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Original poster

Book bags - honest answers only please

100 replies

joggingalong · 16/01/2008 16:04

Hi,

My ds is in reception. He has gone to a friend's house for tea for the first time today. He was picked up from school.

What I would like to know is, what are the chances that his friend's Mum will look in his bookbag, to see what reading book he is on?

Does anyone know of a mother doing this, or have you taken a sneaky peak yourself?

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Porpoise · 16/01/2008 18:02

Oh, and the really awful ones aren't the book-bag-peepers but the ones who collar the teacher in the playground and DEMAND their LO is moved up a level!

PrettyCandles · 16/01/2008 18:04

I certainly wouldn't in Reception. Possibly in Y2 if it was on their homework day.

FlllightAttendant · 16/01/2008 18:04

CD - Oxford reading tree afaik. Apparently to make them look at/describe pics first. I have no idea why!

Elphaba · 16/01/2008 18:06

I would never look in another child's book bag.

PrettyCandles · 16/01/2008 18:06

I posted, and then read the thread. It never occured to me that you were thinking about parental competitiveness! It would never occur to me to look in another child's bookbag for that reason - I guess I'm just not competitive enough, or couldn't give a dam what books other children are reading.

I suppose I might look if I was very disatisfied with my child's book.

myermay · 16/01/2008 18:44

Message withdrawn

MaryAnnSingleton · 16/01/2008 18:51

no I wouldn't... I'd ask the child's mother if I really wanted to know,which I probably wouldn't ... it's not a competition.

SorenLorensen · 16/01/2008 19:05

Not me - not even when ds1 was in reception. Perhaps I'm weird - I honestly don't care what level other kids are on or how they compare to mine...it's primary school reading books, not really an indicator of how their lives are going to pan out

mimsum · 16/01/2008 19:13

why on earth would anyone be interested in what level another child is on??? it's not as if it's going to make any difference to your own child's reading ability is it???

baffled ...

PaulaYatesBiggestFan · 16/01/2008 19:15

you are all to right-on

i would look and have

PaulaYatesBiggestFan · 16/01/2008 19:15

too!

KrippledKerryMum · 16/01/2008 19:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CarGirl · 16/01/2008 19:39

they choose their own book to bring home to read with their parents but they are colour coded (usually) into groups so you progress up through the groups at my dds' school it's pink, red, yellow and so on (only got to yellow so far!)

KrippledKerryMum · 16/01/2008 19:40

This reply has been deleted

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Bluestocking · 16/01/2008 19:43

I'm genuinely amazed! My DS will start reception in September 2008 and I can't imagine in my wildest dreams that it would ever have occurred to me to look in his little pals' bookbags. But who knows what kind of transformations may await me come September?

Hulababy · 16/01/2008 19:43

At DDs school they follow a schemes. The teacher decides which book they read next. We started with ladybird books, then ORT. After each level of ORT they did other scheme books around same level, then ORT again and so on. Now they are doing lots of different schemes, often aimed at the child's needs. For example one of DDs friends (her mum told me, I didn't look!) did a phonics scheme for a bit as a refresher for sounding out blended words.

I don't look. You can see which book the girls are on at the start of the da as they ll go in a basket on the teache's desk - if you really want to know. Also on playdates sometimes they get their books out when playing schools with the dolls. It doesn't really interest me TBH.

I do know, however, that one mum did look in DD's satchel - DD told me

OverMyDeadBody · 16/01/2008 19:48

Interesting!

I picked DS up from a friend's house and the mother (who is also a good friend of mine, the boys go to different schools but have known each other since babies) quite happily told me she's looked through his book bag and read through his reading record book!She was full of praise though and I know she did it as she's interested in my DS and loves him rather than to compare. She also emptied and cleaned his lunchbox and commented that she was curious about that as her DS has school dinners!

I found it funny tbh, not sure I'd look at someone elses here, mostly because I wouldn't remember to, I find it hard enough remembering to check through DS's!

CarGirl · 16/01/2008 19:52

the teacher will also read with them and make comments and decide when they are ready to go up to the next level.

serenity · 16/01/2008 19:59

I wouldn't look as I wouldn't really care tbh. I might have been curious when DS1 was in reception, but now I have three in school it's far too much energy to figure these things out!

ChasingSquirrels · 16/01/2008 20:19

No idea, I wouldn't, but neither would I care if someone looked at ds1's. tbh the books aren't something that would thrill me
I do disagree on parents who collar the teacher to get their ds to go up a level - but then I did this so I would! It took the first half term to get ds on the right level, and several collaring sessions from me. He was completely bored reading the books from the basket he was put on and did not want to read them, when he finally got books at the right level he read 3 in one night because he wanted to see what happened next. But I want the RIGHT level, not the next level - ie now he has read most of the books in the relevant basket - BUT I don't think he is ready for the next level, so have mentioned to the teacher that he has read most of them and asked if they have anything in the library etc that he can choose from - some new books have now appeared in the basket, which is great.
Just because you hear someone collaring the teacher doesn't mean that they are pushy in the sense that they are trying to advance their child before they are ready, it could very well be that they, hearing the child read every night, actually have more of an idea of where the child is at than the teacher does, especially in the first term of the year.

Hallgerda · 16/01/2008 21:46

I've never done it. I'm not aware of parents of friends looking in any of my children's book bags either.

moljam · 16/01/2008 21:49

i couldnt care less what dd or ds1 friends are reading.and im sure their friends parents feel same about my dd /ds1.also if they did,so what?
why would you/anyone care?????

critterjitter · 16/01/2008 22:28

Amazing stuff! Yes, I know of a mother who has gone one better than simply sneeking a look in a book bag. She goes into her DDs classroom (also my DDs classroom) in the mornings when the children are settling down to their written work, and walks around the tables working out who can write what and at what level (very cleverly does this when the teacher is distracted by other 'start of the day' issues.) She then relays her 'findings' to other selected parents outside at pick up time. Why, oh why, oh why??

NAB3wishesfor2008 · 17/01/2008 10:10

I think the teacher needs to be told what this mother is doing immediately!

OrmIrian · 17/01/2008 10:14

Depends on whether she is a first time reception parent. If she is she probably will (as I suspect I might have done). If it's her second or subsequent child in reception probably not. She will have learned that caring too greatly about such things will give her either an unsustainable sense of superiority (and beleive it will be unsustainable longterm) or a deep sense of failure and shame. Either is most unpleasant and best avoided.