Can a teacher please tell me what level this would be marked at?

[muffinflop]

This is exactly how it was written

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The magic dragon

Once upon a time there was a magic dragon. He had 5 eyes, 3 mouths and 89 feet.

People kept running away from him! But they didnt know that he was a magic dragon.

The next day he had a thought about everything that had happened. Just then he said hmm I know I will cast a spell on them. That worked and then they all liked him.

Also, how many NC levels are children 'expected' to improve between September and July (ie a school year)?

Thanks!

I think dd would really like your 'no distraction' area mrz - she has exactly the same problem of staying 'on task' with things she finds hard, particularly written work (I have to say she can concentrate on making lego models or drawing something for hours with no problems ).

One of the things she always says about school is that she finds it very hard to concentrate in the 'topic' sessions, where (for example) she may be trying to do a piece of writing, while other children in the class are doing a survey of shoe sizes and coming to ask for information.

(Unhelpfully DH is exactly the same - we work together, and he really struggles to concentrate on his work if I'm making a phone call, or trying to sort something out with our co-worker. I only hope that dd doesn't growl at her fellow students the way that he does at the rest of us. . .)

My son is ASD/ADHD and can focus on things he likes for hours (OCD)

I think the thing is, none of dd's problems - other than her writing - are that severe, but overall when you take together that she

• struggles to focus on tasks that she finds difficult, especially written work
• is bad at working in groups
• sometimes finds it hard dealing with other children except where they're people she knows well/in situations that she is used to

then school can sometimes be rather difficult for her - and she can sometimes be rather difficult for school. Its never quite bad enough for it to trigger any sort of intervention though. Or rather, what will happen is that she'll have a couple of weeks where some combination of events trigger one or more total meltdowns, we get called in 'for a word', they suggest referring her to their behavioural counsellor, we say 'yes, absolutely, go for it - and might you consider some support for her writing too' . . . Then things improve for a few weeks, and the referral never happens.

I like the idea of a no distraction area too. Do you cut down on class displays?
Use one colour backing paper? Or is it just an area of the classroom while all the rest is the same as normal?

We have a teacher at school who does the most amazing displays and her classroom is always full of info, words and hanging bits and bobs. It looks brilliant, but I know that if I were a child in there, it would do my head in!

We painted our display boards the same colour as the walls and removed clutter from displays so we were left with things children actually looked at instead of being part of a kaleidoscope of shape and colour. We stopped doing those frieze type whole class productions and display children's individual work.
We've had curtains hung over windows which help absorb noise as well as making it possible to use the IWB on sunny days Lots of natural materials instead of brightly coloured plastic and an area for the teacher with a blank backdrop IWB turned off screen saver off ... all the children can see is the teacher so what she/he says and does is the focus not patterns on the screen or someone walking past the doorway....

www.teachersmedia.co.uk/videos/positive-learning-environment-primary

Thx very much! Have now e-mailed Senco..... she loves me, she really does.....