Primary - what tools /resources will help me teach my severely strugglying dd in Year 3?

[lisalisa]

I think I need to take matters in my own hands a bit with my dd2. She is nearly 8 and In Year 3 and struggling with almost all areas of the academic curriculum. Her understanding of both math and english seem literally zero and most of the basic concepts seem to have passed her by. She has been assessed as needing an IEP whch she now has but she really hasn[t made any signigicant progess at all since it started. I would like to go back to basics with her especially in maths and start with basic addition skills and times tables and the concept of division and simple problems - i.e. Jack has 3 apples and wnats to share them between his 3 sisters equally. How many shoudl each get? I also want to go back to basics with comprehensiion and getting her to understand a simple story and answ3er questions onit as well as to draft her own stories and at least puntuate them very basically.

I seem to remember on mumsnet talk of some self help books which mirror the nat curriculum requirements for that year group. What are they pleae and has anyone done this with their chld and if so with wbhat success?

I'm not planning to abandon what they're teaching her inclass - its just that nothing sinks in or is undersatnd so i want to go back to year 1 and start with those concepts afresh and in our own time.

what do you all think?

there is great selection of workbooks in WHSmiths - dd and ds really like doing them

and maybe a PC programme like Learning Ladder?

hi lisa . how did she do in her year 2 SATs? if her understanding is that poor then you probably need to focus on basic addition and subtraction, place value etc- or wherever the gaps in her understanding are. division and multiplication wouldnt be my starting point, to be honest.

as far as comprehension goes, jsutshare some good stories with her and talk to her as you read them. get her to make predictions. talk about the characters and their motives etc etc. please don't do formal writtn comprehension. it'll turn her right off!

also, writing a whole story is pretty hard! why not try looking for opportunities to write for real purposes eg shopping lists, invitations, postcards, diaries etc.

again i ask myself wondering what kind of level she is working at. the ideas that you have seem as though they might not be in line with realistic expectations, if she is truly struggling.

great that you are supporting her, though.

sorry about typos earlier

'find myself wondering'

Thanks noonar and dinny. Tbh i'm not really sure how best to support her and you're right comprehension will put her off. yes - diaries are a good idea. I'm looking for workbooks rather than pc based support. Something that will give me structure too as to what I'm teaching her. I'm prepared to give it 20 mins per night of dedicated time which I think is enough without turning her off at this stage. I want bascially something following the nat curriculum so will start with year 1 curriculum and follow that and home in on the areas that have passed her by if necess spending weeks on each area until she understands the concept.

Weird thing in all this is that she has a reading age higher than her own and reads well although will not read unaided despite my encouragement.

Lisa, is she receiving any sort of intervention at school in the form of extra support in class or out in small groups?

Yes she is although its not making any difference at all. Tbh I am constantly surprised by how basic her lack of understanding is ( if truth be told I am bloody shocked and sometimes want to knock my haead on the wall with frustration !!)

lisa have things been ruled out? Like dyslexia, or something else?
It appalsme that schools carry on teaching more concepts to children who have not grasped the first steps.
I hope you find some support lisa. Could you request an educational pyschologist to assess her perhaps?

The Home Edders have some good resources, it might be worth doing a search.

My DS is also in Yr 3 and struggling a little. I have signed him up for Maths Whizz on the computer after recommendations from here.

I also bought Maths workbooks from WH Smiths - there are loads to choose from. There is one which is a SATs revision book for Key Stage One and it also comes with a workbook - lots of similar here.

A lot of schools don't seem to stress the actual learning of times tables anymore. I am about to as I feel it really helps.

My DS is bright enough but struggles with actually getting things on paper. His teacher says he is an ideas man!

Does she like drawing? DS has started drawing a picture and then writing a story about it occasionally.

I think the key is encouragement at this stage with the writing but agree that working on the basic KS1 maths is important.

