youngest in class worries

zoesmummy_2006

Daska ive literally just been looking at the stabilo easyoriginal pens, I think im definately gonna give them and the stabilo cappi pens with the trianagular ends a go with him, hopefully they might encourage him writing wise.

I dont have an ipad or anything but do have galaxy note phone so am going to hunt through the app store and see if I can find any of those apps or similar that you mentioned cos he loves playing on my phone.

zoesmummy_2006

he goes to bed about 6.30 and is generally asleep by 7, and recently hasnt been waking until I get him up at 7.30 (wish his sister would follow suit!!!)

365days

The stabilo pens are still quite small for 4 year old hands and expensive. Great for older kids. Try some ideas on the link I posted they are all free or low cost (because teachers are tight!) It really is all about building up the muscles at this stage rather than the 'art' of writing. I agrre with poster who mentioned French system. Many countries do not start schooling until 6 or 7 and as far as I'm aware (I'm more kS2 than infants) good practice in early years is away from 'formal' writing anyway. (happy to be corrected on that one!)

The skill of writing has two sides anyway, the author and the secretary. What you aim for is a child who can create and structure interesting writing and be able to spell, write neatly etc. The two extremes of this are fantastic creators who can't get it down on paper. Or children who can spell and their handwriting is immaculate but they have zero ideas.

Oh another idea....full of them tonight......get him to 'tell you a story' maybe tape record it (well you know what I mean!) then YOU write it out for him exactly as he has said it. This shows him that you think writing and his ideas are important. He can then play back 'his' story while 'reading'mummy's writing.

Oh I'm quite jealous. I now have a hoofing big year 7 with a just started secondary school attitude.

Enjoy your little man.

Janepig

zoesmummy_2006 wrote: »

Got him some cheap bath crayons off ebay just and am hoping they might encourage him to scribble and write on the tiles. His sister is the total opposite, I cant get pen and paper out of her hands, shes always writing me stories

My two are the same - DD will write and draw all the time, DS would rather be out the back kicking his football around.

With their school being so big, every year is split into two classes, with September-March children in one class, April-August in the other (roughly, depending on the birthday spread of that year's intake), so an August baby would never be more than about 5 months younger than the eldest in the class which works very well imo.

Jx

apesxx

i have one either side. I have a september child in yr 1. She is doing absolutely fabulous, top of her class fo most stuff. I also have an august baby, he is at pre school and starts reception in sept and i really cant help but worry about him, he is behind with his speech, he wont concentrate on anything for any length of time. he likes stuff like playing outside and computer etc. I also worry that im doing the wrong thing by sending him to the school that my dd goes to. They seem to be brill for the academic children but i cant help feeling the school where he goes to pre school would be much better for him as its much more based on learning through play. its just immpossible for me to pick them up from different schools at the same time.

I hate knowing that the decision i make for him re. school could shape his whoe future my brother went off the rails a bit when he started high school and my mum says she always regrets not letting him go to the school he wanted to go to instead of making him go to the saame school as me.

zoesmummy_2006

ive bookmarked that page and am definately going to try some of those ideas with him, I had wondered if the stabilo pen might be a bit to big for his little hands as they say age 6+.

I have found some alphabet tracing apps for my phone and the note has a pen so i will see if he will give that a go.

I like the idea of him telling me a story and me writing it down for him to look at and read, me and his sister will definately try that one over the holidays.

When it came to time for him to start I did think about holding him back until year one, but I didnt like the idea of him going into a class where the kids have all known each other since reception and the friendships are already formed, and he does love school, is always happy to go in and goes straight off playing with his friends.

We were doing paint your own baubles to put on the christmas tree last night and he literally put 4 splodges of colour on his and gave up cos he'd had enough lol. Yet when he was younger there was nothing he loved more than painting and colouring with his crayons. Now he's all about transformers, the avengers, batman and cars!!! His imaginative play is great, and he loves little figures.

365days

apesxx wrote: »

i have one either side. I have a september child in yr 1. She is doing absolutely fabulous, top of her class fo most stuff. I also have an august baby, he is at pre school and starts reception in sept and i really cant help but worry about him, he is behind with his speech, he wont concentrate on anything for any length of time. he likes stuff like playing outside and computer etc. I also worry that im doing the wrong thing by sending him to the school that my dd goes to. They seem to be brill for the academic children but i cant help feeling the school where he goes to pre school would be much better for him as its much more based on learning through play. its just immpossible for me to pick them up from different schools at the same time.

I hate knowing that the decision i make for him re. school could shape his whoe future my brother went off the rails a bit when he started high school and my mum says she always regrets not letting him go to the school he wanted to go to instead of making him go to the saame school as me.

That's a really hard choice. Unfortunately there are some schools where play is still seen as a four letter word.:(

This book is fab for any Mum of boys.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Steve-Biddulphs-Raising-Boys-Well-Balanced/dp/0007153694

minnie123

My little boy started school in September and is one of the youngest in his class he is tiny compared to the others wear age 3 clothes. I have all the same concerns as you he is not interested in writing, drawing or colouring. He loves me reading him books but loses patience when I try to get him involved sounding out words he will do a couple then refuse to do anymore. At his first parent evening his teacher told me he was a little behind his peers and said I needed to work on him writing his own name and recognising numbers. This confused me as he had been able to recognise numbers and count up to 20 ages before starting school. He was also nearly there with his name but sometimes gets the letters mixed up and it's nowhere near as neat as the other children in his class. I think he just does what he wants to when he wants he says he cant do things when I have seen him do them before. He is the same as your son just interested in playing cars etc.. He does enjoy going to school so I am very pleased about that. I totally understand your worries it's so hard to know what to do after the teacher telling me to do this and that with him I did as she said he got stressed so I told her and she said not to worry about pushing him so it's all a bit mixed signals. I bought christmas cards for his class but have written them all myself as he would only do one (his teachers) and then gave up. I worry what people will think when they see that he hasn't done them himself even thought about doing them with my left hand lol. I have bought him the game Operation for christmas to help with his fine motor skills so we will see how that goes down. I did speak to my mum about him and she told me I didn't learn to read until I was 7 which actually shocked me as I remember reading Stephen King books in middle school and have always been in top classes at school so I do think people develop at different rates and he could quite easily catch up and even take over people.

ciderwithrosie_2

My oldest two are 17 months apart - DS1 was a March baby, DS2 late August. When I took DS1 for his age 3 assessment with the HV she asked if he could hold a pencil and draw a cross on the paper, he drew 3 shapes, she said 'oh no sweetheart, I wanted a cross' - I said 'he's just written his name for you - TOM'.

When I took DS2, he hid under the chair, and wouldn't even speak, I'm sure she thought there were development problems with him, even though he'd walked at 9 months and more or less potty trained himself at 2 by copying DS1. She came out to the house in the end and was surprised to find he was a completely different child, chatty and co-operative. However, when he started school he didn't answer to the register for the first 2 terms and he used to get worn out too.

By the time he left junior school he was top of his year whereas DS1, was happy to mosey along somewhere between middle and top. They both left Secondary school with more or less the same amount of GCSEs and went on to do A levels at college, after which DS1 wanted to go to Uni and DS2 wanted to start working.

So what I'm trying to say is they usually level out when they get a bit older, so not to worry too much at this age.

puppypants

I was born at 11p.m. on 31st August! Another hour and I would have been in the year below.