end term 1 whats receptions done so far?

[3asAbird]

Interested hear from reception teachers or even parents on how much they covered so far?

dd2 failed get space any of 3schools shes on wait list for 4 so chose to home educate.

we do 10mins writing a day
least 10-15mins phonics

read 1 early reader mostly one without words but started on few level ones oxford reading tree and songbirds but started looking at other reading programmes for more variety ie usbourne phonics and bug club.

following jolly phonics programme

daughter knows all her individual sounds.we play i spy things beginning with sounds and she can gie several correct examples

trying work on her recognising letters

we play letter snap and have magnetic letters where we play around and make words

moved onto 2nd stage phonics

satp set 1

doing 2nd set after half term.

in addition to 1early reader we also read least one story book if not more.

numeracy been doing basic counting using manipulatives and counting books.

she can easily count 1-10 11-20 she makes mistakes.

we are keeping an eye on foundation national curriculum for maths

uk.ixl.com/math/reception

it seems quite basic and she can already do

shapes

count to 3
count to 5
count to 10.

she needs to do more work get to 20 which hoping crack next term

comparing
positions
size
money need work on,

she can easily classify so can do 5/10maths reception skills already.

we have toy till , sweet shop and play money

planned to do fun hands on maths with pouring and measuring

plan buy few extra manipulatives as been lusting after numicon at home kit.

we practice writing letters on wipe clean cards
she can write her own name
she gets confused upper case small case.

she has writing book where we practice each letter small and big the she draws few pictures of things that begin with that letter.

its not all work

she plays a lot
lots crafts
nature walks-no really started proper science yet as i experiments. all i can remember dd1 doing was mini beasts.

I had planned termly topics like space dinos but ammended it s

sept/october autumn an seasonal so lots nature walks collecting counting conkers/chestnuts.leaf painting, glueing leaves.halloween stufs so spooky stories halloween crafts, harvest

nov plan do poppy day-shes marching with rainbow group at church.
guy fallkes night.

december all things festive ie crafts incoperating xmas stries even counting xmas decorations. using thematic learning cover few areas.

pe we go park if weathers nice

she does cheer leading classs once a week

walks lots.

I know they only do hour week in school.

plan start trying recorder after half term

have baskets instruments where we do circle time and sing nursery ryhmes.

she loves baking

I only ask as freinds children in different schools seem to be doing different things an different stages.

most schools here were part time 4-6 weeek.

we have followed school term sometimes done more than thourght

other days done less.

we both quite tired we have lots breaks.

we do no more than hour sit down formal work day rest is upto her.

i try be structured and have lesson plans which actually list 4-8things want to do per day .

we have author of month and try do crafts based on stories.

I keep worrying we fall behind or are we about on track with average reception child at this stage in year.

shes oldest in age group 5sept birthday.

she cant read as such she starting sound out simple 3letter words
shes good at memorising stories.

I thourght majority kids learn through phonics some learn through old look and say flash cards.

are sight words not same as high frequency words were fast words when eldest in rception. if so seems very common here that schools are sending home sounds and words to parents to do as reception homework.

so schools doing number bonds reception are extending beyond the reception curriculum?

I know ks1 and ks2 had huge changes this year bar year 2 and 6 as wet school curriculum meeting.but thourght foundation had pretty much stayed the same?

dinosaurs on list topics as remember dd1 doing it and space and loving it.

its just fitting it all in so sort led by seasons and event calender up until christmas.

really hard when dont know how long plan ahead for.

going focus on good grasp numeracy and literacy until jan.

i feel confident can cover all of maths by xmas .

literacy kind of shoocked that every state schools doing something different no consistancy and nightmare for kids who have to move schools for whatever reason.

Ds has learnt a lot I think in terms of phonics. Less so in numeracy as he's advanced in that respect.

At home I don't continue the same stuff at school but do compliment it. E.g. we do drawing together to practice mark making, we talk about numbers and I read to him every day. I try not to make home a school environment as well!

Sorry just realised you're home schooling!

One to one for the morning then fun stuff in the afternoon is more than enough.

No 3asabird we all need to know the relationship between spoken sounds and written letters .. Some fortunate individuals work it out for themselves but others need to be taught. Teaching words by sight isn't part of the curriculum for a very good reason.

Thanks a wimba way.

when you consider typical reception class has huge age range

mine just turned 5
some of her mates barly 4

some did preschool nursery before others dident.
so
add into that staggered starts some by dob others by letter order.

then different schools starting at different times and doing different things.

