DS reception class/school, are their expectations too high?

[HonoriaGlossop]

My ds goes to a state infants, he's the youngest in the school, was only just four when he started in Sept.

They get homework every day; he gets five words to look at, about three sheets of cutting practice (zigzags to cut round, etc) and about 3 sheets of writing which is either letters to write over or lines to draw.

We do this lot and I think personally for a boy who is so young and who NEVER wants to sit down and do the 'fine motor skills' stuff, he is coming along ok. He cut great zigzags today right on the lines. He is learning to form the letters fine, though can't do an e yet. He's left handed. He doesn't draw well, sometimes still just scribbles though he can do a very rough looking face.

He can't write independently at all.

Does he sound a bit like he's not doing what could reasonably be expected? Cos that's the impression I get from the teacher who is sometimes very sniffy about him. Today she told me "he is not coping with his scissor work" yet I really fail to see how he could have done better today, with the work she had in her hand!

I wonder if anyone thinks I should try to resist them a bit more. Trouble is when you feel your child is being judged it's so hard not to crumble and feel that there's something wrong.

Any opinions? TIA.

Sounds like a lot of homework to me - dd (also youngest) did all that sort of stuff in class , just odd letter sounds, sight words and reading books at home. They will be defining him in terms of the National Curriculum Foundation Stage targets which cover Nursery to end of Reception , details here but the range of expectations is still wide.

thanks LIZS. Will have a good look at the site.

I do have difficulty with ds being at school and how they are judged on stuff that actually isn't important to them yet, if you know what I mean. i wish it could be some utopian place where the children can learn about stuff they actually want to do; ds would spend this year doing physical stuff, playing outside, listening to stories and now and again doing some drawing.......what he's actually doing is 90% stuff he isn't interested in and a quick 10% of the stuff he loves. Seems such a shame.

Also a shame that I am obviously a Home Educator trapped in the body of someone who has to go to bloomin' work so can't do it!!!!

Thanks again.

Are all the kids getting the same homework - or is this a kind of way of trying to catch him up?

I think all the kids get the same, they all have the same little 'packs' that get put in the box each morning anyway.

That's my point; is it possible that he is having to be 'caught up', are so many other four year olds doing so much more than this?

I honestly want to know!

Am really surprised that any reception children are doing homework - other than reading perhaps.
OK my dd1 is in reception, and not a good guide line as 5 and a girl, but she can draw, cut out, write etc. BUT ds2, now in y2, couldn't, didn't, wouldn't do any of this in Reception. They kept on going at him with scissors for years. . . fine motor skills are still a problem for him. Remember the range of ability in reception is vast (one of ds1's teachers told me it's from about 2-7!). I'd take a stand on the homework, let him do it if he wants or set a time limit of about 5 mins! Tell the teachers you're doing this. He should be doing all this at school really.
He's not being judged by the way, and found wanting I'm sure. It's an area he needs help with perhaps though?

what is reception? is this nursery school?

Ds would not be interested in this - but for the opposite reason. He doesn't start school until he is 5 (we are in NZ)

A girl a month older than ds could have easily done all that at 3.5, his friend the same age is also left handed and wouldn't come close to being able to do anything you have described at the moment. Ds is in the middle. They were all 4 in Jan/Feb this year.

They are all so different to be getting the same sheets.

lolly - reception is the first class in infant school. One stage up from nursery.

It sounds like a lot to me.
When DS was in reception, we did some of the tasks he was sent home with, but if he was tired or not interested or unwilling, I stopped pressing it. The last thing you want to do is put him off. The difficult aprt is letting it go and not feeling frantically anxious that you will blight his entir future. DS hated hated hated reading rpactice until i simply stopped doing it except when he was actually feeling keen. i told his teacher I was stopping, too. She agreed. Suddenly, it all fell into place, all at once. I thnk it is the same with fine motor skills. let him enjoy it, but don't push. IMO the 10% which is enjoyed is worth far more than 90% achieved through gritted teeth.

oh rite, thats p1 to me. dd2 is 4 in august and is having to do her 2nd year in nursery this september. she is more than ready for p1, but because of when her birthday falls they wont take her.

When did you last have to do any scissor work?

I think it's important to see primary school demands in perspective. Whether a child can or can't do a particular task in the reception class really isn't important. What you describe certainly does not sound like evidence of an underlying problem.

