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.

Year 1 they read 1 book a day with teacher or TA and then brings a different book home. They also get to go to the school library once weekly and choose a book for the week.

Y1
Books changed (by parent helpers) on Mon, Wed & Fri - one book a time. The kids choose their own books now, so they know what level they are on & choose whatever title they like There's a mix of different reading schemes - inc reasonable number of non fictions, which are popular.
Ds is reasonable able, and is heard read by the teacher about once a month on his own - at which point she assesses whether he's ready to move up. Some of the less able children have much more one on one reading.

They also have a library book choice every week (free choice)

I'm amazed so many are getting read with at school every day....how on earth do they find the time? Or are they small classes? dd1 is in Y1, and gets read with twice a week (the goal is 3x week, but they just don't have enough helpers to achieve it).

In Reception, it was once a week most of the way through...or rather, once their books and once their high frequency words. The official reading book was changed by the teacher, extra ones for home reading by parent.

In Y1, I change her books twice a week, grab 3 or 4 each time and let her choose what she reads in the evening. Story and educational books get changed weekly, their choice.

This is in a smallish state primary, with 34 (bulge class) pupils, two teachers and a TA.

Elibean - DD is in a small class of 14 (private school). So hearing each child individually daily is much easier. Was TA in reception to help too.

Now in Y3 it is 2-3 times a week.

We get up to 6 books a week - books are changed 3 times a week if you have signed to say that they are read.
Ideally children read to a teacher once a week in Yr R & Yr 1.... the reality in Yr 2 is that the more advanced readers get listened to once every 2-3 weeks, leaving more time for the kids who need more support, which most parents seem happy with.

DS is in Yr 2 and is listened to every day either by his teacher or the TA. He changes his book as often as he needs to; he is a 'free reader' and so gets to go to the library to choose his own reading book - because he is on chapter books now, he has maybe one or two a week.

This is supplemented by his books at home - he has a huge range and reads what he wants from his own shelves.

My DD is heard by her teacher every day and is given a new book every day, its in strict order. She has completed 3 levels since September with an average of 50 books a level as during holidays she has brought 4/5 books home to read. I hear her read every day as well and both the teacher and myself comment in her diary every day. Its a private school.

In comparison she did reception in state, was never heard read, never brought any new books home and when she finished reception was still 100% illiterate.

dd in yr 1 reads twice a week. once a fortnight to the teacher, the other times to anexperienced TA or parent helper. The books are changed to next ORT book when the person they are reading to is happy that they are confident with the text/talking about the story. Was the same in reception.

If my dd is right she has read her reading books in class twice this year. When they do an assesment. We get 3 books a week to read at home.

Dd -yr2 picks real book (i.e. Roald Dahl, Anne Fine, Ted Hughes, Phillip Pullman, Magdalen Nabb,Phillipa Pearce, Orchard Shakespeare) from cupboard/shelves ans reads 7-8 Pages every day with them and then completes book at home. She changes her book every day.

Ds - reception. He is reading New Way this term and Ginn last term. He reads every day (mon -thurs) with his class teacher and has his book changed every day. He sometimes gets an extra book at the weekend - was Read &write this weekend

What do you think of new way NWmum? Never come across it before but ds had a couple and they were so boring. So repetitive.

Hi everyone - interesting topic. I am a Scottish education adviser and also work as consultant for ORT.
Going back to original posting, my friend had a similar question when her wee girl started school. In P1 and 2 she was only getting one reading book home a week. Whilst a commercial scheme is not the be all and end all of reading, IMHO one reading book a week is not adequate - and our inspectors here would agree that pace and challenge lacking. Is important to foster a love of reading, and children can get bored, especially when early core readers are repetitive in vocabulary terms. As some of you have said, letting chidren choose 'real' books is vital - even if most of text has to be read by parent.

Teacher should also not simply be 'hearing' reading -big push on now for reading to be taught as opposed to heard. The teacher should be able to give you activity ideas to keep reading fresh and improve comprehension, e.g. using postits to mix up words, magnetic letters to make sentences, talking about illustrations etc and relating to own experiences, art activities etc etc.
Many children learn to raed well with understanding, expression and enjoyment unfortunately in spite of their teacher - instead due to parents like yourselves who encourage their children to have a lifelong love of learning :-)

Hi all,
Have read most of the thread, but not all so apologies if I repeat or have missed something.
I can see both sides as I am a Mum and a Year 2 teacher.
I think it's really important to say that children learn to read best when supported at school and at home (and strongly disagree with the 'inspite of the teacher' comment from the 'education advisor').
Teacher's and teaching assistants teach reading in schools through many methods, but rarely does this involve sitting and listening to a children read an ORT book - frankly a waste of time and not realistic time-wise.
The ORT is a good guide for parents who want to be sure they are on the right track, but they should absolutely be supplemented with games, library books, comics etc.
What a dull world it would be if all children were given to read were the generally speaking very boring reading scheme books.
Imo, and that of the OFSTED inspectors who came in last week, 1 book a week is fine, with plenty of ideas on the school website and in curriculum letters on how to broaden reading work at home.
Of course, for children who clearly get no help at home, school will have to put in more support, but the majority of parents are great, really supportive of their child and do wonderful things, like visiting the local library and reading when out and about.
Please, please don't worry about reading schemes.
If your child is enthusiastic about reading, and is interested in a range of books, then likely both home and school are doing the right thing.
Sorry for the waffle, but one post got me really riled!