The national ranking of reception kids planned is going be very interesting as theres too many varaiables?

are the schools working under lightening pace under pressure?

the ones who not done much falling behind?

because as parent looking in im bit perplexed by it all.

guess will all even out by jan or end of year july.

dd1 had 2settings private day nursery and preschool and they couldent agree on efys scores

so much pressure for 4-5year olds when most countries dont start until age 6 and 7.

freind ireland says infants there far easier than uk reception curriculum.

DS is at a non-selective prep. Definitely not pressured. He is happy as a sand boy and loves school. Hasn't been tired (despite the long days) because the day is so relaxed and well balanced. I thought he might have to give up his out of school activities when he started YR, but it hasn't been a problem.

Sounds like you're doing a great job. Pretty similar to where my DS is with the letter sounds etc.
(US kindergarten is from 5, I believe, not that it really matters.)

It isn't lightening pace 3asabird. Jolly Phonics was written by a practicing reception teacher based on years of experience predating the introduction of the National Curriculum, EYFS, SATs, profiles, Ofsted, national data collectionor league tables.

I'd have to agree with mrz..I don't think my ds has been moved along too quickly, he seems to be keeping up with going through one new sound a day in class, and has been fine with the homework sent home as well. I'm confident about 90% of his day is still play based.

I do think there is an awful lot for them to get through in the Reception year. Crazy really when you consider in most countries they wouldn't be expected to read, write and do maths at 5/6.

I have no idea what DS has been up to in class. He says he plays a lot. We've not had a topic sheet home yet. He's loving his free school dinner every day, this has really increased his list of foods he'll eat.

He has his reading book changed once a week and has some Jolly Phonics colouring sheets sent home for the weekend.

He's on ORT stage 6 but due to a speech impediment and hearing issues he cannot blend/sound out CVC words yet. He also gets a stage 1 phonics book so we can work on the phonics.
He seems to be getting some differentiated maths (addition/subtraction) work but he's very vague about anything he does there. He loves school and that's all I could hope for after 6 weeks in school.

So does he read the Stage 6 (you mean Orange?) books entirely by sight reading Kidsncats?

DS has just finished his first half term in reception.

So far (that I know of) he has covered:
All letter sounds, most digraphs, a couple of trigraphs - he started able to read fairly well and he goes out of the class for extension work during their phonics sessions with a few others.

Maths - he's working on measuring things with scales and tape measures, also recording what he's counting in a way that he's able to explain to others. He can already count well past 100 so I think he's skipped over that - he goes out for extension maths, too.

Topics - they've done "Why do you love me so much" which has covered them as babies, similarities and differences, healthy eating, looking after ourselves (brushing teeth, washing hands etc).

Music - they've learnt Dingle Dangle Scarecrow and Big Red Combine Harvester and sung both in assembly - DS's target is to join in with the singing!

French - intro stuff, familiarity with words, learning some simple songs.

RE - they've covered Harvest Festival and Diwali.

Writing - DS has a target of learning to write his name cursively. He can write all letters, sometimes with the lead in/lead out bits but often not.

I know all this because I've spoken to his teacher a few times and parents were invited in to see their work and look at their learning journeys last week. If you ask DS what he's done, he's spent his entire time on space hoppers, on the climbing frame, in the sand pit, or playing Duck Duck Goose in the big playground with his sister :o

mrs z i meant in reposne to what others have said that schools are all working different pace rather than just specificially jolly phonics which I admit got it wrong as thourght you meant you had completed stage 4/letters and sounds rather than the numbered sets within phase 2.

Like awimba says her schools not even starting with phonics until after half term. making some schools whole term ahead on literacy if you get my point.

Its confusing that some schools using words then other people saying they shouldent be but everyone has their own experience and opinions.

also doing maths stuff that I couldent see on reception curriculum.

rue you little boy sounds very bright and cute glad hes haing fun and sounds like school doing well catering for his specific needs with extension work as guess for child who can read and write reception can seem little boring but such wide spectrum and every childs different.

not sure where mines at compared to other 5year olds.

nursery keep saying shes bright have parents evening next month.

she did eid , diwali and harvest at nursery as they had scarecrows wedding literacy event new julia donaldson book. we went local harvest festial missed eldest school church service as they were sick.

got a muzzy spanish at carboot its bit odd and dont speak spanish.

beginners french book and card game-did french gcse so probably go with french but im also welsh but not fully bilingual so might stick with french for now.

plan teach her recorder myself

get tutor for guitar.

