No supervision year 1

[neshi]

Not sure how to deal with this...
In DS class, every morning, teacher writes down 5 jobs for the day in a board. I've seen these and were aware they exist.
My DS never tells me anything about what happens at school so is it hard to say what he's been doing or not. He's one of the youngest (summer boy) and making slow progress.
I assumed those jobs were done with supervision from the teacher and assistant....
Yesterday I understood between stories that DS only does one or two of those jobs. When I asked why he told me because they take too long and I prefer to draw! So today when I came in, gently asked the teacher if he has been doing his jobs and she just says: "not really, he prefer to sit there and draw!!! I work with one group, assistant with the other group and the rest are suppose to do the other jobs....this is to promote their independence"

Now please tell me: is this normal?? Is it realistic to expect 5 years old to go off and work independently??

For me this is just crazy, no wonder I feel he's not learning a lot, he only does one or two jobs and since no one there makes him do the other he just goes off and draw!!!
Is this normal in year 1?

[louisejxxx]

It's not normal if the teacher and TA are working with the same children each time and the others are always working independently. Is this the case or do they rotate?

[Inkymess]

What kind of job? In our school a job means running and errand of taking register to the office or tidying the book corner. They are given tasks such as writing their name or educational activity - I expect those to be done by all - tasks not jobs

[neshi]

Well, the teacher call its jobs here. Each job is on a different table and they are all educational activities, like measuring stuff, doing simple adding, writing about the story they are working at the moment...etc etc

[louisejxxx]

If they are rotating around doing the different activities then that is perfectly normal. A teacher can't focus on all 30 children in a class all the time, it just isn't possible! Presumably her and the TA are doing the activities that require their input?

[teeththief]

That would be classed as "morning work" here. I'm not sure if it's the same thing but it's just small things the children can do whilst settling down, waiting for the doors to shut etc. I'd assume the fact there are 5 are because some would work faster than others. I'm also assuming your DS gets help or does group work other times of the day?

From what you've said, it sounds perfectly normal

[Emeraldjan]

Some schools run their mornings like this, all the tasks are explained to the children, the teacher and ta work with all the groups over the course of the week. But I've never seen it where the work is optional, it is work!

[Inkymess]

In our yr1 on that basis they would be expected to work on the tasks and try at least some of them

[Juniper4004]

Sounds like the teacher and TA are doing focus group work, and the other three groups have independent activities to complete.

Assuming that's what they're doing, it'd be normal practice for them to rotate through the five groups within the week.

If both adults are involved in focussed activities, they will be keeping a general eye on the rest of the class, but they can't be policing every child who procrastinates.

[Galena]

In some schools they run Y1 much like Reception with free choice and learning through play.

[Johnny5isAlive]

Sounds normal.
Our school sets a weekly target to collect 5 stars and these are achieved by 'choosing' 5 activities (set at start of the week). It's part of free choosing. The DC know the target is 5 stars but they're left to get on with it. They often don't get all 5 every week

[Louise43210]

Yes, 5 year olds can work independently. Much younger ones can too. I'm sure he will learn to in time.