is this reasonable Year 1 homework?

[MumNWLondon]

DD has been asked to do a book review for every school book she read (ORT 8).

She has to write - about the story, about a character in the story, about a place in the story, 5 new words from the book (DD says that bit is silly as she always knows all the words!) and what she thinks of the illustrations.

The teaching assistant said it will be good for her handwriting and punctuation, and that she will not change a book unless DD writes a review of it.

Aside from the issue of writing reviews on Biff and Chip books (!) do you think this is reasonable - I think its lazy of the school to ask her to do this rather than to take the time to set appropriate homework, and think she'll find it hard to do more than 2 book reviews a week - I have posted previously that she has to read every book on a level to be moved up - had to make a fuss to get her moved from ORT 4 to ORT 6..... working through books now on ORT 8 which I still think are a bit easy.

What do you all think?

If her handwriting and punctuation are very good then it does seem a waste of time.

DD1 would never have made it to the end of Yr1 if she'd had to write up every Biff'n'Chip book. She found it tedious enough slogging through them.

In your position I'd be very inclined to make a proper appointment with the teacher (not the TA) and make the points you've made here. How can she write out new words, if none of them are new? And how is she meant to write several book reviews in a week?

I could understand a requirement for one book review per week, perhaps - for the reasons the TA has set out. But not every single flipping book!

Also - how much time are they expecting her to spend on this. And how does that compare with the National Curriculum recommendations for Year 1 homework (last time I looked, I believe it was 60 minutes per week, including reading practice).

I can see some benefit in it as a task, but for every book it does seem a bit OTT. How may times does she change the book a week, if its once a week that could be ok (a bit dull after a few weeks) but if its daily it is far too much

Can she not review them all badly:

In this book Biff and Chip went to the seaside and ate ice cream. There were no new words in this book. I didnt like it because nothing exciting happened.

Then a big picyure of ice cream

After a few such reviews the TA may start to loose the will to live and you can explain thats how Biff and Chip make you and your dd feel

ha-ha littleducks! Unfortunately dd1 loved Biff ad Chip stories.
Sheis y2 now and free reader but guess what books she will choose from the (public) library.......

Sorry but I disagree ( apart from the issue I would have with setting YR1's any homework other than reading!) if the school policy is to provide yr 1's with homework then this is an excellent use of their time. Reading is much more than being able to decode the words, it is about appreciation and understanding of text, of characters and of settings. It is about expressing preferences and backing these up with opinions and information to support them. Does she prefer this book to her previous and if so why? Which is her favourite character, what does he/she do in this story that they would like to do themselves.Why does a character act the way they do, is there anything in the illustrations that adds information to the text etc. These are questions that should be asked to any child when reading a book, a book review practices this and writing skills too. There is so much a child could include in a book review that the possibilities are endless! Being a fluent reader means much more than reading "harder" books, it means appreciating and understanding what has been read, this is what the school are trying to develop and it's never too early to begin.

Book reviews are very good to work/focus on comprehension, characterisation, use of descriptive terms, observation, etc.

The 5 new words will become more relevant as she works her way through other books. Still useful if seen from a spelling POV perhaps.

As for reading ease - for home books the recommendation is a 95% accuracy level (being able to read without too much decoding, etc.) For guided reading books may be more challening with an accuracy level of 90-95%.

If she is finding school books less challenging then you could raise it with the teacher again. Or supplement with books from home. let's face it - books from home are generally much better anyway!

I assume she reads more than just ORT at school?

Mind-numbingly boring and guaranteed to put her off reading. As if Biff and Chip wasn't painful enough already.

That sounds like a lot for year one! Well it would be for my son who is a summer-born boy!

I think it is a good idea to a certain extent but I would want to spend the extra time getting my DC's reading up to a higher level first tbh.

UGH and Biff and Chip at level 8! I don't think my son's school have any of those past level 5.

Sounds like your daughter needs to be on band 9/10 rather than do this!

Having said all of this, I would do it with her anyway. She can write about how many new words there are for her - if there are none, then there are none!

I would also record in her reading diary all the other reading she does too, at a higher level! I know you have said in the past about her school being concerned about the content at higher levels but, really, for fiction I don't think that is an issue until level 14+. I can only imagine your frustration with them!

Too boring to write a biff and chip review every single week. Needs some variety, most definitely

My DS (Yr 2 now) has never been asked to write a book review for homework. He has had homework since reception - in year 1 he was getting a page of language homework and a page of maths homework to do each week plus 2 reading books a week.

It's way too much for every book. Reading is meant to be fun - if reading a book leads to a dull as shite exercise, then her desire to read is going to go out the window.

