What should children know before starting reception?

building_with_lego

They need to be able to recognise their name too, first name not surname. For their peg/ book bag/ drawer/ waterbottle etc etc.

My DS started in September aged just 4 and YR is mostly about easing them into the rhythms of school life. Very easy, gently does it etc etc. She'll have a ball!

nearlyrich

I was looking at a school website yesterday that had a list of things parents can do to prepare their child for starting school here is the info:


It will help your child settle down quickly if he/she can.


Dress and undress with minimum help.
Use the toilet independently and alone.
Wash and dry his/her hands.
Use a handkerchief.
Use a knife, fork and spoon appropriately.
Put away his/her own toys, books and games and keep them tidy.
Say “Please”, “sorry”, “excuse me” and “thank you”.
Be quiet and still for five minutes.
Give full name (and address, if possible).
Recognise his/her own name and print


Once these ten essentials have been mastered, this further list may prove helpful:

Know the names of the main colours.
Hold a pencil correctly.
Recognise numbers to 10: also, counting order.
Understand words such as morning, afternoon, lunchtime, yesterday, tomorrow.
Understand words such as front/behind, above/below, last/first, big/little, and more than/less than.
Follow simple instructions.
Recite or sing at least three nursery rhymes.
Follow a series of pictures in a storybook.
Know the names of the days of weeks.
Concentrate on a “sitting down activity” for at least ten minutes

I was quite shocked that they feel the need to tell parents this sort of stuff as my children and my niece and nephew could do a lot of this at under 2...;)

osian

Thank you all for the advice. She should be fine with the vast majority of things listed .

Does anyone know about the assessment/ observation that they undertake in reception? Is there any preparation needed for that?

devildog

Assessment and observation is more or less a daily constant activity. It can be anything from whether she goes off and 'attempts' to write by herself, her interaction with other children or whether she shows a level of interest/understanding either above and beyond her peers or if she appears to have a problem with certain things.

There really isn't much you can do in preparation and your daughter really shouldn't actually know that it is going on.

doodoot

I'm a volunteer in a Reception class, and it's definitely a mixed bag where abilities are concerned.

If your LO can wipe her nose on a tissue, know when to ask for the toilet, understand the importance of please/thank you, be quiet when asked, be able to dress/undress and recognise her name then she will be fine.

Assessments are just like devildog described, eg:

Jane understood a circle shape is different from a square.
Jane helped John to tidy an activity away.
Jane knows that 10 minus 1 is 9.

The best advice I can give you is to definitely spend time with her going through any homework that is sent home.

Many children don't get this home support and still struggle to recognise the letter 'a', whereas those who do get support are reading words like 'queen' and 'knight'.

GreenQueen

When my DD started reception (2010), we had three short sessions where children could go into the school and play and parents could ask any questions - think that was in the May/June before they started. As part of that, we were given a booklet where the child answered questions like "who is in your family?" "what is your favourite story?", etc and they could draw pictures in the book. This allowed a superficial assessment before they started. We also had a home visit from the teachers (2 jobshare) and the TAs.

We also had to answer basic questions about toilet training, ability to dress, using cutlery etc.

It didn't matter where you were on the scale - but I have heard of some schools where they have more "requirements" than "guidelines". It's worth checking their website or contacting the school for more information, as it can vary from LA to LA and school to school.

GQ

Seanymph

When I used to go into reception class it was noticeable that some children

couldn't put on/take off a coat and know it went back onto a peg.
Sit and listen to a story for five minutes without disturbing the group.
didn't know how to take turns playing a board game
didn't know how to listen to someone else

The 'academic' stuff will be levelled out in the first year, but social skills are vital.

dizziblonde

s4mmy wrote: »

People have given some really good advice for your dd but I'm sure that her lucky teacher will be really pleased with you if you name ALL of her clothes that she will remove when getting changed for PE. 30 children and 30 sets of clothes often get muddled and without a name tag it's simply a guessing game

Oh god this! And when parents come in with the helpful description of "oh it's a school logoed top aged 4-5years" it's head on desk territory!

The independence-stuff is more important than actual reading/writing/adding skills really... things like toileting, getting coat on and off (zips are usually trickier), getting coat ONTO peg rather than just throwing it onto the floor, wiping noses on tissues (and then getting tissues into the bin), being able to recognise their name (if they can write their name fantastic - but be careful not to get bad letter formation habits in if you're doing over-writing - because they're a blighter to un-do).

If you're desperately keen to do more (I probably wouldn't push it - just time spent with a child, talking to them, doing things with them and getting out and about into the world is sadly the "headstart" so many are missing) I'd probably do numbers more than letter recognition to be honest - purely because I've come across some kids who've been taught the alphabet as only Aay Bee Cee and get most cross when it comes to phonics and they learn that Ceee Aay Tee doesn't say "cat" but c-a-t does! Yes they need to know both but I had one most indignant little chappie on my hands over that one!

Things like how books work - that you start at the front and go from left to right, that the funny black squiggly bits are what tells you what to say... basic nursery rhymes and some familiarity with fairy tales - not just that the Disney version is the only one that exists - grrr!

And colours - surprising how many kids come to school not knowing basic colours (and it's usually one completely random one that's passed them by).

Assessment is nothing more than either observing and noting down language that happens when they're playing - so things like "my model's bigger than yours" (tick box for comparing size), or noting down the help needed when doing tasks - and you've usually got a ticklist on the go anyway to make sure you get all the children to do an activity (so things like "needed a little bit of help to cut out this part of their picture or you'll end up making a note like "could give three pieces of fruit for the teddy bears picnic"), or things like a piece of emergent writing kept for their record - it's very much stuff like that at an informal level - basically you end up up to your neck in post-its and scribbled labels to sort into categories at the end of the day.

Looby_-_Lou_2

Make sure she understands the importance of hand washing - thread worms are not a pleasant experience!

pinkclouds

How to read/spell first name *and* surname (or at least the start of it if it's very long). Maybe full initials too. There's always the chance that multiple kids have the same or similar names, which leads to uniform confusion.