Year 1 independence

[catkind]

This isn't right is it? DS hasn't had a reading book in a week now. Apparently they're supposed to change them themselves when they want to, but no-one told us that. DS didn't have a clue when or where he's supposed to change it.

And after DH talking to the teacher and finding this out yesterday they still didn't manage to get him sorted with a book today.

I know they've probably told him he can change his book, but he clearly either didn't hear or didn't understand or didn't remember in a busy school day. I'd expect someone to notice DS hasn't had one and prompt him. Just saying, right, does anyone want to change their reading books now would be enough to make him remember.

Obviously ideally you'd want them to do stuff independently, but they're not used to that. Is my DS the only 5 yr old who'll need showing what to do a couple of times before he does it independently? He hasn't been shown even once because the only book he had so far he got at the library with the TA as they used to do last year.

Sorry what I meant was is that teachers should do their utmost to encourage reading not leave it to the DC at this age. It is the reading etc which is important not whether they're independent remembering to pick books. This is especially so for those children who are not read to at home; those are the children who will get left behind.

We have this system and it is very frustrating. DS is a reluctant reader, so keeps 'forgetting' to change his book, as he knows his current book off by heart so it's an easy read for him.

I have pointed this out to his teacher, who is going to 'make a note' of this, but I don't hold out much hope. We are currently make much more frequent trips to the public library to find our own reading material in what I hope are the right levels!

erin- I presume that the 4 classes in Y1 share the books between them, and the teachers/TAs can get the books they want prior to school each day, rather than each classroom having all the bands/boxes themselves.

Hmm - I think if the OP is starting to find fault with the school and the class teacher just 3 weeks into Year 1 she will have lots more to worry about in the future! I think parents should remember that there are usually up to 30 five year olds in Year 1 and they simply don't have the time to spend on individual children. I also don't think parents should be getting too stressed about reading levels - it's very early days - just be thankful if your child is happy to go into school and seems to be settling in well and mixing with the other children and remember he'll be tired at the end of the school day.

I work in y1 and have never been so exhausted in all my life!

We simply do not have the time to change their books for them so we are training them to do it for themselves.

They also need to get homework and letters out of their bags.

By 9.30 every morning, we will have done register, lunches, handwriting and 2 guided reads and written comments in their books.

Who's stressing about reading levels Nana? We were just discussing the logistics of having a box for each level in each classroom.

calzone, training them sounds good, yes. I assume you don't train them to change their books by leaving them without until their parents make a nuisance of themselves though, right? Doesn't seem like a time-efficient way of doing things to me.

I wonder if it's just DS being slow, or if other kids haven't figured it out yet either. Will have to ask my friend tomorrow if her DD has got books.

In my experience, there are those who do change their books without any help at all and those who will need constant reminders.

One child in my class went home with the wrong book band 3 times and the teacher and I have no idea how as we checked!!

Well said Calzone - I think the vast majority of parents have absolutely NO idea of the stresses involved in teaching. Maybe if they had to follow you around for a week (or even a day) they would understand why teachers cannot attend to the needs of each and every child in the class.

Maybe if they had to follow you around for a week (or even a day) they would understand why teachers cannot attend to the needs of each and every child in the class

Which indicates that there is something wrong if teachers cannot attend to the learning needs of each child in class. How do they learn then?

Perhaps teaching's not the career for you Nana. Attending to children's individual needs is exactly what teachers are there for. I know lots of teachers and that is not the aspect of the job any of them find stressful, that's the part they love.

Anyway in this case I'm not asking for individual attention, just a blanket "who wants to change their book now?" for those kids who need a reminder still. I say still - they haven't been shown how to do it once even.

My ds2 was expected - and did - change his own book from reception.
I'd that not normal procedure then?

in Yr1 in our school books are changed when they have read to a TA and finished one (up to 3 times a week), so same as in Reception and no real responsibility put on the child to remember to do it (they are expected to move themselves up the reading challenge and to actually DO the book change but would generally be reminded to do so at reading times). In Yr2 they are then expected to do it themselves and this seems to have caused confusion in DD1's class this term. They plainly aren't certain about getting their new book logged out (if indeed it is) or what time of day to do it but it is early in the term and will no doubt get ironed out soon.

I don't think any age is too young as such as long as the procedures are made clear to them when they start so they know when, how, where etc.

Yes Iggly there is indeed something wrong, but it's the system that is wrong and not the teachers. Firstly class sizes - they average 30 children to a class (far too many) very often there are will be children in the class who have ADHD or be on the autistic spectrum, other behaviour problem, may not have English as their first language. Not every teacher has the help of a TA, though most do, especially in the inner city schools.

Teachers can only work with the "raw material" they have - i.e. the way in which the child has been stimulated in a child centred home in his formative years (or not) and whether the child is "school receptive"

Successive governments (but particularly this coalition) have made teaching more and more difficult by piling excessive amounts of paper work on teachers, because putting it quite simply, they don't trust teachers to do a good job, so they have to evidence everything they do, and this takes time that could be spent with actually teaching and interacting with the children (although I believe the vast majority of teachers do a lot of their paper work in their own time). Michael Gove (the last Secretary for Education) referred to teachers as The blob - that says it all really. SO he encourage "freeschools" where the staff didn't have to have a teaching qualification, because he thought any intelligent teacher could teach. He brought in "TeachDirect" which put post graduates in the classroom after a 6 week training course, and of course many of them floundered. Academies are another problem - these schools are out of the control of LEAs and are run as businesses for profits, by people who know nothing about education.

Children with special needs used to be able to access a place in a specialised school which helped them reach their optimal potential. The coalition axed those, alleging that children with special needs should be taught in the main stream, but really it was because the special school were too costly and they don't are about these children getting lost in the main school system and teachers having to spend a disproportionate amount of time with some of these children.

