Year 1 Parents evening help

[ilkleymoorbartat]

We had our chat this evening and now I'm worrying about my DS. He's always been a bit quirky but seems to have settled in well to school.

The teacher said he was doing ok and was obviously bright, but that he was below average in reading, and someone in his class told him that his writing was really bad the other day which really upset him.

Apparently he lacks focus and will shout out at carpet time, but is engaged and interested.

How do I encourage his focus. I don't want him to be the child in class that disrupts everyone else. Is this standard 6 year old boy stuff? I want to help him but not knock his confidence or make him feel bad.

Feeing really deflated this evening.

It is perfectly normal for a child in year one to call out on the carpet, it takes a while for the rules to sink in so don’t worry about this.
It is also normal for a child of this age to lose focus and for handwriting to be untidy so best thing to do is practice some fine motor skills with him, strengthening his hands will give a better pencil grip and control which will improve his writing.
Try not to worry he is still learning all the new rules and stuff for year one.

You could google social stories about good listening, patience, etc, and read them with him. That way you are not directly talking about his behaviour, more reading about someone else.. the message might get through that way?
But I wouldn’t stress op, he is still quite young and it’s good that he is alert and engaged in his lessons.
Did the teacher say how they respond/handle it at school? Did she give you any suggestions?

Talk to him about not calling out on the carpet and that all the other children in the class are just as I important as he is. Encourage him to put his hand up rather than call out at school so that everyone gets a chance to be heard.

Thank you for your replies. It's so hard to try and get every question in the 10 minute slot. They said he was "the class sharer", on top of the other stuff but then didn't expand. Tbh I always feel like I leave these things with more questions than answers.

I asked if we could do anything at home and she said not really. But again there wasn't really enough time to ask her any more. I might try and grab her before school tomorrow.

That's a really good idea about the books though. I'll see if there's anything out there.

I worry about him, I don't know why - he's loving school and is very happy there. But I feel very fragile about it all for some reason.

Its really hard to get some children to engage with reading, my DD was the same, shes 8, and has only just started to take an interest in reading. I'm a book worm, and have been since I could first read, so I found it hard to relate!

Most likely he will grow out of it. In the meantime, let him pick the books, be animated when you read them and stick to rules - "just one chapter tonight" etc.