I think I am going to suggest 2 reviews and 4 books per week? (She has been doing 6 books per week). Because I think that any more than 2 reviews per week is unreasonable, and I don't want to slow her progress down to 2 books per week. I think its a slowing down tactic as most of the class on ORT4/5 so she is miles ahead.

She has got 20 Biff and Chip books left - 8 on ORT 8 (two of these in her book bag) and 12 on ORT 9. Can't imagine writing 20 B&C book reviews!

Her punctuation is fine, her spelling and handwriting could do with work, but then the school haven't issued a single spelling word/spelling test (or really encouraged much writing) so thats hardly her fault. So yes do see benefits of getting her to write some sentances although think there could be more interesting ways of doing this?

She is reading "My Naughty Little Sister" both to me and to herself (silently) - I have asked her and she does seem to understand.

And yes worried that having to write a book review on every school book will put her off reading!

re: the level - hard to say - the last 2 books she knew every word so 100% accuracy the book before that had around 4 words she needed to sound out etc so thats less than 95%.

Does the school only do ORT?

That sounds a nightmare, and so tedious! At least with different schemes and types of books the reviews would be more vared and interesting.

I would suggest 1 review a week, of one book that she has read/finished that week - either at home or school.

I would certainly never suggest reading EVERY ORT book in EVERY stage, or writing a book review EVERY time, but one a week on a variety of books would be a much better idea!

Some kids are on a different scheme (I think those that are struggling are on a phonics scheme) and they have Ginn as well - headteacher said she was going to transfer her to Ginn once she finished ORT 9 as the ORT 10+ books not suitable for year 1.

The thought of getting her to write book review on all the remaining 20 B&C books is slightly worrying!

Writing a book review on every book?! That would put most children off reading (and writing for that matter) for life!!

I wouldn't do that to my 12 year old (we home ed) - he would never read again. All of mine have to write a short book review on a set list of mutually agreed books - maybe 1 every 3 weeks, plus whatever they read for book club (once a month). They are all well beyond year 1!!

I think once a week is enough - I mean what can you say about Biff and Chip - "This book is crap - I hated it." (I suppose she could write that once and you could photocopy it!

MumNWLondon - whilst i agree that the task seems unreasonable and BORING! do you think maybe thay have asked her to do this because she is ahead of others with her ability? I ask because my own DD in yr1 mentioned that her and another girl in her class, who I know is bright, now do "Group 5" activities. The class is split into 4 ability groups but when questioned she said that whilst the rest of the class were getting on with whatever they were doing, her and this other girl were allowed to basically spend some time reading and writing what they liked in the home bay. G&T? not been mentioned but made me think. Could this be the case with mini mumNWLondon? Is anyone else being asked to do it?

BTW she is reading white level books at school, things like ORT stage 12 and Ginn level 9.

I suspect she is ahead of most of the kids in the class (for reading) but I suspect that there are at last another couple of kids at same stage / ahead of her.

TA said she had asked other kids to do it too. I popped in this morning when I took DD to school and she said that DD racing ahead too fast with the books and that needs to spend time doing handwriting.

I said very happy to slow down a bit as agree 6 books a week a bit much but at same time think one or maybe 2 book reviews per week enough and don't want to slow the reading down that much.

Anyway she said that book reviews could be on books DD is reading out of school if she prefers... DD is really enjoying to B&C books!!!

She definately understands what she is reading but could do with improving expression.

to op. i think your dd is whizzing along too fast, they want to make sure she doesnt get bored . i think it s fantatstic they are giving her challenging work. my dd is in year two, and has just moved up to stage nine, and she is top table, one of the fastest readers/spellers etc in her class. so at a year younger, i think its vital for your dd to get the extra work. either that, or move her up a year.

My DD gets the ORT worksheets that go with the books to do at home, maybe they'd be more interesting to do than book reviews? My DD is just 6, would be Y1 in the UK, just finished ORT stage 9 and mostly she can complete the worksheets herself (2 sides of A4 per book) but sometimes she needs help. Her teacher thinks one ORT book a week is enough!

I asked about the worksheets that go with the books but they don't have them.

Also although she is in year one, also with an October birthday she is the 2nd oldest child in the class, if that makes a difference?

I also agree that 6 books per week is too much - I asked for 2 books at a time when we were trying to race through stage 3/4 (they said she had to read every book) - and then the books were much shorter and easier.

I suspect that they want to give her more challenging homework, and now I have spoken to the TA who has clarified its not every single book (which is what she wrote in the homework book and told DD) I'm not as bothered although I do think something more structured like worksheets would be more interesting.