Reception learning not going well....

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I'm not sure what I can do to help DD1.... she's really sensitive and has become a scaredy-cat, and a bit defiant.....

She got in reception as one of the youngest but she loooves school and was doing quite well. At home it has become a struggle. It seems at least some of the other kids are starting to write (did they already do before?) but she takes a loooong time to write a word. Even then it is wobbly.

I have asked the teacher to not make them write words during live classes but she didn't seem to understand that kids may be struggling at home to follow her 20 min hurried up class.

Is this normal? (I'm sure it is.... but she's not having the support of a qualified teacher) It doesn't help that she has 2 younger siblings... and that I'm struggling a little bit with PND.

Any suggestions?..... any "same here" people?..../

Is it normal to learn a new sound every single day???!!!! Don't think my DD can keep up....

This week was "ch", "sh" and now "th"! In the meantime I'm still trying to get her to write "a" properly, she struggles with that one, better at most others

I presume she is using the Jolly Phonics ? That says a sound a day. I teach Junior Infants which is the Irish equivalent to reception and we do 2-3 sounds a week. We actually only began our sounds in December as we spent the first 3 months on phonological awareness as the children missed so much preschool.
Now I know.our curriculum is different but I think writing words is a lot for a child this age. I would take the words down during the lesson yourself and help her sound out the words after. Maybe she could dictate the sounds to you and you write.
The diagraphs you mentioned are very difficult for children and we wouldn't mention them till the third term at least. They find it hard to comprehend that two sounds together make a completely different sound.

In short ignore me if it doesn't apply but your child is normal.
I am also teaching my own DD at home who is in my class. She is 6 next month and we are taking things slowly.

My advice would be to let it wash over you both. Let her write, don't get on her case if she doesn't. Wobbly is great, and next year they will all be catching up. Besides loads of places don't even start til 7, 4 is so young. For now concentrate on the message being "words are interesting, you can have a go, you are doing great.". If you have time to read to her then do much the better (you can ask her to spot certain letters as you read, if sounding out is beyond her). At this point- cherishing her, and you all staying sane(ish), is far more important than whether she can write The.

You're right it is apparently the Jolly Phonics.

It's going so quick. But I think the biggest issue is that the teacher doesn't seem to be aware that (probably quite a few kids) at least DD is struggling to keep up. She's not next to them to see their progression, she doesn't see how long it takes to write a couple of words. Maybe when the kids are all together in class they encourage each other. But with homeschooling is different.

Birthday is August so actually we were considering delaying a year. Wondering if we could keep her behind a year if we see necessary

Ps- my reception child is also finding virtual learning pretty offputting. I'm not worried, because her brother was utterly uninterested in reading or writing at this stage, and now at 7 gets through chapter books faster than I can supply then.

If I take a lax approach then she won't be left well behind the rest of the class

Your daughter won't be the only one struggling. I would do what she can from the lessons and then concentrate on fun educational stuff. Let her watch alphablocks and play teach your monster to read etc.

They're not for everyone but my daughter loved flash cards and learned really well from them (we didn't buy them- they were a gift but actually went down really well)

I can hear through your messages that you are very frustrated. As I said my daughter is 6 next month and at the same.stage as yours..I have taught infants for 18 years and I will tell you she is not behind where a 4 yr old should be.

Concentrate on the initial sounds. Ensure she knows the 26 letter sounds really well. Use the jolly phonics songs on you tube and flashcards. Once she knows these start putting them into 3 letter words. Make it fun, go fish with flashcards snap etc.
The diagraphs can wait for a while.

We are only starting letter formation now. So as you can see we are far behind

I think reading eggs might have a 30 day trial too.

Hi OP

My daughter is 5 and in year 1. She is August born. During lockdown last year she was doing reception lockdown learning and she was also really not ready for writing at all.

We don't do jolly phonics but read write Inc. Regardless, let her go at her own pace. We also did one or two sounds a week. I would do hints like sound treasure hunts where I hid the sounds around the garden for her to find (or house at the moment with it being winter). We used to make categories like ch words th words then I would hide words like 'thin' 'chip' etc and she would put them in the right bucket.

With writing, we wrote letters to friends. She was so much more motivated to do that and it was easy to write something like 'to X i miss you love dd' for example.

With maths we made number lines out of paper or chalked on ground and practiced jumping forward or back.

Don't worry about keeping up with the class. She won't be the only one struggling and you can't force it at this age, it will do more damage.

I would email the teacher and tell her you will go at dd's pace then photograph what you are doing with her and submit that so she can see learning and progress.

To reassure you, we are now almost a year on and my DD is writing in full sentences and reading on a similar level to her peers as far as I can tell. Her teacher has no concerns. She has leapt forward this year.

If you think about it, having this 1:1 time will be good for her. Better than her being in class and struggling to keep up with writing etc so don't worry, see it as an opportunity to have the teaching tailored to where she is.

Also as someone who has also had pnd, please go easy on yourself. You have her best interests at heart and you are working with her and supporting her so she will be absolutely fine

There are lots of Jolly Phonics on youtube - if you can stand it just play them on repeat!

Also try writing not with a pencil - try fingers in flour / sand or writing with squirty bottles, rolling marbles around a track. There are lots of ways to learn how to write and most reception classes will use very physical ways to begin with. Encourage any kind of mark making and make it fun rather than sitting at a table kind of work. The younger ones can join in if that makes it easier!

