Mums guilt ,pls no shaming

The best thing you can do in preparation for September is to try and make sure she can put her own coat on, change into her PE kit, and manage in the toilet by herself.

I have worked in many a reception class and your dd sounds very normal.

OP - don’t worry - she will be fine - she’s so little still, just get her ready for school she’s got 12-14 years of education ahead of her to get those things right.

mum guilt - my 17 yo (with no additional needs) is quite incapable of telling left from
right 🫣🤣

Oh also play a lot of 'I spy'...it teaches them to think about letters at the start of words so helps with spelling.

If you want to do letters then maybe do one or two letters a week, Google supersonic phonic friends. And make it fun, whoever spots the most 't' s at the shops gets a prize type of thing, rather than sitting and learning at a table

Honestly OP you will have a different child by Christmas. Don’t worry.

Hi OP. I have two kids that have been through reception fairly recently and I still remember what the reception teacher told us before they started, about getting them ready for school

Play games with them like snakes and ladders. This will get them counting, and more importantly get them used to winning and losing.

Once they can count start to work on place value in everyday life. Like 'I have ten sweets, you have nine, who's got more to eat'

It's good if they can recognise the letters in their name. See if you can write them down and cut them out, and get them to colour them in and stick them down in the right order. It doesn't matter much if they can't recognise their name as their pegs all had a picture of them or an animal or something so they could recognise theirs.

Bud up fine motor control for writing - this can be playdoh, colouring, threading beads onto string to make necklaces, lego, sticking sequins...anything 'fiddly' that they have to concentrate on.

Practice following instructions especially more than one at a time 'go to the toilet and then put your shoes on so we can go out'

Practice doing coats and shoes etc and all the rest of their clothes if they have to get changed for pe at school

Read to them, take them to the library etc

Sure your daughter will be fine, she is only 4 and lots of countries with better educational outcomes than the UK don't start formal education til later.

I knew a few kids who could read and write before reception who were bored. My daughters nursery taught her to write letters...in a different way to how she learned at school so they had to get her out of all her bad habits! As it's not just about how the letters look but about how you form them, to get used to joined up writing in the future

My kids were all high flyers. They knew jack shit when they started school - no numbers or letters. They basically played in the sand pit at nursery and that how I wanted it. They soon caught up.

It’s best to let her play rather than push it and turn her off learning. Reading together and getting her to love stories and reading is the best thing you can do for her at this stage. She’s still very young. Let the qualified teachers do the rest.

Alphablocks on cbeebies

We use reading eggs and maths seed. It's an app. They are doing a free trial at the moment. They also have worksheets and a summer catch up plan. My DC is 5 and has a reading age of 7 and 3 months. DC 4 recognises her letters, phonics sounds and numbers but can't read yet. There is also teach your monster to read which is free on a laptop. It's worth a little bit of screen time but do get her to do the worksheets as well. Honestly, you won't believe the progress just with 10 minutes of maths and phonics a day over summer break

A reception teacher will tell you that at this stage it’s far more important to focus on life skills. Putting on and off their own shoes, coats, hats and gloves, toileting and handwashing, practicing fine motor control and strengthening the hands, sitting down at a table properly etc etc. I’d say the only thing to worry about is to make sure he can hold a pencil correctly. Everything else will come at school.

Don't worry at all. I would make sure she can do the other skills she'll need for school, like going to the toilet, getting dressed with coat and shoes, and asking an adult if she needs help with something. If she can manage those things school will be a lot easier!

In all honesty I wouldn't worry about that. I'd focus on the skills like going to the toilet. Getting dressed. See if you can improve these.

Nope, you didn't need to teach her.

A primary school teacher friend hates undoing all the teaching parents did at home!

Did your school give you a list of things to work on over the summer? Shoes, coats, listening, taking turns etc? That's the stuff you need to worry about, if she can do that then she'll be ready and able to learn. Doubtless have a tremendous time in the process!

My 3 year old starts reception in September. He's 4 at the end of August. Can't read or identify written numbers yet. Can count to ten or so. I'm not worried. It's normal. He'll be reading by Y1/2

oh, and be gentle; be encouraging, looking for times to say 'yes' and praise rather than correcting constantly.

My son has been in a pre prep school this year and turned 4 in December and the school setting really is a game changer.

He went in not being able to read/write/count higher than 10 and now he can write his own name, knows all the letters, can count to 100 and spell and read simple words.

Your daughter only turned 4 in June so she’s bound to be a little bit behind others born earlier in the year because those few months make a huge difference at that age. But, like my son, the months after they turn 4 (especially in a school setting) they start learning so so much.

The fact you care means you’re already an awesome mum and I’m sure you’re absolutely smashing it!

Education is a marathon not a sprint