school has surprised me!

[blackeyedsusan]

last week I asked for harder words to read... one (or more) groups have been given spellings!

I also asked for more challenging books as the yellow band books were a "little easy." given that we are reading easy chapter books at home they have put her up one band. I am shocked as we normally play a little game every couple of months where I say the books arer too easy and they ignore me and we carry on doing our own thing in our own happy way. once pmt has passed

ok so she could spell the words first time at home and green band is not a big leap, but i do not know whether she will cope with spelling in a test and at least the green band books are a little harder and we can get something out of it now. she has been asked to practice adding numbers in the teens as she doesn't use the number line to count on. (tends to do these things in her head) well we have practised and introduced a strategy of using number bonds of single digit numbers to check teens+ addition (ie if 2 and 4 =6 then 12+4=16 and 22+4=26 etc) doubt that will go down well! I hope she talks about her strategy at school.

I think I want to push for more, but not until she has had time to try out/prove herself for another month or so. (after all she might go to pieces under test conditions and we have a lot of work to do on handwriting) anyone fancy sitting on me and administering the duct tape for the next month?

(disclaimer, i know she is not doing some of the stuff other really bright children do at this age, though she is the top end of normal and I post mainly because i as fed up of the lack of progress ith reading in school compared to home)

ps, sorry about the lack of capitals, intermittent shift key!

somebody carefully packed dd's reading folder and book reports and has just come home from shopping to find... yes you guessed it, the ruddy reading book still on the work surface.

Better than my day Bes, sent dd in with her updated reading record & 3 finished books & she tells me they listened to every child in class read except her. I say perhaps it just felt like she was the only one who didn't get her books changed but she said no Mrs x said she was going to read with everyone today & when she got to y she announced to the class that was the whole class done. Dd put her hand up but they didn't see her! They seem to be forever forgetting her & she's noticed too. Even at the Xmas bazar when we went to purchase her decoration (a decorated/framed photo of your child wearing an Xmas hat) they hadn't taken one of her! I really am at my wits end!

we had a similair situation joyn.
When dd started year 1 the whole class were assessed to see where to be placed on the book bands,except dd.
When i went to see the teacher about the fact that dd had'nt had a book or been listened to she was very surprised and said all the class had been heard,after me and dd politely telling her several times that dd had'nt been heard she produced a list to prove it to us only to see a big gap by dd's name,she was very apologetic.
Dd has also been forgotten several times when books have been changed.
I would be very cross about the photo it really doesnt give a postive message to our children when they are treated this way.

joyn I would have kicked up a fuss and insisted they take one of her. (except dd would have been aay on the day in question. she as away a lot of last half term. )

We don't go back until next week, but was enjoying pj days until ds came down with a vomiting thing. Ugh.
(tis madwoman btw -have been locked out of my username in some technical debacle, so took a few weeks off over Christmas and came back to find tech still hasn't fixed me.)
We are waiting for ds1's report from his psych/Ed eval, but the was nothing unexpected when we had our feedback meeting. I'm hoping we can collect it this week as I want to read it before school starts on Monday. We'll need to have another meeting and see what they come up with.
(huge apols if no one has a clue who I am, have been in and out for a few months -dd2 has the same profile as mrss' dd, and dd1 is on the regional gifted programme -oh, they have found a mentor for her (they tried to set up a meeting for 21st dec, the same day we had ds1's feedback meeting, so we had to postpone until the new year).
Her mentor is a vet, that's all I know, so it will be interesting to meet up and see what's in store -they are supposed to work on an extended project through the year, I think.

Meant to say, want to read it so that we can see what psych recommends in terms of school. We still haven't made a decision wrt home Ed, so need to see what she says he needs in terms of schooling, and then see whether school will offer it...

Joyn and Mrs Shears. DD too. They forgot her birthday last term.

We were back to school yesterday; I am supposed to be feeling optimistic after our meeting at the end of last term, but don't. I think it's because DD has done loads off her own bat over the holiday (I was the parent in WH Smith on Christmas Eve buying workbooks, because DD was nearly in tears because she'd finished one all the other parents must have thought I was the pushiest mother in town). But we will see.

