Reading: 5-6 year olds

[Zak33]

Lo parents.

Want to share something with you all, please.

How are you getting on with school book reading at home ? My lad is loving some books, bored with others.. and I make notes in the book in his school bag for the teacher to read and then make her comments in.

and sometimes..... I get berated for not reading with him... remotely, by comment in "the book". It's mainly because I fail to make note on when he reaads to me.. not that he has'nt done it. But ... honestly... if I think he's had a pair of books for long enough.. I note it.. and then.. he gets them again with a note saying he's not read them well enoough.

I love my boy.. I love his school too.. as does he... but surely there is a point when the teachers job is to teach.. not mine. When I was 5 3/4 I didn't have reading books from school and I didn't have a book for my mum/dad to note when I read them. But I did learn to read.

So... what's occured?
Why must a parent and child, with homework as well..... make notes on the reading at home of the school's books, so that new books will be issued?


We're already into the "child X is on brown label books..." comparisons... and he's not 6 yet!

I'm falling out of love with league tables...

He is good with numbers... (no suprise in my family) and very good at negotiation (no laughing, those of you who know me).. but reading.. average.

[0iD]

Reading is just one of those things kids fall in and out of love with. Jess has just got into reading at 9, before then she was more interested in the trampoline. It catches hold when their imagination is ready I think. Verity has been into books on and off for ages, faddy pre-teen Maybe his brain, owing to his mum and dad's particular skillsets, is just too busy with all life's possibilities that open upto him on a daily basis at that age. We all have a particular learning style that is predominant in our lives, seeing/watching, doing & trying, reading etc and these combinations change as we grow. I hate sats and book colours and what set they are in, and pigeonholing in general in schools for children this young, counterproductive and at time unnecessarily stigmatising.

[peterb]

I think there are two aspects to this.

When I was at school (yes, I can remember ) the teacher used to listen to every member of the class and form their own assessment of how we were doing.

With greater demands on the curriculum, there is less time for that (even with smaller class numbers) so it has devolved tp parents.

The book may (heaven forbid any hint of social engineering) be a way of assessing parents' involvement with their child's education.

[MarkyH]

he's still young and it sounds like he's getting on ok with reading. It wasn't like this wehn we were at school but lots of things change, they do new research etc and have found that reading at home with parents helps. You know you do it but they need to know too, there are plenty of kids who don't get to read at home, it's not checking up on parents I don't think, just a way of seeing how much help they might need in school. It's also about assessments etc that they have to fill in at school, they have to meet certain targets, teaching isn't just about the actual teaching anymore.
I don't always remember to write in my kids books and we don't get time to do it every night, nobody can manage that and it's a fine line between making sure you d enough with them and putting them off, especially if the books aren't that exciting.
Kids are all different and it's generally thought that boys don't get into reading as early as girls do. In other countriess they wouldn't even have started yet.
There will always be parents/kids who are competitive, leave them to it. Your boy will get into it when he's ready, he's still tiny.

[g8ina]

When my son Jim was about 6-7 we had a note from his teacher telling us he wasn't interested in reading. We popped in to see her and were amazed by her description of him. Another James perhaps, but no, it was him. So, what's the problem ? I asked her what he was supposed to be reading in class. She showed us the book "Thumbelina", a Ladybird special.

When I asked if he could bring his own book "The Lord of the Rings" in to read, she seemed a tad surprised.

Kids vary tremendously in reading abilities and the desire to read, but once you find the right book, it's like magic.

[Domestic_Ginger]

I think you hit the nail on the head. Mostly its about figures. We include the reading as part of the bed time story; our son (5) is usually exhausted and difficult. He is at after school club until 5:30. Quite often hes difficult and having to read those damn kipper books drives me insane. They're soooo dull when you have to read them through for the second time.

Guiltily I let him play far too many computer games. I almost and i say almost have got him trying to read the desicions in FTL!