Year 2 parents

[mondaytofriday]

Any year 2 kids parents want to chat?

My dc appears to be struggling with his Maths. It seems to be moving too fast for him. They are doing addition with renaming. Tried to to explain it to him, following his textbook, but clearly not doing a good job as he says he's not getting it...

How are your dc doing? Are they happy to be back?

Mine were great for the first couple of weeks, but this week seeing definite signs of stress - proper rant from one of mine this evening (upon making a very basic request) about having to work all day and no time for fun. I did my best to make sympathetic noises and not give in to temptation to explain the concept of adulthood.

I think they are properly getting down to work now, and generally finding it overwhelming / exhausting. One of mine has extra literacy support since y1, and the other (twins) is just starting a social skills assessment for possible Sen, so school has always presented some challenges for us.

I have no idea what mine are doing in math - we only get spelling homework and reading diaries. We’ve been doing 10 mins extra math a day since mid y1, so really hoping that’s going okay - parent consultations in 2 weeks, and no idea what to expect.

Hi @Labraradabrador

How have the last few weeks been for the twins?

We don't get any spellings - never have. We also don't have reading diaries. Only a book or two. We do read every day. I do think dc spelling is behind.

In Maths, they've started two digit numbers subtraction now, which surprisingly dc finds less confusing than addition.

Dc has been a bit overwhelmed this week. He said he has been told off twice yesterday and had to do 'reflecting' by himself. He was too chatty at lesson time. Definitely struggles with impulse control sometimes.

This morning was a difficult one. We had the timer for him to get dressed. He didn't quite manage to do it in the time and got so cross for 'losing'. It escalated v quickly and I needed to use a v loud voice to be heard as he was shouting in frustration. So lots of emotions running. Definitely frustration tolerance not great at the moment. We chatted about it calmly later, but I'm feeling so deflated and worried about how he's going to be at school today.

I only have the one and feels very hard at times. Not sure how you're managing! Hope all is good.

@mondaytofriday i find it so difficult to judge when to be firm vs. Indulge in the face of very big emotions. Your description of your morning timer meltdown is something I could have written myself - one of mine responds very well to that sort of thing, but my other finds being timed intensely stressful and actually counterproductive.

I am picking my battles this year, and trying to minimise extra asks- for example keeping weekends VERY low key and at home instead of anything organised . I think they just need lots of extra downtime at the moment.

we are actually in a pretty good place at the moment - I think half term will be a much needed break, and we do get over the top reactions to any issue, but they are holding up better this year than last. I credit some of the interventions put in place last year (especially in case of suspected Sen), as well as the fact they have a very skilled teacher this year who seems to work magic with the kids individually as well as cultivating a calm, positive classroom environment.

hopefully half term will be a bit of a reset for yours - the second half of term is packed with fun stuff in the lead up to Christmas, so hopefully less draining 🤞

@Labraradabrador hi!
Hope you and your dc had a lovely half term. Ours went by very quickly!

It's so lovely to read about how capable the teacher is. Makes such a big difference. How did the parent consultations go?

Last Friday dc brought home homework and sat down and did it all independently- I think it's the first time that has happened without me having to 'remind' numerous times. It was about mini beast. I think he likes science better, than other subjects.

They are doing multiplications in Maths now and he also seems to like that much more than column addition/ subtraction - I wonder if it's because he's just better at memorising things.

We did have another meltdown this morning. I think we didn't have one since I wrote on here a month ago, actually.
I've got a terrible cold and I guess I had my guard down, and couldn't predict/prevent. I think he might be coming down with something too so a bit more vulnerable.

Hope you're staying away from the bugs and calmly getting on with it all.

Hey can I jump in. Eldest DD is year 2- the phonics has been amazing, no issues with her reading and whilst we don’t have spellings I think she can spell well from the phonics learning- but Omg the maths is hell, pure hell. She learns all these songs counting in 2s and 10s but if I ask her a question of adding she can’t get the concept. I feel the curriculum really drops maths and focuses entirely on reading. All the maths homework is on an app, there’s no real advice on how they teach it but it’s utterly painful.
As for attitude every morning now she doesn’t want to go in, stomps round the house- no idea why as she likes school, does well and has friends- I do think the pressure has ramped up. She’s also an august baby so perhaps a bit more emotionally immature.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers hey!