Madwoman - do let us know when you get the report, and also how the mentor is - that sounds interesting.

mwita, you are sounding scarier.... "there is a mad woman having an out of body experience in the attic"....

oness. it could look odd. oh well, you know dd likes them. dd cries if she can't do reading after school. (after an hour of doing reading already)

Hmm, Am I being a bit over sensitive or is there more of problem with 'bright' (for want of a more appropriate word,) girls being over looked? Ds never had this problem, (quite the opposite at times). Her class teacher is fine, but I did talk to him (again) this morning, with regard to not getting books changed & I mentioned the Xmas photo thing (& the fact she rarely got her spellings on time). I have a lot of respect for him, it's just unfortunate he's out of class so often (deputy head stuff,) & things don't seem to work quite so well when he's not there. I've had to catch him for 'a quick word' at least four times with in school issues & she's only been in the class since last half term! I bet he must try & hide when he sees me coming!

That's awful about the photo .

I haven't seen any evidence of girls being overlooked here tbh. If anything, the other way round. Although they've all been 'noted' as being v bright, tbh ds1 has been the one that's been most overlooked... He's had some extension work and in one school was moved up for Maths, but no-one has really bothered to find out how bright he is or deal with his, um, quirks.

I think it's just mostly that bright kids tend to get overlooked as a whole, because they aren't causing difficulties, won't bring the Sats results down, and aren't really the priority. (dd1 is 12 this month and is in her, um, 7th school or something.) The best I've seen is a tacit recognition of 'brightness' in all of those schools. The last school called me and asked for permission to assess her after she had been there for a couple of months. It then took them a whole year to do it, and they only bothered because I bumped into the ht and asked if the assessment had ever been done, as I hadn't heard anything. To be fair, dd1 isn't 'in your face' bright. She's quiet and just gets on with everything. (ds1 is quiet and doesn't get on with anything lol) whereas dd2 does literally stand out because of her cp - and so she is literally in your face because she is so very different from the stereotyped 'girl with cp' whatever that's supposed to be. And she's much more forward than the other two. And a bit more emotionally volatile!

I have to say I've mostly ignored the book changing years with all three. They could all read quite happily, and although they were all keen to get their reading books etc etc, it wasn't really that important.(back to the whole 'why are they invisible' thing!) they all had loads of books at home and didn't really get anything out of the school selection anyway (apart from the peer group equality thing) so I tried not to stress about it. That way lies madness! (ah.... Lightbulb)

I think y2 is when schools traditionally start to pay a bit more attention (at least with y2sats, but not sure if they are still doing those?) one of the schools had a percussion club in y1 by invitation, and moved a couple of kids up for Maths, but in the 3 yr r schools, not a sausage... (well, dd2 was assessed in yr r, but that wasn't through school)

The birthday stuff is terrible, but probably coincidental? I'm not a fan of the whole mass production methods of teaching, I have to say. So many things to keep track of, so many kids at so many different levels. It does my head in just thinking about it! (I confess to having been roped in to running the brownies. I have twenty ffs. I can't even remember their names yet, but I only see them once a week for an hour. The thought of a new school year and getting to grips with a class of thirty gives me the willies, really! I like to think that your average teacher has a tried and tested system for this stuff, but I can see how easily it would fall down.

I was offered three teaching courses when I was doing my a levels. All of them offered me a place if I got two 'e's. Two freaking 'e's. So my faith in teachers in general is shaky at best! However lovely they are.

Lol at having an out of body experience in the attic! If only I could get back in the damned attic!!!

'I was offered three teaching courses when I was doing my a levels. All of them offered me a place if I got two 'e's. Two freaking 'e's. So my faith in teachers in general is shaky at best! However lovely they are.'

I'm going to get completely flamed here, i had an odd experience today and before i say can i add i'm not saying all teachers are like this,i know some fantastic ones,however i met a really strange woman today at work who also came across as really not very bright(nothing wrong with this,i'm not einstein myself) and also as maybe having some form of learning disability? or similair? at the end of the conversation she added that she is a primary school teacher .

