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Original poster

What are they actually meant to 'do' in Year One?

42 replies

crayon · 05/10/2006 18:57

DS1 has a teacher who is only on her second year of teaching. Like most, he won't say much about school, but seems to come home with an awful lot of colouring in his school bag. I know he's only five, but still ........

What are they actually meant to be learning this year?

I think I might ask the teacher to tell us all a bit more about what they are doing.

Thanks

Crayon

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lockets · 05/10/2006 19:02

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WigWamBam · 05/10/2006 19:09

Dd is in Year 1, and they are doing numeracy, literacy, music, science, art, computer skills, PE, dance, games. There's not much time for colouring these days, although she has brought home a couple of drawings. They have one afternoon a week of "free play" when they can do what they like - role play, painting, puzzles and so on, but everything else is set lessons or group reading, and even at this stage the timetable is quite tight.

The teachers would like them to be doing more of the things they were doing in Reception, to ease them in gently, but the curriculum doesn't allow for that. We haven't seen much of her formal work yet, it's all done in workbooks and kept at school - so maybe that's why all you've seen is colouring?

creepydazy · 05/10/2006 19:17

My DD has just gone into Year 2 and I now feel like she is working and more importantly being made to work. She has a male teacher and he really does work them hard she comes home exhausted but very stimulated. Last year I felt like her teachers were quite haphazard but feel much happier now.

anniebear · 05/10/2006 19:42

same at WWB, but lots of homework also

WigWamBam · 05/10/2006 20:12

Yes, dd's getting homework too. It's not too heavy at the moment but they've had a couple of little projects that have taken a week to do, with an hour's work every night, which she found quite hard going. Plus they have spellings, and four new reading books a week.

HuwEdwards · 05/10/2006 20:17

Numeracy - dd1 is:-
Counting large numbers by grouping in 10s
Count forwards and backward starting at a small number extending to 30 and beyond
Count backwards in 10s

I have a whole list of stuff she should be able to do by end of Yr1

Reading (and I don't really get how this works) they only do 'Group' reading where they group them in terms of ability.

binkacat · 05/10/2006 20:40

Remember they've only just started Yr1 so maybe getting eased in gently.

My DD is in Yr1 and does seem to bring colouring home every day. She says they always do coloring for a bit every afternoon. But in the morning they "do work". I haven't seen any "work" yet, but guess they keep it at school.

They've been learning about crops/growing things/harvests. She also has 5 words to learn to spell each week.

Mercy · 05/10/2006 20:44

Well this is the national curriculum for Year 1 see here but it's early days yet

dd says she's bored and that they don't do anything!

Mercy · 05/10/2006 20:45

clear as mud innit!

wheresthehamster · 05/10/2006 20:51

Group guided reading by the teacher/TA is done at least once a week. All the children in the group read a page or so from the same book. There will be a different focus every week. E.g. Recognising what punctuation means; reading with meaning; using contents and index pages in non-fiction books etc.
This basically determines the level of reading books your child should be coming home with.
There is very little listening to children read individually in school on a regular basis as there just isn't the time (yes, yes, I know, in our day it was different etc - BUT - you didn't have some manic national curriculum to keep to).
In our school in the first few weeks of the autumn term you get a chance to 'meet the teachers' who will explain to you as a group what the children will be learning and what will be expected of them over the year. Also every term you get a booklet that breaks down by subject everything that will be covered.
The booklet has the effect on parents of 'Blimey, how can my 5 year old learn all THAT in 10 weeks? It also gives you ideas on how to help your child in reading and maths.
If your school doesn't do anything like this maybe you could suggest it? As a parent I find it very helpful.

Loshad · 05/10/2006 22:10

my Y1 boy is doing 10 spellings a week, reading book home 2x week, and a couple of worksheets. He is als expected to draw a picture or write a bit about his reading book each time he brings it home. I don't find his homework takes more than 10 mins or so each night. At school this half term they are supposed to be covering : science - ourselves, geog - mapwork, re - jewish beleif, art- investigating materials, ict-modelling, PHSCE - choices, pe - swimming, x-c and gymnastics, music -exploring sounds. who knows in how much detail

Original poster
crayon · 06/10/2006 09:23

Thanks all - thanks for the link Mercy.

Crayon

OP posts:
curlew · 07/10/2006 07:34

Wigwambam - did you rally say an hour's homework a night in year 1? Blimy, they're only supposed to have half an hour in year 5! I'd complain if I were you!

WigWamBam · 08/10/2006 09:15

Curlew, a couple of the projects she brought home have been big ones, they've had a week to do them but to get them done she had to do an hour a night. One was a "passport" about them - there were about 16 pages which needed filling, some with drawings, some with writing. Draw a picture of all the people who live with you, write down 6 things about yourself, describe your favourite book, draw a picture of your best friend, that kind of thing. None of it was too taxing in itself, but to get it done in a week she had to do two pages a night, and that took a while. That was the first full week she was there, and there has been another one similar since.

She has a list of 30 spellings to practice, and she brings home four reading books a week, which we're told is going to be their standard homework. These extra projects are hopefully not going to happen very often, and if we carry on getting one every couple of weeks I will be querying it with the teachers.

