What is YOUR Kindergartener learning?

[MosMom]

I'm writing this to find out what other kindergarteners are learning because I am surprised at some of the things Mo is doing. My DH and I both remember Kindergarten as being a place where you learned the basics of life and learning. We learned the alphabet, counting to 100, etc.

My daughter on the other hand has been tested on being able to write a complete sentence! They are learning basic addition, writing numbers to 100, spelling tests, and expected to read by the start of 1st grade. Frankly, I'm a little shocked because I thought reading was a skill that had a normal "range" and didn't have a clear cut deadline.

I feel like she already has stress and this is only Kindergarten! Even her teacher agreed that she sometimes feels overwhelmed with all she needs to pack into little minds. It seems like a harsh way to start a lifetime of learning. Is this a relatively new thing? Is your Kindergartener learning all of this? My Canadian relatives (Alberta) were shocked at what she is expected to know.

PS - She only goes for 2.5 hours a day. If it was all day Kindergarten I could see time to cover more area but I'm astonished at what is being crammed into a 2.5 hour day. That time also includes the daily rotation of PE, Library, Music, & Art.

 

[AZKathy]

Sounds like yours is a little more intense than my kindergartener's requirements. She is writing basic sentences to learn sentence structure but currently, they do not have to focus on the spelling, but just writing a sentence. For instance, they were studying space recently and she drew a picture of the moon and had to write a sentence under the moon. She wrote "Tehe(the) moon has no pepl(people)".

They have to count to 100 and count to 100 by 10's and starting basic math with patterns. They are celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday the first week in March and she has to bring in Green Eggs and Ham. The teacher wants us to read it with her and have her read it. She read it with my help with some of the words yesterday. I was impressed. She had to stop making up the story and she got frustrated having to follow each word and figure it out. It is a long book, but eventually she was proud to do this book.

I was quite surprised since she had no interest in learning any letters and sounds before school. I could not sit her down to learn her letters except writing her name. She was a more physical gal. In these short weeks of school, she has progressed in leaps and bounds with only half day Kindergarten.

Our school teaches writing in the Denelean way which will help them progress into cursive easier. Our kindergarten also rotates (they call them specials) to PE, music, library, computer, and art.

 

[Beth E. (NJ)]

Wow! That's one advanced kindergarten.

My daughter is in kindergarten and they are working on writing letters -- penmanship. They do alot of learning -- I guess it's called prereading. I mean the kids come home with books that they are "reading" but they are booklets not big books.

They are workign on sounds and combinations etc. I should be able to come up with more, but I am so tired now I can barely keep my eyes opened. They do have homework at least 3 times a week and they do a pictionary where they work on one letter at a time and the kids have to find pictures in magazines that start with each letter.

They do write some sort of journal each morning in school but I haven't seen it yet to know what they are putting in it.

My daughter thinks the homework is very easy so she could probably work at a slightly higher level, but I don't think she is ready to really read yet.

On the other hand we saw friends the other day who said that their son went to a private school that expected the kids to read by the time they were done with kindergarten. Really read! Her son had some problems with it and he was getting overwhelmed. They ended up putting him in a regular kindergarten where he did much better.

 

[HaleyB]

We have full day here in Austin. Also my daughter went to an educational preschool for two years (2 1/2 hours 2 or 3 days a week).

My daughter is currently writing stories about 3 to 4 sentances long with correct punctuation and phonetic spellings. 90% of her words are correctly spelled (which makes her a better speller than me). She can count to 100 (and on) by 1's, 2's, 5's, and 10's. She can add and subtract two didget numbers and carry or borrow (but I think that has more to do with her watching as I help her older brother with his math work). They have learned fractions, standard and non-standard measurements, and estimation. She can tell time on a real and a digital clock. She knows all the basic shapes. She knows blue and yellow make green and that sort of thing from art class. She has learned what a staff is in music, and the families (wood, wind, string). She knows coin values and names. She can tell the months and seasons and days of the week in order. She can read simple books. She has been exposed to the scientific method. She knows how to make a simple power point presentation... I am amazed at what they do and how well most of the kids are learning this stuff. There have been huge changes just since my son was in K two years ago. They also have done lots more that I can not think of right now...

