Does the EYFS suggest that children should be able to count by 3 ?

[gottenrotten]

I'm slightly confused I can't find it online. By I'm sure at parents evening preschool said DS should be counting to 10 by age 36 months ( 3 years) Or have I misunderstood?

Also would he also be expected to know shapes, colours by age 3? My DS is delayed but I'm trying to work out what is expected by 3?

[MrsS92]

www.foundationyears.org.uk/files/2015/03/4Children_ParentsGuide_2015_WEB.pdf
This is a very useful document.

[gottenrotten]

@MrsS92 ahh thanks I did look at that but counting 1-10 seems to be in 30-50 not 22-36. So I'm bit confused.

Preschool say he was in the red for maths/numbers. He's actually 40 months. So does that mean he's not behind as such, but not achieved it yet within the 30-50? They still seem to be using the 22-36 categories for him a lot, and I have been told he is delayed by them? Annoyingly they didn't give me a copy, I'll have to ask for it. It's tricky they say one thing is an issue and then at parents evening they say something different.

[SMaCM]

https://www.foundationyears.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/EarlyYearss_Outcomes.pdf

[insancerre]

What do they mean by counting?
Reciting numbers in the right order?
Or counting 10 objects?
There is a big difference between the two
Most children can recite numbers to ten by the time they are 40 months and some will be able to count ten objects reliably but some do struggle with this till they are in reception

[itsaboojum]

Don’t get hung up on expectations around specific points of learning. So long as your child has good all-round progress then you’ve no need to worry. Almost every child will be 'above average' in some things and 'below average' in others: which is precisely how 'averages' are produced.

The Early Years Outcomes (formerly Development Matters) criteria which are associated with the ETFS curriculum comprises over 450 separate points which children are supposed to achieve by the end of reception class. They might have been designed to make parents anxiously believe their children were failing. The whole thing overlooks a lot of reality. Einstein didn’t speak until he was three.

[itsaboojum]

Without your specific questions.

Knowing colours and shapes (in the sense of naming them) is not mentioned in the EYFS curriculum. Instead, it mentions them noticing shapes in the environment; using appropriate shapes for construction tasks; exploring what happens when they mix colours.

Numbers are very much a point of debate. Until recently, DofE/Ofsted have had an unshakeable belief that children must recite 1-20 sequentially by the time they start school. But I heard recently this might be thrown out of the educational window. There’s a strong current of belief among educational researcher suggesting children should initially learn just 1-5 (or even just 1-3) and then use that range of numbers to work on 'one more', 'one fewer' and basic mathematical functions.

[Bonbonchance]

My advice is don’t worry about it, he’s only three and there’s a lot of things that go into learning to count.....encourage in meaningful ways by all means but don’t stress, we out far too much pressure on children to achieve achieve achieve and just because he can’t count to ten at three years old doesn’t mean he won’t ace maths later on! (Early years teacher)

[itsaboojum]

Apologies. First line of that post should read "With regard to your specific questions."

[sleepingdogssnore]

By count I mean both ways. My DS can't recite any numbers in the correct order. Sometimes will count sweets (say 3 sweets) and he might say, 2,6,3 whilst pointing to each one or even 2,2,11. He has been doing this for ages and I will correct him as in point 1,2,3. I don't make a big thing of it, but it's just trying to understand what is average.

I don't really know how to help him on this one. He has a numbers and counting beads puzzle. He can't recognise the numbers correctly if I say find number 3. I suppose that part is more like reading the numbers so is another level.

[sleepingdogssnore]

(Sorry had a name changed mid thread, not that it matters ! )!

[sleepingdogssnore]

@Bonbonchance I hadn't really been worrying. He's not at the sit down and learn stage so it's just as and when during play. It's more preschool saying certain things he hasn't achieved, thought maybe I'm going wrong somewhere. I cannot fathom how you manage to do these things with 30 little ones

[Starlight456]

Honestly what is important is your dc is making progress.

If he struggles with numbers just do lots of counting . Number of steps . How many cups do we need 3 - 1,2, 3.... sing number songs 1,2,3,4,5 once I caught a fish alive.

It is all learning through play at this age , the eyfs learning h Guy oaks are an average . I sometimes have children who may appear behind in areas because there language is behind the eyfs. By the next assessment they are up to date , same with walking, potty training. The thing with these is give opportunities to learn.

[Bonbonchance]

@sleepingdogssnore

“He's not at the sit down and learn stage so it's just as and when during play”

Sounds absolutely where he should be 😊 I certainly don’t sit down a whole lot of three year olds & teach them counting, we learn through play & meaningful contexts (eg you need to count how many cups of flour to make playdough). Try teaching little ones stuff they’re not interested in or ready to do - no chance! I’m in Scotland so maybe slightly less pressure with that although definitely pushes for inappropriate practice developmentally in places....

[Tumbleweed101]

Red in 30-50 means he started doing some of the things in that age bracket but it isn’t consistent yet in all areas of that bracket. It will develop over the next months and he’ll likely be amber or green by time he starts school. Sounds like he’s doing fine.