Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Education

Join the discussion on our Education forum.

Original poster

About to start RECEPTION?...Are you coaching your child??

69 replies

noonar · 29/08/2006 20:30

I'm pretty relaxed about my dd starting school next week, but I caught myself at story/bedtime doing a little more than usual as far as looking at letters/sounds on the page is concerned! You're not all hot-housing your kids before term starts, are you?!

OP posts:
Wordsmith · 29/08/2006 21:39

Tips for button-free dressing: polo shirts not button shirts, ties with elastic band holding them on. Shoes with velcro. Trousers with elasticated waists.

Oh, and buy the cheapest polo shirts you can find. They will accumulate stains that nothing can shift.

Original poster
noonar · 29/08/2006 21:46

oh no! dd must be the only 4yo who doesn't know what Mcdonald's is!

OP posts:
Wordsmith · 29/08/2006 21:46

She soon will.

dinny · 29/08/2006 21:48

was thinking today, 'must put dd in trousers with elastic waist' as there is no way she'll be able to put on her pinafore dress....

hulababy · 29/08/2006 21:49

Oh for easy school clothes. DD has proper button shirts and a real tie!!!

Judd · 29/08/2006 21:50

I have done opening Tupperware practice with DD for her packed lunch. Also wiping own bottom (and NOT shouting "I have done a poo!"). Need to check she can do left and right shoes accurately and get pumps on and off.
I also need to time a frozen orange juice carton to see if it has defrosted by lunchtime (if I remove it from the freezer at 7.30am). Mmmmmm.... I bet people would be queuing up to be friends with me

naswm · 29/08/2006 21:50

ok what else shoudl I be doing? apart from showing himn how to do up his shirt buttons? and briefing him in the latest McDonald's toys lol

naswm · 29/08/2006 21:51

Judd I'll be your friend! Bet you are not in london tho

cat64 · 29/08/2006 23:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

cat64 · 29/08/2006 23:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

rustybear · 30/08/2006 09:31

Olihan - could you find a job where you're covering for PPA - our part timers who do that don't have the bureaucracy & minimal planning & marking

leander · 30/08/2006 09:52

oh didn't even think about coaching ds
he can pretty much get dressed on his own but like hulas dd he has proper shirts and a proper tie so that will probably be a struggle(anyone wanna take bets on how soon he will lose his tie )

joelallie · 30/08/2006 13:03

Coaching? Hell no....

DS#2 starts in a years time and I'll be lucky if he's still not in nappies and if he doesn't run into the classroom on all fours being a 'grilla'

mummyhill · 30/08/2006 13:59

I was informed that they wouod like me to teah DD to write her Name by the time she gets to school. Bollocks to that the holidays are meant for having fun. besides which she is left handed, dh and I are both right handed and don't have a clue where to start.

Judy1234 · 30/08/2006 15:12

Mine were taught their letters at nursery school and how to write their names and one of them could read before she started school at 5. Depends on the child. Teachers like them to know how to do up their clothes and shoes and use the toilet and know how to hold a knife and fork and how to use a hankie. You can help with all that and help them learn how to keep quiet and not cause too much trouble. Ours went to schools where they had to pass a competitive test before they could start at 5 so things like whether they could pick out a letter from a box or kick a ball straight (good test of hand and eye co-ordination) interact with adults, be left etc needed to be sorted out before 5.

Gobbledigook · 30/08/2006 15:15

Not read other posts but I'd say the academic stuff is secondary to social skills at this point. It'll be far easier for her at school if she can dress herself, put coat on and off, open things in her lunchbox (if she is having packed lunches), knows how to take turns etc.

I wouldn't bother to do letters etc at all - I didn't do anything with ds1 before he started last year and he's firing on all cylinders academically.

HyacinthB · 30/08/2006 15:25

Nope - but we've been working at getting dressed more effectively (she can do this for herself - but we are working on accuracy, i.e. getting things on the right way around)

Northerner · 30/08/2006 15:28

My ds starts school in 2 weeks, he can read the FT and do some easy triganomotry and pythaguraus therom. You have to prepare them.

Gingerbear · 30/08/2006 15:31

DD can write her name, read and spell some CVC words, and recognise numbers.
BUT she is too lazy to wipe her bum, put on socks and shoes, or dress herself!
I am going to buy 5 nightdresses in school uniform colours and have done with.

Gobbledigook · 30/08/2006 15:41

Don't joke gingerbear - a little boy in ds1's class frequently turns up to school in his pj's or with his uniform over his pjs - i kid you not, poor thing. He is chinese and I think his parents own a restaurant and he is up very late. His parents sometimes dont' get him to school till about 10am and he'll be in his pjs and they hand over the uniform

Gingerbear · 30/08/2006 15:43

oh, poor little soul GDG

loopylou0612 · 30/08/2006 15:45

I would reccomend that you encourage children's independence eg, changing into PE kits and so on rather than training them up for reception class! They'll have all the teaching done for them when they get there but it may be more difficult for a teacher to dress each and every child ready for PE or go to the toilets with them!

Good luck to all of you who's lo is off to school!!

jenkel · 30/08/2006 16:22

No coaching but am trying to encourage her to get dressed, dresses and skirts are OK, but tights!!!!, hopefully we wont need to worry about tights for a while.

Celia2 · 30/08/2006 17:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Judy1234 · 30/08/2006 18:53

Our have had ties since 4 or 5. I think the poor teachers and assistant had to tie most of them for the first term. My mother taught us all to read at home. I don't think it does any harm if the child is interested and ready for that particularly if they're going to a school where a lot of the children will already be reading but my oldest couldn't read when she started and that didn't matter, she caught up in due course. Children are ready at different ages. No one learns in Holland I think until they're 7.