Hearing children reading

[madpulse29]

My dc is in Reception and no one listens to them read. Is this normal? I don’t understand how they know which book band they are supposed to be on.

My daughter is in Reception, she has guided reading in a small group once a week with a TA - that seems to feed into the teacher listening and putting her up a band when appropriate. At the end of term the TA's are being made redundant due to funding cuts, so next year there will not be anyone to read with a small group (except parent volunteers) without leaving the rest of the class to run amok. I help out one afternoon a week and I can read with 6-8 children in an hour, but I tend to concentrate on the children who are not reading at home. If the books being sent home are too easy then have a word with the teacher.

I think they should be listened to frequently because some kids cannot/will not read at home, some parents themselves cant read. Or do t get home till 6pm.
But if you can as a perent do the reading then it is home which makes the difference. DS1 is years ahead despite reading to the teacher maybe 3 times a year, every few weeks to a parent helper.
Alternate pages at home, get books from the library.
It's the consistent 1-2-1 5+ times a week

I'm struggling with the same issue OP.

Ds2 is in Reception and has only read to his (NQT) Teacher four times since January. He currently hasn't read a book to a member of staff for two months !

I help out by listening to readers one morning a week, and assumed as ds is a very competent reader perhaps this was why. But when listening to readers who are still on the first couple of book bands, and whose reading records are pretty empty, it is the same situation

So I've spoken to the Head (spoken to teacher twice since March and no improvement) who agreed it's not good enough and will sort it. I've also encouraged them to do a recruitment drive for more parent helpers from Sept, as I'm the only one in ds's class of 28 despite knowing some families who don't work or work p/t.

This is a conversation to have with the class teacher.

I'm worried I'll offend or upset my ds's teacher if I mention she hasn't listened to him read for a couple of months again! I requested he was listened to and maybe moved up a level in March, ahead of parents evening. Then at the parents eve she was very apologetic and said he was long overdue a move up.

Now it's happened again and I just feel bad as she's a lovely teacher (hence saying I'll help recruit more parent volunteers).

Different things and systems will happen in different in classes within the same school.

If your child isn’t being heard regularly it is usually a sign that the school is confident they are where they should be with reading. It’s true that teachers will know this from literacy work and lessons and guided reading (if they’re doing this) and not just from reading individually. Personally, I think every child should be heard weekly but this just isn’t possible with the curriculum as it is.

What I’d do in your situation is to write a comment in reading log that DD seems to be confident on this book band and can she be looked at to move up?

Wait and see if you get a response.

If you don’t that will tell you it is not being looked at. Then approach the teacher directly or by email, whatever works for you, and mention politely that you made a comment and could they be assessed as you’re really pleased with progress and want to keep it up!

Trust me, you betcha she will be heard then and moved up if appropriate.

At the start of Y1, ask what the procedure is for hearing readers and volunteer if you can!

I'm a teacher and I personally work 1:1 reading with each child twice a week and write a comment. I treat this as a mini lesson, it is not just listening...its modelling good strategies, asking questions, discussing. Simply just listening is pointless. It's not at all about moving levels.

I don't move children levels until they are fluent in blending words in that level and can sight read the tricky words as well as answering questions (sometimes parents don't understand this).

We also have daily phonics lessons where I hear children read as part of a group.

Yes it takes time but is not a full days job like some posters have said. I take time at the start of the day, after lunch, sometime etc. throughout the week. In my opinion there is no excuse teachers must make time. Parent volunteers are just an added bonus, they are not qualified to offer a quality reading session.

teachers must make time

This is bullshit. Either someone else is doing your job like registering children,talking to parents,doing input etc ... or you don't have a strict timetable to follow. What are the other children doing while you are doing this awesome 1 to 1 reading with every child twice a week?

@Russell19 wow, how many children do you have in your class?

I totally agree about it being good role modelling. Last week ds was moved up by a TA but he said he hadn't read a book? I was confused so asked the next morning and the TA said she'd just made him read words from a laminate and moved him up! So it has still been over two months since a teacher or TA has sat down for 5 minutes to listen to him read a book (he's in Reception). We share books with him daily at home and foster a love of reading for pleasure. He enjoys it hence almost free reading at 5.5yrs old (has three more book bands to go)

As a parent helper I feel frustrated too that there is no rota system in place. So one child can be heard twice in two days, but others can go weeks and weeks? The reading records are always filled in by whomever listens to them. I feel so sorry for the children who come from homes who don't share books or who aren't given the time and nurturing to help them read

Oh, and another thing that surprises me about ds's school is that they were OFSTED-ed in the spring and moved down from Good to Requires Improvement. Two of the things which were factors included not monitoring pupil progress effectively (I'm not a teacher but guessing reading would be a good way to do this in an Infants School) and that the most able pupils were not being challenged.

So you'd think they would have upped their game on this by now?!

@YourSarcasmIsDripping yes my TA registers the children and I'm always chasing my tail but it's important. I use 2 assembly times too and some breaks. I have 22 children. I'd still make time to read at least once a week even if I didn't have these luxuries.