Teachers are no longer valued by this coalition (neither for that matter are any public servants) and have had their salaries frozen for the past 3 years, which actually means a cut as inflation has risen year on year. Many teachers are demoralised because they can't do the job that they want to do "ensuring that they can do their absolute best for each and every child in their class, in teaching and learning." The rate of teachers leaving the profession is at an all time high.

I could go on...........and on...........teachers are paying more into their pensions to get less out and along with all other public servants, nurses, social workers etc will have to carry on working until they are in their late 60s.

This coalition cares nothing for children in state schools (why would they when their own children are among the 7% of the population educated in private schools with all the privileges that come with that education. SO YES there is something very wrong with education. It might interest you to know that the average teacher works in excess of 60 hours per week and so the holidays are more or less cancelled out given they work in the evenings and at weekends just to keep their heads above water.

I don't think any age is too young as such as long as the procedures are made clear to them when they start so they know when, how, where etc.
YY, this exactly.

catkind - I'm not a teacher!! Hope you can take on board some of the things in my long post!

Nana I agree with everything you say.

I get rage when I think of how much damage the governments have done.

I would love to become a teacher but it is such an under-loved, unrecognised profession. Awful. How many of us can think of great teachers who inspired us!? More so than bad teachers.

I wish there were ways to change it, I really do.

You don't need to convince me of that stuff Nana. As I say, know lots of teachers. One thing I know about them is they always put their pupils individual needs first, however much crap is loaded on them.

The teaching is not always the problem though. That is the best part.

Housekeeping, as I call it, is the tricky bit.

Wet pants
Toilet trips
Pooey pants
Dinners
Ordering dinner
Will they eat their dinner. We get into trouble if they do not eat.

This week.....

Parent comes to me. Child does not eat. She must eat what I say. Pea quiche. If she does not eat she will go hungry. I want her to eat everything.
The child refused to eat as the quiche was rank.
Parent was cross. 'Do not take her plate from her.....make her eat.' So we send her in at 12 so she has an hour to eat. Now, she is cross at that as she has no time to play!

But you do it, right? Because it's your responsibility to do it. And you teach the children to do things for themselves so you don't need to do it again the next time. And if they struggle you maybe say something to the parents so they can help drum in what needs doing too. At least that's how I thought it worked.

We get into trouble if they do not eat.
Not from me. You do get in trouble though if child doesn't know where the canteen is and when to go for lunch. Even if you have told him three times and he's forgotten.

Poor kid being sat in front of rank quiche. That sort of thing put me off certain foods for life. I'd have hoped in that sort of situation the school would be responsible to the child not the parent - make sure they've eaten something even just a slice of bread and butter so they're not hungry all afternoon, and make sure they get outside.

so are teachers not allowed to point out the obvious fact that no one can make a child eat? . I think that another big challenge is that some parents are total loons.

OP we're finding the same thing challenging! To the teachers - seriously make things just clearer to parents so we can support you properly by talking kids through the procedures for changing books etc. Honestly that half an hour would save lots of time in the first half term It's really frustrating because how can I support dd with independence if I have no idea what she's meant to do?

I beg to differ catkind it is not the teacher's responsibility to ensure the child eats. In fact teachers don't supervise school meals, that's what the "lunchtime supervisors" do and it isn't their responsibility either to ensure the children eat. I agree Tobysmum that this teacher or TA should have pointed out that it isn't their responsibility to make children eat, and that maybe they should provide a packed lunch that they know their child will eat (or at least some of it) I thought all infant school children were being given a free hot lunch in the UK anyway?

I also think that parents who are worrying/complaining about specific issues before the end of the first month of term are going to have a tough time as the child progresses through the school. And yes some parents are "total loons" though I dislike the expression!

I wasn't clear sorry - agree with everything you say there Nana - just meant I wouldn't want a child to be sent off hungry on the grounds they refused to eat a single rank quiche option. e.g. at our school they would also have had salad or bread or fruit or dessert options. If it was a packed lunch presumably it didn't just contain a single item. If they actually refuse to eat anything at all fair enough, agree not the school's responsibility.
And yes I know it's the lunchtime supervisors not the teachers - assume calzone is also doing lunch duty as she mentioned the example.

As to your last comment, don't be daft, a minor teething trouble does not mean a whole year or school career of stressing. Do I gather you're not UK? Are you aware in England Year 1 is the second year? I've managed a whole year of Reception without total lunacy. Or insofar as I wasn't a total loon anyway

Thing is, I'm moaning about it an I am a teacher! If I don't remain year 11 to hand their books in, I wouldn't get any books in! Same with my dippy 5year old, if he isn't reminded at a point when he can do something about it, it isn't going to happen. I can remind him at home until I am blue in the face, but if h isn't told gain at school at a point in the day when he is allowed to put his book in the designated tray, then it just isn't going to happen.
Found out yesterday there is another specific tray his homework is supposed to have gone into. Aaah! His teache said I could come in every day after school to check he out it in the right place-but how on earth am I supposed to do that and hold down my teaching job?!

Iggly- I can honestly say that in the whole of my time in school, I did not have one single inspiring teacher.

NanaNina- evidence is not a verb, it is a noun.
If one does not raise issues, how are schools going to know what they sticking points are?
My eldest (who has AS) had severe issues when moving up to Juniors, which we had to raise with school, due to the serious nature of her reaction.
Guess what? This year, they have changed the process and format of the children moving up to juniors. They listened to her (and us) and identified things that were done simply because 'that's how they've always been done', and looked at what needed to change.
The new Y3s have had such a smooth transition this year- the Head has commented on it publicly.

Iggly - luckily I can think of some great teachers I had. That's what inspires me to become a teacher when I was younger.