give it a rest about your kids being bored at schools....

[sereka]

Hi Guys,

I have been reading through a few post on here.

Parents seem to constantly go on about their kids being bored at school because they can read before they started school and the teacher giving them lesser ability books. When you say they can read before starting reception.. what exactly are you saying?

My daughter is starting reception in september and she recognises just a few words and i would not class that as being able to read.

We read books together and she enjoys it.. its really funny as if we read a certain story she can look at the pictures and then tell me the story back again days later.. this is her making up her own words but is always correct. Also she will get a book for the first time and just say the words she knows on the page and then make up her own story from the pics. Have me in stitches most days surprisingly she has lovely handwrting skills already. Form her letters properly and can write her name. ( i have very good penmanship so maybe she inherited that from me.LOL)
What should i be doing to help her more?
will she learn to read in reception?
I feel like Im not doing enough as so many of you have kids already reading...

Regards

Unsurprisingly, since you cannot be bothered to read properly either .

If DC can read before they go to school that's great isn't it. As long as suitable books are provided. It means the teacher can concentrate on the ones who are struggling.

Bonsoir is correct school is sometimes boring. Everything is a times!

I assume that concerned parents of early readers are statistically over-represented in this forum for very obvious reasons: their DCs have learning issues that create anxieties. Those anxieties cause them to post on internet forums. They're a self-selecting cohort, not the subjects of an objective survey.

Fair enough. However, as the OP suggests, this cohort has an unfortunate distorting effect on the aggregate picture of pupil attainment on entry into YR/1. I imagine it actively discourages and alarms many potential posters.

I don't mean to suggest that anyone should stop posting - just interested in the logic of group discussion.

Strange as it may seem to some, I wasn't at all concerned about my 3 DC who learnt to read early and easily. It was the 3 who struggled that I worried about. Lots of parents on here need to worry a bit less, and enjoy DC childhood.

DS2 could read a bit by the time he started school, and was reading chapter books at home by the time he went into Yr 1.

Didn't mean he could sit still and concentrate in class though...

Boredom at school is an issue of personality rather than intelligence. Plenty of children with low IQs find school boring and plenty of exceptionally bright children find school fun and stimulating, even if not academically stretched (primary school, after all, is not just about academic work). It all depends on how your personality expresses your intelligence, or lack thereof...

As for teaching your dd to read before school, I wouldn't have thought this was necessary - if she loves sharing books with you and already recognises a few words, she sounds ready to learn to read pretty quickly once she starts school and will probably enjoy it. You may even find she starts reading before she goes to school - both my dss went from reading a few words to reading fluently without any active tuition (ie we just shared books together) a very long time before starting school. Often the process starts with your child memorising favourite stories and pretending to read them, then moving on to pointing out words and sentences they definitely can read, and finally reading stories that they haven't read before, once they've got a bit of confidence to give it a go without feeling foolish to try! They've normally been able to read pretty well for some time before they'll show you that trick, though, so it looks like they've suddenly made spectacular progress!!!!

"Are you merely surprised malaleuca or doubting us?" ...I used the word 'surprised' and that's what I meant.

The thing is that in reception they spend such a tiny fraction of their time doing academic stuff, and the rest in educational play ,PE,music topics that I really don't why they are bored.

But if you've taught for thirty years and, say, classes of thirty, that's 900 children. There are a lot more than 900 Mumsnetters, and most of them have more than one child.

You always see more examples of an extreme on Mumsnet than you would in RL, just because there are so many Mumsnetters. Almost anything you care to name will have happened to several people on here.

I've heard some kids outgrow 'playing' in that sense quite early - not that they never play or do imaginative games, but they just want to do reading, writing, counting etc.

But if the Foundation Phase is being implemented properly (and I speak as someone who works within the Foundation Phase in Wales where it goes up to the end of year 2) then they shouldn't be bored. Learning through play isn't just about playing for the sake of playing, the teacher should be aware of what skills each child needs to develop and be planning "play" activities which move them onto the next level. Which does include reading, writing, counting etc...

