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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Do any teachers read reading diaries????

45 replies

TeeBee · 26/09/2008 11:34

I attended a curriculum meeting at my son's school yesterday and was gobsmacked to be told by his teacher that she doesn't read what we put in their reading diaries, but instead has a quick flick through when they have reached 50 entries!!! WTF!!!! I have been religiously completing the bloody thing every day detailing what areas DS has been doing well in and what he is stubling over. My (maybe naiive) understanding was that it was a form of communication between the teacher and parent to build a bigger picture of how they were doing and what areas we may need to focus on. I have been wasting my bloody time!!

Teachers - is this normal. Is the idea just to get parents to read to their child often (ie the diaries act as a motivation for some parents to get off their arse and read withteh child) - or is it actually helpful to get feedback from parents? Do no teachers read teh reading diaries, or is it just this lazy mare?? Her reasoning, btw, was that they wanted to maximise the time spent reading with the children. Surely the time would be optimised more if they had a picture of how/what things they were reading at home in the first place.

Please someone give me some more insight before I go ranting up the school.

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Pawslikepaddington · 26/09/2008 11:36

I have never filled mine in, as I don't want them to know that occassionally we read the book at the breakfast table

Original poster

TeeBee · 26/09/2008 11:40

I'm thinking of not filling mine in now! Or filling it in with bitchy comments regarding wasting my time. I feel a conversation with the headteacher coming on.....

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Pawslikepaddington · 26/09/2008 12:19

Well, tbh, when the teacher wrote in it (it has one comment in!) she put "followed pictures". But dd doesn't follow the pictures-she reads the story! You read the first "the clown put on the blue paint", and then she will do every page after that, changing the colour to suit. Pile of pants IMO-good idea in theory, but one comment in 4 weeks makes me think it doesn't get used anyway, and all I would write is "she's brilliant!" over and over anyway!

Lizzylou · 26/09/2008 12:21

Really, they don't?
I filled my first one ever in yesterday, was very proud!

MollieO · 26/09/2008 12:22

I had a meeting on this very point at my ds's school today. I would write comments, ask questions etc and not get a reply. I ended up writing a formal letter, which I knew couldn't be ignored.

That resulted in a call from the school inviting me to a meeting with his form teacher, the teaching assistant, the head of pre-prep and the head. I realised at the meeting that the TA was the one not doing her job. She made a comment along the lines that she would have too many books to look at/write in if every parent demanded the same! I felt like telling her to talk to her counterpart in the other class who does that every day for all her children (only 13 to a class so we are lucky).

Fortunately she has to do what she is told and the teacher/pre-prep head/head all took my concerns seriously. I pointed out that they are responsible for educating my child and my responsiblity as a parent is to support that. If they don't give me the tools to do it then I can't do my end of the deal. I am looking forward to seeing the change in ds's reading book tonight!

LadyGlencoraPalliser · 26/09/2008 12:22

They do in our school. And write comments that show that they have.

Pawslikepaddington · 26/09/2008 12:22

What do you actually put? Am v biased towards my dd, so literally would just say "she is amazing, I am so proud, give us three more books please!". I went in and asked for the books to be changed more frequently too , we were getting one every two days. Now I get a new one every week-that will teach me!

Sparks · 26/09/2008 12:24

In my dd's school the classroom assistants read them regularly, at least once a week, and always write a comment. The teachers read them less often.

Pawslikepaddington · 26/09/2008 12:26

Grr

feeble · 26/09/2008 12:26

In my DD (4) reading diary the teachers comments have so far corresponded to what I have written above. So her teacher must be reading it.

MollieO · 26/09/2008 12:28

My ds has only been at school 3 weeks but I thought it was important to establish the expectations v delivery early on. If they send home reading diaries for us to complete then I expect them to read what I have written. Why bother to have them if they don't?

