How often do your DC change their reading book? And what is the system (am thinking more of YR, Y1 and Y2)

[NoahAndTheWhale]

DS is in Y1 and books only get changed when they are listened to read (or if I realise we have had the same books for a long time and ask if he can have a new one).

They are meant to be listened to twice a week although it isn't this often. I do listen to readers once a week so am doing my bit .

Just wondered what happens in other schools, as it seems from reading other threads that people get to change their children's books more often ie they don't need a teacher/teaching assistant/parent helper to do the changing.

My son is in reception. They use the Collins Big Cat books and the book is changed twice weekly. They primarily read in groups- I'm not sure how often (if ever) he is listened to individually. It's like pulling teeth trying to get info. I'm happy he's progressing OK from the reading I do with him but would like more feedback from school.

Having said that, they seem a lot more organised than some of the posters' schools above.

This is interesting - thank you

I like the idea of a system like the one at asdx2's school. My DS is a little fixated on the idea of different levels (which I am trying to stop) but knowing your book is level x and that you want to get to level y doesn't really help.

regarding reading at school they do group guided and individual with a TA or more commonly with a parent helper

Yr2, is listened to reading every day and gets a new book every day (a mixture of reading schemes).

Dd1 has a new book every day and gets listened to every day. She's in year 2 and this has been the case from the day she started in reception.

Yr2 dd changes her book when she's finished it. She's listened to at school twice a week and they also do guided reading twice a week. I think dd does get extra as she's always struggled with reading, it does seem to be coming on a bit now though. I try to listen to her at home most nights.

Recep: In theory books changed 2/3 times per week, listened to at school once or twice a week. In reality this almost never happened.
Yr1: Listened to once a week but books changed 2/3 times. This actually happened reasonably regularly.
Yr2: Listened to once a week and the children take responsibility for changing their books when finished; ds always forgets so we often have the same book for a week.

I've been helping w reading in a Yr1 class and have realised that the sessions at school are poor quality anyway with so many distractions and that it is the home reading that makes the difference. Discovered that the TA listens to 2 children at the same time reading different books so she cant be giving them much guidance just ticking off that they have been heard.

We much prefer it tbh. Moved to this school june last year from a school where dd read daily working her way through the ORT scheme.
At her last schoolshe was most of the way through level six. On assessment on entry she was assigned colour purple which contained level 9 ORT although dd never chose them again.Now dd chooses books from her level that doesn't contain any reading scheme books so no idea what sort of level she is on..

But much better having "real" books I think.

I know that I am also guilty of knowing in depth what "level" DS is on (school has ORT as you may have guessed) and I would like to encourage him to read more "real"* books rather than see reading as a part in a system IYKWIM.

I'm sure there were threads here once about suitable "real" books for different stages. Will try and find them again.

• as obviously books are all real unless they disappear. But some books are more real than others I feel.

Can anyone explain what happens in guided reading to me then?
I have no idea.
Can guided reading be differentiated? I ask because ds is working at a higher level to the vast majority in the class (based on evidence not me being arrogant) and the groups are not ability based. Ds says it is "all easy" but I don't know how reliable that is.

I do know that ds has been heard reading individually once since he started reception in Sept.

I am surprised if the groups are not ability based- they usually are.

The children read in groups with a teacher and take it in turns to read aloud while the others track the text. The teacher will pick out particular features of the text to focus on in that session. This could be things like looking at punctuation and using the voice to highlight it, describing feelings of characters in the book, relating the content to things in their own life, thinking of how the story could continue, focusing on a certain phoneme or spelling pattern, giving an opinion etc. etc.

If your ds is far more advanced than the others then he may still be finding it easy even in the higher ability group as the text would be matched to the average ability to that group IYSWIM. It would probably not be feasible for him to go to another year group with the timetabling etc. Even so, it is not all about decoding text, anyway, the questions should be open-ended allowing for creative answers and opportunities to think outside the print. He also learns to take turns and work within a group.

Have found the thread I was thinking about here.

And have realised the poster I thought was mrsz is in fact mrz

Corriefan. I'm sure the groups are not ability based at the moment (partly based on the fact he has the highest reading level books in the class and his friend is in the same group who hasn't even had his first book yet) As it's only reception I guess that's why they're not ability based.

