WWYD now?

[lovecheese]

Me again. The saga continues. Teacher is still giving her guided reading books which she says are borrowed from the juniors () and I still feel that she is digging her heels in with her reluctance to give DD harder books (I have learned from wise MNetters that a child should read with 95% accuracy; she reads these books with 100% accuracy). I support her with wanting to improve comprehension and thus giving her a wide range of genres to read, but they are boring DD and the language is not stretching her a bit. She is still reading whatever takes her fancy at home, and DH thinks we should forget the school books and let DD read home books and record this in her reading diary and then maybe they will get the message. Hmphhh. WWYD? BTW want to make it clear that I dont want her to move up because want her to be "First to finish the book bands"; just want her challenged.

I would stop reading the school books at home and let her enjoy her books from the library instead.

My dd is in reception and I've signed her up to the reading chest. She received books which are 2 levels harder than she reads at school in her guided reading group, which I feel are more the right level and she really enjoys getting them in the post. Not sure how old your daughter is though and whether the levels go up high enough for her?

If I were you I would get her to read the school books through once, then just read whatever she wants at home. I wouldn't want to say she didn't have to read the school books as I think that may undermine the teacher....

We had the same problem with DS last year. We decided it was no use trying to get him moved up a band as the teacher was adament that he should stay where he was - too difficult to move him to a different reading group,etc. DS read his school book at least once at home. We felt it important that DS read the school reading book so we could be seen to be supporting the teacher. This took him all of 5 minutes, after which he read what he wanted.

Runoutofideas - she is 6 and in yr1; I signed up for the reading chest yesterday as it happens, requesting white and lime band books as she reads much harder stuff at home than at school.

mussyhillmum - do you mind me asking what year and level your DS was at last year and if the situation was sorted? Did he get re-assessed at the start of this year and moved up?

I have this problem with DD school books. She has her books changed 4 times a week, and I can honestly say she has needed help with only three words during the whole school year.

I've given up trying to be a pushy parent and now just get her to read the books - it takes a few minutes. To make it more interesting, I ask her questions, before , during and after the book.

She gets to pick a book of her choice after, so everyone's happy.

I think the teacher suspected that DD wasn't reading the school books and now 'tests' her about each book, so beware!

At your DDs age DD would read the books to herself, I never bothered reading with her. If she is reading other books at home, I don't really know why you are making a fuss.

My advice is to focus on comprehension. Get her to predict the story, discuss pictures, ask what she thinks about characters, suggest alternate endings, write book reviews in a small diary giving them marks out of ten etc. Just as important as de-coding, helping her with this will give her a big advantage later on.

Also read library books, choose books purely for fun to make reading fun. Don't care if they're a bit easy/ hard as long as they're enjoyed. Try different types of texts such as poems and non-fiction to break up the constant story books.

I'm a teacher and I'm really not a fan of banded books at all. My TA and I regularly pick 'normal' books out for children of approximately the correct level. Funnily enough we found some old 1980's ladybird books with fairytales and those old Peter and Jane books. We a have a few kids hooked on them. Really, all I care about for my own children is that they enjoy reading and want to pick up books for fun. Beyond that I really don't fuss about the progress they make. If they enjoy it and want it they will naturally succeed.

I would say definitely still read out loud with your dd - I knew several people at university who had much greater comprehension then reading out loud skills (in terms of difficult words) because they had been good at reading, so not read aloud tougher words to their parents.

I do wonder if this is less common now that it is taught phonetically?

Strawberrycake - thankyou for the reply; she does love reading, allsorts of stuff too; My concern is that she is shy, and nervous when she has to read with the teacher - who even said this week that DD seemed anxious and was wringing her hands, bless her, and that she just gets through a piece of text as fast as possible in a flat monotone and does not "give" very much of herself when it comes to answering questions when I know as her mother that she is more than capable; and because of this I am concerned that she is not being stretched as much as she has been up until recently and will not be stretched when she goes into yr2.

I would do as your DH suggests

One thing that a lovely parent in my class did, was to record her child reading at home every so often so that I could hear it. At school, the child was monotone, and would answer questions with very scant detail. It was very hard to assess her reading skills because of this.

Hearing the recordings meant that I could accurately assess her skills, and work out which areas to work on next.

Would this work for your dd?

