Yr 3 QLD - Can you tell me what your kids are up too?

Well now we are here in Cairns & the kids are settling into school I am beginning to see just how bad things where in our NSW school.

Evan, who is 8. Is in yr 3. In NSW we knew he was behind with reading. His writing was sloppy, he had problems with spelling. But he seemed to enjoy maths, science and that sort of thing.

In NSW they don't use the red & blue ruled books. Just a normal exercise book. Since the change here to using the books with the red & blue lines his hand writing has improved dramatically. You can actually read it!
He is more willing to do his reading homework.
We still have problems with spelling but I think there is an underlying reason for this.

Now Last night he brought home a math sheet he needed to go over. It was a "practice" sheet from the Naplan tests. I looked at it & thought NO way he will understand these questions.
Now just quickly the teacher did say they were doing these more to learn the lay out of how the naplan tests work. To understand about filling in the circles to answer the multiple choice questions etc..
Anyway I think it had about 13 questions on it. All in the same style as the next.
It was things like -

My dog has 8 flea's, each flea has 6 legs. How many legs do the flea's have altogether?
Another - My dog had 2 bones on Monday, 2 on tuesday and 3 on both wed & thurs & then 2 on Friday. Each bone costs .50c. How much did all the bones cost?

Now please be gentle... But Evan had no idea how to follow these problems. We are aware of a memory issue where it has been recommended he has a "reader" for tests. But his lack of ability to understand these questions wasn't just the underlying issues he has but the simple fact that its beyond what he has learnt yet.
It was a real shock for us, we always thought he was doing well with maths. But another question was a line of Odd numbers and he had to fill in the blanks in the sequence. HE HAD NO IDEA WHAT ODD & EVEN NUMBERS WERE!

I spoke to his teacher this morning & raised my concerns that the work was too advanced for him. She said this is all stuff they have done & have gone over in the last 2 or so weeks. I am assuming she meant they did this type of problem solving in yr 2 & revised it over the last 2 weeks but I could be wrong & she meant they only learnt about it the last 2 weeks. I will need to clear that up. But she also said she did sit with him & read the questions but he did just guess the answers. Also she said she spend 3 days working on odds & evens with him. But he still didn't get it.

So tell me... Does the above sound like something your 8yr old in yr 3 would be up to speed with?

DH sat with him last night for about an hour & a half using excel to explain it. He seemed to get it that way. DH also says he seemed to understand odds & evens after about 10 minutes.

So again, is it just the method in which he is being taught?


eta- And everyone including the school counsellor in NSW told me QLD was behind NSW so he should transition well.
Im really lost & struggling to know what to do here. He seems so far behind now, where in NSW he seemed to be doing "ok" .

problem solving using animals and things like the way you described is taught in year 2 in NSW. really it's only basic multiplying. I'm sure if you went over it with him a few times he would understand it a lot better.

I know when you read maths problems like that, it even puts my brain into a fritz lol but they are young sponges IYKWIM

perhaps look at the textbooks they get, and do some work ahead of time with him so he doesn't feel behind, or have trouble keeping up.

hmmm this is the thing, We did get his work books in NSW & these sort of things where not in there. I feel really let down for my son. We were told & told again everytime we asked that he was doing well. No problems etc. We had no real reason to question that he was behind or that the school wasn't doing its job. Being our oldest its hard to know with out just taking the word of his teacher KWIM? I feel so bad for him that he is so behind now. His new teacher probably thinks we just don't care/don't help him. But its far from that.

DH is getting some stuff today to bring home. I think we will need to look at a tutor or something to bring him up to speed. Simply working a little ahead to help him isn't going to cut it I don't think. :( No wonder he hates school so much.

A tutor can do wonders... When I was at uni, I used to tutor English and Japanese and I found that I wasn't really "teaching" them anything new, I was just helping them to gain confidence in making decisions about learning.

