At what age do kids learn how to write sentences/sentence structure?

[Coconut36]

Kindergarten here as well. At my DD school they test you prior to K. If you do not know your letters and numbers they will not let you start K.

We took her to WDW during K and she had to keep a journal and present it to the class.

Private school? I have never heard of a public school refusing entry for not knowing letters/numbers. They do evaluate the kids and document where they are at but entry can not be refused if they are Kinder age. My Ped actually said at our last well visit Kinder is a time where kids often enter not knowing a letter or enter knowing how to read and there is a big variation in skills/abilities at the onset. So based on her comments I would assume (well I know it's normal from my Mom's almost 30 years in elementary ed) it's well within the norm for a kid to not know letters/numbers.

 

[smitch425]

Private school? I have never heard of a public school refusing entry for not knowing letters/numbers. They do ***** the kids and document where they are at but entry can not be refused if they are Kinder age.

My kids go to a public school and they were screened about a week before kindergarten was to start. They had to know their name, address, phone #, recognize lower and uppercase letters, and had to count to 20 and recognize the numbers 1-20 on paper. They also had to perform certain movements, like hopping on one foot. I don't think they would have denied them entry, I think it had more to do with assessing their skills for proper classroom placement.

 

[Coconut36]

My kids go to a public school and they were screened about a week before kindergarten was to start. They had to know their name, address, phone #, recognize lower and uppercase letters, and had to count to 20 and recognize the numbers 1-20 on paper. They also had to perform certain movements, like hopping on one foot. I don't think they would have denied them entry, I think it had more to do with assessing their skills for proper classroom placement.

They do screen them yes..my oldest did this but they DO NOT deny entry. This I know for certain in my state public schools. Also what classroom placement? It's not like they put the kids who can't recognize letters all in one class and the kids who can read in another. They actually aren't allowed to "segregate" based on things like that (when I was a kid we had "high" and "low" reading groups..not allowed now..at least not in my state). They do it simply as a tool for the teacher to know where his/her students are at and who might need some additional assistance and who might benefit from a challenge.

 

[Mkrop]

Kindargarten here. They are required to keep a journal. By the end of the year they are supposed to be able to write a small paragraph with simple sentences.

Yes this is what happens at our Kindergarten

Wow a journal? That is so advanced for traditional kindergarten.

This has been going on at our school since my oldest was there and he is 8th grade now.

Maybe you're thinking bigger than it actually is for that age. A journal for K is really simple. Things like, "I have a cat. She is black. She is funny. I like to play with her. We have fun." It's all pretty simple wording. I know my daughter gets flash cards at school with core words she uses or will use often so she can form these types of easy sentences.

That is exactly how are journals are, I have mine for both of my boys. Also the teacher would sometimes give them a lead in sentence..."My favorite thing to do on a rainy day is...." and then they would need to end the sentence, add another sentence and draw a picture.

 

[ccgirl]

Private school? I have never heard of a public school refusing entry for not knowing letters/numbers. They do evaluate the kids and document where they are at but entry can not be refused if they are Kinder age. My Ped actually said at our last well visit Kinder is a time where kids often enter not knowing a letter or enter knowing how to read and there is a big variation in skills/abilities at the onset. So based on her comments I would assume (well I know it's normal from my Mom's almost 30 years in elementary ed) it's well within the norm for a kid to not know letters/numbers.

Yes, private school.

 

[smitch425]

They do screen them yes..my oldest did this but they DO NOT deny entry. This I know for certain in my state public schools. Also what classroom placement? It's not like they put the kids who can't recognize letters all in one class and the kids who can read in another. They actually aren't allowed to "segregate" based on things like that (when I was a kid we had "high" and "low" reading groups..not allowed now..at least not in my state). They do it simply as a tool for the teacher to know where his/her students are at and who might need some additional assistance and who might benefit from a challenge.

I didn't say they denied entry. What I mean by "placement" is that certain teachers have more experience in reading issues than others. At my kids' school they have a first grade teacher who takes all of the slower readers out of their normal 1st grade classes during their language arts lesson, and she teaches them language arts during that time. I wasn't saying they put all of the kids in clsses according to how advanced their skills were. If that were the case, they would have put my DS in 2nd grade from the get-go. At his screening, they asked him to count as high as he could. Once he got into the 120's they asked him to stop, and he said, "but I'm not done."

 

[Schmeck]

Since so much of the brain gets wired so early in life, children that show up in kindergarten without the ability to recognize letters/sounds and number sense get flagged for a lot of testing in our school district.

Sentence structure is so important - getting kids to actually listen to a verbal sentence and be able to get that down on paper is a huge skill not all can master. I work with high school students that struggle with this daily. They can talk up a storm, but can't get it to work on paper.

Parents can help by doing a lot at home - reading every day, introduce the alphabet at a very early age, and number sense too. Post words up all over the house, encourage toddlers to 'write', get those crayons moving!

If a child is talking in sentences, then the child is ready for paragraphs!

 

[Coconut36]

I didn't say they denied entry. What I mean by "placement" is that certain teachers have more experience in reading issues than others. At my kids' school they have a first grade teacher who takes all of the slower readers out of their normal 1st grade classes during their language arts lesson, and she teaches them language arts during that time. I wasn't saying they put all of the kids in clsses according to how advanced their skills were. If that were the case, they would have put my DS in 2nd grade from the get-go. At his screening, they asked him to count as high as he could. Once he got into the 120's they asked him to stop, and he said, "but I'm not done."

Not knowing letters going in is not a reading issue and is within the norm for entering Kinder kids. You said placement and I said here anyway they can't segregate or place kids based on ability/screening. Here the screenings are used as tools for the teachers to understand where kids are at (like a pre test in Math) but it doesn't change who goes into what class (in many schools that is done long before the evaluations are done).

 

[Coconut36]

Yes, private school.

Thanks for clarifying. I had a feeling that was the case as they are able to designate required knowledge for entry..public schools can't deny entry for things like that.

 

[Piper]

By the end of PreK, my classes in Public school were writing and illustrating their own 4 to 10 page books. Now, about 1/4 of the class would label objects with the first letter of the word (draw a dog and write "D") 1/4 would label with the whole word (dog) and 1/2 the class would write 1 or 2 sentences per page. All the children could take their books and "read" it to the class. The ones who just wrote a letter or word would still tell a story....not just read the letter or word.

They worked together with anyone they wished and would often read to each other while they were writing. When we read trade books as a class, We would often discuss the beginning, middle and end of the story, who the characters were, what the setting was, what type of book it was (fiction or non-fiction,) how the words fit the pictures, etc. I also made it a privilege to write and we often made class books that they would "help" me write. The children had the option to put their books in the class library to share with each other (and all the class books went in the library.)

As you can see, not all children were at the same stage of development, but they truly celebrated each other's efforts. I always told my students to do "their own best job" in everything. Teachers from higher grades often came in to watch my students write and/or read. I wish my health hadn't made it necessary for me to retire!

 

[jackers]

Kindergarten here too.

Similar to many others, they keep a journal all through kindergarten. It starts off as drawing pictures about a specific subject, and by the end of the year they are generally writing 2-3 sentences.

In first grade they have five "dictation sentences" each week. The teacher will read a sentence out loud, and the children have to write the sentence. They are never difficult - basically they are expected to understand what should be capitalized (first letter and names), have the spelling correct, and have the correct end punctuation. Any incorrect sentences have to be rewritten as homework.

 

[YO's Mom]

My kindergartener is doing book reports – reading the book then answering a question with a 2-3 sentence paragraph. They are also on week 5 of having spelling tests.