What could your 4 yr old do before they started reception

[Clare123]

I am just wondering if I should be doing more to prepare her for reception. She can do all the physical stuff, I am talking more about acedemics. She recognises all her letters and makes all the sounds (a couple of times I have seen her trying to mix the letters to make a word). She also can count to 30.

Is this about right or should I be doing more? What can your little ones do? Or if they could do more or less, how did they got on in their first year at school?

Can she read her name? That's quite helpful from a practical point of view (finding her peg and so on). And being able to write her name is useful too.

I wouldn't worry too much, tbh. Her teachers in Reception will be used to a wide range of abilities within the class and will be well able to differentiate.

Shakespeare

Calculus

Quantum physics

That sort of thing....

can she take turns? Dress and undress herself? listen?

That'll do!

Being able to sit cross legged on the carpet also very important.

And line up.

Clare 123, it's all my DS1 can do and he has been at full time pre-school for a year!!!

The physical stuff, if it's the kind of thing I'm thinking of, is far more important - we had a list from nursery of 'what my teacher would like me to be able to do when I start school', and the only 'academic' thing on it was to be able to read their own name. The rest was stuff like wiping their own bums (okay - 'manage own personal hygiene'), line up, get undressed and dress again, 'understand there are times in the day when we are quiet' and so on.

DD could read her name, count to something peculiar like 13, and sing that bloody charming alphabet song. She's now half a term into Year 1, somewhere between okay and great in all subjects as far as I can tell. Oh, and she couldn't hold a pencil properly, could just about write her name ... now spends half her free time writing notes reading 'I love you wiv all my hart' to everyone and their dog (literally, next-door-but-one's dog).

as long as she can speak clearly, read her name and maybe write it too, and count up to 20 (ideally be able to count out 20 objects rather than just count etc) thats all.

She sounds fine OP.

Counting 10 objects is a target for the end of reception, never mind 20.

(that's differnt from counting to 10 asI am sure you all realise)

lol squeaver, dd2 was only reading c s lewis... but given that she was statemented i'll let her off

the answer truthfully is recognise own name and toileting. the rest can be worked out quite happily, anything else is a bonus

There is only ONE thing my 5 year old (early birthday) could not do before starting reception. And still can't. In addition to the list squeaver offered which obv he could do...

...Wipe. Own. Arse.

Is counting 10 objects really a target for the end of reception? I'm in Scotland, but aren't reception children aged 4/5? It seems like something that toddlers can usually do. I'm very out of touch with what they do in school I think

you'd be surprised TTT.

I have seen reception class children who cannot count beyond about 3 (I mean sayign 1,2,3,4 etc).

Counting 10 objects is much harder. They miss some out, or count them twice, etc.

Not saying no 4yo can do it, just that by age 5 they should all be able to - and yes, plenty can't on startign school. Including my DS1 IIRC.

Not many 2-3 yos can do it.

I see from yr profile you have a 2yo. If she can count 10 things correctly I'd be amazed. A very able 3yo I know well can do 5 things pretty well...

DD is 3.8yo, starts reception Sep' 10.

She can count to 20, sing/say Abc, recognise some letters, find own name on nursery peg, knows all shapes, colours. Can count 10 objects, play this with her at home (helps ds, flashcards).

She can't write her name (absolutely refusing to even try, excellent at drawing though), but can read her first/last name, knows where she lives (number/street) knows mums full name, her full name, brothers full name.

Can wipe her own bum
Line up
Sit crossed leg on mat

All that happens at nursery

Christ! - I couldn't really be bothered to do much of this prior to Reception. We just used to play with not especially educationally focussed toys / attend mother and baby groups and pop along to the park. Made bugger all difference to their educational progress. Dd not a bright shining beam of intellectual prowess, but ds up there at top of the class. I do of course support their learning now that they are in school

Clary - ds is 2.8, he can count 7/8 objects pretty reliably. He's quite into that kind of thing though, knows his letters and can sound out some words etc, and I suppose they're all different. He can't wipe his bum yet though - not even toilet trained properly lol!

LOL, DS is 2.7yo here, he can count to 3 and is just about saying one words now He is all TT'd though, done it himself 3 mths ago

Haha you see my ds has his priorities all wrong, he should learn the practical stuff first so I have one less set of nappies to change