Y1 asked to do a 3 minute presentation

[PhoebeMcPeePee]

Is this really normal for a class of 5 & 6 year old? They are expected to 'research a famous event and give a 3 minute talk to the class presenting their ideas in as creative way as possible'.

DS has chosen Great Fire of London and done a lovely scribble picture of some burning houses & we've been looking up interesting facts that he's happy to copy down along with some photos of him at the top of monument & visiting pudding lane which we'll assemble into some sort of poster. But, how the heck does this translate to a 3 minute talk and what expectations will there be at this age? Learning key dates/ facts off by heart or flash cards & reading from notes? It all sounds a bit much for a 5 year old . Luckily he could cope with reading notes but those children still sounding everything out are going to struggling surely.

It does sound a bit ambitious for your average 5/6 yo.

If he incorporates a q&a session that should take up at least a minute or so.

Forgot to say I imagine that reading from flash cards will be fine!

Yes our school started them in year one. Ours could choose any topic. Most did a scrap book with photos and text that they could read out. Some read off a sheet but the majority just took a few photos in and described them. Dd took a large board with 8 photos attached (bit of a story board in time order but without text) and just described each one.

Most chose something they already knew a lot about such as dancing, their pet, a recent holiday etc.

A poster sounds great.

I would have him add some facts to the picture and point to them and read them out. And if it took 60 seconds instead of 3 minutes I'd expect the teacher to cope .

If it can be creative, can she include a song "London's burning, get the engine etc"? That'd take about 30 seconds.

Hopelessly ambitious though.

What a great idea!

Fire of London is also a good one to choose as many schools cover it in year two.
In reception ours had to take an interesting object to school and talk about it.
Great for their confidence, public speaking and research skills.

Our DC have been doing these exercises since they were four yo.

I think it's great, so many adults are scared about public speaking and it's an important part of lot of jobs these days. Normalising it from when they are young is a really good idea.

Your poster sounds great, just practice it with your DS and ask him some practice questions too.

Is it too ambitious? You can't shut my DD up - I fear for her poor teachers when EVERY SINGLE show and tell day she's lining up with something to talk about. . .

I don't think you need really high expectations, honestly! A poster, some describing some good to me. There will be a wide variation on how confident children are doing this and how long they talk for, but it's better to start younger when there's less pressure, surely?

ds class were doing presentations weekly in yr1 but no fixed time or topic. in yr 2 they were given topics. They also had questions from the floor!

some weeks he did 30 seconds on his favourite toy of the moment and other weeks he drew a picture and talked about the subject from notes.

Three minutes isn't that long and I'm sure if she rushed through it in 1 the teacher wouldn't make her fill out the extra 2!! When I do presentations and I have time left I always end with 'any questions!'

3 mins is a goal so kids don't go on and on. Talking for less won't be penalised, teacher will just ask some questions and prompt them to talk some more.

Relax about it, it is the norm.

Is he able to read from notes? I'd just let him take in some photos/pictures/objects to talk about.

My DD (now yr2) would have loved this.

Another one who agrees that the 3 mins would be to stop kids rambling on, not to make kids do a presentation for 3 mins iyswim.

If he did a presentation & it came to 2 mins then that would be great, I cannot see any teacher penalising a 5/6 yr old for not talking for 3 mins!

As a year 1 teacher, we do this after Easter. However, we would walk them through the presentation. I would say a third of the class were able to talk / present independently and the rest needed either prompting or for us to read certain sections for them. So no, I don't think it is unreasonable.

It's a great skill to be learning from as early as possible - makes it really 'everyday' and not something to get into a pickle over.
As everyone has already said - 3 mins will be an 'upper limit' - nobody will be worried if it takes a lot less.
It just means 'Find out about {insert subject} so you can tell your friends next week.'

Ive got this brilliant image in my head of 5 &6 year olds in power suits using buzz words, power point presentations and laser pens. I think its a great idea and starts children early learning skills they'll need later.

As a retired TA, I think children these days are invariably more confident than in years gone by, and many can cope with things like this.

Just one slight word of warning: some of the 'audience' could possibly find the concept of a whole city burning down rather scary.

I think the Great Fire of London was a yr1/2 topic (alongside the Great Plague) in DD's infant school.

I hate presentations/public speaking with a passion. It was thrust upon me at 21+. I can't help thinking I'd find it less stressful if I'd been doing it when I was learning to walk, dance and sing.

DS might be too you for me to suggest it but, if he can use different voices/expression, he'll probably nail it!