What were you taught when you first started school.?

I remember doing the Cadbury essay.

In my opinion children are ready to learn far more than the curriculum provides for.

Here in Germany they don't seem to touch on history, geography or science until year 7, and then have to cram everything in just when they are coping with puberty.

And then there's the weird system whereby teaching them to read before they are 7 is frowned upon, nay, strictly forbidden. It drives me mad. Some are 20 before they leave school.

Having said that, obviously young children should be spared the horrors of war and disasters until they are ready for it. There is a world of fascinating knowledge that they could absorb before puberty, which would prepare them for secondary education. I think this is dealt with better in the UK, apart from the exceptions mentioned above.

I think children today are exposed to too much information at too young an age. Children are not mini adults , their minds like their bodies are not yet mature! and as such need protection. Yes , I agree that when they reach about 13 they should be taught about how the world ticks and ,learn about injustice , racism , homophobia and other issues .
As for me in primary school , I remember the nature table , nature walks that took me past my house and on those occasions would sometimes see my Mum who would wave to me- I loved that! I recall the class chanting times tables, music and movement, lovely school lunches cooked on the premises. I vividly remember the teacher keeping me in at playtime as I could not spell ‘ because’ correctly. I was made to fill the blackboard with that word writing in the teachers chalk. I have never made that spelling error again!! We had tyrant of a head teacher , we were all terrified of him. We also had a rocking horse in the corridor that no child ever sat on , also had a round mirror in the cloakroom and on it the words ‘ Am I clean and tidy’ on the whole happy days!

I was taught “hell and damnation” the nuns were fierce.

The three ‘R’s were drummed into us and I was so scared of not knowing my times tables I used to pray Mrs B would die so she wouldn’t hit me when I got them wrong.

As it was , she lived but went blind, I thought it was my fault for years?

My grandson was all about dinosaurs when he started school and loved to play dinosaurs eating each other.

When I started school I had to sit and read while everyone else caught up.

My memories of early school days, I was still 4, was learning to read. During our first week we had to go up individually to our very kindly teacher's table who had a book and she merely wanted to see what words we knew in it, I only knew "mother" and promptly burst into tears, she told me not to worry we'd be reading all the words in the book very soon, and I did in what seemed like only a couple of weeks later. Other than that memory I remember lots of drawing and our wet paintings pegged on a line strung across the class to dry. Other lessons I recall were of writing practice, sums, times tables maybe just the twos to start with, musical movements done in our underwear, that included lying down on the floor afterwards when we were told to have a little sleep. The worst part of the day was the school milk, hated it and school dinners yuk!

We had the "Night to Remember" book at home with some black and white photos which I often looked at, can't remember how old I was, but after I saw them said I didn't want to go to the Isle of Wight anymore in case the same thing happened. I remember my mother telling me all about The Titanic, how enormous the icebergs were, how it was deemed to be invincible but on it's maiden voyage the catastrophe happened. The captain bravely went down with the ship sadly there were several classes of passengers and those in steerage were poor and made up the most deaths, because they were the last to be evacuated. I think many were Irish so that story had been related to her by my grandmother who was half Irish.

Same here Sago. Sadistic Catholic nuns, priests, Marist brothers and teachers ruling by fear.
On my first day aged 5, I was so scared I wet my pants. The teacher stood me on a box in front of the class and said 'Look what this dirty girl has done.' And so it began.

Mamardoit I think lots of children, especially boys get very interested in certain topics even before they go to school. It's often something from the TV. One of mine was an expert on Thomas the Tank Engine and talked and drew pictures about The Fat Controller and his engines for months (years!).
That reminded me of my little pre-school grandson who was a big fan of Thomas and trains in general. I told him there were a lot more trains when I was a child but along came Mr Beeching who was like the Fat Controller, and he was always asking about Mr Beeching who he seemed rather fascinated with.

Yes , I agree that when they reach about 13 they should be taught about how the world ticks and ,learn about injustice , racism , homophobia and other issues
Shelflife What about those children in primary school on the receiving end (or dishing out end) of injustice, racism etc?

I went to a catholic school too, the sadistic nuns came along later around the time of First Communion preparation. Fortunately our infant teacher was a lovely kind person who knew how to look after small children and bring out the best in them without fear. Fear came later when we had a horrible nun for maths and reduced me to a quivering wreck for taking a long time to master long division. I also remember aged about 7 or 8 being dragged out to the front of the class to get the ruler on my hand, apparently for having an insolent look on my face, better known these days as "resting bitch face" how can one help what they look like in repose God those women were a horrible fierce lot that should never have been around children.

I don't know how I forgot the nature table and nature walks of early school days they were very memorable, our school had fields, woods and ponds around it so plenty of scope for all of that.

At some point in my earliest schooldays I remember being given a gas mask and having to keep it with me at all times.
And sitting in a corridor lined with sandbags. We had to march there quickly if the siren sounded.
I remember having to lie down on little rush mats for an afternoon rest every day. And drink a small bottle of milk.
I think there was great emphasis on the three R's.
We all learned to read at an early age, and recite our times tables over and over again.
I recall being whacked on the hand with a ruler for eating a toffee in class. Discipline was quite strong back then.
I think events like the Titanic were not even mentioned until I was much older. I agree that 5 is far too young for learning about such things and can serve no purpose other than frightening young children.

