Foundation stage report

georgie262

Hi
Does anyone have any experience of these reports in school? My 4 yo son started school in September (he'd only just turned 4 at the end of August) since then I've always felt like he was behind. He was slow to pick up reading and although at first I tried to do his reading book with him every night it made him so frustrated I cut back to twice in the week and once on the weekend.
His teacher asked to see me after school because his report will be coming out soon and she had marked him down for some 1's which is 'emerging' rather than 2's which are 'expected' these are writing, numbers and measures. Everything else were 2's which is 'expected' and 1 exceeding in imagination (which was nice). I'm just worried now about him progressing into Y1. The class has had an unsettled year with the teachers doing a job share and having lots and lots of absences so lots of cover teachers. They are getting a NQT next year. I try and go over the numbers and written work with him but his head is in the clouds is difficult to get him to concentrate at home. I don't know if I'm looking for reassurance here or practical tips. But any benefit of hindsight or words of wisdom would be really appreciated as I'm feeling like I've failed him a little bit.

pigpen

my daughter who is 5 in September doesn't read either.. they all get there in the end, let him develop in his own time.

Don't put pressure on him, just let him learn to enjoy books and lets face it the school books are so utterly boring would you want to read them? Find something he will enjoy and read that to him, with him and let him look through it by himself.. My oldest had an encyclopaedia and pretty much taught himself to read at 3.

NQT's are often fantastic (even if they are about 10 lol) .. they come in with enthusiasm and a joy for their work .. they often bring out the best in the children. Better that than a miseryguts long serving teacher who resents the paperwork and hates children.. I have experienced some like that!

mikeeboy

I thought my child was behind on his reading for years but then just seemed to "get it". He's 10 now and I think as long as they're up to speed by secondary school they'll be ok.

carly

I agree with Pigpen in that a lot of school reading books are awfully boring. Reading doesn't have to be all about books either. There are lots of games where you match words written on cards etc which all teach reading skills in ways not obvious to a child. Also if you have the time you can make shopping trips into a reading lesson by asking him to find certain products on the shelf. He'll get there : he is still very young and as you know he'll be one of the youngest in the class. Don't worry, just keep doing what you are doing.

peachyprice

He's a summer baby, summer babies are more often that not a little behind their older classmates at this stage. There will be children 11 months older than him in the same class, he's not going to be as developed as those children.

My youngest is a summer baby, with the added drawback of not starting reception until the Easter before she was 5 whilst most of her class started the previous September. It took her years to catch up. At the end of year 2 she was still behind, at the end of year 6 she was average with potential, she's now in year 10, top sets for everything expected to get straight A's. They all they there in the end, but a lot of summer babies have to put more effort in!

sooty&sweep

Hi

I have to be honest & say I think expecting a 4 year old to read every night after a busy day at school is a lot.
It's more important that you read with him, bedtime stories etc so he learns to love books. Mine also enjoy audio books.

How do you feel he's progressing ?

My daughter is in year 5 & we were discussing her sats with her teacher. He started by saying she's on target but is very close to being above target & if she practiced a bit more at home. I said she's progressing well & is developing so much in so many ways not just academically & so I wouldn't push her at home to exceed her sats targets and he agreed with that.

What I'm trying to say is you know your child & trust yourself.

Academic results are useful but they don't look at the child overall. They expect children to be doing the same things at the same time & they don't !

Its also important that he enjoys school.

Cheers

Jen xx

barbiedoll

Oh gosh, he's still a baby! Don't fret too much about tests and grades at this stage, you certainly haven't "failed" him, not even a little bit.

Lots of kids aren't keen on books, so what about comics? I know they bribe you with plastic tat on the front cover but although the so-called free toys last less than a week, we kept our son's comics for several years (in a huge pile in his bookcase) and while he wasn't a huge book reader, he would sit and read a stack of comics at bedtime. When he progressed from Thomas the Tank Engine comics, he went mad on Spiderman. After he had read the comics, he used to cut out the tiny cartoons from the stories and he'd play with them. So as well as reading, he improved his motor skills too...we definitely got our money's worth!

Another tip is to put the subtitles on the telly during the children's programmes. As all parents know, kids will watch the same episodes time and again but with the subtitles on, they'll also learn the actual words. We have the subtitles on a lot as my hearing is quite poor, it wasn't until we noticed that our son would ask what a word meant, that we realised that he was also reading them.

And of course, there's always the Argos catalogue...every kid's favourite book! :rotfl: (There are a lot of words in there!)

pigpen

peachyprice wrote: »

He's a summer baby, summer babies are more often that not a little behind their older classmates at this stage. There will be children 11 months older than him in the same class, he's not going to be as developed as those children.

My youngest is a summer baby, with the added drawback of not starting reception until the Easter before she was 5 whilst most of her class started the previous September. It took her years to catch up. At the end of year 2 she was still behind, at the end of year 6 she was average with potential, she's now in year 10, top sets for everything expected to get straight A's. They all they there in the end, but a lot of summer babies have to put more effort in!

My sister was kept at nursery until the easter too and never did catch up.

My August born 5 y/o is top of her class for everything.. especially talking! They don't all struggle, any more than every September born child is way ahead!.. So long as they are happy and enjoying learning they are doing well.. all these stupid 'targets' just serve to annoy and distress.

we play word snap .. 2 packs of flash cards required.. start with half a dozen words.. they soon pick them up.
We also do rhymes.. taking it in turn to find words which rhyme with one until we run out of ideas.

room512

I'm a Year One teacher and have taught reception too. In Year One a lot of focus should be put on phonics as the children have to sit a test on phonics where they have to read 20 real and 20 nonsense words. Most of the children this year came into my class unable to read and now the majority of them are where they need to be. i wouldn't stress. If they are happy going to school they will eventually learn - some children just take longer than others x

theoretica

room512 wrote: »

a lot of focus should be put on phonics as the children have to sit a test on phonics

Did you mean to phrase it quite like that? It makes it sound rather like teaching to the test.

Some kids just aren't quite ready to learn to read when it is first taught. I have been told by a source I trust to know that if your son is still strongly fonder of reddish colours this may indicate he isn't ready to read and lots of kids decide blue is OK too about the time they are their reading is likely to lcome on by leaps and bounds. Try to keep books as good things and fun!

room512

theoretica wrote: »

Did you mean to phrase it quite like that? It makes it sound rather like teaching to the test.

No I didn't! Reading it back it sounds bad. I love teaching phonics and really believe it gives children the building blocks to help them progress in their reading.