to expect teachers to make children work in the last week of term?

[shellingtonboots]

Play Connect 4 on the last day of term, yes. But watching DVDs, drawing and general "fun" activities a whole week before the end of term is really winding me up!

Oh, I sound like such a meanie...

I don't expect they would, fillyjonk, from an adults point of view the last week is a good one to have off- it is not a good one from the child's point of view. Some people can't seem to see a child's view.

I do a dvd afternoon at the end of each term in my class. I bring in popcorn as well. The children love it and its fun!!! Parents are allowed to give their children treats so why shouldnt a teacher, who has had these little people in her life for a year, be allowed to as well.

I teach in a secondary school. I used to work hard to produced fun educational game to play on my last period with a class, biology blockbuster, or bingo. Or a treasure hunt round the classroom, or a quiz with questions loosely based round school work.

But during the last week of my classes of twenty dwindle to 3/4 pupils. So realistically what's the point as I is hard to convince a few kids to join in the activities when mrs so and so's class is watching x movie.

If all parents made sure their kids came to school then I would take the time to be inventive but for a few kids who bother to turn up its nice to play cards or let them do something of their choice

I think a week passively watching DVDs would not be very good but I don't see anything wrong with using the last week to do things that are off the curriculum.

E.g. a whole afternoon playing rounders or more time for art/music/drama or trips out.

Mine are still working.

Business as usual here, but we don't break up till next week. I always like to keep my classes working as late as possible because I find they get bored of supposedly 'fun' activities and they're useless at making their own entertainment.

Actually, I have to admit that these 'wind down weeks' have a really really bad effect on my children, all of whom have additional needs (or in the case of my adult, used to have school issues). It's not the heat because it's hot the week before the last week as well. But the anxiety and agitation caused by it being 'the end' combined with the sudden dramatic change in routine which lasts for days at my sons school and also lasted for days at my DD2's mainstream school years ago - always causes significant behavioural issues. And I just hated it.

I appreciate it's not like that for most parents, but I admit to much preferring the way my DD2's former special EBD school did things, which was to keep the routine pretty much the same right until the very end. They did a few fun things. They didn't go crazy and spend a whole week flipping the kids routines on their heads.

I'm NOT someone who believes in 'let's work them all really hard for 8 hours a day learning the 15 times tables at the age of 9!!

And I think for a lot of kids it's really nice to do a few nice things. But...my kids just don't function if things get too intense, so I'm not a fan

I think if they watch dvds for a week they should just break up earlier.

Ours have been on the downslope since post SATS.

Completely agree with barbarianmum

Sports are fun, playing water games are fun, having a picnic for which you prep the food and plays games outside is fun, creating artwork is fun...

Some people are sooooooo damn miserable

playing water games is fun

Last day yes. A whole week no.

Mine are working. Pupils and my dc.

I must be a misery. My class did D and T, science and reading today!

Yabu,'my ds1 has had activities week which has included trips to museums and heritage sites as well as other activities including sports, are based stuff etc.

,y little ones are having a sports based week and have done street dance and martial arts and water polo, traditional sports day (egg and spoon and sack races etc) plus picnics and parents have the opportunity to go in and participate/watch, even my two year old got to join in some activities with her brothers, she loved it, they are loving it.

Activities week at my school. I did drama with yr 9 all day yesterday. So far, kids have done drumming, photography, gone on a walk, skateboarding, a Stomp workshop, rounders, dodgeball, a treasure hunt, problem solving, cooking, the list goes on. Yrs 8-10 are on a trip tomorrow, the 6th form is on a residential trip. It's a lovely way to end the year. Curriculum? No, but educational? Definitely. And the amount of effort that goes into planning, , risk assessing, preparing and running these things is enormous.

YABU, what a meanie

Op you should move to china. Our 12 year old Chinese students have 3 hours of homework per night and 9-5 school days. Oh and they have to wear matching track suits and run 5 times around their school every morning. Our other Italian students are horrified. Heard one of the Chinese telling the Italians "we have no fun" sad I felt

My dd (yr10) is working harder than ever at the moment. It's school production week and the whole cast have been off timetable for the last 10days for rehersals. She hasn't been home before 7pm. All this added to the fact the school decided to schedule GCSE controlled assessments in several subjects. The school production is amazing but dd is beyond tired!

Mixture here. Still doing normal lessons, but there are more 'unusual' things going on - swimming gala, singing rehearsals for end of term concert / assembly - so most days are broken up a bit.

We will have one DVD - each year group has 1, in the hall (large school, multi class entry), so that the teachers and TAs in that year group get a chunk of time to plan for next term. So 1 DVD = all teachers teaching better from first day of next school year - seems a fair trade off to me. Wouldn't expect or condone more than 1, though.

Really don't get the importance your placing on final five days of the year....?

My classes are still mostly working. We had activities day today so no official lessons but each pupil was doing something interesting and educational of their choice. I walked up a mountain (or a big hill anyway) with 200 kids today.
Tomorrow we're doing maths again. I'm picking the bits of the curriculum that they enjoy the most, playing maths games, doing reflections, construction etc, but it's all maths that they need to cover at some point. We don't watch DVDs in maths. The kids all know that and don't bother asking, even though I know they pester other teachers for DVDs and get them.

I watched part of a DvD with one class today, but it is sections and it links to the curriculum. It is 31°C in my classroom at the moment, with no fan allowed (not enough PAT tested ones). So trying to get work out of them his horrendous. I've had pupils feeling sick and dizzy.