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Original poster

question re key words in reception

33 replies

firestorm · 19/01/2004 19:28

hi everyone,
i have a question for you.
i was told by somebody that in reception there are 45 words that they have to know by the end of the school year. im a bit worried because were almost halfway through & dd only knew about 11 of them last wednesday when i found out they had to know 45, i spent the weekend teaching her some more & she now easily knows another 5 or 6. shes a very bright child & i worry that she is being held back by her teacher so all the class are at the same level.
does anybody know if it is right that they need to know them by the end of reception?
thanks in advance.

OP posts:
popsycal · 19/01/2004 19:29

give me a minute!!

codswallop · 19/01/2004 19:32

they do

codswallop · 19/01/2004 19:34

Term 1
I my me a no
he in mum dad the
to am it of she
Term 2
at yes can see we
up is go and on
for said cat all get
Term 3
look you like went are
this going they away play
come day big was dog

popsycal · 19/01/2004 19:36

look here
national literacy tsrategy website if soemone hasnt beaten me to it

popsycal · 19/01/2004 19:43

and i dont teach spelling
honest

HiddenSpirit · 19/01/2004 19:44

codswallop, I don't know if it differs from school to school, but my son got the following words first term;

I he at we
up and on
for look like

He is only just about to move on to his next set, but this is because he is only now ready to move onto next ones. As far as I'm aware the teacher hasn't held other children back so the "slower" ones can catch up. They are all learning at their own pace.

codswallop · 19/01/2004 19:45

yes that was just the school site I got them form

popsycal · 19/01/2004 19:45

the link that I posted is what 'they' say should be covered inthe reception year....
hth

popsycal · 19/01/2004 19:46

coddy said the same thing as me then
great minds.....blah blah blah

codswallop · 19/01/2004 19:48

P need hep on the floppy thread

Original poster
firestorm · 19/01/2004 20:48

thanks everyone,
dds words havent been added to since october & she knows them all well. luckily i already knew what the words were so i will continue to help her at home. her school also only change reading books once a week, & if youre away on that day then tough you get to keep the same one for two weeks. im quite unhappy with her class actually & the way its run. she has two teachers, one mon to wed morning & one wed afternoon to friday. unfortunately their methods differ greatly & they dont appear to communicate with eachother. dd is quite confused with it really & has not settled in as well as id hoped. i know it may seem drastic, but im considering moving her to another school. this school has a fantastic ofsted & great sats (i know thats not everything) they also seem to allow children to progress at their own rate instead of holding them back (which i fear is whats happening now)
does anyone have experience of a school move so early on? did it work or just cause more problems? dd has only just started to go full time so if i was to change her school id rather do it sooner than later.

OP posts:
Caroline5 · 19/01/2004 21:27

my dd hasn't had any of those words at all!! Instead she has had loads of words like : nap nip tip tan sat cap mist fist etc etc. She seems to be whizzing through them and the school seems to let the children move on at their own pace.

Not sure about moving schools firestorm - what do other parents at the school think, has your dd made friends there? I agree though, I would be frustrated if my dd was being held back.

debster · 20/01/2004 08:44

OK I'm confused and a bit concerned. My ds started Reception in Sept but hasn't been learning words - as far as I can make out. They spent the first term going through the phonic alphabet but in the handout we got at the beginning of term it didn't mention anything about learning words. BTW are they meant to learn to 'read' them or just be able to say them?

ks · 20/01/2004 09:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

SoupDragon · 20/01/2004 09:40

DS1 hasn't been given any words to learn and his class doesn't have fixed reading books - you change them whenever you want. The school doesn't have fixed "literacy hour" or "numeracy hour" either. They are, however, a "beacon school" and have a glowing ofsted report and good SATS results so I'm not worried.

Obviously I've printed off the list of words though to see how many DS can work out though

Carla · 20/01/2004 09:42

What about the children who only have on term in reception?????? Surely they can't learn all that in one term? DD1's in her term of Year 1 and certainly wouldn't know all those words even now.

Carla · 20/01/2004 09:43

God, I must get away from here and get the hoover out!

lydialemon · 20/01/2004 09:45

debster - In our school at least it's 'read them'.Now DS1 is in Yr 1 it's also spell them and the KS1 words as well.

lydialemon · 20/01/2004 09:47

popsycal - thanks for the link, I've been trying to find a list of these words for ages ( I am so crap at finding these things!)

Clarinet60 · 20/01/2004 10:04

What key words?
No sign of this in our school so far.
Library books can be changed on any day too.

Jaybee · 20/01/2004 10:10

Our school uses these words - dd is now in Year 2. When she was in reception we were given a list of words at the start of the school year with the explanation that these were the key words and that they would be having a few a week to learn but if we could held them at home too it would be appreciated - suggested that we turn them into reading cards, find them in storybooks etc. Each week the words for the week would be everywhere in the class and dd would bring each word home on a piece of card for her to find it herself. In Yr 1 & 2 we were just given the list of words at the start of the school year.
Re. changing schools firestorm - not sure really, I think if I had real concerns then I would act on them, go and have a chat with the Year 1 teacher, speak with some parents of your dd's friends who have older children in the school to find out how the school works in the older years - express your concerns to the Head teacher - and try and speak with some parents of children at the other school - they may have similar moans - if you are still wanting to move her (and there is space in the new school) move her either at Half term or Easter.

debster · 20/01/2004 12:14

Thanks lydialemon. Also slightly more relieved that it's not just ds's school.

kmg1 · 20/01/2004 14:37

Popsycal - when were these introduced? Do you know?

DS1 is in yr2 now (and a phenomenal reader - immersed in the Hobbit so obviously did OK). But in his 'foundation year' they did no letter recognition, certainly no word recognition, were very anti children reading or writing.

I understood (wrongly?) that the foundation curriculum was actually worded in a very woolly way, and schools/teachers were fairly free in their interpretation of it, as to whether they taught these formal skills at all?

IMO some children are ready to learn these words, some are not. It's all about building blocks; they need a firm foundation first in letter recognition, and then move on from that.

Original poster
firestorm · 20/01/2004 19:52

hi everyone,
thanks for your advice, you really are a friendly bunch on here. (unlike some other message boards)
have spoken to someone whose dd is in the class my dd will be in this september & apparently the teacher is lovely & much easier to approach than dds current teachers. i hope this is right because the same person also told me how good dds current teachers are. its put my mind at rest a little.
i suppose it isnt drastically important if they dont know all the key words by the end of this year. im sure they will soon catch up in year one. & dd has only just started going full time so maybe im expecting too much of her when she should really just be concerntrating on play while in reception. the real work starts soon enough in year one. also her school did get a good report for the foundation stage so they must know what theyre doing.
im just a worry wort mum who probably panics too quickly.
thanks again.

OP posts:
popsycal · 20/01/2004 20:50

Hi there - firstly, I am trained for the whole of the primary years but specifically focus on key stage two and have very little experience of direct teaching i n reception.....
however, the literacy strategy came out in september 1998 nationwide and in certain areas afew years before that.
The early years strategy I think came out afew years later......(though I may be wrong....)
It has definitely been around for the last 3 years however....
The publication that the link is from, however, is the original literacy strategy document whihc has been used in all state schools since sept 1998. Therefore, unless this section is an update (and I am pretty certain it is in the original document) then it has been there since 1998.
If you want, I can check my own original 1998 paper document tomorrow...