How often does your rec child read at school?

[haagendazs]

My ds only gets to read once a week or even less with the teacher/ assistant but brings home a book each day. I dont think its enough imput from the teachers, what do you think?
I feel as if its down to me to teach him to read........

It's not different! It's an age old debate, and that includes on MN!

You haven't tried my patience, I didn't say you had.

No parent helpers in our class - they all work.

What Gladbag said.

We all seem in such a rush nowadays to push our dc on....

Why is it so important that kids can read well by the end of Group 1? What's the hurry - they are 5 and 6 for goodness sake. Shouldn't we be more concerned about them being rounded, interested and happy students? Of course kids need to lean their sounds/blends/high frequency words etc but there still seems to be a horrible sense of urgency amongst many parents to have their kids pushed through reading schemes as quickly as possible, as if this is a visible measure of intelligence and proof that their child is 'bright'. Gladbag and others, I ditto your sentiments .

And at the risk of sounding like a scratched record, many other countries begin reading later than UK - their kids still learn to read and usually pretty quickly because they are 'ready'

learn even

I am a TA in a Y1 class, but I don;t do any reading/listening ona 1 to 1 with most children. I try and fit in 2-3 15min sessions a week with 6 children identified as requiring additional literacy help - have been working on phonics and learning letter sounds and how to write letters. I may hear them read briefly as part of that time, but less than once a week.

The rest of my time I am either supporting the class teacher with lit/num (usually sitting and helping a group of learners with their work), covering PPA time (as of next week this will be an hour's ICT) or preparing materials for me 6 children. Twice since Christmas I have also taken half of other classes on my own for the morning, whilst the rest and their teacher was on a school trip.

For a number of the children in my class English is not the primary language at home so parents find the reading at home much harder.

DD is at private school and in a class of 14 so it is much easier for the teacher to hear every child every day. They rarel have parent helpers in - infact as far as I know I am the only one. Since Christmas and starting my new job I only do two afternoons a week and use that to do Art generally, not reading. Before Christmas I helped 3 days a week and listened oto readers every time. They have students in every so often which makes a difference to hearing children.

Feenie it was just the patronising way you said "we have all patiently explained.." and it IS different from what a lot of people on this thread think.

It's true that because it's not easy, it's value is being downgraded. The curriculum should prioritise it a great deal more than it does. I take the point about working parents.

And no, it's not pushy.. it's nice for children to be able to read. I don't know how anyone can object to this. Although people have been doing so, apparently, for years now and the results are evident, among students, even young teachers, and, whisper it not, even people who post here.

I don't blame the teachers.. I have to say this again. Teaching 30 children where two or three have such special needs that they have a one on one helper with them must be exceptionally demanding.

FWIW I think reading should be the only homework primary school children ever get. Maybe a bit of spelling practice and times tables, but the bulk of that should be done in school.

Obviously am confessing to being aged duffer in all of this: but it was once possible, when it was thought to be important, and it was possible with fewer resources.

well sit me in the corner

its value is being downgraded

I think it's worth teaching children to read as early as possible --and not to be pushy either.

Playstation, Nintendo, Wii, all that nonsense (my children have them all of them so am not in the least bit judgey) -- they all start incredibly early. If a seven year old is able to read a decent sized chapter book that can grip them in competition that's important. If reading is hard work it will often be discarded in favour of an instant electronic buzz.

Reading for pleasure at an early age .. it should be an aspiration of the curriculum.

stuffitllama, no one is saying the value of reading is being downgraded. There are kids who pick it up really quickly, who love to read and good for them. Its just the pushiness/competition amongst some parents that I find really sad. I teach sounds, phonics, we read as a whole class, we share big books every day, we do some reading and writing activity every day including good old-fashioned flash cards but I only listen to the children read individually once a week.

Reading is definitely valued - I would hate anyone to think otherwise - but so are other skills such as taking risks, topic/unit work, working cooperatively with others in the class.

There are people downgrading the value of one on one reading.

Why should it be pushy to want your children to be able to read? I'm not naive, I know there are parents who are pushy for, I don't know, what you might call the wrong reasons. Competitive reasons as you put it. I just wanted my children to be able to read as early as possible so that they could find books. There was no forcing, just a lot of reading. I certainly wasn't competitive .. I did as much as I could to raise the reading levels of the whole class because that would benefit all of them, individually and as they learned together in school. Perhaps I have been lucky but most of the mothers, the vast majority I've come across, feel the same way.

I think you are amazing and unusual to listen to each child once a week.

I just can't shut up. Reading definitely should take priority over "topic".

But the two are intertwined, surely? Think of all the unit vocabulary which is then used in the children's own writing, the shared reading of related books. At least that's how it works in the school where I teach which is admittedly not in UK and about 2/3 of the kids do not have English as a native language. I find it fascinating, however, that given this and given the fact that formal reading is not introduced as early as in some British schools, all the children learn to read

Llama, I don't want to argue - you are obviously a lovely, caring mum who has done a great job. I guess we can agree to differ!

If you check back, I said 'patiently explained' because you were still saying that we punish children for their parents' failings, when everyone had said that in their schools everyone actaully bent over backwards to spot these children and so put in as much practice as they could.

