schooling

[gfrancie]

I have a question for those who live in the UK and have children who have recently been in year one at school. (let's say the past... five years) What is the curriculum like? What might a typical day be like for the kids? I ask because my Mother inlaw had these concerns that somehow Senor Onion might be behind when he starts school. Right now he is in preschool. (since he was four when the school year began) I think preschool is like the reception year fromm what I am able to gather. Now from my perspective, it seems like year one is like Kindergarten in the United States. Obviously more structure than preschool (he is in a play-based learning co-op) but probably not SUPER hard-core academics.

Any other thoughts/opinions would be appreciated.

Comments

[k425.livejournal.com]

Reception - "rising 5s" - looks like what your preschool is. In reception, YB did phonics, letter and sound recognition, learning how to hold a pencil and how to shape letters, simple number work (ordering, shapes, size), loads of indoor and outdoor play, art, construction, sand and water play, occasional baking. After 4 years of nursery he took a while to adjust to the structure, but he managed. The children brought home a book each evening, starting with story books with no words, so they learnt about narrative order (not everyone will have been brought up reading stories at home, sadly). They also had some words to learn to read and write.

Year 1 had more structure again. Numeracy every day, literacy every day, the start of science, learning to link letters (joined-up writing at 6!) Numeracy was number lines and number bonds, sets, 2d and 2d shapes, adding and subtracting with numbers up to 10. Books had more words, there was whole-word learning and spelling tests. Making simple circuits!

What has impressed me through YB's education so far is what he's learning at his age that I didn't come across till secondary. I didn't do percentages, for instance, till secondary school. He understands what % is at its basic level. He is learning about vertices and points and corners. I don't think the word vertex was ever mentioned in my education.

The local village school sounds great - I would highly recommend mine, but obv it's a long way from where you're moving to!

[kitschycookids.livejournal.com]

I've also been surprised by what they are teaching them mathematically! Looking through his work at parent's evening they were making different types of graphs and calculating percentages off them... I definitely didn't do that at six.

[k425.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, graphs! Eye colour's a popular one. By Y2 it was things like who had a tv in their room...

[kitschycookids.livejournal.com]

Yep, we had an eye colour one too. DO NOT WANT tv in bedroom poll.

[k425.livejournal.com]

More didn't than did, and YB hasn't mentioned it, other than stating who had one!

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

This sounds like something he could handle without much of a problem. Obv. some of it will challenge him (as it should) but he won't be behind.