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

[crayon]

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

Ds gets 10 reading books a week and reads to someone at school everyday.

He now also has a spelling book and has got 4 in there which apparently he should have learn't in reception and failed in a spelling test.

He's also learning the recorder

He has a book where he writes what he did at the weekend.

Other than that - I have no idea

My ds never comes home with colouring. I get the impression there isn't too much of that going on now for the littlies really. Some of them have only just turned 5.

10 reading books a week?!?!?!?

GDG - DS certainly did the 2 and 3D shapes in reception. I remember because he was put in the golden book for doing so well at it [proud mummy].

Yeah, when ds1 got his report it was all 'copied' from that foundation stage booklet and he could already do the 3D shapes like cones etc under the maths section. They must go over it all again!! How boring!

I agree because I am sure DS is still fully up on them.

He got in the golden book this term for not chattering to his friend [erm not quite so proud mummy].

yep Gobbledispook - He gets one that he reads half of at school then the other half at home and then another one that we read at home everyday!

God - sounds like a lot! Great to practice but really, aren't they getting reading practice all the time anyway - through reading worksheet instructions and everything else around them in the classroom?

There's no way I could get through that number of books with mine - 3 kids, plus after school activities! What a nightmare!

Is there not some value in reading the same book more than once? DS read his new book really well on Monday. And I told him he had and said shall we put that in your record? And he said put "fantastic reading". So I have agreed that I will if he keeps it up all week and will send the book back on Friday.

10 books a week!!!????

Wow, some of these children seem to have loads of homework. We just get reading to do whenever - think they can get a new book every day if they read it, but DS2 is reading pretty long books now so he doesn't change them so often. No spelling. No maths homework.

Whenever I ask DS2 what he's done it's very vague and doesn't sound at all reliable. For example:
"We did adding"
"What were you adding?"
"Numbers"
"What sort of numbers? Numbers up to 10?"
"We were adding 1 to numbers"
"Just 1? Are you sure?"
"No, we also had to add 100 to 1000"
"Really?"
"Yes, really, in true life we did!"

End of conversation with mother beating head against brick wall.

10 books a week? Ds gets 1, and that's plenty. I just checked in his latest and there are 32 pages. He couldn't possibly do two a night. It's taken us three evenings to do this one!

DS1 brings home a different reading book every day. If all read at home by the end of week they get 5 stars.

No other 'homework' as yet. But full range of subjects covered in the class - including this week's favourite - Spanish dancing

They all have a massage partner. And do various massages on each other. Unfortunately DS's partner was in "'jorca" for a fortnight so he had to go in a 3. He does some of the massages on me - they are on head/shoulders/back/arm/hand and have such names as "catclaw" and "harry potter's glasses".

I know it is fairly bizarre but DS seems to enjoy. And the teacher claims that in a class of 30 with 22 boys it helps to calm them down after playtime.

Agree becky - ds1's books are 32 pages now, with quite a lot on some pages so I wouldn't have time to read 2 every night while also trying to 'entertain' 2 other children!

That entertaining other children is a problem isn't it? DD always wants to listen to DS's book too which is nice but sometimes she can be very disruptive if she happens to be in that kind of mood. Often DH is home as well but whichever one of us tries to take her off and do Happyland or Duplo or puzzles she wants to be with DS and the one he is reading to. Or she wants the other parent to read to her in the same room - and DS ends up listening in to her story and not concentrating.