films!! All the time!!

[polarfox]

What is it with my kids school and Films? The amount of films they watch at school drives me mad.. I wouldnt mind if they watched documentaries like National Geographic, or History channed; instead we've had Shrek/3 muscateers/toy story/cats and dogs..- you name it!

Every time I buy them a DVD for home, thinking they've not watched it, "Oh mum, seen it at school!" they cry..

I drove them 5 miles in slippery ice to school today, and in the car I said to them "Tell teachers not to date put a film on else I 'll make trouble!!" as I skidded away.

Is i something all schools do? Am I becoming a grump who doesnt want her kids to have fun at school? Does Walt Disney feature on the curriculum? ...

when do they watch films?

Surely not during lesson time

dd has watched Alvin and the Chipmunks and Happy Feet so far this week.

Much muttering from parents (especially as they've also announced a hefty hike in school fees)

Surely it is only because it is the end of term.

I have a real issue with this too and I work in school.

the kids dont even feel like it is a treat because they watch so many DVDs at school.

we watched The Gruffalo, Alvin, Shrek, Stuart Little.

The wind down to Xmas is far too long and imvho should only be on the last 3 days and not 2 weeks. It was like babysitting at our school as no learning was done.

Guys if it was only in the last few days of term fine, but it goes on throughout the term, and yes you are right- the kids dont see it as a treat anymore- it's the norm.

It is during lesson time, and though I dont pay fees I feel cheated!!!

Sometimes parts of films are used as a stimulus for literacy. Could this be the case?

Exactly the same here.

We are paying fees and they have been winding down since the end of October.

Private scool have shorter terms than state school anyway but our DSs school is ridiculous in te amount of films, trips parties, Xmas fairs, away days, home clothes days, discos, concerts, etc. Its been a non stop jolly since Halloween actually.

In my day, 40 years ago we had 3 days at the end of term and that was it.

We were doing literacy and numeracy up until Tuesday - had three days for party and card making. The children are already in a frenzy of excitement - we try to keep them more calm by having 'normal' structured mornings at least!

Afraid most of our fun afternoon creative curriculum went out of the window because of the nativity (a 'simple' one this year ) but that is an entirely different rant, and has been covered elsewhere!!

My school shows films during 'wet play' and in one classroom during 'golden time'.

So your kids could have seen an awful lot of films without any of it being during class time....

stoats - the issue of 'normal' structured mornings is so important in my view. Our DSs actually dont enjoy the chaos of unstructured randomness at the end of term. The practicing for plays and carol concerts always seems to be done during maths lesson time here too.

To make up for it I set them some maths problems this morning now they are on holiday.

They'll thank me in the end.

The last day of term the playground was dangerous due to ice so my class were asked if they wanted to go and watch a video in the other infant classroom they said ... do you mind if we write instead. Do you think I've got them brainwashed . In the end a group of 9 or 10 boys and 1 girl wrote stories another group did some maths and a few played with geoshapes.

mrz - what do the children at your school have in their lunch boxes??

All our children have free school meals.

All of them!! never heard of 100% on free school meals. Bet you have a cracking CVA.

We are in one of the LAs that piloted the free meals for all scheme it stops when the funding runs out about 50% are entitled to free meals under normal rules.

When does it run out? Soon, I would guess.

We also have film options in wet play and golden time.

I used to use films in literacy a lot - for example I did a topic on James and the giant peach, and we watched snippets of the film and compared it with the book. Also used Pocahontas as we dis a history topic on famous people and she was one we focused on. Also, in golden time (half an hour at the end of the day on a Friday, used as a reward for good behaviour in the week) I would set up different fun activities (art or problem solving puzzles) but would occasionally put an installment of a film on each week for part of it if they wanted me to. Could it be that the films were being used in this way?

"Also used Pocahontas as we dis a history topic on famous people and she was one we focused on."

washngo PLEASE tell me that your lesson was to provoke discussion on how biographical films are never like real life.

I googled Free School Meals.

13 schools have 100% of kids eligible.

Average seems to be about 18% of kids eligible.

The funding will end in July

I used Shakespeare's Animated Tales DVD to teach The Tempest and Macbeth and I've used extracts from Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and other books we've read.

Yes very much so! We looked at pictures and learnt about the real Pocahontas, then compared with how Disney had chosen to portray her/ talked about why they felt the need to change her story etc. Didn't just watch it say "so now you know all about the life of Pocahontas!" don't worry!!

Oh phew!

I always feel sorry for her that she ended up dying on a ship at buried at Gravesend

not sure what my son learnt from watching beverly hills chihuahua

dd learnt "all the single ladies" with bump and grind dance moves from the Chipmunks