Quick question about maths in Y3

[LynetteScavo]

DS2 struggles with reading and writing. He has been on the next to bottom tables for literacy and numeracy (bottom tables being children who have English as a 2nd language, a couple of them only starting school in England last September)

His teacher told me towards the end of last term that DS was much better at numeracy than literacy, but she didn't want to move him up a set in numeracy because he would struggle to understand the instructions, and the set he was in had a TA with them all the time.

Anyway, she did move him up a set in numeracy just before Christmas, but he says he is now struggling to read the instructions, and misses having the permanent support of the TA to help with that. He tells me that maths itself is quite easy once he has worked out what to do, but is aware he is struggling more than the others in his group to figure out what he actually needs to do.

I want to talk to his teacher about this, as I'm wondering if what he should be working on should be explained to the whole class, or is it usual to give Y3 work to read and get on with? I'm not sure how to approach this....

I'd want to know why he's struggling with reading and writing? Has anything been said?

For the simplicity of this thread, lets just say he's not very academic, but happens to be better at numeracy than literacy.

(Actually I don't believe he is better at numeracy than literacy, going by what comes out of his mouth...but for some reason we are yet to get to the bottom of he finds reading and writing difficult)

I have a Polish boy in my top maths group who understands some English but reads very little and can write even less, but his maths is brilliant! I "draw" him pictures and provide worked examples for him to follow and if he gets stuck one of the other children in his group will "explain" The only difficulty he has is with "word problems" but pictures help here too! I would be very wary of holding a child back because his/her reading ability didn't allow them to read any instructions, it doesn't take long to explain verbally!

Sorry not to address your question, but I really would prioritise the underlying issue.

I only say this because there's echoes of my child in what you're saying and I wished I'd done something sooner.

I think I'd ask the teacher if there's some sort of 'halfway house' approach that could be used until your DS has more confidence e.g. he remains on the lower table (even though I detest such concrete grouping of children, but that's a different topic) but works on the same tasks as the higher group or he stays in the higher group but is given a talk partner (who will read the instructions/with whom he is expected to suss out the instructions) or he stays in the higher group but the teacher/lower group's TA will read the instructions/check his understanding of the task before he is expected to work independently.

He may well be performing more highly in numeracy because the black and white nature of much of it appeals to him. The ambiguity of language/emotion/expression can make it hard for lots of children to really feel (and perform) confidently in Literacy.

I've given Y3s work to read and get on with independently but only if their reading was up to it! I also demand encourage supportive partner work so my class know that the first port of call is always one of their group and that the confident readers/mathematicians/whatever have been distributed across the class so everyone should have someone else who can help with the straightforward 'what does this say' type query.

That's really helpful, thank you.

The language/emotion/expression with literature isn't the problem...it's the mechanics of actually reading, which leaves him exhausted after a couple of sentences, and the writing, which although is neat, is painfully slow.

Lynette

If you possibly can, get lots of opinions about what's going on with the reading and writing.

There are loads of possible reasons and the sooner you get to the bottom of it the sooner he can get some real help.

Don't leave it to the school.

KATT...what could the possible reasons be?

Personally I've always suspected he's dyslexic, but his teachers in the past have said a definite NO. (He scored 5 on the Bangor test which is boarder line, apparently) I can't afford a full blown ed' psych assessment.

I think there may be a processing issue, but I'm not sure quire what kind of a processing issue....

In Y2 they were still doing phonics, which really helped him, but now he's moved from infant school to Junior School it seems to be a whole new ball game.