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.

Some people seem to be missing my original point. I don't have anything against several wind down days at the end of every term, plus one day b4 a half term, but at my dd's school it is MUCH more than that.

I also do not have a problem with themed days, these are scattered throughout the year at my dd's school, and much learning can be done.

I am talking about the use of too many print outs from the web, DVD's and excessive colouring which seem to be used just to keep my dd "busy".

..days and days of it consecutively

I am talking about the use of too many print outs from the web, DVD's and excessive colouring which seem to be used just to keep my dd "busy".

I would agree that that is boring and not something that you need until the very end.

Accuracy, you misread my post. I have more than one dd - they didn't both do all those activities in two weeks!

And I wasn't required (or invited) to go to some of them, obviously (SATS test?! doesn't that count as learning anyway?). Egyptian Day was requested by the hugely interested children themselves, and parents weren't involved - though they did come out at 3.15 bearing dishes of self-made 'Ancient Egyptian' snacks to hand around to adults who were interested. The sea-side day was a themed day for Reception - again, parents were not required.

Perhaps, if your children are bored and not just tired, they don't have such good activities at the end of term? My children are actually very tired or doing spelling tests and mental arithmetic, after six weeks, and doing the more physical, creative stuff seems perfect at this stage....

Colouring, print-outs, and DVDs can be hugely boring, OTOH.

Though dd1 has a DVD today - but they have worked on creating a 'cinema' in their classroom, complete with programmes (writing), roles to act out, responsibilities to run it, discussion of the film, etc. Hence my 'can' in first sentence.

I'm confused as to why so many people feel that children need a rest at the end of six weeks?

This term is the shortest term (in our county anyway). Surely it's the other terms that they need a rest at the end of?

I'm confused as to why so many people feel that children need a rest at the end of six weeks?

You are obviously not a teacher-if you had a class of 30 children after 7/8 weeks you would know!!

It's not so much about them needing a wind-down, it's that there are a million and one other things going on at the end of the academic year. Some of them directly involve the children, such as plays, sports days, leavers' assemblies etc.. and other are more logistical tasks, but which also involve them, or their cooperation. This would be things llike transition activities, allocating the year's artwork, cleaning out trays, cupboards and the wet-play games, glueing in work to topic books, returning and locating reading books, identifying lost PE kits, making/signing cards for staff who are leaving/parent helpers, taking off sticky labels from trays and pegs........... the list is endless.

And now I'm getting twitchy, as I'm off sick today and I should be there doing all this stuff now!!!

Sorry, got distracted there from my main point, which was that you cannot run a "proper" literacy lesson whilst all the above stuff needs doing. But neither do you need all 30 kids to be involved with washing paintpots, so you need some holding activities to occupy others until it's their turn to help.

I work p/t in a primary school andwhile I do know what you mean, OP, I am also slightly jealous of your dd's teachers. I planned a whole day of science acivities for yesterday and stayed on in the afternoon for a meeting. Today I worked extra hours for free, completing the science activities from yesterday. I attended an extra assembly today and worked extra hard at helping my asd charge to remain focussed during it (it was loooonnnnnnggg!). In between whiles I am helping to clear the classroom during playtimes and preparing 'holiday activties' for a child who requires them.

I'm not actually the class teacher, so most of the above is over and above my normal duties. I'm knackered!

'Holiday acitivities?' For the summer? How come?

Asked dd what she learnt at school today (DVD day).

Answer: Robin Hood was a fox. Says it all really. No discussions about the DVD....nowt....

I guess some schools have wind down/fun days where something useful happens and kids still learn something, and some schools, like my dd's......do not.

MrsTruper I refer you to my posts of 14:58 and 15:00.

Yes there are lots of jobs that need doing, and maybe in some schools this would explain things, but not in schools where there is so much of these 'babysitting' activities. Teachers need to be able to work out how to get their other jobs done without sitting kids in front of DVD's or colouring for so long.

..then if a DVD is shown, I wish my dd's school would ask questions etc about it at least...

exotic you are right I'm not a teacher.

I do appreciate that children get tired towards the end if term. But I am confused as to why this is an issue addressed only by 'winding down time' during the shortest term of the year- when during the other, far longer terms they are expected to tough it out.

BTW I have no problem with a wind down during the last week or so. At my DC school though it had been more like three weeks without phonics, numeracy, changing reading books or PE (as outlined in previous posts I know this is the case ad I volunteer in the classroom).

As the children become more insecure about 'what's going to happen next', they become more needy and more attention-seeking. Most are a bit anxious about what is happening - they've generally had a settled, happy year with a teacher they like, and now they are taking a step into the unknown.

Children are often very demanding at this time of year - especially when there is constant rain! ASD and ADHD children are particularly affected by transition. The dynamics of the classroom change, and there is a feeling of something good coming to an end.

In addition to these emotions, the teacher is running around like a blue arsed fly doing handovers; collecting new books and sorting old books; clearing children's work; running sports days, music concerts, leavers concerts and open days; post-report parents' evenings; meeting new class; celebration days; making cards for leavers; making lists of useful information for new teachers; sorting lost property; etc, etc, etc.

The children are tired.
The teachers are tired.
The TAs are tired.

In fact, we are all tired and we all need a holiday because we've all worked bloody hard all year.

And.... before we get a smart comment on long holidays - I treat the first two weeks as time in lieu for all the Sundays I spend planning and marking.

clapping flexy furiously

That sounded a bit stern..... Woo hoo hear hear flexy!

MrsTruper the majority of the tasks I listed (and the many I omitted) are not "teachers' other jobs" that "they" need to get done. They are jobs which the children can and should help with.

And I can tell you, from 26 years' experience, that there is absolutely no point at all in returning to the classroom from a special leavers' assembly (or sports activity or whatever) and expecting the children to settle to a formal maths lesson during the last week in July. We adapt what we do according to the disruption around us. You have to go with the flow, that's life in a primary school.

Another one clapping flexy.

actually I remember going out onto the field when it was sunny for lessons
one learned nothing at these times
luckily there weren't many of them and I remember the times tables up to 12 learned by 7, and a lot of other stuff too and it didn't make me unhappy to learn these things

Outdoor lessons??

and I didn't feel like a robot either, that's a strange thing to say

people underestimate children