What is your YR1 doing?

[clare40]

Just wondering as my daughter's teacher seems to have a very slow approach to everything. They are still doing single sounds, which my LO new at nursery. I feel totally frustrated....but anyway what is the norm?!

[mamamiafigaro]

My dc1 is in YR1 and is reading, doing sentences, spelling and think she mentioned coin work(counting moeny i suppose). Thats off the top of my head as to what the homework is and when i have been in class in the morning, but i suppose each school is different in there approach?

[DaftApeth]

I get the impression from when ds was younger that their school does move them on quite quickly, so this may not be any help at all!

Dd is in yr 1 and has a reading book most nights. She is ORT level 5-6 (orange), I get the impression that she is about middle in terms of what her classmates are doing- some are on chapter books and others still reading books with single sentences on the page.

Numeracy- I think she is in the bottom group and the last 2 homeworks have been, filling in a caterpillar counting down from 10-0 and a similar thing, counting up in 2's and 10's. This week she had to work out what the units and tens were from a drawn abacus and then drawer the beads onto an abacus from the given 2 digit numbers.

As I say, in a few years, it all evens out.

[mrz]

Our Y1 teacher is working on the alternative ways of writing sounds so - ay - ai - a_e - eigh - aigh - ey and or - aw- au - al -our
writing stories letters reports poems etc (1 side A4 expected) numeracy working with numbers up to 100 plus all the topic work - transport this term.

[julybutterfly]

1 side of A4 in the first term of year 1?

Apart from that my DS is doing the same as Mrz year 1's I think. He doesn't tell me much!

[mrz]

Some children are writing a side of A4 in reception so it isn't an unrealistic expectation for Y1.

[julybutterfly]

But it's not 'expected' of the whole class surely!?

[mrz]

by Y1 all children are writing a minimum of 1 side without a problem.

[emy72]

mrz in my DD1's Y1 class at least half of the children can't write at all, and this is an Ofsted Outstanding school with very high SATS results in a middle class area.

Shocking?!

[mrz]

We aren't outstanding or middleclass and Ofsted criticised us for not having children writing earlier ...

[fruitful]

I take it that by "side of A4" you're not meaning 400 words?

My ds1 (Y1) would fill a side of A4 with 10 words and a picture. 5 of those words would be intelligible and 2 might even be spelt correctly.

[mrz]

NoI don't mean 400 words in Y1 most children only manage 3 or 4 words per line and approx 20 lines per side. All words recognisable even if not accurately spelt and definitely no pictures.

[mrz]

Thinking about it I couldn't get 400 words on a side of A4 unless I word processed.

[julybutterfly]

I don't understand how you can have a full class of year 1's all doing that! Surely there are children in your school who struggle academically?

Of course there are children in DS' class who could do that but there are still children who barely know their letters!

And you're not an outstanding school?! Not much hope for the rest of us

[mrz]

All our children start reception full time in September so have the advantage of 3 full terms in school. Most know all their sounds/letters by Christmas and we rarely have children entering Y1 who don't know how to read and write.

[julybutterfly]

All ours start then too and, by the sound of it, work to the same schedule as yours. But there are always children who just don't 'get it' until they're older. I thought that was normal! Maybe I was wrong

[nancydrewrocked]

Mrz all DD's year 1 class started reception FT in September. I would say half of the class still cannot read above the key words and again it is an outstanding school in a v. middleclass area with a lot of parental support.

DD is pretty much top of the class having transferred from overseas where she has been in school since 3. She would struggle with a page of A4.

OP what they are doing is:

sentence structure and punctuation

counting in 2's and 10's.

adding and subtracting numbers up to 10.

I am

[sky21]

My ds in year 1 is in top group for literacy in a good middle class primary. Just counted words per page in his homework book. He averages 30 - 40 per page with a picture ( not including title). He is fairly consistent with full stops and capitol letters.
He is reading book band 7. I think they are doing number bonds in maths. There are some children in his year who are still struggling to form letters.

[clare40]

Gosh, this doesn't make me feel any better. I tried to approach the teacher and it's obvious he thinks he knows what he is doing. It's pretty frustrating as my daughter is fairly bright and I know could be doing so much more.

BTW - drrr knew not new (in first message!)

[mrz]

nancydrewrocked some of our children don't get any parental support which is why the school works hard with any strugglers so they are not disadvantaged.
When I taught reception I didn't teach key words (can't say what the new teacher is doing this year until I observe her) but began teaching 5 sounds per week beginning the first day and to blend and segment right away. Yes children are working at different levels and some take longer than others but all read and write regardless of SEN unless there is a major physical difficulty

[TheHouseofMirth]

My DS is mainly playing, as far a I can tell. I believe the YR1 curriculum has moved towards more creative and play-based activities to ease the transition from Reception. As the mother of a summer born boy I am very glad about this. I am a bit that children this age are receiving home work. DS brings home 5 books a week for us to share, but that's it. His best friend has a 10 word spelling test first thing on a Monday morning. That makes me so .

[NonnoMum]

My DD is in Year 1 and is still using "emergent writing". And her reading books only have one sentence on each page.

And, do you know what, I'm not in the least bit worried.

She's not long turned 5, ffs, in most other countries she wouldn't even be in school yet.

She's happy, sociable, asks interesting questions and is loving school.

And she's really good fun too.

[mitochondria]

Ah, I shouldn't have read this thread. My son is in year 1 and I'm lucky if he writes a few words, let alone a side of A4.
He can read quite well, just doesn't put pencil to paper easily.
He has 11 spelling words to learn for tomorrow morning.

[nancydrewrocked]

mrz again your school sounds exceptional. By a long way actually.

My DS went to a different prep school and both Dc were schooled overseas last year so I have experience of three different schools teaching FS1/nursery, FS2/reception/kindergarten and year 1. All three of those schools fall a long way short of what you describe.

I mention this only so as not to alarm the OP. I suspect the vast majority of DD's class have only one sentence per page reading books; certainly more children don't do spellings than do etc etc.

[mrz]

We work in a very child centred way in both reception and Y1. Children not working with an adult "plaY" and there is no evidence that children feel under pressure to read or write. They do it by choice because it is interesting and fun. Boys (in general) are quite mercenary and want to know what they will get out of it if they make the effort whereas most girls like to win adult approval.
I took a gamble with my class this year and we are reading The Tempest but I've got boys bringing me pictures and writing from home (not set as homework but because they chose to do it)... never underestimate what children can do if they are motivated.

[IndigoBell]

mrz. Very unbelievable. How on earth do you get all kids to read and write, without even a TA in your classroom?

How come you haven't got any kids whose working memory is just too poor or their hand strength is just too poor or something else?

Do you get a clean sweep of level 3s at end of KS1 results then?