 

[Alice28]

Whoa....there are some serious kindergartens out there!

My son goes 1/2 day. He has learned his letters, sounds, is doing pre-reading with the booklets (he is done with the first set of 26), learning basic math (simple adding & subtracting), writing, art, computers, music, PE....they have learned to count to 100 several ways (1's, 5's, 10's), learning patterns, weather, days of the week...he hasn't started writing sentences yet, but I think he will be able to soon.

I think he is doing GREAT for someone who did not go to pre-school; I had him in daycare 3-4 hours a day though and he is excellent with his social skills. He didn't even know how to correctly hold a pencil on his first day of school (he never wanted to learn and wouldn't sit still enough for me to show him) but he did know most of his letters, numbers, colors, etc. He now writes very well and is a super fast learner...I think we helped him prepare by reading every night and I am a firm believer that at pre-school age, children learn best by immersing themselves in play. (

I was taught the Piaget Child Development method over and over and over again!!! )

 

[FreshTressa]

At my DS's kindergarten, most kids are able to read from the phonetic booklets.

In math, they are doing this weird thing that is all grouping and patterning, no adding or anything.

And in writing, they are only doing one word at a time, not whole sentences. They have a worksheet with four pictures on it and they write the word under it.

DS has a special reading and math teacher to come in and work with him since he is ahead in those areas, but for the most part the kindergarten is academic, but not stressful.

I don't think it is fair to push academics in K. Some kids just aren't ready and it can turn them off to school forever, especially really active kids. The older they are, the faster and easier they learn stuff, so waiting really is no big deal.

It is all politicians trying to see RESULTS, when they don't actually get how the brain works

 

[aprilgail2]

My daughter starts Kindergarten next year but PRIOR to starting kindergarten they are supposed to know how to count to 100, how to write their first and last name, all the colors, shapes and recognize by sight all the letters.

 

[Pooh93]

In addition to the basics of knowing your letters, shapes, numbers etc. they have been doing the patterns thing in math since preschool. Kindergarten is just reinforcing it. They have been counting by 5's and ten's. My dd is adding moneyon paper...dimes, nickels and pennies and determining if she has enough money to buy what picture and price tag is on the paper. She brings home a short book for reading Mon-Thurs and one is an accelerated reader book that she takes a test on the computer. The class has been doing a letter person each week for phonics and practicing the writing of the letters. She hasn't had to do any major sentence writing.

The main focus seems to be on math and reading. I can already see how much has been pushed down in two years since oldest dd was in kindergarten. She did not experience money counting until the 2nd half of 1st grade.

Off topic: I can honestly say I am ready for a break and tired of reading! Pizza Hut sponsors a reading program where you get a free personal pan pizza for reading so many books in a month and we've been doing that since Oct. We just completed over 360 minutes of reading per each dd so they could earn a six flags ticket. The next recreational reading incentive program will be reading so many pages to earn a free ticket to a water park in our area. Don't get me wrong, I feel reading is IMPORTANT, but sometimes I wonder if these kids will burn out. Or maybe it's just their old, tired mom that is burnt out! There I just needed to get that out!

 

[believe]

Most of the stuff DD is doing she already knew for preschool so DH is actually working with her at home after school, she goes to 1/2 day. Full day is not an option in our public school system. They have finally begun helping her with reading, which she really wanted to start with at the beginning of the school year but the school just started a program where kids are selected by level to participate in the program. If they are not in the program they are not learning to read yet.

On a side note for DD2, who is in preschool. Many here have given me hope. She has no desire to learn. She is just now showing a little interest, totally opposite of DD1.

 

[Kimberle]

Brittany will start kindergarten in the fall. They are expected to be able to read, too, when the year ends. Our school day is a full day.

I'm not to worried about Brittany, since she goes to pre-k full time. She can read and write all of her letters. She counts very well and does simple math. She is very interested in reading and is starting to read some words.

I just wonder how the kiddo's who didn't attend pre-school will do????

