Who’s A Naughty Girl Then?

We are in the process of choosing a junior school for our youngest son.  We’ve had no doubt that he will follow his brother to the school he is currently at.  However, as there was an open day today, we decided to let him have a look around anyway even though he’s visited the school on many occasions.

My eldest son took the role of guide for us and showed his brother around the classrooms and led us to his.  His teacher was still there putting some finishing touches to some work when he approached me about my son’s reading record.

This is a book that the children are supposed to write in when they’ve read part of a book and then make some comment in it.  For my husband and myself we have never seen the point to it, as my son is a good reader and has good comprehension skills.

I also feel that to write about part or all of a chapter (if that’s what the child reads in a night) is out of context with the book and then you’re writing something down for writing’s sake.

I admit I have never encouraged my son to complete this record in the 3 and a half years he has been in the school. That’s my stance and I’m sure there are people who would disagree.  If my child had difficulty reading and comprehending then I may think differently.

So his teacher asked me if my son had mentioned the reading book.  I then stood before him feeling like a naughty girl who’s been caught out but I gave him my honest opinion.

What I didn’t know was that earlier in the day he had asked my son about the book to which my son had replied "my mom and I don’t agree with it".  His teacher asked him twice more, probably because he couldn’t believe what he’d heard. 

The teacher then took a straw poll of the class to find out what the class thought of the reading book and most of the class disagreed with it.

Hat’s off to the teacher for checking this out, but I now realise why when I had started to explain my viewpoint the teacher had given me a wry smirk.

Without realising I had backed up my son with the comments he had made so he would also have realised that he’d been telling the truth!

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