I also used to find *I'm saying this in the best way possible* that parents, while they do a wonderful job at helping, are often so close to the cause. If they are upset (not at the child, but more sad for the child) that their child is behind and not understanding, the child can pick up on this during a study session...

I say give a tutor a go. You aren't locked into anything and if it doesn't work out, then you don't have to continue. Try to find one with a specific background and don't be afraid to ask them what they can do for your child!

QLD should not be behind NSW anymore. Students already in highschool may be, but not those in early primary school. That is why the prep year was introduced in QLD.

By year 3 they really should understand odds and evens and basic multiplication. Having said that, your son will not be the only one struggling with the naplan practice Qs. Naplan is hard. It is a format that doesn't really work well for young children and this is why so many teachers hate it. They will spend lots of time getting the students used to doing Qs like they will encounter on naplan, even if it isn't the best way to be teaching the students, because if the school does badly on naplan then they look bad on myschool and parents judge schools using that information.

All you can do is work on that basic stuff with him at home as much as you can, because he needs to understand it now so that he doesn't struggle all the way through school.

Totally agree with the to close to the cause comment. I often get frustrated at him lack of ability to understand. Which is why I had DH help him last night.
I do need to find out what is holding him back because regardless of being fobbed off over & over again he clearly has a learning difficulty. His new teacher can see what I am talking about but has not offered much yet.
We have an appointment on Monday to get the ball rolling. I had the ball rolling in NSW too but it seemed to just hit a wall and bounce back with no answers/help. So now to learn that not only is he struggling with what he is doing now for yr 3, its compounded even more by the fact most of it he should have done already in yr 2.

Some schools I guess are at different levels ( the whole my school website thing etc ) I'm sure that with a tutor and even just a few more weeks to settle in and get up to speed and he will be fine :)

I get what you mean about the oldest, you can always just the younger children , based on an older sibling but often the oldest just goes with the flow ;) ( I am the oldest too )

in the mean time to make me feel better I'd probably email his old school to tell them how disappointed you are.....:hug:

Yep, I had planned to do that. But more in a update of his progress sort of way. Will see how it goes. I will write it & then maybe not send it. Its a very small school that we came from which makes it even worse IMO.

I have an 8yo in year two. I just read him those questions out and he was able to understand them and answer them. But he is advanced for his ago, he is at a year 5 reading level and year 3-4 for maths... He does know his odds and evens and to find/look for patterns in numbers.

Maybe ask the school for some assistance if he is struggling, with my other son in year one, he has a teachers aid spend an hour with him (and some others) to help him with his reading and maths, within a few weeks he is finally getting up to where he should be.

What other type of homework does he get maybe we can compare?

At the moment he only gets a Reader (level 20) & a list of spelling words. The Math that came home was to partly to finish off & partly to show us how behind he is. When his teacher told me that I requested that we start a communication diary as what Evan tells me is often very different to what has been said. For instance he also had his social studies book come home which needed some work finished off. He was so upset & concerned of getting into trouble because this morning he hadn't completed all the colouring in he had to do. He was telling me it had to be done, all the kids had to do it etc. So when I mentioned to his teacher it wasn't finished because we spent an hour and half doing the math etc. I said that I told him it was more important to do the the other work & its just colouring in. She laughed it off & said yep, Its just colouring in so he can finish it at home IF he likes. Not MUST.

She did say he is with a group of kids she is spending more time with to bring up to speed. So thats good to know that she is giving him the extra help.
DH printed out some NAPLAN stuff & sat with him again this evening helping to understand the important parts of the question. He did really well with that.

I am hoping that this is stuff he knows but its just be taught different or wrong for him to understand & that he will catch up quickly.

ETA _ MummeNurse.. Why is your 8yr old in yr 2?

He is in year three. Sorry I had a total mental blank up there. I had to ask OH what grade he was in. I'm pretty sure mothers arnt suppose to forget that!


Love MN ;-)

I'm glad the teacher is spending a little more time, that extra one on one does wonders! Communication books are a great idea I have them for DS.


Love MN ;-)