another school report thread...is DD ok?

[TheSpokenNerd]

She's 7 and in year three. She only began this school in Spetember and has had a hard time settling...but her teacher says she is much more settled now and seems happy.

Her levels were behind her peers when she entered...and she's had to learn a whole new way of teaching as her old school was a v. old fashioned prep and this school is far more focused on free thinking.

Her levels today are as follows...

Reading 3c
Writing 2b
Maths 2a

The writing is bad then? She's apparently not great at comprehension...but has come on a lot...they SEEM happy with her progress...is it ok do you think? How can I help her more?

She hates me reading to her but wll read alone for hours...she has a sophisticated grasp of humour but does seem to struggle with some concepts re. comprehension....but then when I tried one of the BBC online comprehension games for her age group I failed a few questions... and I make a living as a writer!

Is there some trick of thinking when it comes to comprehension?

It sounds to me like her writing is a little weak, not "bad" just weak.

I might work on that, actually. The rest seem alright, nothing I'd pay special attention to. I have a goal of setting DS (also finishing y3 & only just 8yo) to write 50 words every day in the holidays, he hates writing & really needs to do it little & often to have any confidence.

Of course reading more is always good strategy, almost the key to getting rest to come together. We go to the library a lot but DS is DIFFICULT & very fussy about what he'll agree to read. Big headache.

What about effort? Does she get graded on effort? DS got "usually" cooperative effort grades.

Reading average, maths and writing below average for a Y3.

Yes...her effort was A for English, Maths and Science...that was the only grading for the effort parts...

She HATES writing by hand but will write a lot on the laptop which is tough as I use it for work! But I could buy her some gadget for her birthday...any suggestions please? Inexpensive though!

I thought (perhaps wrongly?) that her reading was above average Fallen?

Why does she hate writing? Is it a physical thing? Do her hands hurt from writing?

www.staveley.cumbria.sch.uk/documents/NCLevels.pdf

This is a useful chart with the broad bands across the year groups showing the range.

The high effort will make her come good in long run, she's had a big year of changes & is one of the youngest anyway, at an age when it still matters a lot.

Thanks for that Fallen will look now.

Ben no...she's just a bit lazy I think! She will draw detailed pics for hours so I don't think her hands hurt.

Thanks Adventures she has had a big year...so hopefully things will get easier next year.

The average for year 3 is a 2a or 3c. She is slightly below for writing, but the other two are meeting expectation.

To get a 2a, she will need to use a range of connectives and extended sentences.

Can you get her writing a holiday journal. Dd1 is in yr2 and we did that when we went camping (no computers!) at half term, and she loved it, even though when usually asked to write she does the minimum. I think because she had lots of things she wanted say about what she had done.

juniper, three sublevels of progress in two years is expected progress, but that is no longer considered good enough by OFSTED or SLT.
In the same way that satisfactory is no longer an acceptable grade in inspection.
So a child should be making more than expected progress, the target in most schools is now 2 sub levels a year unless there are other circumstances affecting results.

Holiday journal is a good idea, and researching information will link into comprehension.
Does she know addition and subtraction to 100 and her 2 3 4 5 6 10 times tables by heart? That's one of the areas that hold many children back from problem solving in maths, they need the basic tools before they can tackle trickier questions.

DS didn't write much at that age but it came in time. I'm not sure he hated it so much as couldn't really see the point. Is her writing bad, or is there just not much of it? Do you think she really doesn't understand what she reads, or is she just not good at answering questions put by others. Do you know what her levels were last year? That would be a better guide to the progress she is making.

Found her levels....she was
writing 1a
Reading 2b
Spelling 9.7
Maths2c

So that's not much movement is it?

Thanks for all the tips everyone...she loves writing but only on the computer...I think I might do a reward system.....she does know her tables Fallen and the teacher says she's growing in confidence almost daily in maths terms. She has no confidence at all at first.

'She has no confidence at all at first'

That's the difference. I taught bottom maths set in primary for years and they all did very well at the end of the year, but it was the change in attitude that had made the biggest difference. They saw themselves as capable and enthusiastic.