Thanks for all your ideas and help I will try them. Some I can even adjust so middle child can play as well

Oh definitely. I have a 3 year old as well and we adapted a lot. He learned to count to 20 during the first lockdown when he was only just 2 from jumping along DDs number lines! Good luck :)

We were having a complete mare with DS so we’ve swapped things around. I sent a long email to his teachers (who are very supportive) explaining our problems and now we no longer participate in the online sessions - we use Numberblocks and the maths games the teachers post online, and we practice his phonics in our own time too. With regard to writing DS is very reluctant so I have printed lots of dot to dots off to practice pencil control. And we do lots of other things like salt dough, Lego, box models and things. Today we did some science - using bicarbonate of soda and vinegar to inflate a balloon. All of these exercises have been suggested by DS’s school - they’re being really good. We then try to take part in a final catch up session online each day to see the class and share what we’ve all been up to, but without the pressure of trying to do work at the same time. DS’s teachers have assured me that he won’t be left behind and that they’ll have plenty of time to run through anything I miss, and that I should just take the pressure off and try to have as much fun as possible. And they are really emphasising how important play is to the whole class.

So I would try to relax as much as possible, and if the online sessions really aren’t working for your DD, tell the teachers you will no longer be taking part (don’t ask!) because they’re too stressful for her, but then ask how you can support her at home instead.

Our school are doing 2 sounds per week at the minute, Monday is recap the week previously, Tuesday is recognise and read a new letter and Wednesday is learn to write it. Then they do another new one Thursday/Friday. It feels a nice pace.

I’ve no idea how the other kids are managing but our teacher regularly comments that some will be learning to write the letter but others can write full sentences. They’ve split us into smaller groups, my DD can write in sentences and the kids in her group seem to be able to do that too so I’m assuming they’ve grouped them as close in ability as possible.

Definitely look at reading eggs with the free trial, my DD loves it and if she can hear the sounds in words it will be easier to then try and sound them out to write. I wouldn’t worry too much about it taking a while or being wobbly, all Mark making is good at that age.

Please don't worry about "getting behind" at age 4! Some kids brains are not remotely ready for this stuff til YEARS older, even without the COVID weirdness. Even if she makes 0 progress from this point until they are back in school, I can guarantee that she won't be the most "behind". My eldest got nowhere with writing in reception, it just suddenly clicked in the middle of year 1, now in year 3 he writes reams. The only thing I'd worry about at this point is her getting the feeling that this stuff is stressful, and that she's bad at it. You are not going to ruin her education by not teaching her to write in lockdown- please let go of that pressure, you've enough on your plate!

Sounds like you are at my dc school we did those sounds this week.
Im actually a bit glad of the writing practise as at least it gets done. I have an older dc and doing 3digit multiplication now division makes the phonics seem a relief.
Though i dont have any younger to worry about. The oak lessons though i dont feel add that much.

Agree about reading eggs
The fast phonics is very good fun format.
So dc had already done ch and sh. Not yet got to th. I think weve done ar etc.

It also practises some sight words a little.
Im going to put some postits around the house.
Dc1 had an amazing memory and learned all the unusual words very quickly, with dc2 this is going to take a while.
Ive also realised she doesnt know all capital letters

Wobbly writing is where we're at, still confusing a 'b' and a 'd' sometimes and one of them is in her name. But I think that is fine as long as they're getting the general idea and doing a bit every school day. Lots of carrot, no stick,
so that they learn that learning is fun, and achievable. It's Reception -
if they were in school they'd still be spending some time playing.

Play, read, count and talk. That's plenty.

Any fine motor skills play activities (plenty of ideas online) will help develop the muscles in her hands, and weight-bearing through her arms will strengthen her shoulder girdle. Try mark-making on a near-vertical surface like a painting easel/ blackboard (or wet bathroom tiles). If you get a sunny day, paint the garden fence with water.

When she practises her writing, have her sitting at a table with her feet supported, not dangling. Put her paper on a slope (ring-binder) when she practises writing.

Is she left-handed?

Yes, you guessed right! A new sound today! 

@Tavannach I think that too. Reception should be fun but it isn't now.... it's class after class. Pay attention! PAY ATTENTION!!! that's not "sh" it's "ch" no wonder she gets confused....

My daughter is in reception. She does read, write inc phonics and they have a new sound every day until they end of set 2. In school they were going to split the class into two groups, those who need to review set 1 and those who would keep doing set 2. My DD phonics is pretty good but they did start them in nursery but last year she wouldn’t really write so we are working on that.

Everyday she has a phonics sound video and spelling video (on YouTube), handwriting practice (3 letters), reading book, numeracy and trick exception words, literacy, numeracy and often some thing. We don’t do all of it.

Work on what your daughter needs and what is feesible with a newborn. Alphablock on ceebies is great, they also have apps, and the teach your monster to read app is good too.

We had a writing board for my son (the one with the magnetic filings you can erase with a swipe at the bottom). We've been using this for some time but it started with drawing simple pictures and progressed to writing his name (he could just about do this at the start of reception).
As he learnt more letters, I would turn to him and say can you spell cat? If he made a mistake he could erase it himself. Plus using the phonetics he's been learning, I could sound out the word to help him. School have also given out a laminated sound mat which contains all of the letters and digraphs.
I think he built a lot of confidence using the board and loved showing off when he would play on his own and write a word.
It is worrying though and difficult for parents to get their heads around the way of teaching (I've made quite a few mistakes sounding things out).