Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

How to ask teacher for more advanced material

97 replies

Rorymum81 · 26/09/2017 21:19

Hi, I'm new here. I have a a query. My son who is 4 and a half has just started reception.

My son has always had a good vocabulary from a fairly young age. He has been bringing home books from school as homework - they are wordless. The purpose of these is apparently for them to make up their own dialogue and to tell you what's going on and to complete the activities at the back of the book. My son does this with ease and is quickly bored. He brought home words to learn, he knows them now- no; go; to; said; the; and I.

I don't want to sound like an arrogant parent, he can't read and he can't write anything but an 'o'. He's not a genius or anything, im sure the teachers know what theyre doing but i feel that he would much prefer to learn words.

How do I approach his teacher with this?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

cantkeepawayforever · 26/09/2017 23:07

Just keep an eye. Sending home initial 'sight words' rather than phonic sounds to learn is a slightly worrying sign,.

If the first book with words home is not fully phonically decodeable as well, they'e definitely doing 'look and say' alongside phonics and you should be concerned. If that happens, put a call out for @mrz, who is the resident MN phonics expert, and she can advise.

Feenie · 27/09/2017 06:56

Oh, floppy,
no, floppy,
floppy, floppy.

That's Look and Say for you. They rely on repetition and lots of it. Decodable books do no such thing - there are 44 words that you can make with just SATPIN, which are usually the first six sounds learnt.

We use Floppy's Phonics, which is 100% decodable and still features Biff, Chip and Kipper. Schools which are obliged to follow the NC shouldn't be sending home Look and Say schemes.

Oops, my DS has just started reception and I’ve been asking for ‘books with trickier words’ in his reading record as he’s racing through them.

That's exactly how it should work - your ds reads books which match his fast developing knowledge so that he enjoys his successes and progresses quickly. Not to throw him with sounds that he hasn't yet been taught!

Mamabear12 · 27/09/2017 07:04

If you want to move on to reading, help him learn his phonics. Sounding out the letters. If he knows that already, you can buy your own biff and kipper books or other learning to read books on amazon. They are very cheap. Then sit there and help him sound out etc. My dd learned to read at the start of reception. The teacher first gave us a phonics book to take home, but I told her my daughter has already started reading so she sent home reading books after. Your son might be ready to read, but you won't know until you try. But don't have him just memorise words, bc that is not really reading. He needs to learn how to sound them out etc.

Ginmummy1 · 27/09/2017 08:33

Alphablocks on cbeebies is also good for reinforcing letter sounds and starting to blend.

CruCru · 27/09/2017 09:11

I really liked these books. I think we started reading them around half term (so my son had done quite a lot of phonics by then). Once we got back to school, my son read the school book and then read the home book.

paddlingwhenIshouldbeworking · 27/09/2017 10:21

There is a real value to pictureless books for a long time.

Lets assume he turns into a superbright child on a selective path. If so by the age of 10 he may well at some point be likely to need to write a timed story with a good plot as part of the exam. A lot of bright children come unstuck here and really struggle because they've focused so much on the technicalities of forging ahead with reading and spelling etc. Talking in depth about books without prescribed words will have a fantastic impact on his written skills which will come and will arrive at his level, no matter how early he starts.

Reading and writing are technical skills - knowing what to write is much harder and comes from talking and building up your own ideas as much as any advance through the reading level.s

Feenie · 27/09/2017 13:03

If so by the age of 10 he may well at some point be likely to need to write a timed story with a good plot as part of the exam.

No, he won't - this particular type of torture was abolished in 2010.

paddlingwhenIshouldbeworking · 27/09/2017 13:09

You might want to tell the selective schools that Feenie as they seem not to have got the memo.

paddlingwhenIshouldbeworking · 27/09/2017 13:11

But my point was that there's a value to picture books in terms of thinking and development which often gets dropped early as everyone rushes to get their reading ahead.

2014newme · 27/09/2017 13:13

Get other books from the library.
You don't need to ask fur more advanced books from school he isn't further ahead than other children. The school book should only take a couple mins no wonder he's getting bored if you're stretch it out. Plus it's not compulsory!

ProfessorCat · 27/09/2017 13:18

Please don't put any more pressure on his teacher. Do parents really think we already don't have enough to do without asking us to provide work out of school as well? For a 4 year old?

Read with him. Talk to him. Take him on all and point things out. Bake with him. Craft with him. Take him to the shops and use money with him.

He doesn't need more advanced work at this age. He needs you to teach him things.

ProfessorCat · 27/09/2017 13:19

Walks, not all.

FreakinScaryCaaw · 27/09/2017 13:20

Ds1 could read before school. I used to get books from the library and charity shop. But didn't stress about it.