I think it's a challange to schools. Many kids (like Brittany) have mastered the basic skills that used to be taught in kindergarten. They need to be challanged. Yet many other kids have not gone to pre-school or only attended a limited amount. They need to start with learning how to stand in a line, be nice to your friends, raise hand, etc.

 

[disykat]

Academic skills don't have that much to do with preschool. If the child is ready to learn, they'll learn quickly. If they are not ready yet, the exposure won't hurt them certainly, but it doesn't mean they'll learn it.

As someone else mentioned, I also went through school learning the Piaget theories of child development. Aparently no one believes those theories anymore?

 

[debster812]

I think we are entering a time where the children are being taught to for The Test (enter your appropriate state Standardized Test here). DS will take his first one in 3rd grade, and is currently in first grade. Doing high powered reading stuff, spelling, math, FRACTIONS Money math and the like.

And for the children that do not attend pre-school, they will also be JUST fine. Most of the children all catch up to one another by the end of 1st grade/beginning of 2nd.

I too worry about the stress, and hopefully will be able to help DS deal with it correctly.

 

[Pembo]

Ds has learned #'s to 100. He's learning money and time. He has a very large sight word vocab.

He is reading but that surprised his teacher. He is the first one in the class to read and he is the youngest. Little bit of mommy pride there.

He does go to all-day. They are expected to learn quite a bit more than "when we were in school."

 

[Kimberle]

Originally posted by disykat

As someone else mentioned, I also went through school learning the Piaget theories of child development. Aparently no one believes those theories anymore?

What is it? I've never heard of it?

 

[CEDmom]

Originally posted by Kimberle
What is it? I've never heard of it?

Piaget's four stages of cognitive development
1. sensorimotor intelligence (0 to 2 years)
manipulation of physical environment
2. preoperational thought (2 to 7 years)
begins to think conceptually
can solve physical problems
3. concrete operations (7 to 11 years)
can think logically in dealing with physical problems
4. formal operations (11 to 15 years)
can think abstractly
can develop and test mental hypotheses
can reason and think logically

Kimberle,

You bring up a good point about children who haven't had any formal school exposure prior to kindergarten. I think it's really important that all children attend some program by age 3 or 4.

 

[zurgswife]

WOW!!!...The thought of all this work that is required of most of your kindegarteners makes me sort of sad...What happened to being just a kid.....

I didn't learn most of these things list till I was way into my primary grades and funny thing is I'm a fully functioning adult.

I'm glad my daughter goes to a very small church school where she learns the basics...and I mean the basics...tieing shoes, abc, counting, and learning to form her letters...All my other kids had this program and are all doing just fine....so you don't have to push kids to end up with students that are in the advance programs later on ..

My opinion is Kids need to be kids....they have enough years to be in school studying..

 

[MosMom]

I agree Zurgs :/

 

[disykat]

If you follow Piaget, then while providing lots of educational opportunities for the children and encouraging learning at their own rate - you would not EXPECT children to be concrete operational until age 7 and beyond.

I think it's great that some kids learn things so early. However, if they don't it doesn't mean they need intervention or show a lack of IQ. They simply aren't ready.

When I went to school this was recognized as fact. Now it seems like all kids are required to learn at a rate which is not necessarily appropriate developmentally.

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

ITA with Zurgswife.

Lori

 

[Ratpack]

Originally posted by Kimberle
I think it's a challange to schools. Many kids (like Brittany) have mastered the basic skills that used to be taught in kindergarten. They need to be challanged. Yet many other kids have not gone to pre-school or only attended a limited amount. They need to start with learning how to stand in a line, be nice to your friends, raise hand, etc.

This is why the school my daughter attends kindergarten at has a K/1 class. Those that have already mastered most of the K skills are moved to this class so they can challenge them without neglecting those that need more time. I was so proud when my daughter was chosen. Her last report has her on 1st grade level in just about all subjects (helps to have a DW that is an elem. teacher). Among most of the other stuff mentioned, they are also learning foreign languages. My DD will be smarter than me in a few years.