Reading

[Guest]

Hi

 

I have just done a search on reading schemes and found it has not been discussed for over a year. With new people on board all the time I'm hoping for some inspiration.

I am a reception class teacher. The school policy is to change book daily (or as the children desire) for a book of their choice. This can be any band, and the idea is for the parents to read to their children to develop a love of books, imagination etc.

On top of recording this daily we also listen to children read. Offically this should be 'at least once a week' but in reality once a week is hard enough, and it is spread between me, the TA and any helpers we have.

We make notes in a school record book and notes in the home-school contact book too.

All thsi is very hard to fit in. We try to listent io children during quiet readings essions int he afternoon, but a class of 30 4-5 year olds can't read quietly for 15 mins as hoped and it is impossible to hear enough children read individually in this time.

Does anyone have a way of working that they can share with me? How often do children change books, how much info do you share with parents, when do you hear them read??

 

ps. At this early stage in the year we haven't started any of this type of reading yet but there is alot of discussion on it at school at the moment and a parenst meeting planned and I want to be prepared for later in the year!

 

thanks for any help!

[Guest]

Hi

I'm a Reception teacher, and we hear them read during guided reading sessions (6 chidren in one session) not individual.  We record a target in their reading record, and the book they read at school may not necessarily be their home reader.  We send home a traffic light:

The guided session is done ny me or the TA and each group is heard at least twice a week. 

 

I have just done a search on reading schemes and found it has not been discussed for over a year.  With new people on board all the time I'm hoping for some inspiration.

I am a reception class teacher.  The school policy is to change book daily (or as the children desire) for a book of their choice.  This can be any band, and the idea is for the parents to read to their children to develop a love of books, imagination etc.

On top of recording this daily we also listen to children read.  Offically this should be 'at least once a week' but in reality once a week is hard enough, and it is spread between me, the TA and any helpers we have.

We make notes in a school record book and notes in the home-school contact book too.

All thsi is very hard to fit in.  We try to listent io children during quiet readings essions int he afternoon, but a class of 30 4-5 year olds can't read quietly for 15 mins as hoped and it is impossible to hear enough children read individually in this time.

Does anyone have a way of working that they can share with me?  How often do children change books, how much info do you share with parents, when do you hear them read??

 

ps.  At this early stage in the year we haven't started any of this type of reading yet but there is  alot of discussion on it at school at the moment and a parenst meeting planned and I want to be prepared for later in the year!

 

thanks for any help!

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[Sue R]

Thanks Becky,

 

I really like the bookmark idea! Hope you don't mind, but I've printed it for consideration with my team

 

Sue

[Guest]

Yes thanks, thats great. Am going to show others at school tomorrow!

 

Any other ideas???

[Guest]

I dont know if this would be possible in your school but here is what happens in my reception class of 30

 

Everyday myself or CA will hear 1 group in a guided reading way, then through the course of the week i will (or my CA) will hear each child read individually adn change and add words to their word envelopes (we re trying a new scheme this year - Action Words - it looks really good and comes with idea for parents to do at home)

 

Also every afternoon straight after lunch b4 assembly the whole school does 15 mins of silent reading - this being impossible for my little lovelies - i arranged for 2 children from each of the KS2 ch come and read with a small group of my children - either a choice of thier own picture books, or they lead an extra guided reading session. I will 'train' each of the KS2 ch to ask q's when reading etc to challenge and involve the ch. As the KS2 ch become more confident then if we are running behind with individual reading then some of the Y5 & 6 ch love to hear the YR read and do thier words.

 

The KS2 aren't necessarily the best reader - we choose some of the poorer ones to boost thier confidence also. It really works and i think that some of the KS2 ch enjoy it more than my class!!

 

Hope this is of some help?

 

Sarah

[Sue R]

Hey,

 

That sounds great!!

 

Sue

[Guest]

The KS2 aren't necessarily the best reader - we choose some of the poorer ones to boost thier confidence also. It really works and i think that some of the KS2 ch enjoy it more than my class!!

 

Hope this is of some help?

