Parents Evening.

[Guest]

Need a bit of advise please everyone. Ive got a parent in my class who comes to me each morning and asks me what his son will be "learning today". I feel like he issuggesting that all the children do all day is play and is not happy with what his son is doing. The other week i answered with "today we are learning all about diwali, we will be making rangoli patterns, etc, etc (smiling all the while.) He nodded at me and smiled but then the next day as he asked me what we would be doing today he said "when will be teaching him things like writing numbers and reading books?" I did my whole talk on how the children were already learning lots of these skills through the activities on offer each day (and so on) but I dont feel he is that happy with us. (He is a secondary school teacher). It is parents evening next Tues and I know this is going to be an issue and would like to be ready with my answers - anyone got any good ideas as to how I can reassure him as it has given my confidence a real knock!

Thanks for your help - sorry to ramble on!

emsx

[Guest]

If it was me I think I would get in first before he has a chance to ask/ criticise etc. And I would throw in lots of examples to support what you are saying...

 

(Please excuse how rubbish this prob sounds but I am completely shattered and am not thinking completely straight)

 

I think he has settled really well into school, today he had a lovely time in the roleplay area, he was (playing in the roleplay area, i was very impressed by his countign skills/ independence skills etc. He counted out how many children could go in the roleplay area and then when he answerted the phone he was speaking really well and holding the conversation well. He wrote down the phone number on the pad, although he is not fiorming the numbers correctly they are recognisable. But as we know it is more important that he has a great undersatdnign of number before we start confusing him with the writing of it. This is how we develop within maths etc.

 

Then i would talk about other activities, directed and independence and say what leanring was taking place.

 

Letters and Sounds- talk about what sounds he has learnt, retained and say how this is aiding him in his understanding of words and sounds. In letters and sounds we are blending the sounds together- he is very good at this or he is not! His strength when reading words is identifying the initial sounds etc.

 

Obviously we are not expecting the children to write words down, however we use other ways of askignt eh children to demonstrtae that they can spell the words- ie magnetic letters, stamps etc.

 

We feel at the moment that he has got a very good pencil grip and this is really developing well, we will begin writing when we feel he has developed the muscles in his hand. We do lots of writing on the playground with chalk/ in the classroom in shaving foam etc. It is better for the children to practise formation on a bigger scale than small, as this encourages correct formation. Unfortunately this means we do not have every piece of evidence but we observing him/ photographing him etc o that we can plan his next steps in learning.

 

this way you are pre-empting any of his questions regarding learning, you are telling him what kind of activities his child is involved with and you are discussing how you plan for him and how you plan for him to develop. And it is all examples of his child so it is completely personal.

Hope this helps!

[Guest]

Hi blossom

Thanks and YES that did help - was feeling a bit paniky - we havent long been a one form entry school and I am not used to having a partner teacher to throw things around with and tell me we are doing things right! Thanks for your great advise - that is what I will do. Thanks for replying so quickly - I can watch strictly with a bit more of a restful mind now!

Ems xx

[Cait]

Brings that old Billy Connolly think up from many, many years ago when he was on stage and a heckler was bothering him from the audience. Billy asked him what job he did and the reply was that he was a managing director or somesuch, and billy responded with - well don't come here and tell me how to do my job! would I come to your workplace and tell you how to sweep up! That shut him up!

 

But on a more serious note, yes 'attack' is always the best form of 'defence'. We put a whiteboard up each day saying what adult-led activities we have planned and write child-led things on as the day goes on, and what learning was taking place, and for which child. (I copy these up at the end of the day) next morning I write on another whiteboard what we have planned for that day, and leave the previous day one up for parents to see. Would that help?

[Guest]

I agree. I recently did a parents evening for my parents at the pre-school (so a bit different but we get lots of parents who expect them to be sitting and writing). I started things off with a presentation on EYFS and told the parents quite explicitly but in a jokey way that we would not be teaching their child to read, write their name or making them create a something to take home every session.

 

I also explained about how children learnt better through doing and after rambling on for some time to them, pointed out how much more fun it would have been for them all to have been off playing with our equipment that was out - and that was how it was for their children. I also made copies of the DVD by the DCSF available for anyone who wanted it, Playing and Learning Together. I only skimmed through this before distributing it but I am sure that reception age children were featured in it as well as younger ones. A copy of that might help to get your point across too.

[Guest]

Thanks so much for all your ideas and opinions - i do display my daily plans in the classroom and have pointed this Dad towards these but I like the idea of making explict the adult led activities and adding the child initiated activites as they arise through the day and I will be doing this - thanks for that idea Cait sounds fab. I will also look at the DVD and see if I can offer that to give him a more rounded idea of Reception. Thanks xx

[Guest]

Do you work in a reception class? If so, how about giving the parent in question a leaflet called 'It's Child's Play' which can be ordered from the DFES website. I put a copy of this leaflet in new parent packs and I feel it is a really good way of introducing new parents to the Foundation Stage. It has a really good section called 'How do you know how your child is doing?' and describes the EYFS much better than I could ever do. I hope this helps. As a parent I would have loved my children to have experienced an early years environment like we provide these days. mrsW

[Guest]

This sounds just like a parent i had last year. I do sympathise as people like this leave you feeling on edge and watching what you say. I send a letter home at the end of each week outlying what the children have done generally and where this will be going next week. Sometimes i send children home with a post it with special achievements. A good way to turn it around if you are using learning diaries is to ask what they did at the weekend and if they have anything they would like to put into the learning diary as you are very interested to incorporate their homei nterests into your planning -would like to see the anwser to that. And if that fails tell him he is more than welcome to come into class to see first hand what his child is doing- make sure you give him a very messy activity!!! Naughty i know but would be good to see!!

[Guest]

Thanks - i have a copies of that leaflet and I will give him that - hadnt thought of that! My LSA and I document how the learning is develping through our learning wall (thanks to Biccy's post a few months ago!) but as it is just outside the classroom I think he doesnt even give this a cursory glance - might try the letter home just to reinforce!

[JacquieL]

Do you have a class newsletter? in reception we sent one home each half term with some of the activities we were doing on it, sorted into the 6 area of learning, visits, visitors etc. Each term we would have a short paragraph explaining a bit more about one of the six areas, and how we plan for the children learning in that area. I hope it goes well for you.

[Guest]

Just like to add, if you are not saying what they want to hear, they may never listen, if this is the case then be assured in yourself that you have done all you can to communicate to this parent and if he still doesn't 'hear' it's his problem not yours.

I know that might sound a bit harsh, but your time is better spent not getting anxious about (his)expectations that you can't meet. (ie; formal teaching of the 3 R's)

 

Peggy