Following on from my other thread, can other Scottish P1 parents please come and tell me what their kids are doing in school?

[gaelicsheep]

As I said in my other thead I have seen no examples of work and have yet to get any report home about DS's progress. Latest I heard is that they're just moving onto compound phonics (not sure what the correct term is but I mean ai etc). They're on Level 1+ Biff & Kipper (ONLY Biff & Kipper ) and they're working with numbers 1 to 5.

How does this compare to other schools please?

We've had several examples of work home (worksheets ds has completed mostly) - they seem quite keen on this. Started compound phonics before Christmas. I think they're working on numbers up to 10. He has had a report which suggested on working on adding and subtracting within 6 I think but ds is capable of that fairly easily. Reading wise they do Storyworlds so not sure how the levels correspond. I think the books he's getting are suitably challenging though.

Don't know if that helps much! I think ds is probably fairly bright and motivated and the work seems appropriate.

Thanks very much runnervt. From what you've said, and what someone said on my other thread, I may be expecting too much in that case. Doesn't sound too dissimilar from DS's school really. I guess I don't trust them because of the chronic lack of communication.

our school calls them phonemes (ai, oo, etc) but not sure ds has covered any yet. He gets 3 words home per week to learn and has to write them a couple of times in his wee writing book. They have worked their way through the alphabet (has to write the letter in the book too) and has done the numbers up to 10. The school doesnt use a set reading scheme and has a mixture of books - he is doing red books with level 6 on them (dont know how it compares to ORT). Maths wise he is doing maths from P2 and P3 as he has a flair with numbers.

DS also has a flair with numbers and I've had a couple of informal comments about how well he's doing at maths (that's the only feedback we've had in two terms). There is no evidence that he would be able to do any different work however. Despite the small class size I don't believe they treat the children as individuals - based on my own experience to date and speaking with parents of older children.

My DDs school uses Storyworld books too. She gets homework every Thursday and it can be a mixture of word walls, maths, websites to visits as well as phonics. December was used to consolidate the stuff they had learnt up til then and rehearse the nativity!

Hope that helps. Have you not had a parents night? We got to see DDs handwritting jotter as well as her maths work. We have another parents night in march I think

Ds's teacher seems really proactive and is trying to bring ds on without pushing him too far. She made it out to be a benefit of CofE in that they can better follow the needs of the child. DD's teacher on the other hand is a different kettle of fish and has only just mastered calling her by the right name!! (She is P4)

We have another parents night in June (had one in November) and part of that is that they put some of the work into folders and we can have a look at it before we go and speak to the teacher. It is lovely to see what they have been doing and how far they have come in a short time

sorry to keep coming back but wanted to ask : Does he get any homework? Ds has a word tub that his new words go into and he learns them as we play wee games with them. He has his spelling jotter where he writes his new words and a couple of letters and he gets 2 or 3 reading books home too per week.

Hi. I'm glad someone else does multiple posts! There's been no parents evening thus far and no report.

The only homework DS gets is core reading (two Biff, Chip & Kipper books a week). There was one other piece of homework for a class project, which had little direction and no deadline. It's never come back to us and there were no comments sent home. Otherwise no other homework. They didn't do a nativity . There is a spelling jotter with 12 words that they're expected to take the whole year to learn - he can practise writing these "if he wants" (which he does frequently!).

Thanks waswondering. Am definitely going to make an appointment with DS's teacher ASAP. Shouldn't have started two threads really, it's just the other was a big rant about CfE!

I'm sure we have had about 30 words home so far. We only get one school report and it is just before they finish up for the summer. Back to school on monday....yippee!

another p.s. dd(8) also had the word tub, spelling jotter, etc so dont know what difference the new CfE has made

Seona - I think that's the point actually. A good school and a good teacher may well be empowered by CfE and do really good things, or continue to do good things. But I feel the lack of direction it provides means that a less good school/teacher will flounder and this will go under the radar due to a chronic lack of guidance and scrutiny.

Hmm, word lists, word tubs. I never did think 12 words in the whole year was a particularly stretching target.

My DSD is in P2 now. Last year, she had reading/phonics homework on a Monday due on Tuesday, and math homework on a Wednesday due on Thursday.

Reading was strictly ORT books sent home (pinky/lilac band for her the entire year), with just pictures and the real stories printed out for us to read to her. Informed she went through an Usborne Learn to Read book in class. She also had a little book of phonics/phenomes - each week, she would have a new sound to learn and have to draw four pictures of words that use the sound.

Math was learning to count to 100 (but quickly scaled back to 20), addition 0-10, some subtraction 0-10, recognizing money and trying to add up money.

By the end of the year, DSD was able to write by copying down what the teacher wrote for her.

Looking back, my DH and I suspect this was far too much for her. Save the reading (getting into ORT Stage 2 now and pretty comfortable with 1+), she has needed to go "back to basics" in just about every other area during P2. We are also trying to arrange a chat with her teacher to get a better grip on her work this year.