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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

Advice from teachers re reception

40 replies

SailAway · 08/02/2010 15:14

ds2 is in reception and is finding it very hard. Examples of some homework given to him :

Do the additions using the number line (7+12, 9+8 etc...) He had to complete the number line first but couldn't do it.
Please write the sentences putting a capital letter at the start of the sentence. He didn't know what the said capital letters looked like and couldn't read the said sentences.
Draw 3 objects that make noise in your house (OK no problem) and write their name down (ds2 is just able to blend simple CVC words).

ds2 has a slight language delay which makes ot difficult for him to follow what is happening in class in group setting. He is also struggling to 'hear' the sounds. I have been told by the SALT that this is something that will resolve itself by the end of the year (so no major worries) but it does make it harder for him to follow.

I am looking for the reason, on the teaching point of view, why he would be asked to do all these when they seem to be so above what he can do. It feels all wrong but am wondering if I have missed something big there.

Thanks

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compo · 08/02/2010 15:17

the numbers are teh sot of thing ds is doing in year one
I don't think he can do the other 2 things either

Radished · 08/02/2010 15:21

This seems really hard for reception class. My dd is in reception, she has a reading book but no homework, and in class they are doing very simple counting and addition - number lines aren't introduced until year 1. She's writing simple 3 letter words but certainly not sentences.

thegrammerpolicesic · 08/02/2010 16:07

Sounds very strange - very few reception children would be able to do this at this stage. Is it a super-competitive selective private school? That's the only explanation I can think of but you'd have mentioned that presumably in your OP!

sarararararah · 08/02/2010 16:19

I'm a Reception teacher - none of my class could do the first two things. Well, actually 1 could - with a little support first. I'm very surprised at that level of work.

thegrammerpolicesic · 08/02/2010 16:22

How does the number line thing work - do they say, start at 7 and then have to count on 12?

welshandproud · 08/02/2010 16:31

I've taught Reception for about 10 years and I can honestly say this work is inapropriate unless your child is very able and the teacher is trying to stretch your DS.

I would definately ask for an appointment after school and ask her to explain to you how to support your DS as he seems to be struggling with this type of work.Perhaps you could ask if all children get the same work/homework or how is it differentiated?

Children in Reception should be following the Foundation Phase which actually means fewer formal activities.They should be learning through play, learning how to count objects, recognise and write the numbers in the correct order and practically adding and subtracting objects accurately before formally recording it.With the writing task she might have been hoping that your DS could 'sound' out the objects around the home and write the sounds he can hear rather than spelling everything correctly.

TBH I'm quite surprised at the amount of homework. Even if this was one task a week it would be more homework than any of the schools I'd ever worked in for Reception. The usual expectation would be reading, a little but often and perhaps practising to read and then spell a few sight words.

paddingtonbear1 · 08/02/2010 17:03

This work sounds rather OTT for reception. dd didn't have to do this and her school was the pushy type!

Eglu · 08/02/2010 17:05

The maths is definitely Y1 work. Reception is usually numbers to ten.

The other stuff seems pretty hard too.

cat64 · 08/02/2010 17:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

smee · 08/02/2010 17:28

Surely that's all year one work - what sort of school is it OP? Seems bizarre.

glinda · 08/02/2010 17:29

I am a reception teacher too and I am shocked by this homework. It is completely inappropriate. He should be learning through play and having fun whilst he develops at his own rate. I hate this approach - setting children up to fail at such an early age

Original poster

SailAway · 08/02/2010 18:21

This is what ds2 has being given. He is in reception and just 4yo.
And yes it is our local primary school.

I'll come back soon when I have a bit more time.

OP posts:

smee · 08/02/2010 19:30

Well if it's any consolation, my DS would have struggled too. He was nowhere near able to do that in reception.

SeaTrek · 08/02/2010 19:44

I agree - that work IS too hard as standard reception work.

My son, now year one, can use a number line but definately NOT in reception. He was assessed at the end of reception as being a little above average maths. In fact the only way he knew that 15 was more than 14 was if he counted all the way from 1.

He couldn't do capital letters at this stage either. In fact many of his lowercase letters were back-to-front. He did end reception with writing below average, but he is fine now.

