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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

I have a theory about DS's Y2 classroom group names....

64 replies

treacletart · 28/04/2009 20:26

DS has until recently been having extra literacy help, he's very happy at school and we're lucky enough not to have any concerns with how he's getting on. Now,I know I shouldn't be getting competitive but humour me on this one.....

The class splits into groups for classwork. He's in "Circles" alongside at least one other boy I know finds his work challenging. DS has told me of 2 other boys in "Hexagons" who I know are very advanced readers.

Could it be the more sides your shape the more advanced your group perchance? Waddyareckon?

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stillenacht · 28/04/2009 21:07

but do you think year on year that there are more boys than girls in the lower groups or does it ever even out? My experience from Primary was the same (mostly boys in 'remedial' groups)I have many many friends who are primary teachers and they agree that the 'remedial' groups are by and large boys with a smattering of girls.

cece · 28/04/2009 21:09

I don't think it is that easy to generalise about the genders in the ability groups. Each class is different.

Feenie · 28/04/2009 21:10

Definitely varies from year group to year group - last year, for example, my lower ability Y2 Maths group were 3 girls, this year my lower ability Y5 Maths group are 3 boys and 2 girls.

stillenacht · 28/04/2009 21:11

Yes but i bet that a pattern emerges over the years.

I know i keep banging on about this but it really is something i see in most primaries i know of and those of my friends' schools.

Its an issue within education that really needs to be addressed.....maybe i should shut up about it on this thread tho

Caz10 · 28/04/2009 21:20

I would agree with you tbh stillenacht

stillenacht · 28/04/2009 21:21

thanks hon Are you a primary teacher?

Caz10 · 28/04/2009 21:23

Yes - although haven't been teaching long so can't give a v in depth opinion - but spent some time in pupil support work and saw mainly boys. And that was from reception onwards, so it doesn't account for the whole thing of education being more geared towards girls etc - these boys can't have become disenchanted and disengaged in nursery (you would hope!)

notsoteenagemum · 28/04/2009 21:23

stillenacht I was a bit when the teacher said that they don't set the children.
We do at nursery for focus time. However she was happy to tell me where ds was in the class so I think she's telling the truth.

stillenacht · 28/04/2009 21:25

no caz i hope not - its just the whole approach of education right from the start - how can we get boys to achieve more?? anyway...thats for a different thread i guess (must must shut up - everyone hates me as it is!)

Feenie · 28/04/2009 21:26

Not in ours, stillenacht, and we are boy heavy - maybe in writing, but not in reading and Maths.

stillenacht · 28/04/2009 21:27

thats great Feenie - long may it continue
(nothing against the girls but its great to hear of boys achieving )

Feenie · 28/04/2009 21:30

Boys generally outperform girls in Maths.
'Tis the other way round in writing.
They are all ace at reading.

Hulababy · 28/04/2009 21:37

In my Y1 class the bottom group have 3 girls, 3 boys. This is same for literacy and numeracy. These 6 also have IEPs in place.

I run a study support group for y1 and y2 children who need a bit of extra help in order to hit their literacy targets. In that I have 15 boys and 1o girls.

smartiejake · 28/04/2009 21:44

I had a colleague who named her group after animals. It started with moles, moving to hedgehogs then squirrels all the way up to eagles. No prizes for guessing which group was which!

Caz10 · 28/04/2009 21:50

lol at the spectrum from moles to eagles!!

I am now Yr6 and the bottom groups are definitely male dominated. But that could just have been the last few classes I've had.

ingles2 · 28/04/2009 22:00

ds2 yr 3 is in a lower ability group and it's mainly boys with a smattering of girls
ds1 yr 4 is in the high ability group and it's mainly boys with a smattering of girls
weird huh?

neversaydie · 28/04/2009 22:05

The best at maths in DS's class are in the rockets! The other groups are hexagons, pentagons etc - the more sides the better. No idea about gender mix.

cazzybabs · 28/04/2009 22:06

in my bottom group I have 1 boy and 2 girls (small class)

remember boys develop later than girls - hence why more boys tend to be in lower abilty groups in the early years but may achieve more in later years...

boys have poorer fine motor skills than girls...hence find writing hard (again develops later)

also big generalistion but boys don't like to fail where as girls are more lilkely to be risk takers...thus boys give up when things get tough where as girls stick at it more and therefore may achieve better

ALSO girls more interested in reading/writing (esp in early years) .... most subjects involve some aspect of reading/writing.

I think schools are getting better at closing the gender gap - expecting less writing/reading from boys in the early years, but (1) parental expectation (defiantly in my school) - parents get panicky if their boys can't read/write as well as girls and (2) SATS marks in key stage 1

Hassled · 28/04/2009 22:10

DS3's class (Yr2) go with colours. No way of knowing what colour means what (although of course everyone knows that purple = needs most help).

mrz · 01/05/2009 20:14

I don't have ability groups in my class but I do know what every child's capabilities are. My best readers/writers are mainly boys this year (only one girl) whereas last year it was a more equal divide. A totally different set of children are most able in maths.

melissa75 · 01/05/2009 20:37

hahahaha...thats hilarious! Its amazing how much people read into things!! I think I might have finally seen it all!!

Your theory does not prove true in my classroom, my highest maths group is circles, middle are the pentagons and lowers are the triangles! I could not bring myself to use squares as a group name, because when I was a kid, if someone said you were square, it meant you were stupid.

My literacy groups are based on Canadian animals, since I am an ex-pat of Canada, and before someone says, they all have the same number of legs, so there is no differentiation there!! My table groups are all jungle animals....and the reason for all my choice of group names is because sparklebox has signs for them, so it is one less thing for me to have to create!!

sagacious · 01/05/2009 20:43

ds has been :

Reception : Dandelion
Year 1: Raspberry (my personal favorite)
Year 2: Lion

DD is in reception and is a Daisy (I'm not sure if thats better or worse than a weed)

bluejellybean · 01/05/2009 20:50

I have gone a bit bonkers with my Year 3 groups this term!
Blue Morpho Butterflies
Grey huntsman spiders
Squirrel Monkeys
biblis hyperia butterflies

And don't get me started on my reading groups!!

Takver · 01/05/2009 21:31

DD would love to join your class jellybean

Do they all want to be Squirrel monkeys? I bet she would.

DDs school are boringly named by colours. I had never thought of their being so many options til now.

FWIW you can pick who will be in which group with almost 100% accuracy by when their birthday falls.

lilackaty · 02/05/2009 14:59

This is not supposed to happen anymore and it makes me really cross when people do it - how hard is it to think of original ideas?
I teach year 4 and we have jewels for reading groups, big cats for table groups, classic authors for Literacy and insects for Numeracy. Numeracy is the only subject where the children are aware of the order of the groups.

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