Good luck! I struggle with actually getting DS to sit down and do it.

hanks everyone - bump for the day crowd - i am really looking for pointers on following hte nat curriculum in maths and english but at home. It is quite clear to me that dd has some significant gaps in understanding and I need to access what she should have learnt and understood and track this slowly at home.

A lot of the workbooks available follow the National Curriculum. They seem to have them for most subjects - lots of them have stars and stickers for added encouragement although it has to be said that it doesn't always work!

lisa can you list the things dd can do to give a broad starti g point?
Alphabet? Letter sounds? Blending?
Number recognition? Counting up and down stairs? Or lamp posts on walk home?
What is she able to do?
I think a yr3 child without basic grasp of fundamentals needs urgent one to one at school.
But sounds like you are ready to take the responsibility on yourself?
X

with maths I would just go back to basics - get a load of beads or coins or something, and play around with them - split them up into groups - count them, add them etc, and then write it down as you go along. Take some away, divide them into equal groups etc

With bigger numbers split them into groups of 10s and units - count them up 10, 20, etc and then write that down in mathematical notation as you go.

I have one in year 3 - and they really don't get much further than that at that stage - so just really reinforce that sort of thing.

With reading - I would just go back to simple texts and work through sounding out ones she is stuck with, point out common sounds - eg ou, ai etc.

Basically just start simple and give her a really good grounding with lots of practice and build her confidence.

OK -

Reading - dd is fine - actually above average for her age!! No problem blending letter sounds at all.

It is more understanding instruvitons, comprehesnion, writiing ( she still can't form letters properly) and story writing ( simple stories I mean).

She can recognise numbers - even in hundreds - so she knows that 240 is that rather than 2 and 40 as she used to say .

throckenholt - the splitting into 10s and 20s etc is where I think problems start. She just doesn't understand counting in 5s and 10s and i don't really know how to help her.

that's why i want a parent's guide so to speak of nat curriculum at the key stage 1 stages so I can tick off or home in on the various weaknesses and go to blazes on those.

She is having quite a lot of one to one at school with speacial needs teacher but nothing is working at the moemnt. She is also learning second language at school as well which is just basically flummoxing her.

do you have concerns about her spoken language? just wondering whether her difficulties in following instructions and comprehension could be language related, so may be worth getting speech therapy referral (and hearing test to rule out a physical problem).

as I said groups of beads or something is really good visually to explain counting like that (I was doing it with my 5 and 7 years olds over the weekend).

Just get a handful - pick out two, then another two, etc. Then lay then out in a line of twos in a group of 10.

Keep doing that sort of thing, rearranging into 5s and 10s etc.

If you do that in say 10 minutes bursts every day or twice a day it should start to stick after a while, and then you can extend it to more complicated ideas (eg adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing) and writing the numbers down on paper as you go to reinforce how that is done.

Thanks all - I have now downloaded the actual nat curriculum itself re math and english which is actually very helpufl in what they are expected to know at what age. Seeing this my dd is about 2 years behind. There is also a website that looks useful that has lots of worksheets geared to nat curriculum called a parents resource centre. Anyone used this?

Lisalisa - what were her year 2 SATS like?

CPG do some good books - I cant do links but google them.

Kumon really helps with basic maths.

seeker - do you know we weren't told the results. she managed to hide her lack of understanding from the teachers for 2 years due to just copying the child next to her! She bacme adept at that due simply to the fact that she could never understand and attempt things on her own.
Janelumley - i did kumon with her for one year. I'd say it didn't help at all as it is just pure reptition without any explanation and the one to one time wit the tutor at kumon is limited to 5 mins at the end of a session if abs necessary. i consider tha tmoney wasted actually.

Are you at a State School? If so, then your first step is to find out her SATS results. That will give you a sense of where she is in relation to other children her age.

BTW - the school is failing in one of its statutoty duties if it doesn't tell parents KS1 and 2 SATS results!

When I say "find out" what I mean is go to her teacher at the end of school today and ask!

seeker - school is private faith school. Also , suggstion is that dd was simply copying on many of assessments throughout the year so sats would'nt shed any light.