Y3 best way forward
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Re: Y3 best way forward
Yes children arent getting enough free play but the point here is doing 15 - 30mins a day with a year 3 child isnt going to do them any harm, infact it will do them more good IMHO. Surely these few minutes arent that bad. What could they be doing instead? Watching TV?
I find my child had more free play and we do MUCH more activies when I am giving her extra work to do. Its perhaps the guilt factor that her peers are just enjoying summer so I disagree with the notion that giving a Y3 child a little bit of work is taking their childhood away. I think the opposite is true for most people. Most who cant be bothered doing any work with their kids arent going to be bothered that their children have free play.
I find my child had more free play and we do MUCH more activies when I am giving her extra work to do. Its perhaps the guilt factor that her peers are just enjoying summer so I disagree with the notion that giving a Y3 child a little bit of work is taking their childhood away. I think the opposite is true for most people. Most who cant be bothered doing any work with their kids arent going to be bothered that their children have free play.
Impossible is Nothing.
Re: Y3 best way forward
"Most who cant be bothered doing any work with their kids arent going to be bothered that their children have free play"
Some of us CHOOSE not to do any work with our year3 child, "Judge not that ye be not judged"!!
Some of us CHOOSE not to do any work with our year3 child, "Judge not that ye be not judged"!!
Re: Y3 best way forward
Don't you think that there might be another type of play which takes place in some reception classes - not free play, but not well structured enough for the child to learn as much as one might do at home with intelligent parents and some good friends from down the road? Again Katel, I think you might have been blessed with a great primary school for your children ........ despite what OFSTED thought!!
Re: Y3 best way forward
Nope - bog standard with many things to complain about.
I do think it's funny that when anyone says anything positive about the State system or a State school, someon always chips in with "Oh you must be the exception!"
And of course a child might very well learn a lot more at home with an involved and capable parent, but that 's not a choice available to most people, And anyway, there would be so much the child WASN't learning in that set up as well.
I do think it's funny that when anyone says anything positive about the State system or a State school, someon always chips in with "Oh you must be the exception!"
And of course a child might very well learn a lot more at home with an involved and capable parent, but that 's not a choice available to most people, And anyway, there would be so much the child WASN't learning in that set up as well.
Re: Y3 best way forward
Honestly Katel I am not judging you. Infact you and Amber are quite intelligent people and I have no doubt what you refer to as "free play" whatever that means is greatly beneficial for your kids. But to say that most children benefit from this alone is still fallacy for the rest of us parents. As Mystery say not all of us have half decent schools. If you want to know the defination of rubbish school then you need to see my DD's school. Its a school where a child is doomed from the moment they step foot in reception. Not doing anything will just be committing suicide. Mind I am not saying start doing NVR in Y3 but just help them a bit a day and really and truely is 15-30mins a day extra doing that child any harm? They still can have a LOT of time for free play. Is watching TV and playing games free play? I am just curious what free play is exactly.
. Orchestera, rounders, free pans bands for extra curriculum. All we get is our school has got talent show. 
There are some truely excepitional good state schools no doubt. Many of the great state schools arent accesible for the majority of ordinary people with no resources to be near them. If my child got in this school, http://www.webjam.com/langtongreenschool/school_info I will happily sit and let them have free playkatel wrote:I do think it's funny that when anyone says anything positive about the State system or a State school, someon always chips in with "Oh you must be the exception!"
. Orchestera, rounders, free pans bands for extra curriculum. All we get is our school has got talent show.
Last edited by sherry_d on Thu Jul 29, 2010 7:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Impossible is Nothing.
Re: Y3 best way forward
But nobody DOES say that free play alone is all a child needs in the early years. Play based learning is anything but free play. And if you find me an Early Years teacher who says it is, I'll eat my hat!
Re: Y3 best way forward
Gee, thanks.Infact you and Amber are quite intelligent people
Re: Y3 best way forward
You're Amber and I am not being sarcastic.
Point being is if we are all well clued on what is beneficial free play then it may be after all be a good thing. I still dont think I quite understand what exactly is free play. I still want to know is watching tv and playing games free play?
I once went to visit a Montessori school and its more play based learning focussed on the person than exams. Is it the kind of thing you're talking about? I really liked the concept but somehow lost courage along the way. The kids were very successful in the secondary transfer exams but I am not sure if this is because of the way they teach or simply that there are very small schools with more 1:1
Point being is if we are all well clued on what is beneficial free play then it may be after all be a good thing. I still dont think I quite understand what exactly is free play. I still want to know is watching tv and playing games free play?
I once went to visit a Montessori school and its more play based learning focussed on the person than exams. Is it the kind of thing you're talking about? I really liked the concept but somehow lost courage along the way. The kids were very successful in the secondary transfer exams but I am not sure if this is because of the way they teach or simply that there are very small schools with more 1:1
Impossible is Nothing.
Re: Y3 best way forward
OK, bear with me as I am now stuck in bed on massive doses of antibiotics.
Free play= what children will do on their own, or with their friends, when no-one else is trying to direct them or tell them what to do. Absolutely essential for good mental health and development, sadly lacking from many children's lives. It needs no equipment other than what is 'to hand'. Nothing is ruled in or out. It may arise out of TV or computer games and may even involve them. It is creative, though not always obviously so and not always tangibly so either.
As Katel points out, this is not at all the same as play which may take place in an early years setting. There a good teacher will use the children's play to encourage them to learn; the 'what would happen if..?' or 'have you tried?...' approaches. Even 'what are you doing?' can be a very important question for a child, and s/he will develop language in looking to answer it. A good teacher can draw out language and encourage creativity of thought with the right kind of (usually open) questions; the teacher can also help a child to express what s/he has done, and to build on it...'next time we could..'. The beginning is always the child, which is why free choice of activity is a valued concept in good early years settings. If the child 'chooses' to do a phonics worksheet, then that would be OK; but not many would if there were more age-appropriate and practically based activities on offer.
My difficulty with having children do more academic stuff after school is not that I condemn parents for doing so; but that I condemn a system which makes them feel the need to do so.
Free play= what children will do on their own, or with their friends, when no-one else is trying to direct them or tell them what to do. Absolutely essential for good mental health and development, sadly lacking from many children's lives. It needs no equipment other than what is 'to hand'. Nothing is ruled in or out. It may arise out of TV or computer games and may even involve them. It is creative, though not always obviously so and not always tangibly so either.
As Katel points out, this is not at all the same as play which may take place in an early years setting. There a good teacher will use the children's play to encourage them to learn; the 'what would happen if..?' or 'have you tried?...' approaches. Even 'what are you doing?' can be a very important question for a child, and s/he will develop language in looking to answer it. A good teacher can draw out language and encourage creativity of thought with the right kind of (usually open) questions; the teacher can also help a child to express what s/he has done, and to build on it...'next time we could..'. The beginning is always the child, which is why free choice of activity is a valued concept in good early years settings. If the child 'chooses' to do a phonics worksheet, then that would be OK; but not many would if there were more age-appropriate and practically based activities on offer.
My difficulty with having children do more academic stuff after school is not that I condemn parents for doing so; but that I condemn a system which makes them feel the need to do so.
Re: Y3 best way forward
Ha ha I probably have to get rid of TV in our household as a start.Amber wrote:Free play= what children will do on their own, or with their friends, when no-one else is trying to direct them or tell them what to do.
It stiffles any creativity.
Impossible is Nothing.
