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Need a bit of advice - year 1 dd age 6 really behind at school !!

34 replies

laughalot · 07/03/2013 12:17

Went to parents evening the other night and came out crying I am actually really angry with myself for not asking the teacher more questions. My lovely little girl is 6 very confident does not stand for any rubbish slightly hyper at times and struggles to concentrate for long periods.

She is very behind at school virtually at reception level or where she should be when she left reception. She does struggle to read but is getting better because she cannot read this really affects her writing. The teachers advice was that she needs to concentrate more which I take his point on board however I expected him to tell me what plans he would put in place to help her. I know class sizes are big and she cannot have someone to help her all of the time but she does need some help.

We have been out and bought her a load of work books and we have got the flash cards out again I suppose I just want a bit of advice of how to help her and to know that it is possible for her to catch up.

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learnandsay · 07/03/2013 12:31

Can she sound words out? What are you using the flash cards for? What type of words are written on them?

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Paleodad · 07/03/2013 13:01

If you have more questions then make an appointment with the teacher to discuss how you might best help your DD.
If she is struggling then, afaik, she should be getting extra help in class to help her catch up.
And remember that she's only 6, and at this age there is a wide range of abilities. There's plenty of time for her catchup with her peers.
Can i ask, is she one of the younger ones in her class? Do you think there may be any other issues that might be affecting her concentration?

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laughalot · 07/03/2013 13:06

learnandsay she can sound out words and knows every letter of the alphabet it is blending them to make the word for example if she has a flash card with can on she will say c a n - can she spells the whole word out before saying it hope that makes sense. The flash cards are just to see if she recognises the words.

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gymboywalton · 07/03/2013 13:07

when you ay she knows every letter of the alphabet-does she know the sounds of the ltters or the names?

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gymboywalton · 07/03/2013 13:08

did the teacher tell you what 'phase' she is on with her letters and sounds?

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laughalot · 07/03/2013 13:10

Paleodad she is not the youngest or the eldest just in the middle. I think her concentration is down to her being very chatty always talking from morning till night also a lot of children in her class are special needs so a lot of things going on in her class.

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laughalot · 07/03/2013 13:16

gymboywalton she will say for example b for ball c for cat ect so she knows the sound as well.

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laughalot · 07/03/2013 13:17

No they did not tell me what phase she is on.

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gymboywalton · 07/03/2013 13:19

thgat's brilliant then
what reading books does she bring home from school?

sorry i am just trying to get an idea of where she actually is with her reading so i can think of what to suggest to help iyswim

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seeker · 07/03/2013 13:21

Don't do anything yet. Make an appointment with the teacher and go in and find out exactly what they'd re going to do and what they think you should do. You need to work together on this. Don't panic- she's only 6! And don't let her see you're worried. You need to calmly make a plan and calmly implement it.

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HormonalHousewife · 07/03/2013 13:21

Sometimes children just 'get it ' later.

and it is perfectly possible and probable that she will catch up.

Book another session with her teacher and find out a bit more. Parents evening are not the best place to get down to the nitty gritty of what needs doing.

keep on encouraging her and reading to her. Flash cards etc are good.

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laughalot · 07/03/2013 13:28

The one she has at the moment is cook pot cook I would have to look later what level it is. Can I just say a big thank you for all of your replies. I find it very hard as she has a older brother who is the other end of the scale and is working well above average. I do not want her to be a brain box by any means I would just hate for her to struggle. I think the best thing to do is have another word with the teacher.

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seeker · 07/03/2013 13:30

Laughalot- seriously- not just "another word" A proper meeting, where you sit down properly and don't leave til you're sure exactly what has to be done and who's going to do it.

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gymboywalton · 07/03/2013 13:31

i agree that you should have a word with the teacher

the other thing i would say is to just read and read and read with her

not just her reading books-go to the library once a week and get a pile of picture books that she has chosen and share them-try doing you read a page, she reads a page. you want her to think reading is fun.

i can't emphasise how much much reading every day with an adult helps.

