Quite pissed off about this, am I being daft?

[FlightAttendant]

Today ds1 went abck to school and was really looking forward to it.

I went to get him at 3.15 and he was absolutely busting to tell me about the 'thing' that had landed in the woodland bit of the playground.

I followed him and a large crowd of grown ups and children was standing around this thing, which looked to me very much like a huge air conditioning unit half buried in the ground, with a slightly blackened tree next to it.

I have to admit I immediately thought it was a kind of set up, for fun - there was stripey tape all round it and nobody allowed to touch.

Ds told me that it had apparently 'crashed' last night, and was from a satellite or spaceship or similar and it even had the voltage written on it!

He loves this kind of thing so was utterly serious and really quite blown away by the idea. They had spent all day finding out about it and someone from the BBC had apparently come and interviewed a witness, with a microphone but no camera.

There is nothing on the BBC website. The newsletter just arrived and there is a large paragraph about it - 'We hope the children enjoyed the 'space mystery' today, our project this term is all about space' etc etc...

I didn't know what to do, so stupidly, probably, I told ds it wasn't actually from a spaceship, and he started to cry

I mean is this just like the Father Christmas thing we do with them, or is it actually rather cruel of them to lie about something so potentially thrilling - I have probably done the wrong thing but he would have found out later anyway no doubt and been MORE upset.

He is insisting the newsletter is wrong and is very cross and fed up.

Can anyone talk me down, I really don't need another confrontation with the HT...I am just so sad for him.

juule, your dictionary definition is from the noun (a) 'shock', which is different.

"And I don't go along with the view that shocked only means surprised"
You don't go along with the view of the Cambridge dictionary? Gosh. Not sure how to answer that. Maybe you should write to them to express your disagreement as to one of their definitions?

By Meita Wed 06-Jan-10 15:10:31
we have tadpoles in our school wet lands which we visited daily and watched the stages of development we hatch out baby chicks in the classrooms and were excited watching them emerge from their shells, we grew our own vegetables and cooked and ate the product their is much to be gained from experiencing the world around us but should we limit ourselves to "real" things or should we reach for the stars and fire a child's imagination. If so perhaps we should not read those books which contain "hoaxes" such as the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe or The hobbit or even the Gruffalo.

Or Cinderella, or Jack and the Beanstalk or The 3 Little Pigs.....

By skidoodle Wed 06-Jan-10 15:28:21
"Jesus the person who imagined this up as an educational project must seceretly desire to be a scriptwriter on Lost, or something."

or perhaps they will inspire a child to a career writing scripts or novels.

Mrz/Feenie:

Presumably you don't teach Cinderella or The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe as science textbooks or other sorts of non-fiction. So the analogy doesn't work. It's the presentation of fiction as fact that's at issue.

Actually, I might start a fictional topic with a letter from Cinderella to the children, or perhaps the discovery of a glass slipper in the classroom.

Devexity actually I might

Cinderella fits nicely with the materials and change topic

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is actually in our PSHE curriculum

I have read most of this thread but not every post, so sorry if I'm doubling up.
OP you have my sympathy! It sounds like the school made it TOO real. Poor lad, he would have found out it was a hoax sooner or later at school and still been let down.
For what it's worth, when I was 6 we had a wonderful and mysterious substitute teacher for about a month. She set us up an elaborate story concerning a mysterious parcel that appeared on her doorstep. For the first few days we had to speculate on what might be in it (a large iridescent crystal ball and a letter from 'The Shopkeeper') then draw pictures of what we thought the Shopkeeper might look like, etc. It was harmless, we all half- knew from the start that it was a fantastic story but we were utterly thrilled with the whole thing. there is a definite line between firing their imaginations and setting them up for disappointment!

Hmm I am back.

I have spoken to a few more parents, well, two actually.

One child was totally disaffected by the whole thing according to her father. She is quite mature and sensible, fair enough.

Another mum said her 9yo daughter had been distraught, and cried a lot last night so they had had no option but to tell her it was fake - she was convinced something similar could fall on their house.

There were several other children in yr 5 who also were in tears about it, according to this mum.

Does that provide further evidence that it wasn't my handling of the situation that was entirely to blame for any upset? Even if ds was only affected by my mishandling, these other children weren't - their reaction was fear, not excitement.

Kitty, thankyou for your apology though it wasn't necessary.

I wasn't offended at all and I know you didn't intend that anyway.

What Iw as saying was that although you and some of the other teachers on the thread have assured me that teachers don't talk like they used to and try to diminish children's fears and discomfort with situations in the classroom (or outside it), Mrz's assertion that I wouldn't cope with having a child in her class seemed to be exactly that - saying I was too sensitive and somehow therefore inadequate, and that suggested to me that my child's fears perhaps would be dealt with in a similar fashion.