 

Sarah

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In the mantra of my weight watchers leader, this is a real 'win-win' situation. What a lovely idea!

 

Maz

[Guest]

I'm in an infant school and do something similar, using Y2 children. The only difference is that I have to use the best Y2 readers! During "quiet" reading I have 2 children sharing talking books on the computer and 2 sharing a story tape and book on the listening post. Sometimes I get my TA to play a reading game with a small group too - something like picture/word lotto or a reading dice game.

[Guest]

Hi

Although we try and hear each child read on a regular basis - we never manage it! In the last term before summer we managed to listen to more readers in our outdoor area whilst the other children were playing. We used to have a couple of parent helpers who would listen to the children read occasionally and we also enlisted our Year 6s to pair up with a child from our class from the spring term onwards once a week and they would alternate reading a story to them and our children reading to them.

We change books on a Monday, Wenesday and Friday, if they require changing (we have a 'to be changed' box and a 'to keep' box) on Friday they can choose a book either a reading book or a story book which they can share with parents over the weekend. Which is nice but can take forever for them to decide which book they want. On a monday and wednesday they are given a book from their respective stage.

During our meeting wih prospective parents we discuss the reading scheme, how the books are changed, that we would appreciate it if parents could listen to their children read occasionally and we explain how to go about it, how to encourage a love of books etc.

We also send home a simple sentence each week the words are on individual cards and the children can make a sentence with the words

e.g. I can play with mum/dad

We won't start sending out reading books until we feel they have settled in and are ready even though we have a lot of parents constantly asking for them.

hope this helps

[Guest]

Over the last few years in Reception I had to read to the chn individually at least twice a week It is a nightmare because the noise level in the classroom goes up and you are constantly interrupted. This year I am going to do group reading. Could someone give me any good tips about how to do group reading .

[Marion]

We hear individual readers once a week and group readers twice a week. Also make extra time for children who are not heard read at home regularly. Last year we bought in the Rigby Rocket reading scheme (also use Ginn360 and Oxford Reading Tree) This is great for group reading as it has a teachers book with suggested questions and points to highlight with children. We also use posters and the children's own work for group reading sessions. Literacy advisor says using puppets and role play can also be part of group reading activities. This year we hope to have parent helpers so may be able to hear individual readers more often.

[Guest]

Hi

Glad you liked the bookmark idea!

Just to add I have 3 coloured storage boxes with books (fiction, non fiction, comics, etc. The red box is for readers below average, the yellow for readers of average ability, the green for good readers. The groups in class are encouraged to choose from a particular box according to ability. I usually start this after christmas. During this term we sent home Jolly Phonic word boxes.

I hope this helps.

[Guest]

We use the Oxford reading scheme for group reading and do group reading 3 times a week. We use the ORT big books to intrduce a book to the whole class. We start this after half term and initially concentrate on wordless books until Christmas. Meanwhile we teach jolly phonics and the children take home some of the words they recommend, and at school concentrate on the high frequency words. I try group reading with 5 children at a time. We dont hear children read individually until the last half of the summer term or if we are doing a running record on a child. Hope this helps Rocket. Im not sure im doing the right thing not hearing children individually but it seems to work.

[Guest]

Over the last few years in Reception I had to read to the chn individually at least twice a week It is a nightmare because the noise level in the classroom goes up and you are constantly interrupted. This year I am going to do group reading. Could someone give me any good tips about how to do group reading .

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Reception class at my school are weaned gently into guided reading sessions, but we work with groups. While myself and my TA are 'doing' guided reading with a group each the other children are involved in independent activities with their groups. These might invlove; digging letters out of the sand and matching them with others on a nearby table, a group using the role play area (having had modelling in there previously), making letters from play dough, handwriting practice, hogh frequency word matching, etc.

The next day the groups all change round and do another of the activities. This works on a round robin timetable all week, the children get very used to this and if you use a picture timetable will tell you what you should be doing!

All classes use this format from Rec to y6, our County Literacy advisor has been in and given training, observations etc on it and fingers crossed it works well.