I think dd's introvert personality contributes to her being invisible sometimes and also the fact she has no interest in proving herself or pleasing her teachers.
I remember when dd1 was dd2's age and it was 'mrs x says this and mrs x says that so it must be true' dd2 rarely mentions her teachers,i can see some similarities between your ds and my dd madwoman.

'I'm not a fan of the whole mass production methods of teaching, I have to say. So many things to keep track of, so many kids at so many different levels. It does my head in just thinking about it!'---So, I won't expect the level measuring is that accurate, it won't never.So our school did surprise me when they did a very accurate measurement for Ds1.And Ds2 teacher pointed out some things he can do which I don't even know.Surprise surprise!

oh i dunno, curious. if it was ds's turn to be the focus of attention, i would expect the assessment to be reasonably accurate, as long as his abilities fell within the realm of what they were looking for/ testing.

i think the difficulty is where kids fall outside of the paramenters being tested at any given point (those parameters being completely arbitrary, of course ) and who they are concentrating on. and whether the child had a dentist appointment, or that it was the class's turn to do the assembly, or whether the TA was loaned to the other class for the afternoon.

we've had some great teachers. but even they don't often 'notice' stuff that outside the scope of what they are currently teaching. i toddled along to ds1's yr 1 parent teacher thingy, and (he had job share teachers by this point as the initial nqt had gone on long term sick) and they proudly told me was on the g&t register for readinging, and where he was expected to be for maths. fab. i don't think they expected me to laugh, though. i did apologise, but i asked them if they had ever asked him anything he had been unable to answer in maths, and they passed a nervous glance between them. (he'd been doing multiplication and additiona and subtraction for change when he started nursery at 3 - two or three years earlier). it hadn't even occurred to them (and it wouldn't, to be fair) that the yr 1 'bigger/smaller, lighter/ heavier, more than, less than' and using a ruler to measure centimetres wasn't the extent of his capability. and if they didn't know what he was capable of, how many other kids in the class were also in that position?

they said they'd have a look, and he was moved up for maths a few weeks later. i have nothing against the teachers, they were truly lovely, and loved having ds1 in the class (they would share little jokes with him over the heads of the other kids) but the narrowness of the national curriculum hadn't allowed them the ability to really understand what the kids in their class knew.

i've seen statemented children badly let down because their parents have not been able to advocate for them, and sn staff have not had the time to re-assess for support requirements, so the 'annual review' of support is just essentially a roll-over, whether support needs have changed or not. i assume the same happens with bright kids/ all kids. this probably means that my kids are being let down in school because i really just let it happen (with the odd question here and there) but, i dunno. i've tried to get involved in ways that improve the educational experience for all kids, rather than just mine, but it can be soul destroying. i really want to believe that all children will really reach their potential... but...

it hadn't even occurred to them (and it wouldn't, to be fair) that the yr 1 'bigger/smaller, lighter/ heavier, more than, less than' and using a ruler to measure centimetres wasn't the extent of his capability. and if they didn't know what he was capable of, how many other kids in the class were also in that position?

this makes me want to vomit. I fear I have missed one somewhere. I don't think I have, but... the bloody do this for 2 weeks then do this... 10 minutes warm up, 10 minutes teaching and working in a group for 20 minutes with a 5 minute plenary is not exactly a lot of scope for finding out where their limitations are. yes it has raised the standard of teaching for the majority of children... but it has limited the potential to find out where the brightest are, in some respects anyway. it definitely helps the less able maths teachers but limitsthe most innovative teachers. and the whole bloody lot changes every couple of years anyway.

dd came home with an ort treetops book today. I will have to read it to see what it is like.

That's good then susan ,looks like they may have moved her up again then,i think treetops start at band 9 or 10?

it must be soooooo difficult. i don't envy the teacher's job at all. restricted by both the curriculum and teaching method, but also by time!!

i think treetops are ok. we've still got a few knocking round here i think. no-one reads them but i have a real problem with getting rid of books. i've just had to box up loads of kid's books and put them in the cupboard, as it occurred to me that some of them haven't been read in years. i sent a couple of boxes to the second hand book store, but i don't really want to part with any of them!!

ORT treetops is level 12 onwards (well the ones I have at home are anyway) DS's school have so far refused to get any books higher than level 9 (have to go to KS2 to get them) so we are forced to wade through level9s Am wondering what will happen when he has read them all???

