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Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Primary education

A Q. for those with children who have just started in Reception.

43 replies

wangle99 · 15/10/2008 12:12

Has your child brought home any reading books? words to learn? or anything along these lines?

DS started full time in September and they don't appear to be doing any literacy work at all. I know they are doing number work because DS comes home full of it!

Just wondered if this was the norm. Thank you.

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MrsWicket · 15/10/2008 12:14

Yes DD brings home a book every weds that has to be exchanged for new one the following week. Also has a book that a new letter is put in each day that she has to spend a few mins practising to write every night.

Not a wiff of numbers yet.

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schneebly · 15/10/2008 12:15

DS was in reception last year and they started off with jolly phonics songs and signs - they brought home a phoneme book to practise with pretty quickly but no books until after half term when DS brought ones with no words Maybe your DS just prefers numbers?

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FimboGotAxed · 15/10/2008 12:15

Ds has reading books which can be changed daily. Also school library book which is changed every Friday. He has letters to practice which are laminated and held together with a treasury tag.

AFAIK he hasn't been doing any number work. But ds doesn't tell me anything so he could be doing it in class.

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bran · 15/10/2008 12:15

Isn't it a bit early for that? DS has just started reception and I'm not sure that he even recognises all the letters yet, he definitely can't read anything except for his own name.

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FimboGotAxed · 15/10/2008 12:16

My dd couldn't read until the end of Year 1.

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MollieO · 15/10/2008 12:17

We've had 'Jolly Phonics' word and action on a nightly basis since the start(I just hate hate hate JP but that is another story). We have now started getting ORT reading books which vary in interest.

Before we got ORT reading books my ds would bring home a storybook from the class library for me to read to him. He seems a bit miffed that he no longer does that (only ORT now) and will only go through the ORT homework if I promise to read him a 'proper' story afterwards.

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wangle99 · 15/10/2008 12:17

Thank you.

DS knows all his letter sounds and also the names of the letters (sounds from nursery, names from watching Countdown with granny!) Nursery commented last year how he was ready to read and he wants to.

Having just spoken to my friend she said she isn't surprised knowing the school

Thanks for replying.

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shellye · 15/10/2008 12:17

DD just started reception. She gets 4 books a week and words that don't lend themselves to phonics.

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MollieO · 15/10/2008 12:19

My ds took a huge step back when he started school and it has taken until this week to get back to the level he was doing when he left nursery. I spoke to his teacher but for whatever reason he wasn't showing her in class the extent of what he knew. I assume that has changed now.

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GreatGooglyMoogly · 15/10/2008 12:19

DS1 brings home a (phonics) book and a library book each week. He also periodically brings home sheets with various letters on to be practiced at home.

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beansontoast · 15/10/2008 12:24

we get a short letter outlining what topics/themes the next week's learning will focus on eg two dimensional shapes,rhyming,Autumn and Judaism.

they then give tips
'you can help your child by.....looking around the house at shapes,talk about how many sides/corners etc.share soem rhyming books together etc.

there are fifty so called 'key words' that they are learning at school and so far we have been given twelve of them to get familiar with.

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seeker · 15/10/2008 12:24

Reception is for playing, making friends and getting used th school That's why it's called Reception, not Year 1!

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MrsNormanMaine · 15/10/2008 12:27

She brings home a reading book or two a week and work sheets for handwriting, literacy and number stuff - object sequences, numbers etc. And has occasional science homework - this week to draw a machine you might find in a hospital.

They don't HAVE to do the work though - only if they feel like it. My DD is always very keen but if she's tired we leave it.

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FAQ · 15/10/2008 12:31

DS2 brought his first reading book back home last week.

I did mention to his teacher at the parent/teacher interview about that fact that he hadn't had a reading book yet and she said that they'd bee waiting for a few weeks to let them settle in properly (been part time, now staying for lunch, full time next week) - but that she was starting to go round the class and sort out their reading books.