Maybe she has a different tack with parents and with children. But I don't like the implication that I am failing somehow by not being comfortable with teaching that puts my child at risk of great disappointment.

By FlightAttendant Wed 06-Jan-10 16:09:42
Kitty, thankyou for your apology though it wasn't necessary.

Mrz's assertion that I wouldn't cope with having a child in her class seemed to be exactly that - saying I was too sensitive and somehow therefore inadequate,
That was not at all what I intended by my remark and I apologise if you thought that. I just don't think you would be happy with my teaching style or the whole ethos of my school for that matter but in no way would I suggest you are inadequate. We are all different and that fact should be celebrated and as I said earlier you know your own child.

Fair enough Mrz, that sounds Ok.

I do appreciate your comments and input to the thread, they have helped me see all sides. I have had teachers for ds with whom I did not see eye to eye. However he has benefited from their alternative approach and I have respect for their methods in most ways.

mrz, I don't see why in order to reach to the stars and fire the children's imagination - which I absolutely agree with - has to be achieved by anything more fake than reaching to the mysteries of life has to be.

I am quite convinced from your posts that you are a wonderful teacher, as is Feenie. The things you describe sound like fun, good teaching. The only bit I don't understand is that you seem not prepared to admit that some teachers might (and do) sometimes cross a line, perhaps by becoming over-enthusiastic about what started as a great idea.

In your classroom, with 'your' kids, I'm sure you can judge quite well exactly how clear you need to make it that it is a "what if" scenario. For some things it would need to be clearer, for others slight implications might suffice, and yet others don't need any hints at all - because your class knows you, and you them, and certain levels of understanding and trust have been established.

In a school wide event, none of this can be taken for granted and thus should be managed carefully. If it isn't, it becomes a good idea that was handled badly. And it will raise problems with some kids that could so easily have been avoided.

Flight I have no way of knowing what your son's school intended to do. Perhaps they would have broken the news today but as you say at least one child was distressed last night so possibly they misjudged the children in their care. When planning anything as "adventurous" as this teachers need to be aware of every child and provide support if they need it to get the most from what can be a very valuable learning experience.

Meita I'm afraid I posted before I read your post

Yes I would have expected that of them too really.

Apparently the children werte told it's fake today - maybe after some parental input, I don't know what the original plan was.

But some we saw coming out of school were still confused as to whether it was real or not. Confusion reigns!

I did say earlier in the thread that it would depend very much on knowing your children. I am certain also that there would have been a whole school discussion along those lines. However, I agree with mrz's previous post.

*Feeney 'thank god you do not teach any of my children Feeney'
I would like to apologise for that Sentence which was unfair as I don't know anything about you or your teaching.

Back to the subject at hand - How about you told all the children they were going on a school trip to Disneyworld and got them to cost it all out ,plan the itinary and took them to a travel agents who were in the act to 'book' it.

I might do exactly that, but without the promise that we would actually go. That would be different. I would be more likely to choose a fictional place, perhaps.

Thank you, madamearcati, I both appreciate and accept your apology

Our next term's topic for Y1 is linked to the story Rapunzel. Not quite sure how yet as not seen all paperwork as off ill. Know it involves castles and going to a castle on a visit. Will relate to work done in literacy, numeracy, art, science, history, geography, music, etc.

Have not actually been involved in the whole school activity like in OP but have read of one school locally where it actually worked very very well, no complaints, no upsets, and the results were excellent. They were one of the first schools to start these things off, and the alien one was the first they did I belive.

I wonder why it worked there but not elsewhere? I don't know the answer by the way. There is obviously something missing in the OP's school method that was there in this other school. I just don't know what.

I hate that kind of thing, integrated learning. It's so wishy washy.

Our head set up a fake accident scene with the help of the emergency services to frighten parents who drive and park irresponsibly. She didn't tell any of the staff and I thought one of our children had been knocked down. Couldn't stop myself bawling when I found out it wasn't real... a mixture of relief and shock.

But that's the whole point , Feeney.You say with the exciting trip analogy ,you would make it clear that the children weren't actually going or use a make-believe place.But in the OPs example the DS was excited because he thought it was real.To him it was a Disneyland trip !

madamearcati, please with ideas like that you are only encouraging OFSTED. They will pounce on that as an idea that had slipped the net, I'm sure we'll see that rolled out nationally as soon as possible, learning objective being "don't count your chickens before they are hatched"

By claig Wed 06-Jan-10 17:09:33
madamearcati, please with ideas like that you are only encouraging OFSTED. They will pounce on that as an idea that had slipped the net, I'm sure we'll see that rolled out nationally as soon as possible, learning objective being "don't count your chickens before they are hatched"

I think it's in the PSHE (or whatever it's called this week) curriculum