Very similar with phonics here. Dc is doing rwi and they are quite focused on it.

For Maths our school is using Maths No Problem, which I think is a good programme. However, I think as they were let down by a teacher last year and didn't get good basics (at least my dc seems to have not) everything seems to be moving super fast right now for him.
Word problems he'll definitely struggle with and also things like adding with renaming/ subtracting with exchanging.

I am trying to fit in some maths time at home to make sure he doesn't fall too much behind.

The weather here is properly miserable today so I guess that is not helping with their willingness to go to school in the mornings! Lol. Hope your dc is happy at pick up though.

Yeh rwi here too.
I have no idea why maths isn’t clicking or tbh if it isn’t clicking and this is how they learn it but it’s really hard to try and do the work at home. So much I feel is guess work.
Thanks pick ups are easier but it’s so upsetting that our morning starts so tense and dramatic. Hopefully like all stages we move past it.

Can I join in? Daughter is home educated but year 2 aged.
Maths has been very painful here too! She’s about a year ‘behind’. We were using workbooks following the national curriculum but progress has been very slow and lots of upset doing it. We’re now using a games based American curriculum (Math with confidence - the workbook pages are easier than the games/ lessons and is building her maths confidence!) whilst it doesn’t perfectly follow the NC, it is fairly similar and I’m hoping to now use that for the rest of primary years and then move back to the national curriculum! It’s going so much better.
English has always been her strong subject, and finished with phonics around a year ago, very strong reader. She’s currently doing a Charlie and the chocolate factory literature study (chatty zebra curriculums) and nearly finished with her Year 2 English workbook.

She loves science, she’s nearly done with the chatty zebra space science, and once she’s finished I’ll let her pick between a few other Science options.

@Frogsz so interesting to hear your experience! I am American, and find the uk nc maths progression a bit strange and a bit running before you can walk in terms of pushing new concepts earlier than would be the case in the us, but then I only know my own experience. For anyone struggling with math, I highly rate our cubie subscription. We’ve been using since early y1 after some confusing teacher feedback in which I realised I had no clue about dc math ability, or even what was expected in terms of nc. I think math is the same as reading in that you need to build a certain volume of practice before it comes naturally, but I also find that school doesn’t give it the same focus as reading. I also looked at maths no problem over the summer, and it is excellent 👍

@mondaytofriday glad to hear things have smoothed out a bit for you and your dc! Parent consultations went really well - having been a bit blindsided last year it was a relief to have largely positive feedback. This our first week back and already full speed on nativity rehearsals, which mine are very excited about (each have exactly one line, which they insist we practice daily).

@Labraradabrador
I’m not very familiar with American vs British maths. I would have concerns about it long term as my understanding is that our GCSE maths at 15/16 is harder than what you’re doing at 17/18 in final year there! But from an early elementary perspective I can certainly see my daughter is making more connections than she did from early primary curriculum. Certainly see it giving a much more solid foundation! Hopefully the American maths continues to be a success and we can move onto KS3 when the time comes without too big a jump.
I did look at Maths No Problem too, but it didn’t look enormously different from other workbooks we’ve used from what little I could see about it. But maybe it was!

@Frogsz there isn’t a set attainment level in the us - once kids hit junior high / high school (years 6-12 in us) they are usually put in tracks and will be taught different content at different rates. For example some children might spend 2 years covering basic algebra, while a more math able child would do it in 1 and then move on to more advanced content. By the time I graduated high school I was probably 3-4 years ahead of some of my least math able peers, but we all would have ‘passed’ the math requirement assuming decent grades for whichever courses we took. But I do suspect the progression continues to be quite different in terms of which subject matter taught when - much like science, where the us does subjects sequentially while the uk teaches multiple disciplines in parallel. I

My understanding is that by the end of primary us and uk are in pretty much same place, though.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers I hope dc has been better in the mornings. In Phonics have any of the kids in her year moved onto the next things RWI Spelling or Comprehension? As far as I know, none in my dc class have moved up and I feel like they are being a bit let down by the teaching staff.