I think dd would have been much more likely to have been bored in a traditional classroom setting focusing on the 3 Rs than under the EYFS as it actually often masks the problem of a child being way ahead.

So say, with Jolly Phonics, if a kid knows all their letters, they can still have fun singing the songs. Everything is so play based even if they can do allgebra, they should still enjoy the tasks using much more basic skills.

It's year one I'm more worried about now...

Having been brought up in a highly academic family myself, I still never understood this outgrowing playing thing. I suppose because the adults around me did both academic and practical things: they read Ancient Greek and painted houses and made cakes and arranged family christening ceremonies for a tiny dinghy (which I think definitely comes under the heading of playing)- all these things were equally important and there was never the sense that one would somehow exclude the other. Noone told me that as I learnt more languages and science, painting and dressing up or mooching around in fields would become less fun (it hasn't).

I wonder if this is a cultural thing: the British do seem to have this expectation of either-or, and the feeling that academic activities such as reading and writing are somehow more worthy than messing around with flour and sugar or climbing a hill. I am glad I was not brought up with this sense of hierarchy.

Cory - I think the english middle classes are prone tp ring the joy out of many things.
They worry endlessly about alcohol and what they eat and sunbathing etc
Education is worse still.

malaleuca... were you my teacher? Seriously- your first post describes me.... and I had to be put straight into infant 2 because of it.

My dd starts reception in september and she can read pretty fluently- as in pick up any book or newspaper and read it, though her comprehnsion isn't particularly beyond her years.

She loves playing imaginatively, though I remember I stopped at around age 9.

I'm not really sure what the OP is getting so exercised about?

Ah, Litchick, the Swedes are not behind when it comes to worrying about alcohol: unhealthy relationship is the phrase that springs to mind

But worthiness in education- yeah, definitely.

Another way of saying "Learning through play" is "Learning through first-hand experiential activities". Which sounds far more middle class acceptable

Cory, your family sounds absolutely lovely.

I also wonder if times have changed, because most of my friends grew up with this kind of mix of academia and play/practicality. I see much more of a split now. Not sure if its the times or the area, but it makes me

lol domesticsluttery that's a great term

I do definitely know kids who are bored silly by playing at school in yrR/1. It is a shame though.

And I have to admit say, this thread has really made me think. I've realised I must be careful not to belittle learning through play and just playing in general. It is magical seeing DD discover her world through playing, and really there's no reason that should suddenly stop at school.

That's right folks - MN has actually changed my opinion

I think play is so important for a developing mind.It fosters creative thinking, experimentation ,problem solving skills and many other things.Curtailing this by rushing on to mathematical operations and worksheets really isn't doing any favours at all in fact I think it probably stunts their intellectual potential long term.When you are 10 you can't go back to playing like a 5 YO.Once the window has gone it has gone

oh gawd. don't get me started on worksheets.

I have played make beleive all my life and now make my living from it.
Has stood me in far better stead than a thousand worksheets.

Maths Mad!

When they introduced Learning through Play in Wales (and I was involved with a setting which was trialling it) so many parents were quick to complain that their little darling would be bored witless by just playing. I have to admit that my PFB eldest was just starting nursery school at the time and I did have the odd moment of thinking the same myself, but once I looked into the curriculum and the research behind it I could see that it really does make sense.

Of course there are some settings who do it badly, and children there won't learn as much through play. But done properly, with ongoing observation of each child's development and needs, it can be a very good method.

Cory - I'm with you. We were an academic family and now - if we get together on the beach - we still play (though approaching middle age!).

Mathsmadmummy - what a confession! Now, can any one persuade me to change my mind on any subject....

On the subject of playing...I love watching children play. The intense concentration that radiates from the back of a little curly headed three year old...ahhh