dd school lesson plans and her ability

Naughty_Sausage

DD has just finished her second week at school. She is 4.

We have received a currculum guide from the school telling us the lesson plans for the week. We have also received a book to have for a week to read together.

The thing is, my DD can do everything on the list and was even reading simple books to us which nursery lent us.

The thing is, I do not know whether to say anything to the school along the lines of 'she can do that already'. I fear she may get bored but also recognise that at this early stage the teachers must be assesing each child to see their capabilities.

any thoughts anyone?

Many thanks

NS x

Courgette

As a teacher (albeit Secondry) I'd say hang on a bit, the teachers probably are just seeing what the kids can do. I did a lesson with my year 7s today which was far too easy for most of them. We need time to get to know the children too.

If it's still not enough of a challenge in a couple of weeks then perhaps ask if there's anything a bit more challenging she could be given

kindofagilr

Yeah I agree with above poster

When I was at school I excelled at reading and when I was about 7 I would do the story reading to the other kids in class, and then when I was about 9 I was reading the books for the kids who were 12 or so

The school recognised that I was a good reader and let me move on rather than held me back

And that was in the 80's so I would hope that would still be the case now?

Courgette

And what I should have also added was the lesson I planned today *should* have been okay considering their key stage 2 SATs levels but turned out to be too easy once I actually got into it (although I haven't checked all their books yet, so we'll see )

Nicki

The lessons will be differentiated so it won't be possible to tell just from the plan what level they'll be at. If your daughter is more advanced, then she should be stretched more than the other children whilst doing the same task. eg if the topic was the hungry caterpillar book, less able children might be simply identifying the food stuffs, whereas your child might be asked to read the words, or categorise the foods into food groups, etc.

The staff should pick up quickly if your child is ahead of others in the class. Usually what seems to happen is that there is a small pocket of children who are ahead of the others, so she is unlikely to be alone. You can alienate teachers by going in too strong at the outset, or come across as a pushy parent, so I'd be inclined personally to leave it for a little while, then mention it casually, and see what kind of reception you get. If they aren't interested though, that's a different problem, but as a parent my own experience is that teachers enjoy stretching talented kids and so long as the parents don't try and tell them what their job is, will go the extra mile to make sure that these kids are fulfilled and challenged in school. Certainly this has been the case with my DS who is now in Year 5 and has been lucky enough to have teachers like this since he started in reception.

Naughty_Sausage

thanks so much for your replies. I will take your advice and give it until the October break.

Its such a fine line between getting the best for your kiddie and letting the teachers do their job without hastling them. Its hard to put your trust in someone else when it comes to your babies!

Thanks again

NS x

LJM

i personally would think they are at the stage of assessing the childrens levels and seeing as its a new class different teacher it may take a little while.my daughter is the same but i dont want her getting too far ahead then getting bored and regressing backwards if that makes sence.leave it a couple weeks just to see,if you have a parents eve soon mention it then

hbloomers

I was always bored by the set lesson plans all throughout primary school, and well into secondary school. My teachers were great though, and let me work ahead in maths, for example. They also gave me new books on top of the ones set in class, let me look at things that were a higher level than what the class was studying for science etc.

It might take a while, but when the teacher assesses your child's abilities, she will do all she can to help improve her talents. Maybe when she gets older you could look at getting her a musical instrument? It'd be a great supplement to her school work

msb5262

Hello OP,
As your DD is only 4, she wouldn't even be in formal school if you lived almost anywhere else in Europe. It's great that she can read etc but please bear in mind that the main value of school at this age is the social experience - your DD will have the chance to play and interact with others of her own age in a safe, stimulating environment; her social and emotional development will benefit hugely from this, and her intellectual development is clearly something about which you don't need to feel anxious. Let her enjoy school as much as possible and make sure you have a chat about her reading etc with her teacher at half-term.
Best wishes,
MsB

HRV

I agree with the last post. She's in Foundation Stage so most of her work should be exploratory and child led. In my school (I'm a foundatio stage teacher) we have to send curriculum letters out but what we write tends to be middle ish ability- don't worry teachers will be planning for higher ability pupils too- bear in mind though it's not just about reading books, EYFS reading includes all sorts of things in reading and writing that you may not think of initially.

Savvy_Sue

If you have a reading diary, then it's worth noting in there other things your DD has read.

DS2 taught himself to read off the cereal packets before starting school - well not quite, but almost - and quickly had the attitude that anything DS1 could read, he could read too. We dutifully worked our way through the Oxford Reading Tree, but he was reading independently quite quickly as well and I just let school know this.