@Frogsz I never heard of the ChattyZebra programmes. You dc sounds like she's doing amazing with her reading.

@Labraradabrador how are the twins getting on? I find this time of year very odd - everything moving so fast, and can be so overwhelming for kids.

We've had our parents meeting too and I could tell my kid is not really on the teachers radar too much. He's not getting a lot of positive attention because he often needs time to summon up his confidence to speak up, to share what he knows in a group, etc; he is not naughty enough to get attention for that either.
I found it frustrating because if the teacher doesn't expect much of your child, how is he going to grow more confident in class.
She also doesn't watch them at play time so gave me a very general reply when I asked about friendships. So definitely no hope there of her being the type of teacher that will help if kid is struggling a bit socially. And that's so important for them to be happy at school.

How are everyone's kids doing? Hope all ok.

My boy is very tired + hyper at the same time! They had lots of things happening last couple of weeks at school, and lots of practicing for their Christmas show which is this week.
I'm conscientiously keeping our weekends boring and uneventful at the moment for a bit of balance.

Last day this Thursday, and we are ready for a break! This week is all fun stuff / wind down to Christmas, so they are excited to go in, but difficult to rouse in the mornings and so so cranky in the evenings. I am looking forward to lazier starts to my day for a while! I have very little organised in the week before Xmas, and looking forward to lots of movies and lounging about- we’ll see how long that lasts before the girls start climbing the walls.

hope the school performance goes well! Ours was last week, and first year that they had proper speaking roles - was impressed and proud of them both for being confident on stage and having fun throughout, as last year they had been so nervous.

oversll it’s been a good term for both my dd - they seem to be really enjoying school, and I am so impressed with their teacher this year. Fingers crossed it continues!

@Labraradabrador Last school day for your dc already! Enjoy.

Lovely to hear they've done much better at the Christmas performance. Hope they had fun last few days.

Having the right teacher is so important. So glad to hear they had a great term.

We've had the show too now (yesterday) and already dc is more relaxed. He did ok- knew his lines, didn't stumble at all, but was the quietest - I doubt anyone knew what he was saying. He was super loud when practicing at home...

They've got a few more fun things planned and finally off next Wednesday.

I had started doing a few pages of maths workbook with him everyday but hadn't done much the last couple of weeks. We only managed to squeeze in some reading. I know he still struggles with some of the stuff they covered, so hopefully we'll manage to catch up at some point.

I teach Year 2. There is far too much in the maths curriculum and not enough time allocated to master each topic. I have to rearrange a lot of things to build in extra time for consolidation. It's also a huge jump from the Year 1 expectations. On the positive side, SATS are not compulsory this year so there is less pressure on Y2.

@lavenderlou

Thank you for that!
Yes, it felt like two number subtractions (with exchanging) were suddenly a big jump from what they were doing last year.

I thought may be it was just our school (we had a teacher leaving mid year) or just my dc. He's good with doing maths in his head but appears to be only doing things one way and finds it difficult when asked to follow a new, specific method.

I haven't actually asked if our school have opted out of the y2 Sats.

Ds said he did a couple of tests (Maths and English) beginning of December. I think that's the first time he's mentioned doing written tests.

our school doesn’t do SATs, but children are still periodically assessed to track progress - mostly pretty low key, but I have heard about the occasional ‘maths challenges’ that sound like assessments. Fine as long as the kids don’t feel the pressure. Our previous school was uber focused on SATs and I think it encouraged some really unhealthy dynamics, so very pleased it is no longer mandatory.

glad to hear the performance went well - it is such a big thing for them to perform in front of an audience. Mine do musical theatre, and the termly performance is always at a whisper for most kids, including my loud boisterous dd who performs her scenes at full volume at home for weeks in the lead up.

Hope the last few days go well. Mine have been absolute ratbags with me and each other lately - think we need to sleep for a week before trying to be human with each other again. Homework has mostly stopped - do a page of math and maybe a couple pages of reading and call it a win. Try to keep up the routine, but not sure what we are accomplishing. We are doing long haul travel to see family this year, and already tired just thinking about it.