I remember when he was five a competitive mother bragging about her dd reading a certain book. Ds1 piped up that he'd read that a while ago and that he'd enjoyed it. She wasn't best pleased.

He got A* in literature and is now second year law at uni so loving to read is useful

user789653241 · 27/09/2017 13:24

paddling, that's not true, really, isn't it?
My ds was able reader, but still loved picture books without words.
We actually bought a wordless book he used to borrowed numerous times from library, later on when we saw it at the book shop.
And if anybody who is interested in children's education, wouldn't disregard picture books, with or without words, even their children are able readers.

catkind · 27/09/2017 13:30

In my experience the more they read the better they write and invent. I only read DC 1 or 2 stories a day, but now they're reading independently they can read themselves as many as they want. It doesn't need to be without words to talk about the story, and they don't stop talking about stories when they read. If anything they do it more. DD's always role playing around things she's read.

paddlingwhenIshouldbeworking · 27/09/2017 13:32

Irvine - what's not true?

The only thing I said was don't dismiss picture books - often you get people on here in reception annoyed that their child's book bag includes books without words and I think that's a shame. I agree they can read all they like and be good readers but picture books still have value.

user789653241 · 27/09/2017 13:36

" my point was that there's a value to picture books in terms of thinking and development which often gets dropped early as everyone rushes to get their reading ahead."

This. Not everyone.

alltouchedout · 27/09/2017 13:37

I would say "my son can do these tasks with ease and is bored by them". If there is a good reason for him to be looking at them, the teacher will be able to tell you, and your understanding of the reasons for their use will be improved, and the teacher's knowledge of your child's abilities will be improved. Win win.

Please don't put any more pressure on his teacher. Do parents really think we already don't have enough to do without asking us to provide work out of school as well? For a 4 year old?
For goodness sake, how much more work is it to send home a book with words in rather than one without?

ProfessorCat · 27/09/2017 13:45

Alltouchedout

Why can't the parents provide books with words? Most school reading books in FP and KS1 are schemed books. If he hasn't started phonics yet then why would he be given schemed books which will be used when he starts whatever scheme the school uses.

It is extra work because inevitably, if that child had a "book with words", every parent would want a "book with words". Then there would be the issue that if they are being given schemed books, what extra phonics work can they do at home because some parents are a nightmare. When the child hasn't even started phonics.

Take him to the library. Use the free book schemes. Buy him books. It is down to the parents to provide things for him to read outside of school at this age.

user789653241 · 27/09/2017 13:47

ProfessorCat , I would totally agree with alltouche on
How condescending. And I am normally could be classed as a teacher worshipper.

paddlingwhenIshouldbeworking · 27/09/2017 13:50

oh ok. yes I see your point! 'some people'. I'm writing very clumsily, I'm just trying to say there's more to developing literacy than reading words on a page.

As always my views are coloured by my DCs experiences. I have DC of very differing abilities, my DT2 can 'read' and 'write' beautifully at 5 but he has no idea what he has read. We're using picture books to stimulate his understanding (this is linked to writing too). My eldest attends a super-selective and by all reports has fantastic English skills but by far the hardest part of the process for him and his friends was learning to write a story for the exams, one of the common tasks to be set what to look at a picture and write a story about it. The tutor said it was very common for them to try and emulate complex things they had already read and get stuck in the timeframe rather than use their own imagination and build something manageable in the time.

Anyway I've learnt to value picture books AND reading books!

user789653241 · 27/09/2017 13:55

Sorry, paddling, I wasn't meaning to snap at you, really. (or at anybody.)
It's my bad, I am not feeling great for some reason, don't know why.
But sorry anyway.

ProfessorCat · 27/09/2017 13:56

How is it condescending to ask parents to be happy with what the school is providing at 4 years old and if they want more, to do it themselves?

user789653241 · 27/09/2017 14:01

Like I said, I am not feeling good at the moment, so sorry if you felt offended. But I was referring to:

"Read with him. Talk to him. Take him on all and point things out. Bake with him. Craft with him. Take him to the shops and use money with him."

Which I assume most of engaged parents who would post on MN already do.

ProfessorCat · 27/09/2017 14:05

Honestly? You'd be surprised at how little most (in my personal experiences, nothing more) parents do with their children.

When I taught year 2, the majority of them had never baked, had never been allowed to use money and didn't have a clue what certain parts of local nature were (acorns, blue tits and the like).

A lot of children these days are handed an iPad or a console, even at 4 and left to get on with it.

It's very sad. Especially as early language skills are gained from interacting with parents rather than through written words at this age. There are many studies on it - just talking is so precious.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Swipe left for the next trending thread