Year 1 - I book a week - group reader. ORT
Year 2 - 1 book a week - group reader - longer chapter books.
Year 3 - 1 book a week - much longer chapter books that can't be finished in 1 night.

See a pattern. . . . ?

They can choose library books. I supplement it with my own books.

School gets fantastic results always comes first or second if you looks at the sats results.

Crocdundee

Good comment; parents get too hung up on how often children are read to at school. The important thing is to be read to at home and to read wtih your parents.

My dd in year 1 reads to her teacher once a week. I can't see that this is important because it is obvious to everyone that she is making progress, and every half term would be sufficient.

They use mainly Rigby Star books, a few Young Puffins and some Ginn. The school works with book bands. Dd is on band gold.

At this stage, the books are quite long so we tend to only read two a week. However, because she is quite a good reader, I think that this isn't that important because she spends quite a lot of time reading to herself.

We are currently sharing the reading of the BFG as a bedtime story.

DD reception

Reads to teacher/ta 3 times a week

Changes book everyday

Books changed on Mon, Weds and Fri (or 3 books on one of those days for the week depending on how much help the teacher has to do it!). Books only changed if parent has signed in reading diary that it has been read. Children work their way through coloured reading bands, moving up either when they have read them all or the teacher thinks they are ready to move up.

Although there is a lot of difference I don't think its worth focussing too much on how often your child is listened to in class.

I was very concerned when DD was bringing home books that were far too easy and not challenging at all but now she is reading appropriate books (ORT 8, year 1 - she can read whole book in 20 mins maybe 2-3 words per book she has to either sound out or get help with) I am totally not bothered that they never seem to listen to her.

They know I listen to her every night and its better for them to use their resources to listen to the children who are either struggling or/and those whose parents are less able to hear them (perhaps as parents don't speak english or for other reasons).

We are getting up to 6 books a week (if we get though a book per day), I would be concerned if it was not enough for 10 mins of reading with her each day (ie around 3-4 books a week).

When we were not getting enough appropriate books I was doing a lot of reading at home of other things... her reading was progressing... just not because of the reading scheme though...now we have less time for that.

If anyone is concerned and is not getting a satisfactory response from the class teacher do not be afraid to bring it up with the head teacher (or in big school head of year/head of infants etc).

My gripe at the school was that they were moved up when they read all the books rather than when ready - fine now at ORT7/8 where they don't have so many books but painful at ORT 3 and ORT4 where there seemed to be unlimited books.

How often do your dcs change ORT level on the whole (I'm sure it varies a lot but to get an idea)?

In our school I think there are only six books at each ORT level which means potentially going up a level every three weeks assuming they do two books a week. Seems a bit quick in the latter stages?

My DS took different amounts of time on different levels and I have found that he has skipped a few books when they felt he was ready to move up. We found number of books per level seems to vary - level 3 seemed to go on for a while.

I think I need to remember that DS is reading fine and I am not concerned about how often someone listens to him read - I just want him to be able to get new books when he is ready for them. I said on Friday he had finished the old ones and he got new ones that day - I think I will carry on in that way.

I didn't actually answer your question grammer .

It has varied from a couple of weeks to a couple of months on different stages.

My Ds1 (yr 1) changes book when it is finished, which can be daily, or now books are getting longer, oftemn less frequently as we do not manage the whole book in a night.

School asks us to read at homne 3 times a week, I aim for every night but normally end up being 5 out of 7. Write in his record each time.

Reads to someone at school once every few weeks.

School has just chenged to book abndsm which is great. Still some reading scheme books, but lots of "proper" books too. We had Harrya nd teh Dinosaurs this weekend. IMO far bettter than a reading scheme as it gets them use to different styles, fonts etc and is far more fun.

Thankfully he can read better than I can type!!

to crocdundee - sorry if the in spite of comment offended - was a bit harsh. Was a primary teacher myself until very recently and taught early years for 7 years. I now advise taechers on aspects of literacy and work in classes alongside them, helping to implement the new curriculum.

Unfortunately, you as a teacher know yourself that although the vast majority of us are passionate and hard working, there are still some in the profession who lets just say lack a bit of va va voom!

Liked your comments about comics - as i said in post need a variety of texts - am working on a resource to help teachers look at comics and graphic novels in mid and upper primary, so good to know that others think comics etc worthwhile.