[GenWhy]

My kids have started at a new school this year. It's a public school and the only one in our town. I've never really been involved with how schools run before aside from helping in kindy and pre-primary in my DD1 and DD2's old school. Loved their old school and couldn't rave about it more. Teachers, curriculum and facilities were great and I never had any issues I needed to address.

A few days before school began we had a meeting for kindy/pre-primary where we were informed they'd changed kindy from full days to half days (3 hours each morning). They invited people to see them privately for any questions which I did. I had an issue with the changes and the late notice as I work and study and had organized my care arrangements around the full days at kindy. There's no before and after school care here and if I could get daycare to collect my DS from kindy, I'd have to pay a full day fee of $90 as the pick up time was 30 mins before the half day fee applies. I was told bad luck and to complain to the education department if I didn't like it. So I did. School was told they couldn't change the class around and they needed to change it back. Good news for me I thought.

My DS had been at kindy for 2 days (he's 3 turning 4) and when I picked him up his teacher was quite rude and said he was not listening or following instructions. I asked what had happened and was told that during dance time he was too boisterous so he was told to sit out. When he went to sit down he decided to lay on his back rather than sit properly. She told me he was naughty and needed to change his behaviour. I thought it was a little OTT but didn't say anything. I asked him what had happened and he said the teacher was yelling and it hurt his ears. I felt pretty sad for him as he was so excited to be at kindy. I should also point out that I find it very hard to understand the teacher as English is not her first language. I assume my DS may have trouble with her accent also.

In combination with this, my DD2 (age 5) has spent the entire week colouring in, playing with play dough and learning the alphabet. She has the same teacher as the PP class and kindy class share her (kindy has her in afternoon and pp in morning). My DD can read and is learning to write. I am not sure if this is a bit of revision or if maybe they ease into it a bit here?

My DD1 (age 6) is in Yr 1 split with Yr 2's. So far this week she has been learning 25 sight words and the book for the year is tracing out letters of the alphabet and learning how to write them. She learnt this in Term 1 at pp and is asking me why she can't practice writing sentences and stories and reading proper books. DD1 is not gifted at all - she was progressing at the normal rate for her age I thought. My concern is that Yr 1/2's should be learning more than this?

So I'm wondering if there's a way of approaching either the teachers or the school about what the curriculum is without sounding rude. DH thinks we should leave it a few more weeks to see if anything changes. I agree but thought I'd get in with some ideas early. I am also not sure if I'm being too sensitive about DS being told off in kindy? Should I let it go or should I say something? I know I'm not popular with her for complaining about kindy hours so I'm not sure if this is impacting on anything. I don't want to be down the school whinging constantly or clashing with teachers but I do want to know if the kids are being treated rudely or not learning at the same level as other city based children.

School run is about to start so thanks in advance for advice to a newby school mum!

[Heather11]

I would leave it for a couple more weeks.

My DS in Year 1 is currently revising 'sounds' too. He is at a level where he can right complex sentences. I do know there is some that aren't anywhere near that level though.

They have told us they are still doing testing still so am hoping that in the next week or two things will improve.

Are the students in year 2 in the combined class also doing the tracing alphabet? If so I would be complaining about that if my child was in the upper level.

On your DS, I think that lying on the floor when told to sit out wasn't appropriate and needed to be told so. Not yelled at however. I would keep an eye on it to make sure he is not being targeted. If his behaviour is not appropriate, however, then he needs to be pulled up on it.

[GenWhy]

Yes from what I understand the Yr 2's are doing the same. There's one teacher and no aid in the class. The other class for Yr 2's is a 2, 3, 4 split class so I'm not sure what the Yr 2's in that class are learning.

I have spoken to DS about the behaviour and hopefully he will try very hard to listen today. I really don't want him to dislike kindy but of course he has to behave.

[Funwith3]

From what you've described, the school work sounds age-appropriate for your daughters. I have a 7 and 5 year old and their work sounds comparable. Although, given its the start of the year, the teacher is probably doing a lot of sorting out and figuring out what level each child is at.

