To question what they are teaching in primary schools these days?

[wonderstuff]

DS 11 didn’t know how to make paper snowflakes! Thought it was some sort of witchcraft when I showed him 😎. DD 14 knows so it’s obviously a recent deterioration. I remember spending what felt like hours happily cutting out in primary school. It was a go to activity for wet break. Think they bung a film on now with screens in every classroom. Sad times.

I work in year 5 and on the last day of term we were making Christmas cards, snow flakes and paper chains. Maybe it's your dcs school?

I get irrationally upset that my daughter's school don't sing Autumn Leaves every year. They're some of my strongest memories shouting 'and we mustn't forget.....' at the tops of our voices.

Peppermint creams? Aren't they just blobs of toothpaste on a baking sheet? Or is that just in Take A Break?

I helped out with my daughters class when she was in Year 3 (age7/8) with making their class Christmas decorations. Pom-pom decorations. 2 per decoration.
Basically it meant I made 60 pom-poms. Because they all either got bored after 5 minutes or ended up in a spider web trap of wool.

Peppermint creams require a lot of icing sugar. Just so people know.

Now multiply that by 30 and pay for it yourself! Because that's what the class teacher will be doing.

@woodlandarchitect

Loving the peppermint cream idea! Going to get ingredients and make those over Christmas!

Thanks for the lighthearted thread OP!!

Same!

I wonder how easy coconut delight is too. Yum.

I learned these things at school.

It made me 'magic' when I was the oldest Mum helping out at preschool (aged 29). And not just to the toddlers.

My clothes peg angels were the stuff of legend - I knew what 'those wooden things' were, I could wrangle sparkly pipecleaner, make 'robes' from felt AND guide toddlers to make snowflakes from paper to fashion them into wings.

Followed it up for Easter with pompom chicks, bumble bees and tissue paper flowers in paper straw nests.

I liked that period of being the Wise One. Didn't last, obviously, as my two viewed me with natural contempt when I didn't just buy computer consoles or take them to soft play and McDonald's for entertainment.

@wonderstuff

Should have known I’d be called out by MN for inadequate parenting! Dd can do salt dough but I think I taught her that, was a long time ago but I definitely did more crafts with her, by the time ds came along I was working more, but we are much further away from bankruptcy than we were when dd was tiny 🤷🏻‍♀️.

The primary used to devote Friday afternoon to ‘golden time’ which was lots of crafts, but they cut that when ds was in year 3 and over covid they started sending them all home on Friday afternoon, apparently they were over the statuary hours.

I will ban screens and devote time to Christmas crafts tomorrow!

Omg the teachers can't win can they?? Most people on the Daily Fail go bananas at the idea of Golden Time...kids just play all day...blah blah. Now you're moaning that they DON'T do golden time? Good grief. The teachers are too busy teaching frontal adverbials to be teaching how to cut out snowflakes!!

Blame Michael Gove, the DfE and OFSTED.

No fun and far too much pressure on everyone these days.

@5thHelena I’m actually a teacher myself, albeit a secondary SEN specialist. When I taught Geography I made sure we did colouring in regularly though!

I thought it was obvious I was joking 🙃

@AshLane definitely, Gove has a lot to answer for.

I went to a Catholic school. No snow flakes but I made a mean stable out of paper mache and painted it. Then it was mixing up plaster and then into molds of Mary, Joseph etc which all needed painting. Then there was the Virgin Grotto. That was the top of a dairylea cheese box cover in paper mache with a shell for the holy water. Again with the plaster mold of Mary. All that and no snowflakes.

There were also the hanging decorations made from two coat hangers. They were covered in tinsel so probably no the done thing now.

We made paper snowflakes at school, and crepe paper decorations, and those stained-glass window cut-out efforts with black card and coloured paper stuck on the back behind the window openings, and green & brown paper palm trees to go with the nativity scene.

What are they teaching them these days?

I don't remember doing any of this at school in the 80s but I did a lot of it at Brownies. DD was massively impressed when I was able to make a new pompom to replace the one that came off her hat.

@Pucarbuile

Peppermint creams? Aren't they just blobs of toothpaste on a baking sheet? Or is that just in Take A Break?

Gotta love a Take A Break top tip

@wonderstuff

DS 11 didn’t know how to make paper snowflakes! Thought it was some sort of witchcraft when I showed him 😎. DD 14 knows so it’s obviously a recent deterioration. I remember spending what felt like hours happily cutting out in primary school. It was a go to activity for wet break. Think they bung a film on now with screens in every classroom. Sad times.

I left primary in 1977 They "bunged a film" on then as well. It was great. What do you do?

@PAFMO I left primary in 1990, in my junior school, which had 8 classes, we had one TV, it had it’s own room, can’t tell you how exciting our weekly trip to the TV room was!

🤣🤣
Sad sign of the times, no longer are we allowed to do fun things in the last week, we have to do 'proper' work instead 😭

@spanieleyes

Now multiply that by 30 and pay for it yourself! Because that's what the class teacher will be doing.

So true, have spent a fortune this term. It's worse now we're an academy as if you want anything you have to evidence and hope they'll say yes

You need to send your kids to school in Wales. Lots of Minecraft in lessons and lots of craft.

My dcs wet playtime didn't consist of screens it was a choice between reading corner, board games or craft activities (snowflake making was one) and occasional film was put on. Maybe your dc just didn't choose that activity or maybe school have chosen different activities for your dc. Definitely not a bad reflection on teachers (not a teacher).

Don't use glue sticks properly (wind them up to far, squash glue everywhere, don't wind them back down and then mash the lid on).

As a primary teacher, I teach them to do this. Also, if you are sticking something in your book, put the glue on the page, rather than the sheet, so that when you close the book, your pages will stick together. This is unless you are sticking cotton wool. In that case, put the glue on the cotton wool. Who doesn't love furry glue?

@disappear

Don't use glue sticks properly (wind them up to far, squash glue everywhere, don't wind them back down and then mash the lid on).

As a primary teacher, I teach them to do this. Also, if you are sticking something in your book, put the glue on the page, rather than the sheet, so that when you close the book, your pages will stick together. This is unless you are sticking cotton wool. In that case, put the glue on the cotton wool. Who doesn't love furry glue?

Real life learning! 😀😉