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HormonalHousewife · 07/03/2013 13:31

I've just noticed your name and think we were on the same postnatal thread

(I've namechanged a lot over the years but I was Kwith3)

Smile

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Timetoask · 07/03/2013 13:33

Ok, I agree do not panic, but if she is really behind then please don't listen to all the good folk who think they are being kind by telling you that she is only 6 and will probably catch up. You need to act on your worries.

Have a good meeting with the teacher and be ready with lots of questions. Give it some time to see improvement, but if you are not satisfied, go to your GP with your worries so that someone can assess and decide if she needs some sort of extra intervention.

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laughalot · 07/03/2013 13:40

Thank you everyone.

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blueberryupsidedown · 07/03/2013 14:07

Not sure about flash cards... If they are learning through the phonics method, you woul dbe much better off getting a phonics CD to help her recognise the sounds, ie hearing the sounds individually, and learning the sound associated with each letter - this does take time but pays off in the end. Speak with the teacher first though and see which method they are using. You might have to back to basics iwth your daughter, just a few minutes a day might be enough to help her through making the difference between all the sounds.

We used this CD: <a class="break-all" href="//www.amazon.co.uk/Jolly-Songs-Phonics-Laurie-Fyke/dp/1844140695/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362665179&sr=8-1&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21" rel="nofollow noindex" target="_blank">//www.amazon.co.uk/Jolly-Songs-Phonics-Laurie-Fyke/dp/1844140695/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362665179&sr=8-1&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21 and the kids loved it, and learned quickly all the letter sounds correctly, ie the way the teacher is doing it at school, not the way I learned it!

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learnandsay · 07/03/2013 14:12

blueberry, I think the OP's daughter knows the letter sounds and she can blend, but it seems that she needs to sound out all words al the time. So she can already read a little.

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AngryFeet · 07/03/2013 14:15

The alphablocks on cbeebies is very good for this too. I am getting DS to play the games they have on the website for this as it really helped my DD a couple of years ago. DS is also very behind with reading but he is progressing slowly. Sometimes it just takes them a while. DD certainly didn't get blending until around this time in year 1 and she is a Sept baby so was 6.5 at the time. She is a brilliant reader now and is on stuff like Famous Five etc.

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StitchAteMySleep · 07/03/2013 14:17
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Llareggub · 07/03/2013 14:20

My 6 year old DS is similar, and every reading session we do is a struggle. I a concentrating on boosting his confidence and getting him to enjoy reading. Last night, for example, we read each page twice, and on the second time over we discussed how tone/expression makes a difference. He got really into it and said he enjoyed reading what was actually a dull book.

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Karoleann · 07/03/2013 14:23

Can she see? Book an eye exam (they're free) just to rule out any uncorrected prescription or muscle balance problems with the eyes.
DS1 didn't really completely get reading til the june of year 1, he's now a year 2 and is of the the best in the class at reading. Although writing is still a bit painful at times

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learnandsay · 07/03/2013 14:25

When my daughter was at that stage I used to write words on large pieces of paper with a black marker pen and spread them on the living room floor. The advantage of doing that over flash cards is that you can use any words that you want and you can also make sentences. She became very familiar with all the words from an Usborne cloth book for babies (Kitty the Kitten) and then she and I read the cloth book lots of times. I did the same thing with words from Dr Seuss and then we read those books lots of times too.

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StitchAteMySleep · 07/03/2013 14:53

You need to have a meeting with her teacher. They should be differentiating the instructions to her level so that she can access them or providing support. She is very young still and not all children are reading fully at that age. The teacher needs to put in place strategies to help your child access the work. Is she sitting on a table with teaching assistant support?

If she is not concentrating when the teaching instructions are given at the beginning before individual work she will struggle if she cannot read instructions on the board or on sheets given to them. The same for retaining instructions.

Working on her listening and memory skills using games might help alongside reading more with her. Some ideas here, here and here. Also listening skills resources here and here.

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