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.

Just asked DH who teaches primary & he says he's not great at making them & also they make a lot of mess.

I remember making peppermint creams when I was about 6/7 & I ate them all on the way home & made myself really sick. Put me right off peppermint creams.

I also think the new curriculum is so challenging there's no time for fun - especially with catching up after lockdown.

Teachers can't win really - some parents would moan about them doing crafts instead of work 🤷🏻‍♀️

@thatsallineed

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?

Largely how to suspend their inherent small child bullshit detector and read out 20 made up words like fape and terg and describe grammatical conventions rather than actually enjoy themselves. Not by choice, I hasten to add.

@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.

Don't know where you are, but we have actually only had two wet breaks this school year! Mostly we just rug up and cope with the drizzle... (and no, they did not have a film on for those wet breaks)

It's hardly been a normal school year, has it! Maybe they were trying to catch up with the more important stuff.

I had to put PVA glue on my kids' hands in lockdown so they could let it dry and peel it off. It's a disgrace I tell you.

My Y1 child came home with with snowflakes and the stained glass window thing. Obviously some schools are still doing it right

I have a year 7 tutor group. With no intervention from me they produced masses of snowflakes and stuck them up on the windows, so sounds like you parents are doing a good job with the creative activities at home!

I don’t know where they got the paper from, but our tutor room is an art room…

Taught a class of reception to make paper snowflakes in the last week of term. Do it every year with at least one or two infant school classes.

Disappointing number of Christmas films at school this year. I cover across school and didn't see a single film when I was in their classes. Rubbish

@cansu

I think that kids in general don't spend much time on arts and crafts. There is much more focus on academics. I also think kids don't domuch arts and crafts at home either as their parents are busy and we rely on screens. This also explains why kids don't read as much, don't use scissors well and can't cour in near. These skills are just not practised either at home or at school.

As a teacher I thought there was too much pressure in Reception on academic things. Cutting out snowflakes, making poms poms etc are not pointless - they are good for fine motor skills among other things. And not least the traditional Christmas activities are FUN, something that doesn't seem to matter too much to the powers that be.

@disappear😄😄😄
Me too!
Also I never mention capital letter,full stops, turning pages when reach the end, etc,etc😀😀

@ancientgran

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

Blue Peter style. I used to make one in assembly around Advent - the Ks1 children were sooo impressed!

@Unavailableusername

Colouring in and cutting out have been referred to as 'lost learning time' in my trust.

Also a story at the end of the day - keep those children working!

I remember growing cress in egg shells and it would sprout out the top like hair. Obviously the eggs would have faces drawn on by us kids! The excitement at watching the cress “hair”grow each day… such happy times. Loved making firework pictures- bright wax crayons painted over with black paint. I can still remember the smell of the wax crayons 🖍 .peg dolls were fab too. I recall Macrame and needlework as well as cookery in primary. Pretty amazing all the things we did.

We never seemed to have a shortage of material from what I recall but my memory could be deceiving me. We also had the best dressing up box ever. It wouldn’t be allowed now though as we used to clip clop around in lady’s’ strappy high heels and long dresses! Health and safety probably wouldn’t allow it now

@U8976532

This is the job of a parent

Oh come on. I can teach my child the maths and the English and the music and the cooking and the manners and all the other stuff people want teachers to teach. But I would have neither the skill nor the inclination of how to teach them to make paper snowflakes.

@CaptainMyCaptain that is shocking, what could possibly be more important than shared stories? Genuinely shocked and saddened by that.

Colouring in and cutting out have been referred to as 'lost learning time' in my trust.

Lucky you. I’m amazed at the amount of “visualisation” (drawing pictures) my daughter did in Primary school, right up to the last day.

Also a story at the end of the day - keep those children working! angry

Nah. The amount of work they do is so minimal. “Watched a DVD” was a common answer to “what did you do today”

@ditalini

My mum taught me when I was about 4 - what have you been doing?

Sad.

She's been too busy bunging them in front of screens, clearly!

@Frlrlrubert

DD is 5 so I'm not quite 'there' yet. But as a secondary teacher over the years I've been surprised that 14 year olds generally:

Can't strike a match
Can't tell the time on an analogue clock
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).

and that a large minority:

Can't stick sheets in straight
Break pens for fun and then complain they don't have a pen

and that specific children:

Thought a vasectomy was the same as castration
Wondered why the sun did not get 'put out' by clouds.

They also tend to think it's witchcraft when I can 'cut' paper straight without scissors.

Yes, I regularly 'memorise' secondary school students with my scissoring ability

*mesmorise!!

@mumofEandE

*mesmorise!!

Mesmerise (maybe less cutting and more dictionary work!!)

I do think there’s less emphasis on making things now. It depends where you are - I’ve lived in one region where making things was very much part of life for most people, and one where only bought items will do and in that last it was very closely associated with status.

Apparently it is taught round here.

That’s a parenting fail… I’ve been making paper snowflakes with mine for years