Year 1 reading to teacher once a fortnight

[stonethecrows]

Hello

Just had a letter from DDs teacher stating that she will be listening to them read once a fortnight, and we are to listen to them read for the remainder of the time (which I already do). My DD can read only a few very basic words eg mum, is...even struggles with the, and, etc.

Am I right in thinking that this is not enough? That the teacher should be listening to them read way more than this, and that as a side issue my DD should be getting extra support as she is struggling with reading?

There is no TA in this class of 31 (I think they are getting around this as they are effectively joined to the Year 2 class with 29 children) - what do I do?? I do not want to get on wrong side of teacher as this early stage of the year!

Yes, Goblinchild, DS's school day is 8.40 to 3.35 which I think is longer.

Twenty minutes longer in your day, half the number of children. And a TA all day? Our Y1 have a TA until lunchtime.

I agree with slinging. Our school teaches very cross curricular and in Key Stage 1 the focus is on reading and writing within a creative curriculum. There is lots of time for TA art and craft activities, free play etc. We all have 6 children we focus on each day and hear read throughout the school day. We have a real focus on phonics and daily handwriting.

It is

that so many children leave school unable to read or write.

Children at this age shouldn't be 'doing' science, DT, RE, History they just do not learn like this. Sounds very secondary to me! We have themes such as this term My Amazing Body! We have focused on the senses for the last few weeks and all our art and craft has come out of our 'science.' They have been outside exploring textures etc. We have been writing in guided writing about our favourite fruits, after eating them of course! We have made fruit punch (DT) and written recipes (English) etc etc etc.

I think every school is different but there must be time to really hear every child and a teacher needs to do this, after all they are teaching the child to read.

DS's infant school have a creative curriculum - still doesn't magic up 5hrs (a whole school teaching day) for the teacher to do individual reading with each child.

OP - can I ask why there is no TA? Is the school struggling with its budget or is it a temporary situation and they are going to employ one shortly? Do you share a TA with the yr2 class? If your dd was in our school she would probably be on a catch-up programme of some sort but if there is no member of staff to deliver it then, of course, it's not going to happen

DS brings home his red record book home every Friday with a new reading book. 9 times out of 10 his teacher has written down her observation of his read-through of it, and just jots a note down to me to ask me to emphasise particular sounds or encourage him to read a bit faster if he can etc. So I'm assuming the teacher listens to all the children individually on most weeks.

There have been odd times when the note from the teacher has been "Unseen text. Concentrate on the "oa" sounds." or whatever..... I'm assuming then on those weeks, he wasn't listened to individually.

I would be shocked if he was only listened to once a fortnight individually.

Hocuspontas - goodness knows why there is no TA - it's really frustrating especially as my DDs class have had a bit of a time of it in nursery and reception with several different teachers. (Although they did have a lovely teacher and TA for the major part of reception).

We had a letter from the teacher this week where she has said she will hear them read once a fortnight, and then reading between the lines the rest is up to the parents. I probably wouldn't mind this if my DD weren't struggling, but as she is I am worried.

I think there's a potentially dangerous assumption that the only time teachers teach reading is when they are reading with individual children. There's a huge amount of good work going on in group reading/full class context.

How often do you read at home, stonethecrows? We had a literacy briefing at school last week, and it was very useful to hear their expectations of our input.

Oh, and ds read to his teacher last year (as recorded in reading book) about once a term

Has progressed well regardless.

Most nights, Deepdarkwood. DD doesn't have a great attention span so often a bit of a struggle, but I would say approx 5 nights out of every 7.

I would love for the school to have a literacy briefing, so I could hear their expectations of my input, but also theie explanation of their input

That was a for the school, not for you Deepdarkwood

5 days a week sounds that sounds fab

One thing they said to us was that we should encourage ANY reading - if the reading books they provided weren't of interest, then to ditch them & read something else - comics, recipes, the side of cornflake packets That the key thing was for the kids to see that reading was a useful (to them) skill, not just some random thing we were trying to teach them for no reason.
And that there is no such thing as too much praise in this context

No taken

I think you as a parent should listening to your child read.

Does the teacher supply the reading material you are to use for the fortnight?
In my school we hear children (individual or small groups) read twice a week. Enabling them to read is the cornerstone for accessing so much of the curriculum.

Someone reads with ds at least 2 x a week at his school so far. It's a class of 30 with 1 teacher, 2 TAs.

It's not that it's the only way to teach children but it sure as heckfire teaches them that reading is important and that they are important and not a small cog in a big machine. I'm not a teacher though.

I help a teacher at my DCs school by listening to her class read. It is one of the MOST rewarding things i have ever done and i give 3 hours of my time each week to do this.

Other parents/grandparents help out too and also enjoy it.
Could you not offer to do this?

I can see why you are worried stonethecrows but I also think there may be no need to worry. Individual reading is by no means the only time the children are learning to read. When my DS1 was in Y1 (last year) they did group reading, guided reading, whole class phonics, etc etc, lots of the time.

One thing DS1's school does that is very helpful I think is that they let the children change their reading book whenever they like - they can choose from a basket suitable for their level - a new one every day if they like. This meant I could hear him read quite a lot of different books in between reading with the teacher.

I suggest you talk to the teacher about your concerns (she may say it is quite normal for some children not to "click" with reading until well into Y1 or even later) and then keep up witht he reading every day (little and often we are advised).

We were told by the teacher in dd's year 1 class that she will listen to them at least once a fortnight. The teacher will try and listen more and the TA's also try and give them individual time (and I think parent helpers too). They also have group reading and partner reading where they are paired up with an older child and read with them. The children are encouraged to bring a different book home each night to read but reading anything eg comics is good.