youngest in class worries

tyllwyd

Another aspect when your DS has come out of reception is how the school organises its classes - do they stick rigidly to school year or do they group the classes differently. In my younger DDs primary school, they have a class-and-a-half in each year group, so they mix up the kids according to age, maturity, ability. Last year, they had kids from three different year groups in one class because some of the oldest ones were struggling. This year my DD is in a mixed year 5 / year 6 group, but it's the year 5 boy born on 31 August who is top of the class!

flutterby_lil

zoesmummy_2006 wrote: »

my son started reception in september, 9 days after turning 4 so hes the youngest in his class by quite a mile, lots of them are already turning 5.

I know that hes going to be at a different stage as the rest of them given how much younger he is but I worry about him keeping up even though its only been a few months.

He doesnt seem to be interested in colouring or any of the crafty activities they have set up now, whereas at playgroup he was always coming home with things he's made/pictures he'd drawn. He loves the computers in class and is able to confidently use them which is great, and he loves the boys toys such as cars trains and bein at the sand/water table.

He does read his books to me, well with me still at the minute, and he can count and do his abc and has done for ages and he recognises words etc. But he doesnt seem to write much, or show any interest in learning to. I bought him some special christmas cards I knew he would love to hopefully get him to want to write his name on, but he wont/cant. I try and practise with him, and have some homework helper books which he likes to do but quickly gets bored of.

Hes also soooooo tired now, he looks exhausted all the time and ive been having to wake him in a morning, despite him going to bed at the same time as he always has, sometimes earlier. Cant wait for the school holidays so he can recharge his batteries a bit hopefully.

Am I worrying over nothing?????

You could have just described my worries for my son. He too started in September and is the youngest. He has no interest in writing but can write his name well. He as to be forced to read books and generally has no interest in learning. I am just letting him get on with it for now, after all reception is about learning through play.

thunderbird

I can't really remember when my children learnt to write, but I was looking at my eldest son's school report from reception recently and on the last page they left a space for the child to write something. His writing was just a few strange shapes, couldn't make out any words at all! He was born in August and was youngest but one in his class.

I seem to recall that he had just about caught up by year 2 and was above expected levels by year 6.

As long as there aren't signs of any serious developmental problems then I personally don't see any point in pushing them to do things they are not interested in - it will come in time.

thunderbird

flutterby_lil wrote: »

You could have just described my worries for my son. He too started in September and is the youngest. He has no interest in writing but can write his name well. He as to be forced to read books and generally has no interest in learning. I am just letting him get on with it for now, after all reception is about learning through play.

I am sure he is learning heaps every day.:)

Reading doesn't have to be from books, if that doesn't interest him. You can read road signs, shop signs, posters, the bit on the telly that tells you what programmes are on, magazines, puzzle books, board games, the names on his toys/games. The list is endless - lots of opportunities to learn without it feeling like a lesson.

FBaby

massive amount of research out there to say that 'September's child will be a success while August's child will have all the stress."
exactly my reason for not ttc this month- and ttc next month instead.

What a strange reason to decide when to ttc! Do you realise it is only statistics and doesn't mean that if your child is born in September you are bound to do well and fail if born a day before?

My partner is a September baby and always struggled at school. I'm a November baby, but went to school in a country where the school year is aligned with the calendar year, so I was one of the youngest and did very well.

In any case, I had to smile as ttc doesn't always worked like this. I was adamant with my second that I didn't want a winter baby having really struggled through the dark months with my eldest who was born on 31 Dec so started ttc in June. I expected it to only take a few months as it had with my eldest, but nature wanted it its own way....10 months ttc, becoming desperate, finally fell pregnant with my due date of....31 Dec!!! He arrived on 4 January and it was hell again as his colic was even worse than his sister!

FBaby

Just to add that my son who is now in Y5 and is top of his class never enjoyed writing and hated drawing. He still does! The only thing he has ever drawn are train tracks and flowers!!! His handwriting is still not great but ok.

dizziblonde

ALL the littlies (and a lot of the bigger-ies) are flagging by this point in the term! Plus most of the teachers if we're honest... It's one thing you really don't realise until you see it in action - just how ready for a break they are by the end of a term - and just how utterly on their knees everyone is when it's a longer than average term.

marisco_2

Your son sounds completely normal to me. Activities that he once enjoyed and took part in are now taking a back seat as he engages in other things.

It is great that he enjoys and is capable of using the class computer. Playing with the boys toys and the sand pit opens up all kinds of role play opportunities and the chance to mix with his peers. This will help develop his confidence, imagination and also his speech.

It is not at all unusual for young kids to not wish to write much. He will gradually be doing more and more of this in class. Make holding and using pencils and pens fun and dont foucs on forming letters. Let him make patterns or do dot to dot. All of this strengthens the muscles in his arm, hand and fingers. Which all goes a long way to helping with him being able to write in time. Try rainbow writing in a few weeks, where you write out letters or fun words with a highlighter and he writes over it.

Lots of kids in foundation classes sit back and take it all in. They are like absorbent little sponges. All this observant learning takes alot out of them energy wise which would explain why he often appears tired. I'd be more concerned if he had energy to burn all the time.

You sound like a great mum to me who is keeping a close eye on her son. Keep his diet healthy, make sure he drinks plenty of fluids as this keeps alertness at its peek and ensure he gets plenty of sleep. It is often a real bouns to be one of the youngest in a class, children learn so much from their peers and if he is within a group that will stretch him this is a really good thing.

angelil

Don't worry about your son's attention span OP. Children's interests do change quickly - and when I was working in a nursery school (as an assistant) it was always recommended to us that for children aged between 2 and 3 we ought to be changing activity every 15 minutes. It therefore doesn't surprise me that a child who is four could not stick at an activity for much longer than this. I really wouldn't stress over it

sammy_wheeler

FBaby wrote: »

What a strange reason to decide when to ttc! QUOTE]
not all all- and we will see won't we!