[GenWhy]

Thanks for the replies. I did end up speaking to my DS's kindy teacher. I'm not sure what her nationality is but I'm taking a stab at either Dutch or German so she can be a little hard to understand. It appears she's raised her voice over the music and noisy kids but hasn't yelled at DS as such. I'm happy with that and have asked advice on how to encourage him at home to listen better and follow instructions. He's a very busy little kid and I have no doubt he's not been listening properly in school.

As far as the pre-primary and Yr 1/2 class though, I'm still not comfortable with the outline of what they're learning this year. The teachers sent home a letter yesterday explaining what they are working towards for the year. 200 sight words and beginning to read short books and writing sentences by the end of the year for DD1 and recognizing numbers to 100.

For DD2 it is learning the alphabet, learning to count to 20 and being able to write their name and alphabet tracing. Surely this can't be age appropriate? Neither of my girls are exceptionally gifted. They have already been taught this and both can read and write sentences. They both learnt over 350 sight words last year. This was in a normal state school in Perth.

[howdo]

It is appropriate to revise letter sounds and letter formation during the first two weeks of a new school year.

Even if the child is 'more capable' there are several reasons why a child might be asked to practice sounds or letters in Year 1, 2 or even 3.

- Baseline testing
- Revision because six weeks off school results in significant backsliding for many students
- If it's whole class work, the modelling of the capable peers is valuable for those less capable
- The child is actually not doing what they should be doing eg. letter formation is incorrect and while the parent may not think this is important/thinks it is fine for the child to write an 's' backwards, it has a huge impact on fluency and fluency has a significant impact on comprehension in reading and on spelling and sentence formation in writing

My DS had been at kindy for 2 days (he's 3 turning 4) and when I picked him up his teacher was quite rude and said he was not listening or following instructions. I asked what had happened and was told that during dance time he was too boisterous so he was told to sit out. When he went to sit down he decided to lay on his back rather than sit properly. She told me he was naughty and needed to change his behaviour. I thought it was a little OTT but didn't say anything. I asked him what had happened and he said the teacher was yelling and it hurt his ears. I felt pretty sad for him as he was so excited to be at kindy. I should also point out that I find it very hard to understand the teacher as English is not her first language. I assume my DS may have trouble with her accent also.

I have found that sometimes when a person, including a teacher, has English as an Additional Language Dialect they struggle sometimes to find the 'best' word. 'Naughty' is one of these words. A teacher with English as their mothertongue would easily find a more appropriate word to use. Many new arrival teachers I meet initially struggle to locate the more 'nuanced' words. However her requirement of having him sit out and not to loll about on the floor (safety aspects, especially if they are dancing) is not OTT.

Therefore the only thing I would bring up at this stage is that your DS indicated the teacher was yelling. However I don't see that this would be why he became boisterous enough to sit out of dancing. That's not a response to yelling.

my DD2 (age 5) has spent the entire week colouring in, playing with play dough and learning the alphabet.

This is entirely age appropriate ways to engage with the curriculum. What was she colouring in? Often it is stuff that reinforces the learning. During the colouring in the class talks about the concepts or a display is made about the learning that has taken place. Play dough is an effective fine motor skills task and is part of the Arts Curriculum - it's sculpture. Creation of and appreciation of other's work is part of the Visual Arts curriculum. Learning the alphabet is a normal thing for 5yos to learn at school. For some it's new, for other's it's division and it takes a surprisingly long time to consolidate letter sounds and names. In the first week it is reasonable for the children to work on alphabet tasks as a whole class to support peers, get a baseline set of data and to revise.

My DD1 (age 6) is in Yr 1 split with Yr 2's. So far this week she has been learning 25 sight words and the book for the year is tracing out letters of the alphabet and learning how to write them. She learnt this in Term 1 at pp and is asking me why she can't practice writing sentences and stories and reading proper books. DD1 is not gifted at all - she was progressing at the normal rate for her age I thought. My concern is that Yr 1/2's should be learning more than this?

