I write this post reflecting on what we have discussed in class about early literacy and having children ready for Kindergarten and having left a PreK parent teacher conference, as a parent, wondering if my son will be ready for Kindergarten.
After one quarter in PreK five mornings a week, he can only identify 9 letters of his capitals and lower case letters. At first I was upset, and felt that he needs more direct instruction at home to reinfoce what he is learning in school. My mother, also an educator, literally laughed at me and said let him be four. I countered that he won't be ready for Kindergarten.
At some point are we pushing children to develop at a rate they aren't ready to. My son can tell me that the veins on a leaf are how the leaf gets its food and is excited about it. He makes connections to the knowledge he has, he decided Hurricane Sandy,was named Sandy, because she messed up all the sand on the beaches. I was told by his teacher he does a wonderful job of connecting their learning to his life experiences, which are plentiful. He pretends to read books and makes mock shopping lists, and many of the other pre litereacy activities we have learned about in class.
Do I really need to be concerned if he isn't keeping up with the Kindergarten curriculum that is being done in PreK? Are we pushing some children to do things that they just aren't developmentally ready to do? Is there enough of an emphasis being put on teaching children critical thinking skills as there is on learning their letters? I really don't know.
Rhea -
ReplyDeleteThe state of education today seems to be all about data. There is pressure on teachers for all students to be at a certain skill level, regardless of their beginning skill levels. I am wondering if your son's teacher is expected to have students knowing all of the letters by the end of the year. I know that I feel pressured to have all of my kindergarten students reading at a certain level regardless of what they knew when they began the school year. I would not worry about your son only knowing 9 letters of the alphabet at the age of four. Every child learns to read at his/her own developmental rate. Your son will learn the letters through experiences and when he is developmentally ready. It sounds like he is very intelligent. I would not “push” him to learn the letters at home. As an educator, I am sure that you are providing an enriching home experience for your son. It is important to keep things fun and “game-like” and not “force” learning on young children. You may want to try the website, starfall.com. It is a great website for emergent readers; it teachers letters, sounds, and other reading skills in fun ways.
- Dorothy
Rhea
ReplyDeleteI can understand your concern as a parent. Having taught for the last five years in Pre-K, and Kindergarten you share the same concerns with many other parents of four year olds. Education as Dorothy stated is all about data. They are not concerned with the child behind the data, all that matters is the numbers. I am experiencing this now with my students that come to Kindergarten without Pre-K experience; however, I'm expected to have those students reading before they leave my room.I do think that education has shifted to a more rigorous curriculum for Kindergarten students. I feel that there is too much emphasis put on academics and not enough time on social/emotional development, which is crucial at this stage of development. I think that it's great that your son can make those connections in life by using his critical thinking skills. I would continue to teach him in a fun way and I'm sure he will be just fine.
It sounds like you're doing everything right, Rhea! I agree with your mom hen she says, "Let him be four." I teach Pre-K and, because we have a focus on oral language skills, there is no intensive letter and sound instruction. That's not to say that we don't learn a lot in class, we just have a slightly different focus that allows the students to talk a lot amongst each other and practice using new vocabulary and proper sentence structure. By the end of the school year, they have impressive oral language skills (one of my students last year corrected his mother when she said "a apple"..."No, Mom, it's AN apple.") and, in my opinion, are well prepared for what they will face in Kindergarten. I think the experiences you are providing your son with are incredibly valuable and increasing his vocabulary, background knowledge, and oral language skills. I wouldn't run out to the store to by letter flashcards, just let him learn at his own pace and I'm sure he'll be ready for Kindergarten!
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