What Should my 6 year old be able to do

slig17

Stupid question maybe!! but have an older kid with major learning difficulties.

An really heading for the summer and just wondering -

What about reading - where should she be at and what should i do with her?
Spelling the same?
Maths the same?

Is there any workbooks i could get - im talking about maybe 10 mins reading and 10 maths/spelling each day - or am i worrying too much

Also what about 3 year old starting playschool in september - what should he be able to do and how can i help bring him on to his ability

Thanks in advance

xxx

Moonbeam

Do not worry.
I would let him enjoy the summer and not have school books out but remember there is a lot of learning in every day life.
The only reason my 2 year old can count is that she can divide up sweets.
I would expect the 3 year old to be able to sit down and colour a picture,close his shoes,know a couple of nursey rhymes, be able to make up little stories and be able to sit down at a table with others to eat his lunch.


For the 6 year old maybe buy her "big girl" books?
I loved the Ramona the brave books,Ronald Dahl books and Naughty AMelia Jane books at that age.

byhookorbycrook

What class is she in at present?

slig17

Senior

Big Bag of Chips

Have you worries about your child? By the end of senior infants, they should be able to read. Nothing too complicated, but simple books. Your library will have a huge range of books for the beginner.

Our school use the Oxford Reading tree books, all about Biff, Chip and Kipper, and our local library has loads of these books. All different to what they have in school. My kids love them.

If you are unsure about where your child should be at, you should make an apt with their teacher before the end of term. They will tell you if there are any concerns, or any areas that need to be worked on.

I would steer away from 'homework' for the summer, but continue the learning in everyday life, as another poster mentioned.

My kids love the library. They also love the Alphablocks game on the cbeebies website. My youngest will start school in September and he can sound out loads of words purely from playing that game! I wouldn't say he 'can read' (he will learn that in school!) But he certainly has an interest. And because he sees the other 2, senior infant & 1st class, reading, he wants in on the action!

My senior infant's writing wouldn't be the neatest, and she still sometimes writes some letters or numbers backwards.. but she loves paper, drawing, writing etc, and she is fascinated by the post! So she has written some very short letters to her nanny, my friend, her aunts etc and is delighted when she gets one back.

This practices both her writing & reading without her feeling like she is doing homework.

The preschool child should be able to recognise colours, count to 10 etc.. with children that age, its all about repetition. So if you are doing something, count it out loud. Sing the alphabet song (they don't need to recognise the letters written down though) just talk, talk, talk! Tell them everything you are doing. They absorb it all.

In preschool the emphasis is more on the practical side of school... Putting on/taking off coats. Hanging them up. Managing their lunch box etc. Of course they learn bits too, but the majority of the learning will be done in JI, so don't worry too much yet.

Good luck!

Mr.Wemmick

Agree with all the very good advice so far apart from the workbooks/homework comments. It's always good for kids of all abilities/learning difficulties to get into a routine at home and feel comfortable doing work, puzzles etc. Workbooks re: english/maths, need not be a negative thing at all or a chore to get through. My 8 and 4 year old both do work books at home, from time to time, and they love them - even my youngest who gets tired easily because of weak motor skills/hand control. After they're finished they get tons of praise and sticker stars, and usually a round of applause if they have tackled something difficult.

I do 30 minutes to an hour of work/fun books with my kids every morning during the Summer holidays when we are all at home. If they are not able, find the work difficult, or indeed just lose concentration, we stop immediately and do something more fun: stickers games, spot the difference, mazes, cut and paste, art etc. So the work is never forced on them, but built up slowly. Learning is fun, and most work books are designed to be fun especially for the early years. I strongly believe that the more kids get use to work books, reading, writing, maths, visual puzzles/games, the more confident they will be at school and the happier they are to learn. I loved them when I was a kid and was always disappointed when I couldn't find christmas puzzle/ educational annuals all year round.

For my kids, I have gone through Easons to see what they have for each age group/ability - I am doing the jolly phonics work books with my youngest. On a recent trip to London, I found a few good ones in the book stores there - one work book is about Roman times, where you have to read the info then dress people in accordance with the time/period. Perfect for my 8 - 9 year old who is very interested in Pompeii and Roman times. I also found a car sticker book where you have to build cars from scratch, matching the stickers to the original sketch.. so the visual fun books are out there for all abilities as well as the curriculum/educational focussed ones.

It might be a good idea to talk to you child's primary school teacher to find out what she/he would suggest to do over the summer to help your child. They might even have some work book suggestions for you to use. If your child is lacking in confidence then it might be an idea to go over some of the previous year's work to help build up their ability/ confidence, and so prepare them better for September.

Can I please ask the primary school teachers here: the Irish Carnival Christmas educational puzzle books bought through schools are really top notch and very good fun - includes some Irish vocab' work. My kids love them. Why can I not find any more like them? Do any of you know if there is anything similar out there this time of year.

_ariadne

as others have said, I would stay away from sit down, workbooks out approach during the summer holidays. mainly because if their teacher had the freedom to leave the classroom and engage in one- to- one conversation with each child you can bet they wouldn't dream of worksheets, it just isn't ho children of that age learn.

use this opportunity to make what the child has learnt in school real. counting money at the shops, reading a bus time-table, looking up something interesting on the internet, writing letters/notes to family, making lists, following recipes, going on a shape/number/word hunt, trip to the library, make own costumes for play etc etc endless possibility which will all reinforce what the child has learnt and set them up for the next year.

Moonbeam

My 4 year and 2 year old love Alphablocks too.

Remember colouring,jigsaws,buttons are all educational too.

mat cauthon

I pity todays kids... I really do.
She should be able to look after herself in the loo, to dress herself, with minimal help, to play with her mates, and to read some easy books.
She should be able to snuggle up beside you, while you read her books ( any books, doesn't really matter)
And she should be able to share, to play with others, and to feed herself, getting her own stuff from the fridge.
And to sleep with a teddy.

X almight!! We are not in the seven kingdoms, where she'd be nearly a woman grown!!!

Can we not leave the poor children alone?

byhookorbycrook

Mat, please try to be helpful in your posts.

sillybill

http://www.helpmykidlearn.ie/