To ask what your 4 year olds can do.

[mag12]

Dd is 4 and in reception. Not 5 until August so youngest in year group plus she does have some degree of sen. She is speech delayed and has a mild physical disability but generally doing well at school (so I thought)

Some of the work that has been set is quite hard. Some includes writing in sentences, re arranging sentences and writing out booklets and leaflets at age 4?

This isn’t set on google classroom. It’s on another site. Also, the school itself is shut (keyworkers children are going to an alternative school) so hard to get hold of the teacher.

We are doing all we can. Also adapting some of the tasks to suit her and doing our own tasks mainly on things she struggles on (phonics formation etc).

Dd has an EHCP so aibu to think the school would have better communication with us what she can and cannot do. I don’t expect special treatment but some of the work is just far too hard.

Can most 4 year olds write in sentences??

Nope! My sister is a Scottish primary one teacher so her kids are 5 when they start school and most can’t even write their own names when they start. They’re writing in sentences now (with varying levels of success) but that’s after 2 terms of input in a private school with a very small class.

I think expecting sentences from a 4 year old is very ambitious!

I'm in Scotland and nobody would be expecting a 4 year old to write in sentences. They start school here between 4.5 and 5.5 and aren't even expected to be able to recognise letters or write their own names. Of course there will be dc who can do this so I imagine the school work needs to reflect a range of levels

The 4 year olds in my class couldn't even copy down their name on a whiteboard underneath where I had wrote their name

So no, very very unlikely.

Be careful this is MN, am sure they'll be plenty coming soon to tell you their 4 year old can read Latin and is now the headteacher of their own school.

My niece is 4 (5 in September so only slightly younger than your DD)
She can't write in sentences. I think she's just about learned to write her name during lockdown but thats all.

My DD is just starting to rearrange words to make sentences. She can write letters quite neatly but any writing is dictated letter by letter...

We're still at the CVC word reading stage - age 5.2 on reading eggs...

My 6 year old can't write in sentences (Yr 1). The kind of work he is doing is writing practice (following ghost outlines on worksheets), word searches, spellings, bit of times tables, and BBC bitesize daily. At Reception age, I would be looking more at learning through play than worksheets!

No. My youngest as almost 5 when he started reception. He could count to 10 but that's about it. He didn't pass the phonics test which I think was year 1? He is in year 8 now and top sets for everything. Don't worry, what they can or carnt do at 4 has no bearing on the rest of their school life. It's just something for certain parents to boast about.

Assuming you're in England the National Curriculum guidelines are all online. They only start at year 1 and a quick glance suggests that writing simple sentences from memory is a year 1 target. I would stick to learning through play rather than writing on worksheets.
www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-framework-for-key-stages-1-to-4/the-national-curriculum-in-england-framework-for-key-stages-1-to-4

My four year old is in reception (5 in June), he is hearing impaired but it hasn’t so far led to language delay.

No sentences, but he can put basic words together like red cat etc in his scrawl. He can read fairly well for his age (Mog books for example), but writing a sentence, no chance.

The word he has been given is more pattern based, so for example circle all the red beads etc. We have also been doing digraphs so he will have a small selection of words and has to identify a certain digraph (but isn’t required to be able to say the word).

Sounds like the work is too hard, and not suitably differentiated for your child. Which is understandable during lockdown

Keep doing what you’re doing. Read and read and read with your child. Don’t do work that is too hard- totally pointless!

Moving on too quickly, and rushing through the various phases of phonics just leads to problems later on of your child isn’t secure.

My children obviously could read and write by age three and we had moved on to mandarin at 4.

Mine is 5 in August, no additional needs. No way could he do that! He can write his name, and lots of words phonetically, eg “the crikit chirped loudly”, but couldn’t rearrange sentences. His writing work is based around writing sounds, labels, short sentences and “super sentences” (with an adjective).

Can’t really remember, but I’m not sure it really matters. What matters is that it’s not right for your daughter. Can you email and ask for some more appropriate work? Or some guidance on what she should be doing?

Mine is reception, also youngest in her class. She can write a single simple sentence (as in the top is 'bloo'). She's working on capital letters, full stops and finger spaces. From the daily phonics videos (independent school so we're very lucky to have more input) it is clear some can just write a single word, some simple sentences and some are already doing extended sentences. I really wouldn't be too worried about sentences at this stage.

At least after half term, the school will probably be open again and hopefully the teacher will be more contactable for you as it would be good to chat to them about it rather than a bunch of MNers!!

Dd has an EHCP so aibu to think the school would have better communication with us what she can and cannot do. I don’t expect special treatment but some of the work is just far too hard.

I guess if she has an EHCP, then she needs quite substantial help, otherwise you do not qualify. given that she SN, I dont think there is much point asking what children without SN can.

Does she have a differentiated curriculum? I would expect to receive differentiated work, not the general class room work. I also would expect regular contact with the teacher/senco.

one of mine has SN and an EHCP and I am a few times in contact with her teacher every week and we get very targeted work set.

Mine is 4, 5 in August. She can write in very basic sentences with phonetic spelling (recent example being ‘the butafly sat on a leer’). She can read fairly well so could have a bash at rearranging sentences but would need guidance. She doesn’t have a huge amount of stamina with writing... a couple of sentences and she’s had enough.
We’re not a private school but also have a lot of input from the teacher including daily phonics videos.

I really wouldn't worry about her not writing sentences at 4. I would try and build on things she can do and maybe take phone pics/video clips rather than expecting her to fill in leaflets.

7 (just) yo struggles to write and is battling against learning about verbs, nouns etc. We were adding simple fractions but I'm not sure if it was because I fancied doing it! Writing seems to be the last thing to happen.

My child could write very simple sentences at this stage in reception (but a Feb birthday). Things like: I went on my bike. My sister did a show. I love my dog.

However the spelling was nowhere near right and was phonetic.

My son will be 6 in July and is in P1 going into p2 (we’re in scotland) He’s top reading/language group in his class and he can now only write in sentences and has a basic understanding of punctuation etc.

My youngest is also an August baby in reception and I've been shocked at some of the stuff they send home. Last week they wanted them to write a whole book about being on a farm with descriptions of all the animals!! WTAF! Just do what you can and find other resources that are fun for your dd. Sometimes I write simple words in yellow highlighter for mine to copy over to get the feel for holding the pencil more than anything.

My ds is 4 (5 at the end of August) he’s very good at Maths but can’t write a sentence without support. He can rearrange words to put in a sentence and knows there’s a full stop at the end but never puts a capital letter unless copying. He can put things in to sentences and create his own sentences but needs me to write them out for him to copy.

Ds is Reception and one of the eldest and he can't write in sentences.

We pick a sound (say "ch") and he says out loud some words he knows with "ch" in them and we write out some "ch" words on a white board.

He is reading simple sentences in the very early Biff/Kipper books.

Other than that it's a bit of counting, a bit of colouring.