Your son's reading sounds spot on, too, many chilren are not yet blending CVC words at this stage in reception - so he is doing well if anything.

All I can say is a year makes a MASSIVE difference at this age and I would definately bring this up with his teacher.

IMO that is year one work AND I would NOT expect yr one to be set that much homework, either.

smee · 08/02/2010 20:03

Should have said, but in Reception we had no homework at all.

Original poster

SailAway · 08/02/2010 20:12

Ok so the general consensus is that all that is well above the average reception child.

Now if I forget that he finds that hard, can someone tell me if it's OK to ask a child to copy a sentence when he can't read/understand the words because the aim of the exercise is to recognise the start of the sentence and use a capital letter? This sounds crazy to me. I would assumed that he needs first to understand what he is writing and then been asked to copy the words but I might be wrong.
Same with writting words. He can just blend CVC, knows all the letters but very little doube letters. Is it necessary for a child to be (relatively) at ease with reading before strating to write words phonetically ? (I know the aim of the teacher is for them to write the sounds they can hear ie the most obvious ones not to have the spelling right iyswim)

My feeling is that ds2 needs to be left alone this year, not pushed at all until he has catched up language wise with his peers. However these are just feelings and my experience with this teacher/school is that I can't go to see them with feelings. I need facts eg it's not appropriate to make him add with a number line numbers up to 20 if he can't count to 20.

OP posts:

smee · 08/02/2010 20:15

You speak a lot of sense to me. As glinda said he should be learning through play not being pushed when he's not ready. Surely he's not the only one who's struggling? I'd be amazed if he is.

mathanxiety · 08/02/2010 20:16

Completely inappropriate, and I agree with Glinda -- setting the child up for failure.

That much homework is far too much for a 4 year old, and far too much to ask of parents. My DCs went to school in the US and never got homework until age 6.

What is the teacher trying to do with them in class?

glinda · 08/02/2010 20:23

Just guessing, but this teacher sounds as if she may have recently moved from teaching older children (where there is great pressure to push children on to the next level in order to pacify OfSted ) rather than an experienced Early Years Practitioner.

mrz · 08/02/2010 20:25

I would probably set something like

Draw 3 objects that make noise in your house and ask an adult to help you to write their name

the other activities are pointless - maths because it is beyond his ability - sentence because it isn't teaching him anything.

Herecomesthesciencebint · 08/02/2010 20:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

SailAway · 08/02/2010 20:27

I have no idea....

I have had problems with her re her attitude towards ds2 (In effect she thinks he is a slacker that has decided not to do his best and therefore needs to be 'made' to work appropriately - a comment made because ds2 wanted her to work with him to write one of these sentence and she had decided he didn't need any help...).

TBH, I've had a child who way above average and in reception he was doing all that and more. That's OK for me because that's where he was.
But the teaching methods themselves seem fraud to me, even for a child who is way above average. Is that right?

OP posts:

Original poster

SailAway · 08/02/2010 20:32

mrz, xpost

So there is no logic on a teaching point of view....

OP posts:

Original poster

SailAway · 08/02/2010 20:36

glinda, I am afraid that she is putting him in a situation where he thinks he is failing when in fact he is doing very well.

Looking at him and how difficult he is finding some of these exercises (that are supposed to be at easy reach as they are homework), you would think he is struggling. It's not going to do any good for his self confidence, especially as he is not always sure of himself

OP posts:

Littlefish · 08/02/2010 22:44

Sailaway - dd is in reception. Her homework this week is to choose 5 objects from around the house and compare them in pairs to say which is lighter and which is heavier. If she wants to, she can try and order them by weight (using estimating, not scales).

Last week's homework was to look for objects around the house which had a circle, square or triangle shape somewhere on them, and to draw the shape.

There is no point in your ds simply copying a sentence which he is unable to read, and then adding a capital letter and full stop. Absolutely pointless.

I can't believe that the homework he has been set would be "easy reach" for many of the children in the class.

My dd is confident mathematically, and is able to add up to 5 onto any number up to 95. However, she does this by counting on from the larger number. She wouldn't have a clue about using a number line.

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