Reading is not at all downgraded. I have been a Literacy co-ordinator for 12 years, and part of my remit is to make damned sure no child ever leaves our school unable to read. If I thought for one second that teaching children the skills they need for reading in classes/groups, and building in more practice for those children who don't practice at home didn't work, I would be the first person agreeing with you on this thread. Practice of these skills is vital, however; on this I think we both agree. I have retired teachers, parents and community helpers who all come in on a regular basis. We used to have university students too, but they tended to be a little unreliable at times and left some children disappointed.

Another way I try to build opportunities for KS1 children to practise their reading is to partner them with Y6 children a couple of times a week. The younger children love the attention from who they idolise, and it gives some of the less confident Y6 children a massive boost, aswell.

Fwiw I wish we had more parent volunteers like you at my school - we would bite your arm off!

stuffitllama, I whole-heartedly agree with you that individual 1:1 daily reading tuition with an adult who knows your exact reading level, and what to do to extend that reading is probably the ideal. A child listened to and taught in that way would make faster progress, of course they would.

But it simply isn't workable in a normal state classroom because of the time restraints of a full and varied curriculum (especially in the Foundation Stage where all six areas of learning have equal status), and by the numbers of trained adults (for actually teaching 1:1, not just listening). And many early years professionals would argue that that level of time/money input into reading for 4 and 5 year olds isn't the best way to help a child's all round development. And I would agree. I think that's probably the area we differ in opinion - I don't think learning to read at four should be prioritised in the same way you do.

And I agree with everything Feenie says (do I get a 'sitting on the fence' prize?).

I do think that 1:1 reading should be increased for children at 6 and 7 who appear not to be as confident or fluent as you would want. But that is another story as we are talking about Reception.

OMG!!! I've really opened a can of worms here, when I posted this morning I didnt expect to log on this evening to 66 replies!

What some of you said has made me think, about it taking 5 hours to read to all the kids, which is a valid point. However I really feel that they should be read with twice per week at school - by teacher/TA/parent helper. We have not been asked to volunteer BTW.

Of course I am happy to read with ds every day but sometimes it is harder than others as have a toddler who demands my/ds' attention so he gets distracted and a thin book can take us for ever, lol! Would not be such a problem if we weren't under so much pressure to do it.....

BTW I love the idea of giving stickers to them when they have read at school

When my DD started in reception I was surprised at the lack of emphasis on reading. Like other posters I thought, and still do, that the quicker a child can learn to read the better. What is the point of introducing ICT for example if they can't even read. I was amazed at my DDs school that:

• the school made her go through every book at each level even though she was clearly reding well with good comprehension
• that she hardly ever read to the teacher yet it was the teacher we spoke to at parents evening about her reading. Whilst I agree that is isn't the best use of a teachers time to listen the the children even once a week I do feel that with a class of 11 (which she had) it could have been a bit more than once in a blue moon.
• that whilst there were lots of parent volunteers to listen to reading, they received NO formal guidance on phonics or how to listen to children and help them. Personally I think there are too many unqualified parents in our schools filling gaps where qualified staff should be used.
• I once asked a TA what happened to the children whose parents don't listen to them read at home and she just said that they just don't move on.

I could go on and on as this is a bit of a pet subject of mine. However I feel that there are many parents who are effectively teaching their children to read and there are many children who aren't learning to read because no-one will take responsility and recognise that the situation with some parents not bothering IS NOT GOING TO CHANGE and the schools need to do something about it.

Lastly to answer the OP. No I don't think once a week or less is anywhere near enough and no, I don't think there are enough qualified people listening to children reading in our schools.

I help in an FS2 class and we (ie TAs and helpers inc me) aim to hear the kids once a week.

We will change book, give new word list if needed and write sthg helpful in diary.

I am always by how many children have not been heard at home in the intervening week. Or if they have then no-one's writing anything in.

I can hear and update books/lists for about 4 maybe 5 children in an hour. So for a class of 30, yes, it would take the teacher 6 hours to hear them all, or at our school, more than a whole day! Prob better that they actually teach the children sthg....

haagendazs i always give stickers to readers I hav heard!

Every day. She also brings the stuff home four times a week. Argh. What with DS's weekly Y2 mountain, my homework cup runneth over...

Yep. I'd be the one not writing stuff in. I write a comment if I have something to say. If not then, well, I don't.

We read with and to our children every day. I have one in reception and one in year 3, and TBH I don't 'hear them read' formally much at all at these stages. DS because he is a very fluent reader and would rather read to himself, or be read to, and DD because she is just starting out and gets lots of phonics input at school, although to get back to the OP she only does formal group reading once a week, and nothing yet in the way of formal individual reading. But they are reading, or learning the skills for reading, all the time. It comes into everything. Standing next to the teacher with a book isn't the only way to do it, any more than sitting next to me with a book is the only that I can support their reading outside school.

well, sometimes twice a week or once every 2 weeks, mainly from TA. Dc in y3 only once by TA. Doesn't bother reading books from school anymore anyway

No idea
who cares?
I read at home

well fallenmadonna, could you please write in when you hear them read. Even if it was a comic or well, anything.

I'm not sure what you mean by "something to say", but I would be happy to see "Heard xxx read tonight" tbh.

Why?

Ds's teacher is perfectly happy with what we do, which is what counts really. I have little to say about his reading because he can read. There are no problems that need addressing. His teacher just initials the book to show when DS has read to him, and TBH that isn't that often any more. And that's fine by me.

With dd I do write things like "could read all the sight words except whatever" - because that might be useful.

Telling DS's teacher that he's reading Dr Doolittle for the umpteenth time isn't hugely revealing.

If you were his teacher though I would of course do it your way.