It does sound a lot to do every day after school at 4. I have to take a deep breath about the scissors skills stuff and remind myself that by 10 they will be able to cut well enough with scissors for their daily needs. Myself, I don't do a lot of zig-zag cutting. Mostly I use scissors for wrapping presents, cutting sellotape and snipping up bacon!

I've got 2 August boys with poor fine motor skills (DS2, now Y1, is marginally better than DS1 at the same age). They are not interested in cutting and colouring in and would never do it vountarily, unless the cutting was part of a bigger project they had conceived.

I agree with the poster who said set a timer for 5 minutes, let him do what he can in that time, and then let him do something he wants to. He's spent all day at school and hometime should be time to relax.

My DS1 is an August baby so I totally identify with you. It is incredibly hard for them and they forget very quickly who the young ones are I think.

In his reception class they learnt phonics, had very simple reading books which was all the homework that they got.

It is now only in year 1 that they are really turning the pressure up on writing. But still don't get writing homework.

Our school is a very good juniour school, highly Ofstead rated and gets excellent stats results so it is not like they are not being stretched.

Personally, I would let him do his homework when he wants to do it. If he is tired don't force him. The biggest danger is that his failures will put him off school (as happended with DS1) so you need to give him lots of praise about doing his best and improving. Don't let him judge himself against other kids.

We have a chalk board in the playroom, at the moment DS1 is doing sums, so we put some sums up and we he feels like it he can do the sums and then he gets loads of praise. Maybe you could do something like that with letters, so that he practice his letter formation.

And actually rereading your post it sounds like he is doing fine

That sounds like masses of homework in Reception. DD1 is is Reception and she gets three reading books home per week. Usually two for her to read to us and one library book for us to read to her. We also have a list of the "tricky words" they are learning and we are encouraged to practise them with her. But we don't do that in any formal way - just get her to read them when they arise in books from time to time. We occasionally get some sort of maths-related game to play with her, but we've never had worksheets of any description and we've never had any work that has to be handed in.

I'd be very inclined to resist doing all that lot every night and try and have a rational conversation with the teacher about the pressure she is putting on your son.

What do other parents in the class think? Can you present any kind of united front to the teacher, or would you be out on your own?

ds now p5 and dd1 now p2 never had scissor work to do at home. they did stuff like this in nursery year and in p1 they had 5 words a week and a storybook. by the end of p1 they were doing the maths basics

oh and dd is also left handed . Her motor skills generally are fine but she does better with left handed scissors and sometimes looks awkward writing (e and s were the hardest letters for her to perfect). Does he have a pencil grip and get guidance on a comfortable position to write in.

oh wow, thanks everyone.

It is heartening to hear that people consider this alot of work. I think the timer for 5 mins idea is brilliant and I will give that a go.

Also it's good to be reminded of what the range of abilities is. I think you're spot on Kaz, they forget who the young ones are and I think ds can be a victim of this because he is very tall for his age and he's also very articulate so it's probably hard when talking to him for her to remember that not all his abilities match up to his verbal skills - yet.

Blu, you are so right. I just have to relax and remember that whether he does this stuff or not is not actually likely to affect his life in any way at all!

Yes LIZ he does have a pencil gripper to help him at the teacher's suggestion.

Thanks for all the messages, it has really helped crystallise my thoughts. I'm going to start returning the homework once a week instead of every day. That sounds like a much more reasonable level of work to me.

Hi Honoriaglossop

I am another one with an August child. He is the youngest in his school. He too has lots of homework. He has reading, writing and spelling! Alot for reception I think.

My ds has a pencil grip thing as well, as his writing is not good - but then I keep reminding myself that he is 4!!

I have really had to back off. The more pressure that I put on him to do his homework bits - the more he will not do it. I think that he is starting to feel the pressure.

I am really touchy if the teacher talks to me about his 'fidgeting!' - I keep having to remind myself he is bloody 4!

Anyway - no advice, just agreement - I know what you are going through

HG that 's a lot of homework for FS2.

At our infant school only yr 2s get homework. FS2 have a reading book when they are ready. Yr 1 have reading books and spellings once a week.

As far as how he's doing goes, the cuttign sounds good. Some children in FS2 can certainyl write words unaided at this stage, but by no means all, and prob the younger ones less so. Again, not all children are bothered about drawing.

Why not ask for a meetign with his teacher if you are concerned and feel she may be? I am sure she will have lots of positive ideas. Maybe raise concerns about homework then.