Thank God for good teachers! He report says she seems to be excited by it now which is major isn't it.

Fundamental.
Now you all need to find ways of making writing fun.

Gah.

I think I'll buy her a very lovely book with hardback and nice paper...plus a good pen...and tell her for every week where she makes regular entries over the holidays, she'll get some sort of monetary reward.

Looking at your posts I summarise:
End of Year 2 Levels:
Reading 2b
writing 1a
Maths 2c
This equates to expected level for reading, a bit behind for maths and slightly further behind for writing

End of Year 3 Levels
Reading 3c
Writing 2b
Maths 2a
So, pattern in strengths and weakness still similar = good reading, OK maths, weaker writing. BUT she has made 2 sublevels progress in each area which is good.

What I would be asking as a parent (and telling parents as a teacher) is what we both can do to close the gap with her writing. What key writing skills does she need to master to make a difference? That should be quite easy for the teacher to tell you. I usually find it is consistent and accurate punctuation, varied sentences and exciting vocabulary choices (connectives, adjectives, adverbs) are what makes a difference in moving children into level above. Your child is doing well with their reading; when sharing books with you I suggest pausing to talk about the choices the author has made in vocabulary, plot progression, opening of the story, etc. so they have an understanding of this and can transfer it to their own writing.

Thank you Abigail...she needs to develop use of connectives it says...and develop comprehension. She has had extra help all year with English and I do see improvements.

I find ithard to undertand how her reading and spelling is quite strong and her writing not....she HATES me reding to her really but loves reading alone...

I teach able Year 2s and often find children vary between reading and writing. Spelling is a very minor part in the actual writing level. Her speling levels look good, but it doesn't count for much in the overall writing. When it says she needs to develop comprension; what aspects do they mean? Inference, refering to and quoting from the text in answers?

Whoops! Intended to add this link for reading comprehension but it didn't paste in:
www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/nationalstrategy/literacy/index.php?category_id=399

Yes Abigail...inference rings a bell from my last meeting. She as very good humour...understands irony and all kinds of stuff...loves comedy films and sketches but finds it annoying when I try to talk about intentions and things.

Thank you so much for your help...I'll look at the link now.

Hi TheSpokenNerd:

Mumsnet learning pages have an explanation of expected progress through National Curriculum (NC) Levels here: www.mumsnet.com/learning/assessment/progress-through-national-curriculum-levels

Now this is for the 'notional average child' - obviously each child develops at their own rate - but notionally at the end of Y3 the presumption is that the average child would be performing around 2a/ 3c for literacy/ science & maths.

Hopefully that will help give you a guide - but a lot of what people have been saying matches up with this.

In terms of writing summer is an ideal time to send postcards. When you have days out or go away on holiday have your DD send postcards to her teachers (last year's and next year's) and her friends. You can sneak in a lot of writing practice that way. Also try these tricks:

Thank you cards (for presents, treats, days out, etc...)

Birthday cards (have them do more than sign their name - something about how they got the idea for the present or how they hope their friend will like it - we have our DDs make their own cards).

Scrapbook - if your school requires it or if you're going away on holiday it can be a lot of fun to tape or paste things into a scrap book - serviettes, coasters, sugar packets, foreign coins, post cards - you name it. Have your DD write a little something about what she did each day in the scrapbook - it will be a lot of fun to look through years from now.

We let our DDs chose diaries and a special pen at a posh office supply shop so they could write about their days but also to practice 'joined-up writing'. They've done a ton of writing in their diaries and really enjoyed playing with the form and shape of letters.

With comprehension - try some of the free e-books here on mumsnet:

e-books: www.mumsnet.com/learning/ebooks
KS2 e-books: www.mumsnet.com/learning/learning-zone/key-stage-2-ebooks

If you haven't come across it Oxford Owl (www.oxfordowl.co.uk/) has great reading and maths resources.

libraries sometimes run reading competitions over summer which can include short report forms on the books read. This really helps children reflect back on what they read and liked about a book - which is a good exercise in and of itself. So do drop by your local library and see what might be going on there over summer.

HTH