I have ort read at home set and done few boks without pictures and stage 1
also stage 1 songbirds.

stage 6 sounds very good for reception child.

unless school reading levels were different.

we moved schools start year 2 and massive change in reading policy and schemes so lost track of what levels were what as instead colours they used to be numbered boxes.

We don't follow Letters & Sounds or the stupid phases 3asabird so aren't restricted by artificial cut offs and yes some children are happy with suffixes (phase 6 of L&S)

but wont most phonics schemes have stages or phases that be followed in logical order,

found comparision between letters and sounds and jolly.

Im unfamilier with scheme you are using so maybe yours is different to the 2above.

www.nonweiler.demon.co.uk/How%20JP%20fits%20with%20L&S%20Phases.pdf

I imagine there will be some bright kids who will be happy with suffixes but majority will plod alog with whatever scheme school uses and pace teacher/school teaches at.

You've used Jolly Phonics - no stupid phases
Children want to write I went swimming or I jumped in the pool long before Year Two which is why they need to be taught.

As I said earlier I'm very familiar with Jolly Phonics as I taught it for seventeen years!

@CharlesRyder- yes, he reads stage 6 (orange spine/stripe on them) easily and fluently just by sight. He asked to learn to read and I knew he couldn't do phonics, so I just told him any words he didn't know. He has known his letters and their associated sounds for years, but still cannot blend even CVC words. Phonic readers are easy for him as he knows all the words by sight, yet he cannot sound them out. We are working on using his sight words to help with his phonics...which is completely the opposite of most kids!

Yes- very interesting!

I think you need to accept that even with all the best will in the world, you can't replicate the school experience and possibly the pace that most Reception children will be working at. Teachers are under a lot of pressure to get the children as far as possible by the end of Reception to ensure they are ready for yr 1 in terms of reading, writing and maths. There is a lot of play but in a good Reception classroom it is structured learning opportunities not just random playing much of the time.

I'm sure your DD won't be behind when/if she joins a school because you are doing so much with her.

My DS is just onto Phase 5 of the Jolly phonics progression and the pace is fine for him. He's really picked up the letter sounds and blending and also the capitals and their names. In terms of number bonds, doubles, working past 100 etc, he is being extended by his teacher because he is ready to do it. He can count confidently to 199 currently, can order numbers accurately to 100 and write them most of the time, say 1 more and 1 less to 199, can double 2, 3 and 5. He is naturally very good at maths and it would be poor teacher who insisted he sit and count quantities to 10 or 20 when he could do this confidently 18 months ago. Obviously he is not representative of the most of his class in maths.

Hello OP. Not all of us who HE follow an autonomous approach Do drop by the Home a Education board here (a mix of us all with different styles) and also Google 'a little bit of structure' (sorry link was ridiculously long!). It's a very supportive forum and has members who use 'a little bit of structure' right through to those who follow a set curriculum.

Have you heard of CIMT? They have a great maths programme from Reception right through to GCSE and beyond. www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/primary/default.htm You can print off the resources and lesson plans (access is free). I've used lessons 1-10 so far and most activities can be done one to one with a couple that need adjusting.

Numicon is lovely. It's not until we had them that I'm starting to see the beauty of the shapes. They are really helping my DC to visualise numbers more rather than just counting one by one. There are lots of activities and ideas of how to use them available online and several sample pages from teaching guides on the OUP numicon web pages too. But keep using other manipulatives too - sounds like you're doing a great job here.

Jolly Phonics is what we're using too. Sounds like you already have a range of guided reading books but www.thebookpeople.co.uk often have some good deals on some reading scheme sets.

You're doing a good job - especially for someone who didn't expect to find themselves in this situation. I don't follow a set curriculum myself but keep an eye on EYFS and National Curriculum. I'd add too that it's worth persisting with HE groups. Even just joining lots online. This way you're more likely to hear of opportunities you like the sound of or meet people you or your DC gets on with. Perhaps you may even feel like organising an event or group when you've met some others. But equally, nothing to say you HAVE to join HE groups

Oh and have confidence in yourself and what you're doing! Really, you're doing well Keep having lots of fun and watch your DC blossom in their love of learning.

Hiccup girl there isn't a phase 5 of Jolly Phonics?

The pace teachers work through phonics programmes is dictated by the children and has nothing to do with pressure. Taking Jolly Phonics as an example it followed a much faster pace pre EYFS than it does now.