School 'winding down' before hols and half terms

[MrsTruper]

My daughter's school seems to do a lot of winding down prior to every holiday and half term i.e. one week before each hol or h/t. In this time they do lots of colouring/"activity village" sheets etc and none of the usual numeracy/literacy classes. This is in addition to the usual mufti/sports/celebrate this and that days, which again are, as my daughter says 'just playing'. My dd says she wants to do more learning.

She has just completed year 2 at (state) school.

Are all schools like this? Is it just the state sector? Does it get less as they get to older primary.

Please do not tell me that "children learn from everything that they do blah blah" as I know that. She does lots of puzzzles, colouring etc at home - I expect her to be TAUGHT at school.

Thank you for the compliment but truth is I'm no different to thousands of other teachers all doing their best for the children in their class/school.

And when I wondered about noisy class rooms and independent work, many teachers said there were quiet classrooms and their pupils were able to work independently. That seems to go out of the window with the "what shall we do with the other 29" question.

I'm sure there are lots like you. I'm sure there are lots that aren't.

I am a teacher and we use guided reading to develop reading skills not just decoding of words (barking at print) For instance we use colouring and drawing to show a child's understanding of the text. One example of this meant we used a poem about a poor child...the poem never said he had no money but through the text, the children developed this understanding. I asked the children to draw a picture of what they thought this person might look like. This kind of group activity is perfect and shows the inference and deduction skills the children have in a simple way. So to parents it is just drawing a picture in a group but to teachers it is valuable! I use both 1-2-1 and guided sessions when certain children are deemed ready to do so!

yes - downgrading decoding words as "barking" - seen that many times

How long did the drawing activitiy go on for. What a super opportunity to take maybe five children out and listen to them read.

sorry - super opportunity to listen to five of them barking at a page

well if a child does not understand what he/she reads but can decode the words....for example i had a child of HA read words such as 'accelerate', 'magnitude' and 'deceleration'. He could read the words, by that I mean he could break them down and blend the sounds together to be able to say the word but he had no understanding of what the words actually meant.....and that is what reading is about. Barking at print is what we call it when children are decoding words but actually don't understand the text - they have the blending skills but not the understanding. The children have a rolling rota of activities for half an hour in the morning which are follow up activities etc from guided reading while MY TA takes the children out for 1-2-1 reading. Did you miss that part where I said I did both or did you just bark at print when you 'read' my comment but clearly didn't understand what was said!

I know exactly what you mean, don't worry. But firstly you assume the children don't understand any of what they're decoding. Secondly you assume it's an insurmountable issue.

Firstly, if they don't understand then presumably they don't understand any spoken English. Secondly, what's wrong with telling them what the words mean during reading practice.

So your children do get one to one reading every day? I don't understand where the problem is, we agree on what's desirable and you achieve it. Where's the problem.

People like you and wellthen who are sneery, shouty and oppositional for the sake of it,

I don't accept that I am any of the above.
You also didn't respond to my question.

"Did you miss that part where I said I did both or did you just bark at print when you 'read' my comment but clearly didn't understand what was said!"

I've just read back and to be honest it was poorly communicated but if you're doing that one to one reading with each child every day or every other day that's terrific.

You were sneery and oppositional(for the sake of it) exotic, sorry but I don't see the point.

Mrz it's very nice of you to think all teachers are as good as you, but it does fit with the general view all teachers have, that all teachers are marvellous. It does show on one level how little you respect parents who diverge from that view

I have asked several times for the actual statistics as opposed to the Daily Mail scaremongering. (you mentioned them several times earlier)

I don't assume, I know based on assessments with the child. We have a set of criteria based on what a child's reading skills are which start of basic such as can retell a story going further onto finding clues in texts etc and as for the HA (that's higher ability) child - I asked him!! He said he had not a clue, I asked him which word could be used to describe going faster/slower and he said no idea! He is 5 for god's sake! Which we then discussed what the words meant. Clearly you are out of your depth here, we don't just let a child read a word they don't understand and then say 'off you trot, go and get on with your writing' we explain things but when you work with the children you assess constantly so you know what they can and can't do based on criteria. Yes the children understand spoken English but they need to understand the text. For example I had a child read a story about 2 Indian children who were orphans and the girl met a prince and was due to get married but it meant leaving her brother, I asked what each character would feel and he just thought both characters would be happy because there was a wedding and people are happy when others get married. He had no concept or emotional understanding the woman would feel guilt etc and the brother other feelings such as anger/lonliness etc. That is what is meant by understanding text, not just being able to say - the girl and the prince got married and lived happily ever after!

In my opinion, gleaned from posts,mrz is a good teacher- but the majority are.

I don't think I'm marvellous and I don't think all teachers are good (I've met a few who should never be near children) but in general most of us try our best to make sure every child succeeds

So slipslider - if you know, why are they reading texts that involve mere decoding in the first place?

Wouldn't you be better off giving them an appropriate text to practise with?
Why is it such a big deal that they read a word they don't understand and then you explain it to them? It's a perfectly normal way of practising and teaching reading.

I'm sorry but your story about the Indian children is not a very good example.

Yes, as I've said I believe most to be well-intentioned, patient, kind and hard working.

Not all children get to read every day....I have a minimum of 15 to read every day 1-2-1 and then another 6 guided. There is not enough hours in the day! This is due to my class being very low ability children and it takes them ages to decode 1 page and discuss it. There is little parental support. In our school reading has to form the basis of every lesson, we have one piece of writing to read in every session where the children can practise blending together. I have focus groups to take out for 15 mins too (part of ofsted recommendations) to support different groups each turn in addition to phonics groups etc....there are basically not enough hours in the day!

I'm sorry but if you think explaining that level of complex and difficult emotion is more important than practising reading then I don't think the same way as you.

Was that the only text in the world you could have read with that child?

Slipslider I do feel for you, I really do. Thanks for that last post.

I wrote the previous post before reading YOUR last post and now I regret the tone of it.