is this a reasonable maths exercise to set for Reception children?!

[imaginaryfriend]

Dd came out of school looking very hot and bothered and said she'd done terribly in her maths corner task. The teacher asked the kids to write the numbers 1-100 in order. She got to 20 quite well then kept going backwards (writing 21 as 12 and so going through the teens again to 20 over and over). The teacher apparently told her her work was 'a bit of a mess.'

I was shocked they were asked to do this. Or is it a typical exercise to do? Dd's 5 1/2.

tbh I have absolutely no idea what kind of maths exercises my dd in reception does. But I wouldn't expect it to be anything like this. Seems incredibly pointless to me.

Blimey! My ds2 is 5.4 and in Reception and he wouldn't be given this - your poor dd. Ds2 can count to 100 but he'd really struggle to write it out. He'd probably get there in the end but it would take him all day! Not a typical exercise, I would say, incredibly demoralising I would have thought.

sounds a bit much to me...and where she was fine up to 20 seems more age appropriate.

my ds3 is 9 and he'd find it hard to write 1-100 in a tidy manner

you tell her from me that she's done brilliantly doing what she has done!!!

i don't think so, apparently maths shouldn't even be written in reception.

hi IF. I;m not sure if it's a normal exercise but - writing numbers back to front is very common (my 6 year old still does it sometimes) - and it's often not a lack of mathematical understanding. what's more significant is the teacher's rather negative comments, when in fact your dd did very well. not on imo.

That's quite . Was it the full-time Reception teacher that set this? I really would have a word.

agree that it's pretty pointless

Doesn't sound like that fits into the Early Years Learning Through Play initiative that the government requires all reception teachers to follow.....

Is she a sub? If not, complain vigorously. This is a ridiculous and counterproductive way to approach early numeracy.

I'm so relieved you all seem to think it's too much for a Reception child.

This is the regular teacher btw. She's a tough teacher, high expectations of the kids and not a warm-hearted encouraging person in general.

My dd really puts herself down and gets terribly upset if she feels she's 'failed' at something.

Roll on Y1 and, hopefully, a kinder teacher.

Disgusting. Have a word please.

here is the National Numeracy Strategy Key objectives for Reception. The children should be beginning to form numerals only - and only up to 10, and it isn't a key objective (see point 10).

To expect them to write numerals like this is meaningless and demoralising.

I'm sort of going against the grain here.

DD is nearly 5, in reception. She had a bring a dad to school morning last week, and DH happened to be on the maths table. They were given a grid with 100 spaces, and had to write 1 - 100 in. Then were given a snake with the numbers 1 -12 and were asked to write backwards, down from 12 to 1.

ON the table were children ranging from the older 5 year olds to the younger nearly 5 year olds. Was talking to DH last night and he said that they all gave it a good shot, some missed out the odd number here or there, others didn't. However, they all got stars for trying.

I think the key thing here is the teacher's response, rather than the work given. Also, I know that dd's teacher will not give work unless she thinks it is achievable; she said at parent's evening that she will not set up children to fail, but there is a fine balance between that and expecting too little IYSWIM. Is it worth having a word with the teacher to say how upset your dd was? Rather than saying that it was a bit of a mess, the teacher might have said, "well done for giving it a good shot. See where you got muddled here, this is how you do it" which would have been a more appropriate response at this age in my opinion.

That's interesting egypt.

pooka, a grid would have helped even. But this was just on a plain piece of paper. It makes me a bit sad to look at because you can see hwo dd started small and neat at the top with her numbers to 10 (with the 3 backwards as always ), then 10-20 got a bit jumbled with a 31 appearing instead of 13. Then when she got to 20 she got really mixed up and started from 12 again (probably wrote 21 backwards as 12) and then it sort of tailed off with the odd 88 thrown in (her favourite number for some reason).

dont know whether it is reasonable but it sounds utterly boring and dull

dp described it as 'sadistic' when I told him last night.

lol at sadistic

but agree dull

am not the best person to ask though as dd2 does this for fun

ive only ever known this be done in yr one NOT reception adn i help out at school on occasion.

My dd(who is in reception) can count to 100, can count in 2's and in 10's but i doubt she would get past 20 or 30 written down..its difficulat for them to recognise a number in words.

oh an even in yr one(when i helped out) the teachers asked them to write down number 'up to' 100...so the more advanced ones didnt have to stop and the children who were at normallevel didnt feel inadequate..most of them got to bwtween 20 and 40.

WHat a terribly boring and soul destroying activity to give a 5 year old. She's either doing some sort of assessment with them or thought it would keep them quiet for a while as she couldn't be bothered to plan something more interesting. Either way it's not appropriate for a reception child.

Way to put a kid off learning!

Goodness, most of you have really clever children

Mine can't write any numbers, can just manage his name, has recently started to draw a little bit - he's five now.

He struggles to count up to twenty, beyond that is no man's land

I guess it will come in time - he's much more 'physically' clever, very quick, makes great inventions and so on.

I think they all just differ but yes, I'd agree with your DP, it does sound rather sadistic - having experienced similar comments and attitudes from primary teachers myself, I remember vividly how much they hurt

Filling in missing numbers in a grid, or filling in missing numbers up to and beyond 100 on snakes/ladders/train carriages etc seems a more helpful way of approaching it. I remember DS2's group doing a sequence-type task with numbers up to 100 in this term of Reception when I went in to help one day.

What your DD was given is a very boring task and also not very useful. No wonder it was messy on a plain piece of paper.

Sequences and grids would've made all the difference although I doubt dd could write 1-100 at this point. She might have made it to 30 at a push. She can count to 100 and do her 10's, 5's and 2's but writing is always harder than reading / saying aloud isn't it?

The other numbers on the grid/sequences help with the missing numbers, though, if you see what I mean. It helps the child to learn to write them eg '34, 35, , , 37, 38'. So they know that the missing numbers start with the 3. Or something like that .

I don't think it's out of order for reception no .. I think the method of doing so (ie with no fun involved) and the response is totally out of order though

I am more upset but he fact she said the work was a bit of a mess. How to encourage children.......