Read the same book three times over?

[ReedRite]

DD has just started year 3. Quite a competent, if not particularly enthusiastic, reader.

The school keep asking us to get the kids to read their home reading books three times each and I can't work out what the benefit of this is for DD. She's not struggling with the reading at all, it's rare for her not to know a word or be able to read it and the stories are not so scintillating or well-written that they bear three reads, I wouldn't have thought!

My main concern with DD is that I want her to develop a love of reading, rather than purely focus on the mechanics of it (which she's pretty secure on, in any case), and I can't for the life of me see how repeating the same dull stories over and over is going to achieve this. If anything, I'm concerned she'll be so bored that it'll put her off even more, which I really don't want. And we don't have so much free time that we can easily fit it in without dropping something else, like practising times tables, which she could do with.

Am I missing something, or am I right to sack off the repetition, provided she manages to read it well and understand it the first time? I've looked for research that shows reading 3x per book adds something extra, but haven't even able to find anything. Did I just overlook it and this really is the key to producing good readers with a love of books, or is this just an ideological thing with no evidence?

Not sure what to do for the best!

3 kids through primary and I've never heard of this, it8 sounds counter intuitive to me. I would not be insisting on it and agree that its absolutely not the way to foster a love of reading.

I agree with pp.
My dc used to quickly read the dull 'reading books' from school, to get it out of the way, and then snuggle down with their own books, or usually books from the library.
One of them had an NQT once who got a bit concerned about their reading diary not being filled in to her liking, but no experienced teacher ever questioned it. They could tell all of my dc read a lot from their understanding and knowledge, plus of course mentioning stories and books by the by.

We had that at our school in reception. Never did it after the first time. Just read other things with ds once the school book was out of the way. Have always found our school's approach to reading to be very odd & absolutely not likely to create a love of reading. Luckily we do lots at home & he does love books & is a strong reader.

Are they on the Accelerated Reader scheme? If so there should be a sticker in the book at the front with a code on it, the level and the number of points it is worth. On this scheme they read a book and then answer questions about it. They have the book next to them so can check in the book to see how Lila is feeling or who broke the window. It is multiple choice and they have to get a particular number of questions right to "pass" the test. They stay on that book level until they pass tests on 3 books. We only recommend re-reading the book if they are reading but not taking it in and therefore the comprehension isn't there and so they perpetually fail tests.

That is the only thing I can think of but it doesn't apply to all children and in fact only applies to a very small number and you are right it isn't fun at all. They usually start AR in year 3 as the reading books below that are few and far between on AR and not gripping reads.

In my DCs' school this is only used for kids on the phonics scheme. It is supposed to help fluency and expression (so the teacher told me). They were never long books, so we just dutifully smashed through it each day, filled in the reading diary, and then read something a bit more interesting. Once they finished the phonics scheme they are on to very easy chapter books, and they just have to read it once (it takes a few nights to get through all of it), then bring it in to be swapped when done.
If your school works in a similar way to ours, your DC should be able to easily manage the books sent home and read them with an accuracy of around 95% or over.

In my child's infant school they read books 3 times. Once for decoding the words using phonics, 2nd time for reading with correct tone and feeling and a 3rd time to check comprehension?

Thanks for your replies. The teacher comments are always that DD reads with excellent fluency and expression!! So no idea why this is pushed. They pushed it last year, but she hasn't been doing phonics for about a year now, she's in the group doing comprehension while some others are still on phonics.

The instructions are for the whole year, there doesn't appear to be any differentiation for individual children.

DD's on chapter books, albeit shortish books with, say, 4 chapters over 30ish pages. She can read them in about 15 mins. I'd say she gets at least 95% of words right. Yesterday she stumbled only on a new name, 'Clarence', which she pronounced 'Clare-ence', which she was unfamiliar with. But was fine with all other words.

Have you tried asking "Does DD need to read the book three times if she can tell me all about it after the first time?" or something like that. One year we had reading diaries in which we were supposed to list everything they read at home. DD was reading a lot, and when I asked the teacher whether we really needed to write everything down, she said no, we could just ignore it.

In which case I would just read it once and be done with it. Rebel! Nobody has the time to be reading chapter books (even the short ones) 3 times over back to back, especially with a world full of other interesting books to discover! Life is too short. Even my favourite books are reread with years between the readings. What would happen if you returned it as ready to be swapped? (Once off the phonics scheme, DCs swap them themselves as necessary for another on the right level's shelf/basket at our school. This can be because they've finished it or because they simply aren't enjoying it).

If that didn't work, I would be adding false entries to the reading diary whilst reading something more fun on what should be the school book's 2nd or 3rd run through.

We only did this when my kids were learning how to read....after that once, was enough! However, my kids also do daily reading with their own books of choice. I think reading a book 3 times in a row is for children who do not read fluently, to help them learn the words etc. Both my kids are highest level for reading and comprehension, so I think it is fine to skip this, if you feel your child does not need it. I think I only did this for my second dc, as he struggled a tiny bit more when he first started to read. But once he got it, we did not repeat so many times.

I spoke to dd's teacher about something similar last week and all she was concerned about was that she actually reads (hopefully each night). So it could be the book she comes home with, or one of her own. The main thing she wanted was for dd to be reading. It might be worth a chat with your dd's teacher too xx

Thats a bit much for a fluent reader in year 3.

I teach reception and we do ask children to read a book more than once as they are in the early stages of reading, and are developing their phonics skills as well as retelling and remembering the main details in a story. Even the books I read to them in literacy or story time are read multiple times to develop these skills.

I would see how your child gets on with answering some of the comprehension questions at the back and go from there.

My school has this for Reception and Year 1 while they are still learning phonics. Not sure how this would work in Year 3? Is it a reading scheme book? If you look on the school website it should state how their reading scheme/curriculum works.

Dd2's just been told this also yr3.
I messaged the teacher & said no chance she'll be bored senseless.
Still can never remember levels but she was having to go up to year 4 to get books last year & she's an excellent reader.
Dd came home & said teacher said twice for longer books. Not allowed to change book without 2 comments.
I just write 2 comments in the reading diary & don't put page numbers & we read it over 2 days & read a home book
Dd reads everywhere apart from in front of tv, loves stories & is already excellent at reading allowed.

*aloud obviously ffs

We never did this DD could understand what she read in yr. Quick children can get it quickly! Sounds boring to me. I just wouldn’t do it. Spend the time reading something more exciting.

In which case I would just read it once and be done with it. Rebel! Nobody has the time to be reading chapter books (even the short ones) 3 times over back to back, especially with a world full of other interesting books to discover! Life is too short.

This is pretty much what we’ve been doing and why!! I was wondering if there was some research that showed reading x 3 even when deadly bored with a pedestrian, non-exciting story was the dream ticket to educational success, but it appears not, so that sets my mind at rest!!

I would see how your child gets on with answering some of the comprehension questions at the back and go from there.

She always gets these straight away, it’s obvious she comprehends well first time round. I wish the school would give more individualised instructions.

@ReedRite
They should. It’s not good enough not to differentiate reading books and instructions and assessment should be driving what they say for each child. Children are all different. They aren’t going to know if she’s read it once or 30 times! So move on to something more exciting. I never understand why schools hold Dc back with turgid ideas on reading.