To be shocked that not even one y4 child knew the meaning of the word velvet?

[Utterlybananas333]

My sister is a teacher in a South London primary school, she is a year four teacher of around 30 8 to 9-year-olds. She was recently describing her disbelief over the fact that not a single child knew what velvet meant? There were some crazy guesses, and lots of children who thought it was cake (probably relating to red velvet). Is it just the fact that children and adults don't talk anymore? That nobody reads anymore? Or even watches educational TV programs? Would your child know?

Velvet is also used as a descriptor a lot.
You don't have to have an item in your house to know what it is

My son is 7. His vocabulary is very advanced for his age, mostly due to having much older siblings and also a high reading age. He reads The Week Junior weekly (for those saying kids don't read magazines) and engages with many adults daily. Fee paying school where he has specialist English lessons with an English teacher. He thought velvet was a colour when I just asked him.

We have velvet sofas, I have a velvet dress I occasionally wear. Just think it's not an everyday word people use these days. Nothing to do with people 'not talking to their kids anymore'.

People are so keen to jump on the 'not like the good old days', 'all the parents fault' narrative. Why would a year 4 child be expected to know the names of different fabrics?!
.

Just asked my kids separately. Boy, BIG reader, (year 4) "It's a type of silk. A material." Girl (age 6), who has a few velvety bits of clothing, "Yes, it's a fabric. Very softy." We would (perhaps incorrectly) call her Next dresses 'velvet' but they're more like faux velvet, really. I remember asking my mum what cheesecloth looked like when I read about a cheesecloth dress as a child.

Exactly. Such ap random word to be focused on.

OP said they're 7 and 8 year old...

No it didn't, velvet clothes are in the shops around Christmas every year, and I buy and wear velvet.

(Shawna the Mom fan?)

It’s not like you’re asking them what a tree is and they don’t know. It’s a relatively little used fabric, especially at that age.

I just mean that it’s not true that velvet isn’t used for clothing anymore.

I’ve just asked my 9yo y5 south london child if she knows what velvet is: yes, and she described it perfectly, but we do have velvet ribbons in our craft box. I asked if her friends would know and she revealed the teacher recently grilled them about this very thing and then wore a velvet jacket to school the next day so they could all feel it 😆 is there some kind of “won’t someone teach the children about velvet?!” Klaxon going up amongst primary teachers?

I don’t think it’s shocking that you would have no velvet items. I’m more surprised by not knowing the word though.

People responded initially to the OP saying it’s not at all surprising that an entire class of circa 30 4 year olds did not know what velvet was, because it’s some kind of ancient relic that nobody wears/ owns/ mentions in conversation anymore.

It’s still pretty common - if not the original stiff ‘proper’ velvet then plenty of velvet- like clothing still abound, particularly around Christmas with which I think it’s particularly associated, due I suppose to being once seen as luxurious and fancy.

Besides that though, and where it might be more of a concern, is the lack of reading not knowing the word indicates. It is a word that is used very commonly to describe other things - ‘velvety soft‘, ‘velvet-like fur’ etc appear in all sorts of children’s books etc. Plus by year 4, children will have had a number of years of art, DT and even history lessons in which it may have been feasible for it to come up.

So yes, it’s somewhat surprising that not a single child in that class could make a reasonable guess at it, if that’s the case. Obviously it definitely depends on the context in which it came up, and the particular cohort of children. And of course every child (and adult) will have some gaps or some words they just never came across, it could just be a fluke that 30 children happened to have the same gap (and if they have English as an additional language for example, much less surprising).

I do agree with other posters who think vocabulary is important, and that children should be exposed to a wide range of words even if they have no immediate use for them.

Not knowing what velvet is really isn't that shocking. It's not a particularly popular fabric, and I've never once dressed my kids in it.

There are plenty of shocking things kids don't know though. I once once out with my nieces and nephew and my then 9yo DS pointed out Venus in the sky and his 12yo cousin said "What's Venus?"

My 18yo niece was filling in a form and didn't know what her county was

My SIL didn't know, in her late 30s, that the Queen was called Elizabeth. When asked what she thought the Queen's name was she said "I dunno... Victoria?" ITS ON EVERY COIN!!

I could go on. But in a nutshell, I really can't get worked up over velvet.

I don't think most children that age know fabrics by name and qualities at that age. While reading together, my 10-year-old granddaughter told whe what velvet was when I asked, but she started reading at 3 and has an extensive vocabulary.

Well of course vocab is important. But not understanding one word that many modern children will have had little reason to use is not (in itself) any kind of cause for concern

Exactly

I was about to say something about clothing, and then realised they might be yesteryear. My sister and I had velvet skirts from Marks and Spencer in about 1982, when I was 8, so I'd have known from that. I think velvet clothes are still made, though? For adults and children. I have a velvet clutch bag from Cath Kidston. Velvet hair bow clips are in at the moment, too. And looking back, we had velvet hair ribbons. Yes, I do think it's a bit odd that kids don't know a fairly basic material.

😂😂

Swede and turnips are two different vegetables.

Not shocking at all. It’s a fairly uncommon fabric these days.

I just checked the Marks website and there are 255 velvet items for women, including lots of brands besides Marks.

There were 34 items listed for girls. At least half were shoes. A hair bow, a coat, and various party outfits including trouser ones.

And there are velvet suits listed for men.

Boden does fair bit of velvet too.

Velvet is alive and well!

This is wrong. Turnips are Brassica rapa and swedes are Brassica napus. Brassica is the cabbage family.

Velvet sofas? Beds? Doesn’t need to be clothing.

That's a bit weird since stairs still have bannisters!

Everyone on here missing the point spectacularly which is only adding to the evidence that reading and comprehension of ideas and concepts are more necessary than ever

1.6 stars! Poor things.

51 and don't know any of those three. I do know what twill is, but is cavalry twill something different?