poprock wrote:

I’m not jumping in on either side of this chat, but I do want to say to Yoss that he’s not a Weirdy McWeirdface just for being able to read young. I was on Asimov and Tolkien at that age too. I know damn well that I wasn’t really understanding or absorbing the meaning of everything I read, but I was reading it, and voraciously.

Yeah so that was the thing, right? no-one is saying Yoss was weird (note past simple case use there, and not present) as a kid, we're saying that expecting children to be reading (and presumably enjoying / understanding most of) HP book 4 to be marked as "doing better than average" as an example is nutso, especially when compared to Geroge's Marvellous Medicine which absolutely is a book for 6-7 year olds to enjoy

Choice of books is so difficult if you don't know the child - reading level, interest level, personal preferences, attention span, ability in terms of inference and comprehension, vocabulary... (I'm a schools librarian, by the way)
And then there's the thing that most people ignore - do they always need to be reading at the top of their ability?
Psychologically, it can be massively beneficial to revisit simpler books - especially during times of crisis when children are unsettled. Colleagues of mine who work in upper secondary say that teens during exams feel less stressed after reading stories they remember from when they were younger.

Anyhow, as a service to you lot, if you want I can sneakily add a few new users to our eBook platform if you need access to kids books (fiction) for ages 8 to 16.

Time_on_my_hands wrote:

Anyhow, as a service to you lot, if you want I can sneakily add a few new users to our eBook platform if you need access to kids books (fiction) for ages 8 to 16.

That’s a really kind offer.

As sliding doors moments go, this is a strange one

So my 7yo has to write a persuasive letter to Bohnson on something. School has provided no instructions in the email, it was just “here you go some English intervention work” and a couple of examples. 

Anyway. Taken it upon myself to explain to him what the letter is supposed to achieve and what kind of language to use (persuasive, emotional, invoke sympathy etc). This isn’t easy.

Phew!

Elf - Will post some bits after kids are in bed.

Is your lad Year 3, Elf?

A child's reading age seems to be the most Tory donglength thing ever.

poprock wrote:

Time_on_my_hands wrote:

Anyhow, as a service to you lot, if you want I can sneakily add a few new users to our eBook platform if you need access to kids books (fiction) for ages 8 to 16.

That’s a really kind offer.

Meant to add - message me and I'll send you the details.

Yossarian wrote:

Thinking about it, maybe it was The Hobbit I read at around that age, with LotR being a little older. I do remember being assessed as having the reading level of an 11 year old at age 6.

Diluted Dante wrote:

Because you are a massive outlier Yoss. Its a terrible recommendation for that age group.

Right, but from about the age of 12 or 13 I hated school, I hated education, I wasn’t being stretched, I was bored to tears and I eventually dropped out of it and ended up working in retail.

Perhaps something like this might have been useful in recognising what I was capable of and pushing me towards something more challenging which would have kept me more engaged?

I think I read the Hobbit at 7, Lord of the rings at about 10.

Dear Tigro,

I have a genuine question but it’s a little delicate.

Basically I’ve seen my wife’s WhatsApp school group and there’s a women in there, Helen i think,  the one with the dark hair and that second hand 4x4 that she thinks makes her look all special.  Her.  Anyway, Helen knows this other woman (don’t know her) and this woman knows someone else (don’t know this person either) who has been writing the syllabus for primary kids and apparently they’re going to teach babies how to do anal and that it’s actually ok to not be straight!  I know we’ve all got to be seen to be politically correct nowadays but teachers showing kids how to do not straight anal is just a step too far!  I’m feeling pretty outraged right now and my wife says Helen and even Joanne B are thinking about removing their kids and home schooling.  Apparently they tried to ring the school to complain but they just got fobbed off by that bitch on reception who told them the head was in hospital with COVID (yeah right, exactly what i thought too - probably on one of their 14 weeks holidays!!!). I think I’ll probably blame Jeremy Corbyn and the BBC and maybe something else that Helen mentioned but could you tell me...
1 How to get my kid out of the lessons, 
B.if I’ll need him/her to undergo any conversion therapy and 
3. why it is that you’re allowed to teach this sick leftist rubbish to my little princess/prince.

Thanks, and yours faithfully,

A worried to death parent who only wants the best for their child.

Yeah I think Daddy sums it up well actually

Maths is fine
Reading is fine
Science is fine
Anything to do with literacy or topics involves fucking essays full of technical requirements based on complex but loose outlines

As a single parent, I bought one of those automatic sex machines to demonstrate speed and angle of entry.

Hahaha. Great work, chaps.

Elf, did they literally just set the task with no further detail? That's a bit shit. Very harsh for you and him.

If you drop me your email I can likely send you over some language banks you can print off for him (if you have a printer) in the morning.

Now, without knowing the school it isn't certain what he'll be learning as the government whack years 3 and 4 together. However the below would likely be a good bet in year 3 at this time.

- paragraphing around a theme
- extending ideas using if, when, because, although.

If he just nailed those, along with capital letters, full stops, and reasonable spelling, I think that would be a good 'un. I'm not sure how long the letter should be ( one day of work? 3?) but the following gives you an outline.

So, persuasive letter.

1 paragraph introduction - Must tell BoJo why he is writing. What he wants to happen.

2nd paragraph - main bit of writing. Could be more paragraphs but keep to one if he isn't confident. Having missed a huge chunk of Yr2 they may not have even discussed paragraphs yet. Maybe 3-4 persuasive points here, developed using the conjunctions above. The world will clearly be better if you stop closing the parks or Free school meals would.be brilliant for so many children although I know it will be very expensive.

3rd paragraph. Thanks for reading. Repeat the reason for writing one final time. Yours faithfully.

Persuasive features to include might be - flatter your audience, use some facts/figures, be emotive. As the best PM, you would never let children starve. Maybe stick them in a list and tell kiddo to tick them off each time he does one.

Hope that is of some vague use...

@Tiger. Thanks that’s really helpful. Yes, they just sent the attachments and that’s it. I don’t blame them too much. This is an extra piece of work to make up for stuff the kids missed during the first proper lockdown when home schooling wasn’t set up and not much was being sent out etc. So they are sending some of this stuff on top of what they have to do every day for current work. It’s all a lot for the teachers and I know it’s hard for them.

I’ll sit down with him tomorrow and try it. Will focus on paragraphs. As they say this is for stuff missed last year (when he was in yr2) it’s likely that paragraphing is one of the aims of the task? I might also send a polite and gentle email to the teacher and ask for a one line answer on what they are expecting too.