I was an Early Years teacher and I wouldn’t have dreamt of using the Titanic as a history lesson for children aged five. It’s not on the curriculum anyway, history for Reception children is normally centred around everyday life for their grandparents. If he’s Year 1 that’s rather different, children start to learn about events in the past. The Great Fire of London is commonly used as a history topic in Year 1.

I still have my first exercise book from the Reception class at school. In it, we drew a picture and wrote about it.
Mine I am now ashamed to say has a drawing of little black girls in grass skirts. I had written the 'The little nigger girls are picking coconuts.' The teacher had corrected my spelling but said nothing about the word nigger or what they were doing.
I can also remember the teacher reading Little Black Sambo and Epomemandas and his mum pick gourds.
No mention of anything like Titanic but the boys were still drawing pictures of tanks and soldiers from WW2 and I do make a reference somewhere in it to Japs. My DD's were utterly shocked when they saw it.

If he’s Year 1 that’s rather different, children start to learn about events in the past. The Great Fire of London is commonly used as a history topic in Year 1.
Yes, maddyone and that's another gruesome tale where the maid gets trapped in the fire and burned. Let alone the plague!!

JackyB I won the Cadbury essay! Lots of bars of chocolate was the prize. I was the most popular person in the class for a while.

Hello Chardy, I respect your response and understand you’re point. I had overlooked those children who are on the receiving end of injustice or as you say are dishing it out. I suppose my overwhelming feeling is getting a correct balance between overloading children and protecting those children who need support - a difficult task ! Thank you for your response.

Your response! Sorry.

Josieann

^If he’s Year 1 that’s rather different, children start to learn about events in the past. The Great Fire of London is commonly used as a history topic in Year 1.^
Yes, maddyone and that's another gruesome tale where the maid gets trapped in the fire and burned. Let alone the plague!!

I know Josieann but it was much longer ago, and anyway children really enjoy it. Year 1 children don’t have to be told the most gruesome facts about this event, just the plain facts, whereas with the Titanic the deaths of many cannot be a avoided. My grandchildren loved learning about the fire of London when they were in Year 1. Their mother took them to London and to Pudding Lane and they loved it. I seem to remember we took care of little brother whilst they went.
My other grandson loved learning about the Romans and the Egyptians a little later, in Years 2 and 3. I think Grandad enjoyed the Romans too, as he is a Classics graduate.

Callistemon21

DS was traumatised by a graphic film showing a baby being born. He was about 9 and my friend was very pregnant so he was very worried for her.

I remember being given a very basic lesson in where babies came from by my elderly, spinster teacher in Primary School. For many years after that I believed that babies were born through the belly button!

Me too, Sarnia!
We were told where the egg and the sperm came from, but not how they came together or the baby got out, by a stern faced biology teacher in 1st year at senior school ("and I do not want to hear any giggling, girls!")
I was well into my teens before I learnt otherwise

Shelflife

Hello Chardy, I respect your response and understand you’re point. I had overlooked those children who are on the receiving end of injustice or as you say are dishing it out. I suppose my overwhelming feeling is getting a correct balance between overloading children and protecting those children who need support - a difficult task ! Thank you for your response.

Thanks Shelflife

As a secondary school teacher, I know it's difficult to fulfill the needs of the majority, while supporting those who need it. The problem is that pupils hear negative comments at home, and just repeat them, be it about immigrants, Travellers, women, any group with less power than others.

I can't imagine how difficult it is in primary All kids know the baby grows in a mummy's tummy, but the smart ones want to know how baby gets out

I remember singing sat on the old wooden floor beside the teacher playing a piano and getting told off for having a splinter in my finger which showed I had been fidgeting and not concentrating!
The discipline of those days, they took no prisoners, ha ha

All kids know the baby grows in a mummy's tummy, but the smart ones want to know how baby gets out
I worked it out for myself, like Sarnia - clever, eh!
Through the belly button, which opens up like a flower - after all the baby is just behind it, waiting to emerge.

Yammy , I too remember Little Black Sambo and Epomemandas! I also remember a phrase from the book
“ Epomemandas you ain’t got the sense that you was born with “ Shocking to think about it now !

My first memory of nursery school was being expected to have a sleep every afternoon lying on a fold up camp bed outside on the verandah. The school was on a busy road and I used to be lulled to sleep by the sound of traffic! This was in 1959.

A later memory is being taken outside to line the road and cheer as Yuri Gargarin drove past on a visit to Trafford Park in 1961. We made Russian flags to wave and cheered very loudly!

When something captures a child’s imagination even at aged 5 it does well not to react in such a way that our own adult anxieties about the subject smother there interest. Hard though this may be. And anything older than them is history.

I think the worst thing in the world would be to make a child self conscious by implying they they should be interested in “this instead of that”.
My first day at school memory is of being shown the coat peg with my name on it on a sort of card hanger that we then took to our desks in class to practice writing our names. My surname on the actual hook was incorrectly spelled - and remained so for the rest of my time at Infant school?
Then there was the business of walking off out the open gates and home because I thought play time was home time…much to my Mothers’ surprise !