What sort of comments do you put in your child's reading record?

[mumtoone]

My ds started reception in September and the reading record book appeared in his book bag just before Oct Half Term. I've been filling it in but I'm not entirely sure how much use my comments are. There's been no letter to give guidance on what they expect us to do so I've made it up. Do you ever ask for your child to be given harder books or do you just leave that to the teacher to decide when to move them up? We've got a parents even in a months time so I'll ask then but in the meantime I'd be interested to know what you do.

When dd was in reception, I had never been told to write in her reading book. So although she read to me every day, I never wrote in her reading record book. Until, (and I am to admit this) DD brought home some elses book bag, and I read her reading record book and saw that the other mother had wrote in her reading record book.

To IAmTheNewQueenofMN - if your DD (aged 8) is not havng books that stretch her why not send her along with books of your own choosing for her to read?

My DS is 8 and has been "free reading" since Yr 1 and our school has never had a problem with him bringing in whatever he wants to read. Occasionally he'll have somethng from the school's stock of free reading books but we send in books that we buy for him to read, or books that we borrow from the local library. The key is that they are enjoying the books they read. Naturally, if they enjoy it, it will ecourage them to read more.

Once the children are off the school reading schemes they should be able to read what they want - provided of course it is not something which is right above their head - but that is the role of the parent to work with their child to find something which is both appropriate for their ability and ejoyable and stimulating for them to read.

Why not have a word with your DD's class teacher?

Saphron I too listen to my dds (reception and y1) read every day and have never wrote in the record.Until just now I didn't realise I was meant to.
I dread to think what the school must make of me.

they are given the books from the school to read ashomework and have comprehension to do alongside them

they have a book in their drawer which she can choose herself to read when she has finished class work or wet playtimes

but faffed off that she was not allowed to choose a horrid henry book once

they have all of them there and she has ALOT of them at home

but there was this one book that the school had deemed that you had to be in p5 to read

ridiculous

I never write in the reading record book. My dd reads school books at school and home books at home. My son read home books at home and takes them into school as well, as he is very picky about what he reads. The school is quite happy about this; they even have a supply of comics in school that children can choose from during free reading (as well as books), so they are not fussy about what older children choose to read.

I never wrote comments in to try and get my children moved up the reading scheme. We have books at home and use the library so they have a wide range of hard and easy books to try out. My son is 10 and still sometimes reads Miffy, sometimes 'The boy in the striped pyjamas'. I think people worry too much about reading scheme levels; if you disagree with the teacher's choice, then read something different with your child at home! The teacher may be trying to achieve something different through the reading scheme than what you are trying to acheive.

MillyR you have managed to put my feelings into words perfectly. DD has school reading books which she uses at school (for example they read in groups which I think is a lovely thing to do, taking turns to read & talk about the book), she has no desire to read them at home, and since she has no problem reading I don't see the need to push it.

you might want to make sure you sign the book for your child's sake
I didn't always used to til one day I happened to overhear the reception teacher giving the kids whose parents hadn't signed a hard time (well not really but i'm sure ds2 would have been mortified by it) cos they hadn't read their book last night. I'm sure ds2 wouldn't have said 'it's just that my mum didn't sign' and he'd never mentioned that the teacher regularly checked and pulled the kids up on it

I find with my DS that he can get quite obsessed with reading levels though. He knows what level he is on in the various reading schemes and once was wary of reading an ORT book we had at home because it was a higher level than the one he's on. I encouraged him to give it a go and he flew through it - the levels can definitely be a hindrance.

Morocco, my kids fill the reading record book in themselves. They write down what they thought of the book and what page they are up to. The teachers seem fine with this, although I appreciate it depends on the rules of the specific school.

sounds a good idea millyr

I just wrote what page they got to and then make a comment such as "well read" "read fluently and with expression" "was a bit tired tonight so didn't read as much as normal" "DD really enjoyed this story" "DD found this book a little too easy compared to previous books" etc.

I help in her schol and have done a fair bit of listening to readers and make similar comments for parents to read, also in the earlier days I would highlight ny words or sounds they stumbled over, or anything I wanted them to focus on such as expression.

Some parents don;t write anything other than signing and page read to. Others wrote reams. Anything seems to go.

Thanks for all your responses. Its interesting that there is quite a mixture of approaches and ds's school isn't the only one not to make it clear that they want you to write in the book. I will stick with just adding a short comment on how he's got on with his books.

If I wanted a harder book I might ask the teacher directly tbh.

Speaking as a helper who hears readers, comments in the book are v helpful - even if just "Thomas read his book very well today".

It gives an idea of how often they are heard ( some children are not heard for weeks, apparently).

I will write a bit about how well DS2 read, any tricky words etc.

i would NEVER dream of asking for harder book teacher would be affronted imo

i write essays

today i apologised for writing in brown felt tip!

If ds really loves a book or he got really interested in the topic I make a comment. If not I just sign it.

My first comment in his reading record was. "please give xxx much harder reading" and his teacher was not offended at all.

I normally just tick and sign it but sometimes I write comments about comprehension, whether my DD understood the text and sometimes I will pick out a few words my son struggled with either in reading or in understanding the meaning of the words and write a comment about those.

well yesterday i put that i hadn't seen a story book for the last 18 books, the rest had been fact books, he came home with a poem book today.

what torture whitenoise

I want to write

Can we have some decodable books inline with current thinking rather than these 'death by repetition' books we have EVERYNIGHT that ds memorises very quickly.

Today

A cat has eyes
A cat has ears
A cat has a tail
A cat has legs

.....yawn

We read decodable books at home and he is doing fab.

I do write
We read at home
Muppet

If we get the same one repeated i say something like - wilmas mum had the baby for the third time, it was still a boy and she still had an easy labour but then practise makes perfect . Soemthimes i just write read really well and odd times i have wrote dd was really tired and read a few pages before burning out. I do tend to keep it short now as to completed or finished...

I did once write. "Ds didn't read this book as he wanted to finish the last 4 chapters of his Famous Five book. Apparently it was very exciting".

The cat one reminds me of

"The cloud is in the sky.
The Kite is in the sky.
The plane is in the sky.

my will to live is in the sky."

nappyzone did they write back 'it's wilmas aunty'

I don't write much. Actually, I never write anything for ds (7) who reads all the time, and never the books from school. I don't believe the teacher thinks he doesn't read at home. The evidence is pretty clear I think.

For dd (4) I'll write a very brief comment once a week. This week I wrote "DD read all sight words sent home except 'said'". That's about it really.

Have never asked for a harder book.