DS asked his new teacher if he could get a new reading book today and was told no. In fairness I guess we have to go through the whole assessment thing again with this new teacher

He got some homework on partitioning today and did it in about 2 seconds DS is definately one of the kids who is eager to please the teacher but won't look obviously bored if the work is too easy iyswim (and he won't tell the teacher either) which is becoming a problem I think....

Don't know whether to have yet another word with the school, they will probably run when they see me

His school does seem to be an amazingly mixed ability school with some kids still on ORT2 (according to DS - he knows all the levels the kids are on and what tables they are on too ) and 3 kids on level 9 (including DS, although he was assessed by his teacher from last term at level 12)

Experience,
I had exactly the same experience as yours about your ds1 at yr1.While my Ds1 was given much harder work than others, still it was too easy, as they never found what he couldn't do. We changed school at the begining of y2.New school did 2 weeks long assessment, to find where he was. They then found out ,he was between level x-y, where there was some holes not covered at level x.Yes, I was very surprised to get this report, but the teaching afterwards was always a question mark.My Ds1 is currently working on level y with at least 3 different person but none of them is really qualified to teach level y.
So, at least they did something, better than nothing, maybe the school did their best, but is it good enough? I don't think so.

For my Ds2, older one in yr1 now, he has got better support I believe.Because although advanced, he is still within primary school level which is the school's comfortable zone.

Maybe I am lucky, at least my children are known to school their individual abilities.(This was not expected at all when we changed school.)

oohh me and dd love going to the charity shops for books,we have got some great vintage ladybird books and enid blytons for pence each.
We also have lots of my own books from childhood too as my own mum could never get rid of books either

X post!!!

I love going to charity shops too and have picked some real bargains

The next book we read will be a magic treehouse book (never heard of them before) which came from a charity shop.

that's interesting - did they do the same thing with all new pupils? it sounds very proactive. we had a similarish thing (but not to the same extent) with one of the schools the dc's attended (the school turnover was about 50% a year, with kids arriving and leaving all the time), so there was a standard test at the begininning of each year to get some idea of where the kids were (they were arriving from all over the world and all sorts of different curriculums, so v mixed). we were told dd1 was not yet at the standard expected for her grade level on the results of these tests, and then a month later the school rang me to say she had been identified as working over two grade levels above expectation and could they assess her for their gifted programme? (how we laughed) they still didn't do anything though.

different schools have such very different ways of coping with differentiation. it's so hard to know what works best... or even to what extent it's needed.

if anyone wants the treetops, let me know. i can just about part with books if they are going somewhere else to be read...

when we moved three years ago, the bastards stole every boxed set of kids books we owned (they had carefully packed them all into one box ). it still raises my blood pressure to even think about it. some of them had been christening presents (beatrix potter etc).

wish they would do that at DS's school, would be really interested in what he can do rather than the school just saying he is above expected levels etc

Best place for buying books i reckon simpson
Dd gets quite excited about a visit to get some 'new' books.
With regards to book bands and levels etc,i'm not too unhappy with where dd is at the minute,she can choose from either band 8 or 9 (but rarely chooses 8) which with her school banding system can be anything from level 8-12 depending on which scheme the books are from.
I don't think dd has progressed as well as she should have at all with her reading at school but then she hasnt with anything at school,however she has got a bit lazy and developed some bad habbits which we need to work on,now i do think these perhaps have developed due to her not being stretched with her reading when she started school (dd could confidently read ort level 3-4 in nursery) but we need to sort them out all the same.
She will do things like change the words and turn off a bit to what she is reading if she isnt interested in the book, e.g a sentence might say ' when the baby crocodiles are ready to hatch they make a squeaky sound to warn their mother to take care of them' but dd would say 'when the baby crocodiles hatch out of their eggs,they make a squeaky sound to warn their mother she needs to look after them all'.

mrsshears - tbh that is starting to happen with DS too and it is concerning me a bit really. He knows he is bright (I hate that word) and is now starting to realise he can make minimum effort with his school work and still be top of the class if that makes sense which is not a good thing. This is why I have thought of getting him a tutor (although struggling to find one atm)