Pawslikepaddington · 26/09/2008 12:29

We did only get ours last Friday though, so have had three weeks without one. Maybe I should start filling it in, just to prove that I do read the books with her!

pagwatch · 26/09/2008 12:29

my DDs teacher write comments alongside mine in DDs diary every day - so I know she does.As did her previous teacher

Hulababy · 26/09/2008 12:30

They are read in DD's school. I help out in school twice a week, and see that they are read. Some parent's comments require a response which the teacher duly does.

We now have homework diaries too - from Y2 age. Reading record book only comes home once a week, so comments can go int he diary - these areread by the teacher at least once a week, sometimes more often.

pagwatch · 26/09/2008 12:30

well - when she has done it of course. If she is knackered I don't try and get her to read. ( shes only year one)

MollieO · 26/09/2008 12:35

If my ds is too tired to do homework then I write that too!

Butkin · 26/09/2008 12:35

We don't write in the diary - her teacher does. She puts the date, the book name and her comments on DD's reading of it that morning.

I presume that we aren't supposed to write anything or we'd have been told about it in reception (now in Yr 1).

At least we know how she is doing and also about anything we need to work on.

memoo · 26/09/2008 12:43

I'm a TA, every morning while teacher is doing register etc i check every childs book bag and reading record. I read all the comments written by parents and respond as neccesary, if there are any problems I pass these over to the teacher

I do this every single day without fail and to be honest I think its unacceptable that your DS's teacher isn't doing the same.

I would complain

MissClavel · 26/09/2008 13:07

My DS1's is always read, and has little comments in response to what I've written, and stars stuck in etc.

DS2 is in reception, and I am certain that they never read what I write, and they never write any comments in either. It's a little bit annoying as I am careful to note which words he's managed to read and which he hasn't. I think they're concentrating more on the younger reception children atm and hope that a tiny bit more interest might be shown in future...

Niecie · 26/09/2008 13:14

The higher up the school the less it gets read it seems to me.

DS1 is in Yr 4 and I have filled it in religiously since the beginning of term and there is no indication the teacher has looked at it. I have written some important comments in it too (well I think so anyway).

Last year, I gave up even writing in it about half way through the year. It was easier to go in and talk to the teacher if I had something to say. Nobody said a word about the reading log though. What is the point?!!

DS2 is in Yr R and just like DS1 then, his teacher is reading it every day because he is bringing home a new book every day.

Lizipads · 26/09/2008 13:17

No they weren't so I raised it with the head and now the teacher writes something most weeks. But she hasn't yet this academic year (they have the same teacher), so I talked to her after school the other day and would expect her to next week. (Diaries only go back once a week with the book pack for changing. DD has been given the wrong level 2 weeks in a row, hence my conversation with the teacher. I suspect the (new) TA might get told what a trouble-maker I am!)

OhYouBadBadKitten · 26/09/2008 13:18

In YR4 in our school the child write comments 3x week about what they have read. Parents are encouraged to discuss books with their child and to add the occasional comment. So I did and I was given a sticker

dds teacher is fab this year, really keeping up with marking reading diaries as well as the homework.

Pawslikepaddington · 26/09/2008 13:22

So do we need to write in the diary and then we will get comments about how they are reading at school? Is that what happens? And if we don't write in it they don't get a new book? What if dd is reading the whole book, but only because it says the same thing over and over so she knows what comes next? Argh!

AbbeyA · 26/09/2008 13:23

I supply teach but I always read them and very often make a follow up comment.

Honneybunny · 26/09/2008 19:36

so you've been a good kitten this time then OhYouBadBadKitten . I had a smiley face from ds1's teacher/TA today, which made me as well...

dh is usually quite short with his comments, something along the lines of 'ds1 really liked this book', but on the occasions that i have filled out the diary i have been a bit more specific about which words ds1 could read by himself, and how we talked about the book afterwards (he's in reception). there's only so much you can write in teh little space provided though. but i'd be a bit if they'd obviously not taken the time to read and comment back.

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