Year 2s *will* learn more than this. But it's the first week (second in some places?). You don't mention which sight words they are, sight words in Year 2 are appropriate. In any case, they may not be on the exact sight words in the first week. It might be a generic lot until the records have been reviewed/testing done.

I think you need to make an appointment in a few weeks rather than race down there immediately. Most schools have a meet the teacher night or parent-teacher interviews at some point in Term 1. What they are doing is age appropriate and appropriate for the first 1-2 weeks of school.

You can access the curriculum at http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Year2

[SoxyMama]

What you describe they are learning in the grades appears age appropriate. I think you're probably misguided as to what average is. I'm sure the classrooms will set work to the age levels as well as expected there will be a wide range of skills and abilities in any one classroom. It is only a week in and they will still be forming groups, assessment and revising concepts from last year.

[howdo]

As far as the pre-primary and Yr 1/2 class though, I'm still not comfortable with the outline of what they're learning this year. The teachers sent home a letter yesterday explaining what they are working towards for the year. 200 sight words and beginning to read short books and writing sentences by the end of the year for DD1 and recognizing numbers to 100.

For DD2 it is learning the alphabet, learning to count to 20 and being able to write their name and alphabet tracing. Surely this can't be age appropriate? Neither of my girls are exceptionally gifted. They have already been taught this and both can read and write sentences. They both learnt over 350 sight words last year. This was in a normal state school in Perth.

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/FoundationYear

By the end of the Foundation year, students make connections between number names, numerals and quantities up to 10. They compare objects using mass, length and capacity. Students connect events and the days of the week. They explain the order and duration of events. They use appropriate language to describe location.

Students count to and from 20 and order small collections. They group objects based on common characteristics and sort shapes and objects. Students answer simple questions to collect information.

The class your DD1 has been in they have grabbed something from the Year 1 curriculum for whatever they have sent home to you.

By the end of Year 1, students describe number sequences resulting from skip counting by 2s, 5s and 10s. They identify representations of one half. They recognise Australian coins according to their value. Students explain time durations. They describe two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional objects. Students describe data displays.

Students count to and from 100 and locate numbers on a number line. They carry out simple additions and subtractions using counting strategies. They partition numbers using place value. They continue simple patterns involving numbers and objects. Students order objects based on lengths and capacities using informal units. They tell time to the half hour. They use the language of direction to move from place to place. Students classify outcomes of simple familiar events. They collect data by asking questions and draw simple data displays.

I would clarify why your Year 2 DD has received a curriculum 'document' for Year 1.

[GenWhy]

Yes Howdo, I said in my above post about the teacher's first language not being English. I agree with what you've written absolutely in regards to that. I'm never sure of the best way to approach teachers in regards to clarifying what a child has said. Children do have a varying understanding or perspective of what has occurred so I don't put faith in what they've said alone. But there's that fine line between politely asking about an incident and appearing accusatory. I think we cleared it up very well and I'm happy with the way we discussed it.

As far as the rest, I totally understand revision. I also understand that children work at different levels and the teacher usually attempts to provide extra attention for those having trouble and also extra work for those who are doing well. But my children are bog standard average. They're not gifted. I love them and think they're the most awesome kids ever of course, but I know they're not joining Mensa.

Their old school was a regular public school in a low socio-economic area of Perth. I can assure you they were middle of the road there - with perhaps my 5 yr old DD reading better than her peers but I'd assume that's due to sitting in on home reader time with her big sister. They definitely already covered all of this plus more last year. I am wondering if prior to the national curriculum coming in, if WA had a differing curriculum? The sight words they're learning here are "and, to, the, of, up" etc. They aren't in any way different to what DD2 was taught in kindy and DD1 was taught in pre-primary.

Thanks for the link btw. I'll have a read through.

Efs

This post has been edited by GenWhy: 09/02/2013, 01:21 PM

[GenWhy]

Forgot to add that I'm not the only parent at the school questioning this. There are at least 3 people who have asked if I think it's not as hard as previous schools etc. one parent is from NSW and she also said she thinks it's too easy.