Reading in KS1

[Fallingstar13]

Just wondering how people manage reading with the children in KS1? In previous years we have read with every child once a week at some point in the day when we had a spare few moments. The TA would read with half the class, the teacher with the other half and then rotate the next week. This meant we each read with 3 children per day.

We also do a 15 minute whole class guided read every day.

The problem I have at the moment is that we now have no TA, more challenging children and greater curriculum expectations leading to less spare time and a greater number of children to read with.

My daughter's school don't do individual reading - they only read as a group guided read each day - they have lots of adults.

How do other KS1 teachers manage their reading with the children?

We don't hear individual children read anymore. We change reading books daily if the parent/child wants it but apart from intervention groups or SEN children we don't hear them read.

We do a 15-20 minute guided reading activity as a whole class.

We follow the Little Wandle scheme so all children are heard to read in groups three times a week. It is a faff to organise.

Ideally there are 5 reading groups with six children each. Every day three groups read at the same time with either the teacher, class TA or TA 'borrowed' from another class. There is a schedule for each class to 'borrow' a TA from another class for 20 minutes to do the reading. The children who are not reading work on a phonics or writing task. We do need to catch up with some groups either at snack time or story time.

Some groups might have more or less than six children depending on reading levels. It is not perfect but the children are definitely making good progress.

This only works if you have TAs though.

At our school we do reading sessions with approximately 6 children at assembly. The TA and teacher both read with a group. Then teachers do one read at the beginning of lunchtime. We use Little Wandle so we're aiming for three reading sessions a week.

Where I work does this. My Y1's school doesn't do any group or guided reading but she is heard once a week (most weeks), usually by a TA for a fortnight then by the class teacher once every 3 weeks or so. She's middle to high ability and they know I'm a teacher and hear her read a lot at home so I think that's pretty good. They used to do it in assembly time but I think they do it in general class time now - not sure what the rest of the children are doing.

To add, she is sent home with 2 new books every week without fail on the same day. This seems a much easier system than changing one at a time when they have been read. Not sure what would happen if you didn't read the books sent home over the course of the week.