School - What does she need to do?

[revolutionconfirmed]

DD1 is starting reception in September. She's 4 the middle of next month so will be one of the younger ones in her class. What does she need to be able to do?

She can recognise numbers 1-10 but not write them.
She knows 1-20 in English and 1-10 in Welsh.
She knows the alphabet song but can't write or recognise letters yet.
She can.undo buttons but not do them up.
She's fully toilet trained with a large vocabulary.
She can draw a face with hair, eyes, eyebrows, mose, mouth, ears and a stick figure body.
She knows all her colours, weather types etc but not months, times or seasons.

She's a pretty average 3 year old I feel. Very forward in her speech but average in other areas. What do I meed to have her doing before school?

i think what is important is not her skills per se, as in writing, reading, counting.
what is important is: can she sit still for some time? can she listen to the teacher and do what he asked ? can she share/take turns? can she wait for her turn to talk, is she polite etc.. etc...

in france there is a difference between "education" and "enseignement" (teaching).
the parents are expected to educate their children whilst the teachers are expected to teach.
here in england, i sometimes feel that nurseries and schools are expected to educate as well as teach.

i think maybe you should encourage her to get dressed and undressed bc a friend of mine (english) was told her little boy was "immature" because he couldnt do up his trousers after going to the toilet. so my friend had to work on that.

the 'academic' skills are not very important, that's what she is going to school for to learn. but it's not a bad thing if she can do it already.
more important are practical things like going to the toilet (including bumwiping) on her own, undressing and dressing, zipping up/button her coat, putting on shoes, opening + eating her lunchbox, use cuttlery if on school dinners...

Her life will be much easier if she can do lots of practical things for herself. Getting changed, opening her lunch box and eating her lunch, or managing a tray if she's having school dinners,going to the loo, wiping her own bottom, asking clearly for what she wants-life skills are what she needs, not academics!

She can dress herself (everything except buttons) so she can do poppers, buttons, zips etc. We'll work.on buttons and toggles before September.

She sits still in nursery, participates and listens to her teachers but she has a problem with being louder than she needs to be and being quiet at times unless she's very interested in something/busy. She can share as she has a younger sister but it's an ongoing process of reminding.

It seems we have quite a bit to work on written down :o.

Primary teachers have low expectations. If she knows her name, is toilet trained and can dress herself then she's doing all she needs to do.

What a 4 year old should know

TeddyBare, thank you. I really needed that smile and boost. It's lovely :)

Nice link, Teddybare - I didn't know that about the best predictor for academic success being whether children are read to.

Really Octavia?
We have a significant number of children in reception who come from a non-English speaking community. They arrive for the most part with fewer academic skills but with enormous social skills. Sharing, listening, co-operative playing, consideration for other children, toilet-trained, physical skills such as running, walking and co-ordination...on and on. Many don't recognise their letters or numbers.
Those are the skills that the teachers seemed to regard as essential.

Yes, FallenCaryatid, really. In terms of what children need to have when they go to school, basic life skills are far more important than academic skills.

Having low expectations is often based on experience though.
I wish that
If parents are still wittering on about little Jocasta who can count up to a hundred and read and is playing the violin at age 4, they are mostly missing the point that Jocasta can't share, can't take turns in a discussion or a game and can't wipe her own bum.
I wish that everyone understood the difference between ' "education" and "enseignement" (teaching)' as tostaky put it. And that parents bothered more about the education and socialisation part.

Revolutionconfirmed - you have a PM from me. x

She's fully toilet trained with a large vocabulary.

PMSL. I suppose my eldest two have a large toilet vocabulary too :o

my ds started school last sept, he could count and sing the alphabet but other than that he didn't do much 'academically' what he did have on his side were the life skills, he was almost completely self reliant (to the point i only every entered his classroom on the 1st morning, then just waved him in from the gate), and knew he could ask the teachers for help with anything if he needed it. He's excelled and progressed further academically than anybody would have thought possible in 8 months.

And teddybare that link was amazing :)