@Russell19 do you have a rota system for listening to readers?

I just have a class list with the week at the top and tick when I've done that child.

I've suggested to the Head that they incorporate a list/grid/rota to keep track of who has been heard and when.

@MontyBowJangles hood idea! What did the head say?

In regards to the pupil progress comment that will mean in terms of data and assessment..... but if children are reading with the teacher they'll be able to assess their reading ability better. It's just then what they do with that information to check they are making progress every half term or term.

The Head thought it was a good idea. They use an A3 grid in another school I volunteer in; with names down the left and the date across the top. So I just initial in the square when I've heard the child read and it's a really good visual guide to who hasn't been listened to in a while.

My Reception child was finally listened to by his teacher yesterday after a two month gap ! I spoke to her in the morning and she was mortified. How she is supposed to be writing his end of year report when she hadn't heard him read for two months I don't know.

The grid sounds a bit like what I do. Tbh I may be naive but I thought all teachers did this.

She was mortified you spoke to her? That you noticed? Or that she's been so useless? Haha!

@Russell19 mortified it has been two months (again) that she'd not heard him read a book I think! She replied "has anyone heard him read in two months?!". She was very apologetic, as she was in March. I have no idea how hard it must be for teachers to do their jobs, I'm always in awe and so grateful (pastoral care there is fab). I'm just insanely passionate about reading so am obviously more conscious. I volunteer at my local library with the summer reading challenge every year (4th year this year), and am a Bookstart Corner volunteer for our local Children's Centre (have been there three years).

It turns out the Infants don't have a chart or grid to show/map who is listened to and when, and the juniors is ad-hoc. I really hope they both adopt new systems in the new academic year so they can just grab a sheet of paper and at a glance see any gaps. Would save painstakingly going through 30 x reading records.

I guess I came from a poor background and reading confidently has helped me enormously (and is free!). I see how it can massively benefit children not only in terms of speech & language and communication in the early years, but with social and emotional development later, with test scores and ultimately GCSE results. I'm seldom seen without a book in my hand at home and my two boys notice this and copy me. I get so upset when I go into homes with young children and they have no books, just screens, or when a Reception child tells me they're on their phone in bed at night when they can't sleep

You sound like a fab teacher

Thanks! A chart like you've suggested takes 5 minutes to put into action so hopefully they do it. It'll hopefully help out the other children too. I find it hard to believe she didn't know your child hadn't been read with. At the end of the day it is her responsibility nobody else's but lesson learned I guess!

Well I pointed out she hadn't heard him read for almost two months back in March (when it was parents evening).

She's only heard him read four times since January ! Other members of staff have heard him once a month or so.

Sadly many schools are having to make TAs redundant in order to stay financially afloat due to budget cuts. Reception classes may well retain at least a part time TA, but in a class of 30 they are usually run off their feet with things like toilet accidents, dealing with injuries and supporting children with SEN who are not funded for adult help due to (again) budget cuts.

At our school (I am English subject leader, though teach in KS2) we are lucky to have an army of parent helpers that we have spent time training in early reading and phonic strategies, who come in a few times a week to hear readers across R and KS2 and test key words. The class teacher then hears each child weekly as part of a guided group, and daily as part of phonics lessons and general classroom teaching.

I would absolutely be wanting to know what’s going on, but equally be aware of the problems schools are facing nationally.

As an aside, I think reception teachers are heroes; each time I have taught our R class and tried to find ten minutes to hear a child read, I have taken only my eye off the rest of the class for MINUTES before someone hits someone with Lego/eats sand/wets themselves 🤦🏽‍♀️

@nomushrooms I really don't know how Reception teachers do it either! Mine will be shown my appreciation at the end of term with a bottle of wine and a Gervase Phinn book. She's an NQT so hoping the heart-warming stories will encourage her to keep going when she has a tough day.

Now, please tell me your secret to acquiring an "army" of parent helpers? Like I've said, I'm working with the (Infants) School in doing a recruitment drive in September, so any tips would be gratefully received! We're doing flyers in book bags and a plug on the Facebook page and website. I've been a volunteer for four years now so know the importance of appreciating anyone who gives up their time

@MontyBowJangles I think we’re really lucky in that we have tremendously supportive parents (sometimes a bit too supportive, aka pushy).

What I have noticed as the years have gone on, is that SAHP have become a rarity, and so recruiting our helpers has become harder. We then sent a plea out to the village in general, and have quite a few retirees from the local community who love interacting with the children. I don’t know if that would work in your area?

Like I said, I think we’re just lucky!

What kind if hoops do your volunteers have to jump through? My school is now asking for volunteers to fill in application forms and provide at least two references as well as the DBS check (no wonder we have few people volunteering) is this normal or our admin gone mad?

They do have to go through the DBS process, BUT no references! We then get them in for a session with the teacher, who then talks them through phonics and early reading strategies, or trains them in the key words process if that’s what they’re coming in for. We do have a two retired teachers who obviously didn’t need training, but the rest of them did get a run through and some information to read through.