How behind is my daughter? Year one.

[Failingyearone]

She’s in year one, but she is an older one. Six soon. She’s reading blue band fairly capably and I think she’s doing ok ish in maths. I’d say she is probably average to slightly below average ability overall but she has had - as they all have - pandemic disruption, periods of isolation and she wouldn’t do much with me at home so I think she is more behind than she might have been.

She wrote this independently- froo is through 🙄 and the last sentence says ‘He sinks in the water.’
Oh and scwishee is squishy. Apparently in the story the bus arrives in a sparkly present? I have read the book but cannot remember it.

Her brother is much more able than her and I know they all have their ‘ceiling’ but I am concerned that she is going to fall further behind.

I teach year 2 and would say that's absolutely fine for Autumn term of Year 1, especially given the disrupted reception year. Blue book band is also fine for this stage in Year 1.

Fine for a 5 year old

Lovely application of known phonics - yes, even froo, which you take strange objection to. I could read it without a problem, she's using full stops, finger spaces and capital letters appropriately. Decent piece of independent work for this stage in Y1. Probably somewhere a little above average in my experience.

I'd say she's further ahead than my year one DS. His birthday is May and he is yellow reading level (one behind blue I think).
They still use phonics a lot so froo & scwishee make sense.

She is nearly 6 though.

Readable, using phonics and punctuation. Great ability. Probably where she needs to be or a bit above for autumn term. I'd day she needs to work on her presentation but that's not the be all and end all.

No, she can’t see properly - she failed the eye test at school and we’ve got to go to the eye hospital next week. It probably doesn’t help her presentation.

Comparable to my year one child who is doing well

@Failingyearone

She is nearly 6 though.

And she's had the same amount of education as the younger peers in her class. She doesn't magically know what she hasn't been taught just because she's older.

Age does have a positive effect on educational attainment, but it doesn't make kids know what they haven't been taught.

Whatever her age she is only in the first term of year one! It looks fine to me and shows her phonics knowledge and application is good. In my school most children pronounce through with an f, and there is no way they have been taught ‘ough’.
Please don’t call yourself Failing Year One. No such thing btw.
Try not to worry

I can’t say how behind she is (sorry) but I wanted to say, my DD’s school actively encouraged the kids to attempt to spell words phonetically at this age and beyond. Especially when they were writing independently. The teachers didn’t even point out the incorrect spelling.

Then in parallel they we’re supposed to learn the common exceptions there was about 100 words to learn, that can’t be spelled phonetically eg was, not woz. Building on this they moved on to the next lists of spellings ( there is a statutory list of spellings to learn for y3/y4 and then y5/y6) your school should provide the spellings, and you need to learn them at home,

My dd still has dreadful spelling, despite being a very able reader with a wide vocabulary. I think the modern approach to learning to read which is so heavily entrenched in phonetics (my dd could explain what a split digraph is aged six) does not lend itself to good spelling.

You need to bear with the process as it’s hard to push spelling from home whilst the class teacher is not pushing it. You can hit it harder in y3 and y4, make sure they do lots of practice, as then the teachers will want them to be more focused on spelling consistency and accuracy. I wish I’d known how little emphasis the schools place on spelling in the earlier years, and then the rapid ramp up in expectations in y3 onwards, as really it needs to be learned outside school if you want it done properly. Similar to learning times tables.

She's doing fine. Try to relax or she will pick up on it and stop enjoying learning - then she really will fall behind.

And it isn't possible to fail year 1.

Don't worry, her writing isn't much worse than my teenaged son's! She is still very young.
Just do lots of home reading, a good variety of books and reading materials, we used to read as part of the bedtime routine. Everything else will follow.

Looks fine to me, more than fine really given interruptions and eyesight probs. I remember the teachers at this stage would tick any spelling that was "phonetically plausible", a great phrase!

Only in England do we expect children to start writing when they are five and before their fine motor mechanisms are fully developed. Most other countries do not introduce formal reading and writing until children are 6+ or 7+ and I do not think any of them suffer as a result.

Year 1 child, autumn term, fine. I could read it all as she's using phonetic spelling. Can use full stops and capital letters, some adjectives, good first sentence with the use of 'when' as a fronted adverbial.

I wouldn't worry.

That’s a lovely piece of writing for a year 1 in autumn term. Phonetically plausible. I wouldn’t expect a year 1 child to write through correctly.

Chill out and stop comparing her to her brother

how strange for a mom with another child to question the wide variety in abilities at this age, along with your user name...a bit dramatic.
somehow this seems very attention seeking.
there will be some children at this age who can barely get paper and pencil together and some who's creative spelling attempts are much more unique and they would all be within the normal range.

Also comparable to my child. Same age abd Aldo doing well.

*and also

It looks similar to something DS1 wrote in year 2 (or possibly 3 tbh), and that was without covid interrupting education. I really wouldn't worry.

Better than my ds, he's Y1 but already 6. It's not something I sweat about.

Why the 🙄 after correcting the (very common at that age) spelling error?

That's the thing that troubles me here, not your child's literacy.

Primary teacher here. That looks spot on for this stage of Y1. I would not expect a 5, nearly 6 year old to be able to spell 'through'. You can see she's using her phonics knowledge well.