Year 2 - School Report

[Neverland2013]

Please help me to decode my DD's school report which is overall very good but states: 'She can often struggle for ideas when writing but has produced some fabulous writing following drama sessions'. To give you more background, I recognize, that like me, DD is introverted and I wonder if there is a link??? Then again, I would have thought that introverts find it easy to write things down or it could be linked to her lower confidence... any ideas how to support her going forward?? I am not sure if enrolling her to a drama class would help to come out of her shelf and be more confident presenting her ideas....

Teachers often hav hundreds of reports to wright and contry to popular belief they don't hav much time to do it, most use the half term 'holiday' to do that plus there usual planning ad marking etc! So try not t read too much into it. If u are worried talk to dc, look at her wrk if u hav access and defiantly hav a word with the teacher

I would say that that means she struggles to start her work unless she has a lot of input first, such as drama to practise and cement her ideas.

Is her writing always on task? Does she complain about not understanding what's expected of her, or of not knowing how to start?

With regards to not having time to write reports, this is true. But it doesn't mean the report shouldn't be accurate. Normally I'd write a sentence like that as a 'shit sandwich'. One positive, one negative, one positive. So the shit is the struggling to start her work and the positive is that drama helps.

Schools use various ways to provide inspiration for creative writing, it sounds like they have been acting out stories which has helped her to come up with ideas and to structure her stories. Acting the stories out probably helps her to remember them and focuses her mind, it doesn't mean you have to think about sending her to drama classes.

Agree with others - first, try not to over analyse every word and phrase - it takes HOURS and DAYS to write all the reports, you get a bit worn out after a while.
I would read the comment as meaning ... 'over the year, your dd has often struggled to think of what to write, .... but then recently, we did some drama sessions and this seems to have really caught her imagination'.
It's probable there's a link, but there's also the possibility that she's just 'connected' a bit with writing and it's not linked to the drama. The fact is, the teacher noticed a marked improvement after those sessions.
It doesn't mean 'enroll her in a drama class', it's just telling you what your dd does well, and which areas of her work aren't yet quite as developed.
My tip would be to read to her lots and lots and lots, so she hears all sorts of different types of stories and other writing and to talk with her about things you watch (TV, films) as well as books, and talk about why they did this or that or how it felt, or that it "made you feel scared when they were talking about....." or "I was really pleased when ......" etc.

First, well done on a good report. Maybe she just has 'blank paper syndrome' where she finds it hard to think of ideas and drama stimulates those.
There are books out there which are basically story starters that give you the idea and then prompts to help, maybe she would like ones like [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Write-Your-Storybook-Louie-Stowell/dp/1409523357/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372486448&sr=8-1&keywords=story+writing+for+children this]

sorry, link fail this

Hi Neverland2013

As catherine19 suggested - odds are this is the standard phrase applied to many of the pupils - don't feel your child has a difficulty.

First off how did she did on KS1 SATs (if that has been reported as well): NC Level 2 or NC Level 3. If she's NC Level 3 - then she's doing fine and I would see this comment as 'what to work on next' - rather than a particular failing.

We found with DDs to help start that ball rolling - we encouraged them to write postcards, enter contests, write fan letters, etc... - it made writing less of a 'strange' thing and more of a normal thing - and then writing assignments in school start to go better.

HTH

Don't understand the problem? Lots of young children need to talk and act things out before they can get ideas on sentences to write. See "Talk for Writing."

It's nothing to worry about or over-analyse.

Thanks everyone for your input... you are right - I am probably over-analyzing. Since she is the youngest in the class, born on the 16th of August, I am aware of the fact that she may disadvantage with some aspects and want to make sure that we support her accordingly. Also, thank you for your tips.