Maybe the teacher differentiates appropriately for him then. I think his comprehension isn't quite so good as it could be anyway when he reads at 'his' level for the actual words so maybe reading in this way, below the level he can read words at will help with that.

He is good at taking turns etc. so I don't think that would be an issue.

At DD's school in R to Y2 the teacher change the child's book when they have completed it. They read at school at at home daily. This is initially daily, with the first books, and less often once reading longer books.

In the Y1 class I work in it is down to parents and child t change books as and when they want to. For some this is daily, for others rarely. TA and teacher rarely involv; they deal with guided reading in class instead. The guided reading takes place once a week in groups.

my DD reads in guided reading in class and the groups are mixed ability. i think its a terrible idea though as DD (who is excellent at reading) makes comments like child x's reading is so terrible she couldn't even read the word Y or Z... she's only on ORT2... etc

DS is in year 1, and his books are changed twice a week. He has three at a time. If he reads them with us, we sign them off and they are swapped. If we have a slack few days and don't read one or two of them, he'll hold on to these and just the one that's been read will be swapped.

Usually it works out at six a week. School has said we can have more if we want. They use ORT along with a mix of other schemes.

Interesting that others get to choose their books; DS's school chooses the books for the kids at this stage.

I'd question how well guided reading works due to the wide variety of reading abilities in one class.

In DS1's school:

Reception: Books changed every day. Listened to every day. Books chosen by teacher.

Year 1: Books changed everyday (or whenever books finished in the case of those on long chapter books). Listened to 2x a week. Books chosen by either teacher or TA.

When I changed DD's school, they thought she had learning difficulties, her reading was so behind. But now she reads at school most days, changes books whenever her book has been read and the support is fabulous.

And we read everywhere..shopping, signs out walking, packets of stuff, post...

Yrs R, 1 & 2 we got through 3 books a night. Now year 3 and on proper books, and a new school it seems to be one a term.

sofaqueen - at the class I work in the guided reading groups are done in ability groups. So all the red readers read together, all th blue together, all the purple, etc. Pink readers read individually. It does mean that sme groups are groups of 1 or 2, adnd some groups have to be split into groups of 5 or so.

DS2 in Y1 gets his book changed abut 4 times a week. Seems to be when he has read it, he changes it.

DS1 in Y2 is a bit hit and miss, he can go a week without changing. He reads alot of library books and books from home though so we aren't worried.

What irritates me slightly is that they used to change their book independently of the teachers and could do it anytime but now they have all these new ORT books which are kept in big boxes the children can't access on their own so their book changing has to be supervised

At DD's school, they have ther books changed once a week, the book they bring home is one that they have read that day with the teacher/TA (usually Thursday). So have already read it before bringing it home to read again!

Really frustrating as once she has read it once she memorises it so can tell story without even opening the book. We read loads at home anyway, and of higher level than shes bringing home. Her reading record looks very empty though as only gets written in once a week, by me!

A friend of mine's DD, goes to a school 20 mins away and they get 2x books, twice a week. Their reading with the teacher is also a different book. So 5 books in total a week.

Varies so much doesnt it?
They are both in reception. I have asked if there is provision for getting more books but it seems there is not! So we will just carry on reading our own books at home, but I might start writting those books into reading record too.

my ds is in reception and loving it. i am totally happy with the school and think he is learning loads as well as having a great time. the children are supposed to be read with once a week, but usually it is more like every other week. however i change ds books with him if this happens so he normally has 4 books a week (2 at a time). we read every night and he is doing well on ORT level 3. do you think it matters that they don't do it more often at scool. i do get a bit disapointed when it is his reading day and it has not been done. or is it just as good that we do it regularly at home?

DD1 in reception, gets 1 book on a wednesday and 2 books on a friday (I think they listen to hear read one of the books, so I guess twice a week). She is on level 2 Ginn. I honestly think she could do 1 or 2 books a day as she is reading them fluently, but I am not too worried about it as I think she has made so much progress already that I am taking the attitude of "there is no rush". See how that goes........
Emy x