Reception reading. Not happy with school

[Sallyssss]

Hi, my daughter (who is in reception) very rarely gets one to one reading sessions(just group), and only gets a different reading book one a week (if we are lucky). I am not very happy with this? But, is this the norm? What does your reception child get in terms of reading?

Would also be interested to hear if your child goes to state ort private? (as we are thinking of chaning schools)

Cornsilk the class teacher has the rest of the class to teach too. If she sits with one children for 10 mintues the rest of the class are doing what? Twiddling their thumbs.

I've tried reading everyday with a class, year 3/4, and it was impossible. They were not getting quality teaching time because I spent all my time listening to readers and dealing with the usual things that go on in a classroom.

All things educational would be improved if children had one to one tuition but this country cannot afford a teacher for every single child.

Mrz i think it's unfair to say schools don't question DCSF guidence. It's questioned all the time but if guidelines are set it takes a pretty brave headteacher to say I'm not doing it. OFSTED evaluate schools on these guidlines.

Lots of parents DON'T read with their children.

[lost count of the amount of times I have written please re read for fluency and its ignored emoticon]

My dd gets one to one daily support and changes book weekly. We get extra books from library. Think we are very lucky as the F2 teacher is specialist in phonics and early reading.

The idea behind guided reading groups is that it is a more efficient way of teaching children (one teacher can teach 5 or 6 children the intended reading skill all at the same time)

DS is in state school reception.
He has his reading book changed twice a week and his library book weekly.
I think he has read with a TA once a term, but I read with him nightly at home so I am not really concerned.

Groups are not as effective as one to one.I teach children to read all day, every day both one to one and in groups. Groups are just not as effective.

beezmum, that does sound incompetent. I am no expert, but I do help in DS's school, so have 4/5 children once a week for a half hour session. During that time we all sit round a small table and all have a copy of the same book. There are various activities which come with the book, so reading, finding words, writing sentences, etc. As they do those it means I easily have time to hear each of them read individually, so even as just a parent it's easy to see how each child is doing. DS's school does this daily. His teacher joins a different group each day, so definitely knows where each child in each group is at. At his school each child also reads 1:1 to the teacher at least once a week too, but even without that they would still manage to hear each child read. Seems pretty fool proof to me.

'Most parents don't read much with their children'. Thats the real point. Probably most of our children are set to do just fine but that was what was so tragic in dd2 's class. Lots of children were from homes where no reading was done and the scraps of reading exposure at school just went nowhere towards making any progress. Reception and beginning reading is very different from junior level. I have no problem with dd1 in year 2 doing group reading but wish the weakest kids got more one on one time. Also in Reception there is so much play and there are assistants around so that a bit of one on one time is much more possible - if its a priority to help those vulnerable children get going!

The school books are always full of food crumbs and bogies anyway - I usually have to go over the covers with dettol spray before letting the dcs take them into bed. Library books seem to get cleaned now and again, so not as bad

But surely a good school would catch those kids and give them more 1:1 time to make sure they fall behind.

Agree beezmum.

We read every day with dd and do lots of reading activities - not hot housing her, she loves reading - and she is reading at level of 6 and a half year old (she is 5 and a bit). I think a good teacher in a good school is important but I agree with everyone who has said that what you do at home is the biggest factor.

In dcs school you have to be spectacularly failing to get any sort of help.

Not everyone has the luxury of a good school sadly.

Smee. I see what you mean. At dd2's school group reading was only once a week with no other formal reading sessions. I think the assistant often ran the session but for whatever reason my daughter didn't stand out. We changed her school (although not because of that) and she went up two levels in two weeks and another not long after.

Try to remember that if a teacher spends just 5 minutes a day reading one to one with each child, then in a class if 30 that is 2 1/2 hours a day- which wouldn't even include the time to find each child's book, and get them to come to her, and then find the next book and write a comment. That would be a huge proportion of the school day. While she is doing this she is forgoing any other teaching. What would you rather have, five minutes reading, or 2 1/2 hours of teaching your child as part of a group or class?

I think it's quite a sweeping statement to label all schools as 'bad' because they haven't got the money to pay for extra staff.

Targets must be reached and reading it just one of them. This won't change no matter which government gets in.

I really feel some of these posts are having a go at staff who are trying their best with the resources they have.

I find the smugness here unbelievable

So many children don't read at home with their parents. Several children in dd's class have parents who speak no english, four or more children in a tiny flat. They don't have the time, resources or education themselves to read with their child

And as to the argument that the school should concentrate on those children at the expense of the children whose parents work with them at home. WTF?

OP buy your dd a set of the Peter and Jane books and work your way with them with together. That's what I did with dd and she's improved hugely in a tiny space of time

Every other day would be 1 1/4 hours a day - no problem. Every 3 days would be fine also -Once a week would be acceptable - but never????
The irony is that dd1s teacher that read with them all most days somehow also taught them loads of other stuff like maths too Whereas no signs of this with dd2. Dd1 was gutted when she left her reception class because she thought it had all been fun - she had fitted in loads of play as well - amazing!

You could have a chat with the teacher but IME teachers are not keen on comments from parents about their lovely reading schemes, so I would push it too much. They are concerned with the class as a whole, you are concerned about your child, so take a trip to the local library, they are only too willing to help and get some good books and enjoy them together. Your dc's reading ability does not depend on the validation of a reading scheme level unless you make it that way.

DD is sidelined on the reading front at her school. Shes been listened to by a ta once in 3 months.

She reads every day with me.

There is NO POINT in me reading with her in the classroom so I concentrate my energies on the children whose parents (for whatever reason) do not read with their children.

Redwhiteandblue I'm not sure what your're suggesting should those children just be left struggling?

I work in the private system...I hear my class 1:1 once a week and even that is a PITA to be honset..and sometimes it isn't quality because I am also trying to deal with a thousand other niggles from the rest of the darlings. My TA also hears them 1:1 and I think does a better job because she can do it out of the classroom. We also do guided reading (but because of small class sizes) have small groups and this is the best teaching time I get to teach reading...

I think all teachers would like to hear children read more but simply there is not enough time hence group reading.

Also don't forget that whilst they may not be reading books they are doing phonic work as well which all feeds into reading and vise versa

I would rather my dc teacher taught them to read rather than hearthem read, and I have no problem with that being done as part of a group.

If you have children at a similar level, then teach them all decoding, skimming for tricky words, inference, text retrieval etc That is their job to teach reading skills. The listening to them read bit can be done at home or, if they have them, by reading volunteers.

Hmmmmm that's a bit rambling, but I knew what I meant.

It sounds like the quality and frequency of guided reading varies enormously. I just popped off and googled a dfes site on guided reading and it said it should not begin until children were secure in the phonic knowledge and blending. Also that the teacher should be very aware of the exact level of the kids and pitch the session so they could read almost everything. So what about all those kids doing guided reading from the start of reception? And if, as in dd2's school they only do one guided reading session a week well within the kids level of reading how can they know the child has made progress (they didnt in dd2's case!)

No children should be left struggling

It is a pathetic system if the message is basically teach your children yourself if at all possible

beezmum, I think you're right as it sounds like a lot of schools don't do guided reading correctly. But honestly if it's done well it's impressive. I was a sceptic until I saw it in action. DS's class has a lot of children with English as a second language and they're all reading pretty well in just two terms.