Could someone please tell me if this is 'normal' or 'behind' for a 7 year old, year 2 child

[sandyballs]

I worry about her progress, her class are allegedly a 'good' class and that seems to mean that they are given weak, ineffective teachers. She has a twin (in a different class with a great teacher) who is strides ahead so it's hard to work out what is an average level at this age.

I have just found a 'riddle' in her book bag:

Guess my riddle:

"I am 2 diffirnt cullos
I have 4 legs oltger
you well find me in a fame
I have a tell
I am dlack and witow
I am diger than a pig
I am a bit small than house"

I know that it dosn't help with your questions but I find that the quality of spelling and writing of ds1 (also Yr 2) varies between whether it is a piece of formal work or something that he has just doodled.

Not sure if you want to hear this but my 7 yo dd yr 2 could do better, she's certainly way beyond reversing her ds and bs. I have no idea how this compares with her classmates, however.

How much does her twin's work differ?

Sounds exactly like my DS who is Yr 2 (7) and progressing normally (so they tell me).
He wrote a "powim" the other day which was just like the standard of your DD.

Sounds like a cow to me.

And sounds reasonable standard for year 2. I'm not a teacher, but comparing with bits I've seen in DS Y2 class, I'd say it was probably a bit below average.

It is hard to tell - it does depend on the situation that it's written in. Ds1 is Y2, just turned 7, his spelling is very good, and he would have got most of those words right - maybe not colours.

The content is very good - it's just the spelling and letter formation really. Dd is 4, in YR, and she wrote at home today;
I went to play
Wee playd on the trampoline.
We loved it.

But ds1 couldn't have done that at that stage - he only clicked with writing this year - so maybe spelling is just something that varies from child to child.

Are you in a state school - if so won't you get her SAT marks which will indicated where she is in relation to expectation for this age? And will be based on the teachers overall assessment of all her work, not just one item?

Dd might have done better at that age, ds almost certainly worse. Children are different, develop differently. I wouldn't be too hasty in blaming the teachers.

In any case, even if she is slightly behind at this age, due to a possibly inefficient teacher, that is hardly going to follow her throughout her school career. Children change a lot between infants and primary and there will be a lot of moving up and down sets. Relax now! It's an order!

Thanks for your replies. I am just questioning how much is down to different characters/abilities between my two and how much is the standard of teaching. Her twin would have written it almost word perfect.

Good point tortoiseshell, when I said a bit below average I was thinking of the spelling and Ds and Bs. The content is super..assuming it is a cow

Mmm, I would think it was a bit below average, but I couldn't honestly say as DS2, nearly 7, is a very good speller (eg homework today to write a sentence with 'comparison' in: "I made a comparison between two things to see what was similar and what was different about them.") There are lots of correctly spelt common words in your DD's riddle, though, so it is only the less common words your DD is not sure of.

The letter reversal would worry me a bit by now - DS1 did it until the end of Year 1 occasionally, but not by the end of Y2.

Yes we will get SATs results at the end of this term, forgot about that.

Thanks for all replies. I don't normally stress about school etc but for some reason this freaked me out tonight, convinced myself she was really struggling, although parents evening didn't suggest that.

I too think it's slightly odd that b and d are being mixed up at 7 years old.

Obviously she has no idea I'm worried about all this. She's the most chilled, easy going little thing.

PS, it is a cow . But I thought it was a zebra

What kind of farms do you go to?

Agree with TS, the content is lovely - very imaginative.
Tbh, ds would have spelled it correctly, but his spelling has always been a strength.

Just been speaking to other mum's in DD's class and they think their children haven't progressed very well at all this year, and thinking about it, DD could have probably written that this time last year.

sandyballs, I think that may be a Y2 thing then - at ds1's school I've heard similar mutterings! Out of all 3 years so far, I think Y1 has been the real 'massive progress' year, and I've heard parents saying that Y3 is similar - I suppose they don't have the pressure of assessments that they have in Reception (entry level assessments, and also getting them all reading), and Y2 (KS1 SATS). So maybe next year they will really take off.

My ds is in year 2 and he is a better speller and doesn't reverse his ds and bs. But it would be a struggle to get him to write that much - 2 lines is his usual limit - and that involves much huffing and puffing!.

Dd at 7 would have been at about the same level - she reversed her ds and bs well into year 3.

What were her predicted SATS scores?

think u need to give her loads praise as she may be aware that people compare her to twin kids have big ears. carry on encouraging her as she is writing which is half the battle. if continues with reversed letters get school test dyslexia. hope helps i understood what she wrote.

All kids are different my son is dyslexic and his sister who is two years younger is a lot better at alot of school work i have to be aware of my sons feelings as he is very aware he struggles and it used to upset him in year one and two as he thought his friends were more clever. he is doing really well now and almost upto speed on all subjects and im very proud of him.

Reversing of b and d is very common at this age and beyond. Has no bearing of how clever the child is. Almost all schools will not mark down for it too. It comes together eventually.

most common words spelt correctly which is good.

Made good effort with harder vocab and pretty much readable and can get message conveyed to her audience which is most ionsort point.

My DS is in Yr 2 but is still only 6 - will be 7 in August. He still reverses bs and ds and 3s and ps and qs.

So that would be what I would expect from him but I know others in his class are way ahead of him.

We have his SATs results and he got Reading level 2A, Writing 2B and Maths 2A. His are teacher assessed as his school doesn't have to do them as we are not in UK but follow the curriculum.

That should read important!

content seems good and well thought out. And length is good too.

at this age there is a huge variance with abilities in a class. I dont always things mumsnet portrays this as there does appear to be a much higher than average ability in mn children at times. Which is likely but can make it seen sometimes than children in the normal range appear to be doing the expected which may not be the care

DS would spell it even worse. And any letter that could be turned around would be. And each letter would be about a centimetre tall.

He is in the top set for literacy though, because he can read fluently, understands what he reads and writes creatively.

I am assured that his writing and spelling will improve. But I know DH, and I'm unconvinced

Thanks for replies. It's interesting to hear how other kids are getting on at a similar stage.

Interesting about less pressure in year 1, that's true really, hadn't thought about that. Fingers crossed for year 3 then! Her new teacher seems lovely.

Not sure what her predicted SAT results are, we haven't been told. We get an end of year report when they break up in July and it will be part of that.

I agree about the praise bit and I do try and do that a lot as I would hate her to feel she is in her sisters shadow academically.

My DD is only 5 so I can't really compare. I think what your DD wrote is very clever. She's spelling phonetically too and I think letter reversal of d and b is quite common.

Have you spoken with the school? Are they worried?

I'm trying to think back to when my DSSs were 7 but I can't quite recall. I think they had better spelling but very poor letter formation and wouldn't have been able to come up with such a good riddle.

Oh and by the way one of them has just left University with a first!

I've often thought that about MN kids - there seem to be a lot of geniuses on here .