I'm amazed at the depth of the curriculum at age 5. She's coming home telling me about sweat pores and hair follicles, last week they were learning about Queen Elizabeth I, being taught how to sketch and paint a "proper" portrait complete with shading and blending, and started having Geography lessons. I can't help thinking that it's all too much at age 5; I can remember learning some of the things that dd is talking about when I was 8 or so. It seems sad to me that a 5 year old is being taught to paint a face "properly" and not just being allowed to splash the paint around as they want to.

curlew · 08/10/2006 21:59

I've got a year 1 as well, and he has a couple of reading books a week but nothing else. Apparantly the more able ones have a few spelings a wek next half term. They have very busy days doing all the curriculum subjects but no homework at all. And if homework was set, I would be tempted to not do it. I agree with you, wigwam - they are only 5 - there's years of proper schoo to come!

loopybear · 09/10/2006 18:18

It depends if it's colouring or drawing colouring is recognised as having no educational value. There is as case for colouring for dwvwloping fine motor skils in young children.

BosworthBear · 10/10/2006 09:01

basic maths, addition, subtraction and low times tables. English - words, grammer and spelling. 2 reading books a week for home, 16 spellings a week and a word sheet to learn, about 6-8 words highlighted in a word book until learn't. Basic French !! 1-10, hello, goodbye, my name is, colours. I.T, music, swimming, PE twice a week .....think that's about it. oh plus extra weekend homework, worksheet type things.

lululemon · 10/10/2006 10:18

My main complaint about my DS1 - year 1's gomeowrk is that it all soooo boring. Endless printed out sheets with word and number games. It is all filling in the missing word here, writing the number there, the school seems intent on educating them into highly competent form-fillers and less concerned with iniating creative thinking or problem solving.

foxinsocks · 10/10/2006 10:23

WWB, I think that sounds extraordinary for year 1 (the amount of homework).

Dd is in year 2 now but in yr 1, we only got reading books for the first 1 and a half terms (3 times a week) and then additionally for the last 1 and a half terms, we got 5 spellings a week.

foxinsocks · 10/10/2006 10:25

From what I remember, year 1 was a gentle introduction to all the other subjects at school - so history, geography, science, design and technology etc. I remember dd doing little bits of all of these in yr 1 - something she really enjoyed doing and now in yr2, they seem to be covering those subjects in more depth iyswim.

sphil · 10/10/2006 10:39

DS1 has 4 reading books a week (but only because he really likes reading - some only have 2) and one lot of homework. Last few weeks have been: design a badge that shows 'belonging'; measure, order and draw the members of your family and pets (ever tried to catch and measure a cat?!) and learn four words for a spelling test (think this is going to be every week from now on, so perhaps they'll be getting two lots of hwk).
I get slightly irritated because he hates drawing (he's dyspraxic) and most hwks seem to be based on this. I try to get him to do it by himself, with lots of encouragement from me, but it's a struggle. The teacher often shows the hwk to the class and he's very aware that his is much messier. Anyway, this is off original topic - sorry.

foulmoonfiend · 11/10/2006 13:41

blimey, i'm worried our school is 'behind' now
ds2 is now yr 1. he doesn't seem to doing half the stuff some of yours are doing. they are getting 4 books a week (but until this week was only 2) and he has a list of spellings each week (not all the kids get those). I dutifully went through these words with him but one week we got 3 loads home to learn in one week. In a panic I asked the teacher about these words and she said ''ooh no, he doesn't have to learn how to spell these words, just to spell them out, ie read, them''
Well, I thought he'd done all that in reception tbh. But am mightily glad we don't have to learn 30 words to spell a week

Gobbledispook · 11/10/2006 13:46

God, I'm not even sure! He brings home maybe 3 books a week (so reads with teacher, TA or parent one to one 3 times a week as far as I can make out) and has 10 spellings a week to learn. They have a test on a Monday morning.

I was in reading yesterday and they were doing 2D and 3D shapes and shapes like hexagons, pentagons etc but I'm pretty sure they did all that in reception!

They also did something about measuring things with blocks or something.

Will find out more at parents' evening I guess!

Pinkchampagne · 11/10/2006 13:47

My DS used to come home with lots of colouring stuffed in his book bag when he was in yr 1.
They do follow the national curriculum, & have literacy & numeracy every morning. They also do science, IT, art, news writing, PE etc.
I think that at the end of most days they have a little golden time. This is normally after they have finished their afternoon work, & it is then that they get to draw pictures etc.

Bozza · 11/10/2006 13:55

DS doesn't seem to be doing much compared with the rest of your Y1s. I think the morning structure is something like this:

Go in and do a photocopied sheet - "draw what you did at the weekend", "draw things beginning with 'p'" etc. That is just while everyone arrives and settles in.
Then I think they do literacy - start with session on carpet then back into groups, with some writing and some guided reading.
Playtime
Peer massage
Assembly (I think, DS claims it is after numeracy but I would have thought that the dinner staff would be wanting to set up the hall at that point)
Numeracy
Dinner

Then in the afternoon they do all the other subjects. Weds pm is with the supply teacher (non-contact time for teacher) and they do PE and RE. Afternoons are sometimes with reception children as more art/construction etc facilities in there.

DS brings very little home apart from the morning sheets. He has a reading book which can be changed as often as we like. We usually do it twice a week but it was more often when he was ready to move up a level and the books were too easy. That is it for homework.

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