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Northumberlandlass · 15/10/2008 14:00

Since the second week of reception, DS has brought home a letter a day and worksheet (jolly phonics). He gets a new reading book every Thursday and the teacher will write in his little grey book, which sounds they are going to do the next week. I thought this was very intense, but he seems to be coping ok. They also do basic two and three letter words. He gets Spanish on a Monday and the class count to 10, sing happy birthday and also do the register in Spanish !! I'm sure it wasn't like that when I was at school.

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georgiemum · 15/10/2008 14:02

Word cards or lists every day and a library book on a Thursday.

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MollieO · 15/10/2008 14:03

My ds gets a JP letter worksheet and new reading book every day except Wednesdays when he gets the night off (!). Definitely wasn't like that when I was at school!

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wessexgirl · 15/10/2008 14:05

We choose reading books as often as we like from the colour-coded boxes outside the classroom (and note them down in the reading link book).

Every week they bring home a piece of paper with the letters they have learned in phonics.

They take out a library book once a week.

I have heard nothing whatsoever about number work, mind.

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SheSellsSeashellsByTheSeashore · 15/10/2008 14:06

Yep a new reading book daily and one levelled reading book a week, she also has key words she has to learn to read each term.

She is currnetly learning to read a line for the school assembly but it's only "We like singing" so is easy enough.

She bring home a new letter sheet each day to to fill in and colour pictures in.

We get no numeracy though that I am aware of. It's not brought home anyway.

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funnypeculiar · 15/10/2008 14:07

'Reading' book changed every other day, plus a jolly phonics book in which we have to source pictures of words beginning with each phonic & glue 'em in (we get about 6 per week...) - pain in the arse, as it goes . We also have a weekly library book.

They do Big Cat Phonics every morning & ds adores it (otoh, I hear very little about number work )

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Chocolateteapot · 15/10/2008 14:07

DS is mornings only. 2 reading books on a Monday, Wednesday & Friday. Phonics scrapbook with two sounds in on a Thursday, will be 4 sounds a week after half term apparently. He cut

We are told not to make them do it if they are tired.

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Lizzylou · 15/10/2008 14:08

Gawd, we are inundated here!
We get a reading book (with a record book to be filled in) which is changed every day/couple of days (we started with picture only books, on Oxford Learning thingies).

We also get a pamphlet every week, which they can colour in themselves and we get to keep. It introduces all the key words one at a time "I see a cat/dog/fish" then "I can see a ..."

We get an alphabet book with 4/5 letters of the alphabet to learn phonetically a week.

A story sack to keep at home which is changed once a week. Sacks contain a book with related games/activities/puppets whatever in.

A book from the school library which is changed once a week.

Frst few weeks we got nothing, and I was itching to get started, now trying to get DS1 in the right frame of mind is a right battle.

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bythepowerofgreyskull · 15/10/2008 14:09

we get a sound book and word box home each Friday 10 new words and have been encouraged to play eye spy with the letters from the sound book.

apparently we will start to get reading books towards easter.

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peanutbutterkid · 15/10/2008 14:11

No reading books until after Christmas, they are getting the kids to know the phonics extremely well first ("down pat", said teacher, Read Write Inc scheme).

Every day DS tells me exactly which letter they worked on today, and what the letter will be for tomorrow. His speech is poor, but he can draw the letters in the air or say the word that goes with it (today it was f for flower).

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sundew · 15/10/2008 14:13

I hate the idea of reception children getting homwework - at my dds school 'homework' doesn't start properly until they are in Year2.

I think you will be amazed about what they are learning at school - but it takes time and my dd1 couldn't read anything properly until she was nearly at the end of reception - but she is now one of the best readers in her class.

DD2 started reception in september and she can bring as many books home as she likes - but we don't HAVE to read them - dd2 just loves books so it is a treat for her. She is learning some words at school - and school do let us know what words they are learning so we can support them. I am really lucky though as dd2 has thee most amazing reception teacher.