Is this a valid reason from a teacher?

[knittedbreast]

My son is in reception class and since he left nursery he hardly ever brings anything home, no art work and many things hes made. I spoke to another couple of parents who have agreed that not much comes home. I think this may also have been braught to attention a the PTA meeting (every parent at our school is automatically on the PTA).

I spoke to the class teacher and she said, well yes but O dousnt really want to do pictures or making.

he does drawings at home, he is not adverse to art and hes quite good at it (by that i mean you can tell what it is, not that i think hes the next michael angelo).

isnt it their job to encourage him, he cant just say he dousnt want to do x and they say fine. i dont see any writing or maths hes done at school either.

i want him to be encouraged in every aspect, art maths english and science.
you cant just say O, do you fancy leanring how to read today? no? ok just go and play then.

hmm

'child led' is all very well, but they do need to be encouraged out of their comfort zone sometimes...

My DD's teacher said the TA "practically had to prise the scissors out of DD's hand" to persuade her to 'choose' something other than cutting and sticking, but I am very glad she did, and would be concerned if DD had been left to choose not to do anything else in all the 'child led' time all term.

learning is about the process not the product at this age

I wouldn't worry.

I asked my DD's preschool teachers if it was ok that DD never did any craft stuff but they weren't bothered. But they said it was fine - she just felt that there was more 'exciting' things to do and was too busy running around or playing.

I've also asked my friend who teaches reception "WWYD if there was a child who only stuck to one type of activity?" - she said she would encourage them to try different things, but that it wasn't necessarily anything to worry about. It's still under EYFS and that is play based.

It is lovely getting 'evidence' of what they're doing at school, but tbh I'd rather my DD was having fun playing on lots of different activities - building blocks (maths, science), running around, playdough (creativity, fine motor skills), role play in the house area etc... Than drawing pictures which she can do at home. :)

well in my case I don't want any all of the output of DD's obsession with cutting and sticking, believe me (I have a recycling bin house full already) - I am just glad the staff are not so obsessed with being child-led that they won't force encourage the DC to experience the whole range of activities available - and love that DD comes home talking about all the different things she did.

Why not ask the teacher if she needs parent help in the classroom one morning or afternoon a week? At our school lots of parents help out in class, some help with group guided reading, some with whole class art projects, some with building the home corner, sometimes with the dull things like washing painting stuff or laminating pictures. But you do get a chance to see your child with his friends, to get a feel for the teaching methods, and its always useful to get to know the teacher/TA on a more personal basis. If you are not going to be alone/unsupervised with children, then you dont even need a CRB check.

I helped out when ds2 started reception, 1 afternoon a week for 3 years It was good fun and you realise exactly how tedious hard teaching 4 and 5 year olds can be

Yes, they do science in reception. You can teach an enormous amount by learning through play, much, much more than if you tried to sit the children down and taught them from the front of the class. They are far more interested and work harder at some thing play based. You would get about 2 minutes attention span on trying to teach about the lifecycle of a frog from a book at the front, but get the children to curl up like frog spawn then hatch out in pe, painting pictures, observing tadpoles in a tank in school, playing frogs hopping around lily pads you can teach for much longer, and they remember it more by doing than just listening.

DD is in year one, and brings drawings or something home every day, still. Aaargh!

"he cant just say he dousnt want to do x and they say fine." Yes he can. He's 4 (or maybe 5). He's a baby. There are a lot of things to learn in the first year in school before they even start to produce 'work'.

I also recommend helping out if you can. I've done this at DD's preschool (they request each parent does one session but I've done three so far, I love it) - it's a great way to have a bit of insight into the way DD spends her time.