VINASOL
29-11-2011, 06:40 PM
Afternoon/Evening...I need some opinions and some advice please:
Basically my DD (4) is in YR. She has the 'usual homework' of letter writing practice (phonics) which come home every now and then; this then of course leads on to her Biff and Chip reading books...she reads twice at week at school and at the moment seems to be bringing home 3-4 new reading books a week...this is OK by her so I'm OK.
Now, at my children's school from Y1-Y6 they do something called Study Quest Homework...my son (Y4) brings home weekly homework (sometimes art/history/research), anyway they've started doing this for Reception. So, topics/homework includes:
*write about what they are doing [in a picture that has been stuck in the book];
* writing their first or first and surname repeatedly;
* drawing a healthy lunchbox full of fruit/veg and writing all the names (labels);
* writing numbers 1-10
* drawing diffrent colour objects, including labels
* design a recipe for a silly dinner;
* write objects that begin with certain letters;
* drawing 2D shapes
* different ways to add to 10
Now, to my issues: my DD (4) does actually love doing all of the above which is fine by me, but last week she was ill, off school for a few days, so didn't complete the homework. When she returned she handed homework in and Teacher handed it back to her saying "take it home and do more work"...I told her that no, she didn't need to and wrote in the contact book. Today get it back and says "please ensure Amy does more work next time" :angry: :angry: not happy.
My DD then says that they have to do 'sums' at school...teacher asks "What is 5 plus 4"...pupils answer then Teacher either a) picks them up, or b) makes them stand on a chair to write the answer on a white board.
I took her out of school at lunchtime to see Santa, and when I returned her for afternoon session apparently her teacher told her that "she is NOT ALLOWED to go out at lunchtime" and she shouldn't have and she must always stay in school...:angry: this is NOT school policy and it made my DD feel bad about actually seeing Santa (for the first time ever I might add)...I did complain to the school and they did say that the Teacher should not be saying anything to the child but to take it to the parent.
Then, my DD had a playdate with a girl who usually goes to an After school club based at the school. Now, this teacher KNOWS that I am a childminder (and in fact I knew him in a 'previous life') and I often collect mindees and other friends. However today, mindee, DD and DD's friend came out of class. I was faffing around with the kids and because of this I heard my DD's teacher say "right then let's take W, X, Y and Z to after school club, and I was like "....err I have XX here!...She is due to come with me this afternoon). Now it wasn't the fact that he didn't knwo she was coming home with me and rightly said for her to stay in class, BUT if it wasn't for me TELLING him that I actually had this child WITH ME he woudl nto have known...he did not see her leave his classroom.
Sooo (so sorry it's long)...I want to write a general letter to the school..saying something on the lines of definitely Safeguarding (him not noticing that a pupil had left the class); that I thought reception was about Learning Through Play and I feel that (his experience at the school is Y1) he is asking the children to do too much; he forgets that the children in his charge are only 4 years old...etc etc..
So thanks for getting this far (it is kinda CM related too as mum of my mindee of other child in DD's class is having the same kind of issues).
A long winded way of asking: What shoudl I expect my 4year old to be doing at School?
Basically my DD (4) is in YR. She has the 'usual homework' of letter writing practice (phonics) which come home every now and then; this then of course leads on to her Biff and Chip reading books...she reads twice at week at school and at the moment seems to be bringing home 3-4 new reading books a week...this is OK by her so I'm OK.
Now, at my children's school from Y1-Y6 they do something called Study Quest Homework...my son (Y4) brings home weekly homework (sometimes art/history/research), anyway they've started doing this for Reception. So, topics/homework includes:
*write about what they are doing [in a picture that has been stuck in the book];
* writing their first or first and surname repeatedly;
* drawing a healthy lunchbox full of fruit/veg and writing all the names (labels);
* writing numbers 1-10
* drawing diffrent colour objects, including labels
* design a recipe for a silly dinner;
* write objects that begin with certain letters;
* drawing 2D shapes
* different ways to add to 10
Now, to my issues: my DD (4) does actually love doing all of the above which is fine by me, but last week she was ill, off school for a few days, so didn't complete the homework. When she returned she handed homework in and Teacher handed it back to her saying "take it home and do more work"...I told her that no, she didn't need to and wrote in the contact book. Today get it back and says "please ensure Amy does more work next time" :angry: :angry: not happy.
My DD then says that they have to do 'sums' at school...teacher asks "What is 5 plus 4"...pupils answer then Teacher either a) picks them up, or b) makes them stand on a chair to write the answer on a white board.
I took her out of school at lunchtime to see Santa, and when I returned her for afternoon session apparently her teacher told her that "she is NOT ALLOWED to go out at lunchtime" and she shouldn't have and she must always stay in school...:angry: this is NOT school policy and it made my DD feel bad about actually seeing Santa (for the first time ever I might add)...I did complain to the school and they did say that the Teacher should not be saying anything to the child but to take it to the parent.
Then, my DD had a playdate with a girl who usually goes to an After school club based at the school. Now, this teacher KNOWS that I am a childminder (and in fact I knew him in a 'previous life') and I often collect mindees and other friends. However today, mindee, DD and DD's friend came out of class. I was faffing around with the kids and because of this I heard my DD's teacher say "right then let's take W, X, Y and Z to after school club, and I was like "....err I have XX here!...She is due to come with me this afternoon). Now it wasn't the fact that he didn't knwo she was coming home with me and rightly said for her to stay in class, BUT if it wasn't for me TELLING him that I actually had this child WITH ME he woudl nto have known...he did not see her leave his classroom.
Sooo (so sorry it's long)...I want to write a general letter to the school..saying something on the lines of definitely Safeguarding (him not noticing that a pupil had left the class); that I thought reception was about Learning Through Play and I feel that (his experience at the school is Y1) he is asking the children to do too much; he forgets that the children in his charge are only 4 years old...etc etc..
So thanks for getting this far (it is kinda CM related too as mum of my mindee of other child in DD's class is having the same kind of issues).
A long winded way of asking: What shoudl I expect my 4year old to be doing at School?