Littlefish that is a bloody good idea! Thanks!

Anyone got a dictaphone.....

mrz - have you had this problem with children that you have taught, and would you really recommend what DH says? I think you always talk sense BTW.

WHy are you so concerned about this? DD is in year 1 and we have rarely read the book sent home. She has much nicer books at home. We just record these in her reading diary. I also choose the spellings for her as the ones they gave were too easy. Her teacher doesnt mind at all. Why should she?

I'm afraid it's not something I've experienced as a teacher but I wouldn't mind a child reading other books at home. What is important is that children do read and scheme books would be my last choice for reading material.

Quick update - avoided reading the school books over half term, instead DD read what she wanted, either to me or quietly to herself in bed, which included some from The Reading Chest - thoroughly recommended - and she came home on Monday saying that her teacher had said that she HAD to read the school books. Further ridiculous books sent home this week, DD confused, and to top it all just discovered she is on the G&T register! Dont know whether to laugh or cry!.

Lovecheese you said further up that your daughter's issue at school is shyness, not lack of ability.

Therefore, I agree with her teacher that she should be reading the easier books at school, because there is no fear of her suffering embarrassment of not knowing the words, and she can build up her confidence to speaking to an audience.

I used to do Speech and Drama lessons, and in the beginning the poems and extracts I had to learn were very easy, and I didn't get the point of it, because I could remember them straight off and recite them immediately. But the point was not to teach me how to memorise or read (I could do that) it was how to pronounce clearly, slowly and with expression to an audience.

I have since throughout life been picked to do presentations (school/uni/work etc) as I am the one that no matter what is given to me I can stand in front of the audience and speak.

I think you should look at school reading teaching your daughter this, not the reading. She obviously gets lots of practice of difficult words etc at home, and I'm a big fan of the reading chest. But needs to work on confidence to outsiders.

kolacubes thanks for the reply; she reads with 100% accuracy so the issue is as you said not not knowing the words, just clamming up and not showing what she is capable of. I understand the teachers reasoning behind securing her comprehension but frankly the books that she is using to do this are laughable in their simplicity and I am once again banging my head against the wall . And honestly how many six year olds can put on an oscar-winning performance when they read at school?

My kids have been made to read ORT books in old lady voices (much to hilarity of the boys), sing song, angry voices etc. This is Reception age.

They've also had to get in front of school (R-Y2), and read out their work.

When you see the Y2s performing the school plays, you can see where the grounding came from.

I have sympathy with this post OP. My DS is 6 going on 46 and has decided that fiction is for wimps. I am confident that this is just a phase he's going through and have discussed it with his teacher. She is happy to have a break from the ORT but he takes two books from the school library each week - one fact and one fiction. Seems to work. I think the teacher should lighten up a bit and think of some alternative strategies. I love the silly voices idea! Only a few weeks to go and hopefully you'll get a new teacher next year anyway..

Thanks for bothering to reply Oliviaaah. I too wish the teacher would lighten up and think of some alternative strategies. I feel that the last three months have been wasted.

We had a problem with one of ds's teachers, he'd read books silently alot faster then he's read them to her so she thought that we were exagerating the amount of books he was reading/he wasn't reading them properly and skipping pages. After a discussion she agreed to allow him to read a book in class and she asked him questions about the book and never mentioned this again.

Your daughter will have a different teacher in September so I wouldn't bother with this battle. Let the teacher give her a reading book and give her something harder at home, or, as someone suggest, tape her. The ORT is a complete waste of time for some children. My son had to read this in reception (despite being able to read Roald Dahl/Horrid Henry since before he started school), we compromised so he'd only have to read a couple of books in each level. He managed to read the whole of the ORT in a day. I did end up having to take in his own books to read though as they had nothing else appropriate for him.

A result : DD was "benchmarked" for reading a couple of weeks ago, and achieved a level 26 (which means nothing to me BTW) and lo and behold has been put back onto the book band that she was taken off back in March. Oh and she achieved a level 2a in the May tests which is higher than predicted. Three little words sprang to mind when we were informed. Told. You. So. Lets just hope that the whole business can be forgotten about now and DD can go into yr2 in September as the happy little girl that we know and love. P.S I don't bear any animosity towards her teacher, just frustration that all this could have been dealt with differently.