his head when he has to write spellings down without looking. What he writes down is almost always a phonetically plausible version of the word, but it’s usually the wrong spelling.

It's still not part of the NC.
Oh we don't all jump to Mr Gove's tune do we? You don't abandon techniques that help. The child in question has SEN so yes , is high risk. It worked for him. Should I not have helped him because of what the twonks at Westminster deem appropriate on their latest whim?

"You don't abandon techniques that help" I assume from that comment you're not familiar with the evidence or you wouldn't be teaching techniques that ensure children are weak readers without an effective strategy for reading accurately.

"Should I not have helped him because of what the twonks at Westminster deem appropriate on their latest whim? "you most certainly should have helped him instead of reinforcing the strategies of weak readers.

How lovely it would be if school actually had a reading scheme---- for books that are sent home instead of random boring as anything books that are as old as the school (over 20 yrs).

This year I've bought a full set of biff & chip from the book people & currently working our way through an ant & Max set again from the book people.

The way ds behaves when a school book comes home you'd think he was the most reluctant reader ever. In fact if he's reading something he likes he's great. He loves biff & chip. At the side of the crap school sends home biff & chip are utterly brilliant even the one where mum was reading a Danielle Steele book in the garden

At our school (read write inc) his phonics are led by the teacher but the reading books near no resemblance to the phonics & are dealt with exclusively by the TA. Not joined up at all. So utterly utterly fed up with them.

Don't even know where to start with school or just keep on as we are at home & not worry about the utterly ridiculous school reading books and reading arrangements.

Have spoken to the teacher 2x already & she just passes on a comment to the TA and that's the end of it. Wish I'd sent him to a different school & not believed the village hype about this brilliant massively oversubscribed ofsted outstanding (a million years ago) school.

I will write more in the reading record tho thanks for all the tips. So far this week all I've written is "dc is not reading this book it is too easy" - it's all cvc words & he's a good reader & it's soul destroying reading utter nonsense. Apparently he's been told he's moved up a band but no new book until next term. I need to calm down before I speak to school he has been reading much more difficult text than this it's not just me imagining I have a child genius

Many schools don't have the budget to update their reading scheme.

Also reading isn't just about being able to read the words, it is also about comprehension. They can only move up a reading band when they have the necessary comprehension skills.

I'm afraid levelled texts are a nonsense.