Its the 9th Dec. Why has my Year 6 child just come home and and said' no more work for us!'??

[tricia5]

They've done their assessments this week, Now as the teacher has to mark them she has told the class that from tomorrow they will just be doing ' fun' worksheets and role play until they break up. Oh,and today, because the science lab was out of order, they ' messed around' all afternoon.

Makes a change from DVDs in the hall..

I've heard of winding down for xmas but this is a complete waste of valuable learning time.

tee hee
I'm far too psychotic to be allowed near small children.
But I am good at making mums stop having "revisionist" views of what they did at school!

Tricia
I hope my posts have allowed you to see the best bits of what your kids are getting and learn to build on them.

Remember that children are at school for 6 hours a day, 30 hours a week = 1/7 of their time. The other 6/7 of their time they are under your control. 6:1 your time / teacher time. Remember that one...

I have never been in any doubt that my DD social skills are top notch and that she is very happy at school. I just wish she could spell.

But like you say....6/7ths down to me. My expectations have been lowered, but my views on what I did at school remain.

Sorry I didn't get back to this thread - taking DS to a school christmas party - a great thing to do AFTER SCHOOL HOURS !

He is 10 in reply to Notevenamouse's question.

Like others - I am fully aware of the social aspects of education but I still think that the right sort of balance would be a couple of 'fun' half days towards the end of term with the usual academic work the rest of the time.

Unfortunately (?) my DS never gets 'tired' or 'stressed' at school so I really don't think that he needs a break from work.

Anyway, as I said in my first post, I have broken all my own rules and will be taking him out for the last week for an extended holiday abroad - and no, I don't pretend that it will be educational but I don't believe he will be missing many (academic) activities. Happy Christmas .

DD1 (Reception)'s school broke up at lunchtime yesterday!

well ds is year 9 andnext week there not doing a lot.Maybe some heated discussion in RS(RE) about xmas and meanings .But im expecting video watching , reading and relaxation and dont have a problem with it .They work hard all year

The last week of term at DC's school has always been filled with activities...usually a visit to a panto or musical, a carol concert, a feast, house assemblies etc

I think it is the school's way of winding down whilst not resorting to watching DVDs.

That said, this week, the penultimate is still full on. The academic timetable remains and there has been homework to complete.

I don't think there is anything wrong with watching a dvd. My dd (10) has been watching A Christmas Carol and reading it as a class. They are doing an analysis of various film versions compared with the book. In addition they are performing it on stage and doing victorian art work. I wouldn't mind if they watched shrek all day TBH they have worked really hard this term.

Next week is the last week of term at our school, this week has been full of school play and a whole school panto trip, watching the reception class nativity that is on for parents this morning, the children have been very busy but with most of there normal lessons happening, next week on Monday reception, and KS1 have their joint party in the afternoon and on Tuesday it is the turn of KS2, on Wednesday is the whole school Christmas dinner so an extended lunch break, Thursday evening is the school carol service at church (all children are expected to attend) and on Friday they finish after lunch at 1.15pm as they always do at the end of a half term. I don't think many 'normal' lessons will be taking place, a few Y6 children have been out of class helping reception put on their nativity, others have been helping in other areas of the school.
The atmosphere in school at the moment is lovely, everybody is having fun, every face is smiling. They may not be doing their formal lessons but they are learning and developing a whole heap of skills and building on the excellent sense of community in the school.
It is always like this for the last couple of weeks before Christmas and before the summer holidays however the school has fantastic results, always among the highest performing schools in the league tables even with the small cohort leading to each child representing a large percentage (meaning one child having an off day can really bring the over all scores down), an outstanding in all areas ofsted report and most importantly of all a very happy school that nurtures the children and supports the families so clearly allowing the children to wind down at the end of term, have fun and enjoy themselves in the last week or two and not doing there normal timetable of lessons has no detrimental effect on the overall learning and performance of the children!

Just have to say, Ragwort in your last post you said,
Unfortunately (?) my DS never gets 'tired' or 'stressed' at school so I really don't think that he needs a break from work.

Just because your child doesn't get tired or stressed out by the end of a long term doesn't mean other children don't, or do you believe that the teacher should base everything around the needs your your child alone?

No roadkillbunny of course I don't think everything should be geared to my child but the school he attends is certainly not 'outstanding' in Ofsted standards, perhaps if it was I might be a little more relaxed in my views. I help with reading etc at the school and can see quite clearly that a lot (not all) of the children are struggling which is why I would personally prefer more emphasis on 'formal' learning. As I have said before - there needs to be a balance - watching a DVD like 'Christmas Carol' as noteevenamouse says which is topical, and leads to a discussion about the book is a great idea - but watching 'Shrek' (in my opinion) does not seem appropriate for school. .

I guess I would also love to have a DC who did get tired at the end of term - what is your secret? (NB - he does all the usual sports/swimming/after school activities etc!)

Don't worry Ragwort there will come a day when the hormones kick in and he won't be able to get out of bed in the morning.

'Tip top fees = tip top home made pressies !!'

Now THAT is an argument for private school that I could get behind

Ragwort
-but watching Shrek (in my opinion)does not seem appropriate for school

www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/exploring-satire-with-shrek-810.html

Yes, and it is very useful for looking at the features of traditional tales and writing new tales based on those features.

I'm probably anti Shrek because I can't stand it myself - which I know is very selfish of me. (humourless old git emoticon!). I will have a look at the link, thanks spanieleyes.

I really am signing off this thread now as we are off on holiday - Happy Christmas all .

The actual activities they are doing wouldn't bother me, 'fun stuff' IS important and educational.

It would annoy me though, if teachers were actually saying "that's enough learning for now, let's just have FUN" - it's hard to explain but basically I wouldn't like any implication that normal schoolwork is boring and only non-traditional-schooly stuff is enjoyable.

Has anyone actually tried teaching fractions in a "formal" way (rather than as a part of card making etc) to primary age children in the last week of the Christmas term? The phrase "flogging a dead horse" comes to mind. Pointless! Far more useful to include academic elements into something creative and fun asthe children are probably learning far more this way than they would trying to stuff something more formal into their brains when they are over-tired and over-excited. Hats off to creative teachers who manage their teaching this way!!

Do you really believe the teacher actually said 'we will be doing fun worksheets and role play' and that that is indeed the totality of what the class will do for 7 whole days?

Today our Y6 children went on a trip tp the local country park where they learnt about the background to Christmas as we know it (trees cards etc) compared Victorian cards and toys with modern ones and had a craft workshop