Is this the new norm?, preschool/Kindergarten curric

I talked to the director of the preschool that we want to send DS to to find out what they do. 3 yo is basically a social program, getting used to following directions, etc. Great! Just what we are looking for. 4yo get a bit more structure, getting ready for Kindergarten. Just what I figured. Then she told me that they work on numbers, basic addition/subtraction, alphabet and printing. This surprised me. Back in the stone age when I went to Kindergarten, that is what we worked on in the last half of the year! Has the standard changed so much? This isn't even a heavily academically based program!

That's interesting---I'm not sure what the norm is. In Kindergarten, I remember singing songs and working on letter recognition and counting. But really, it's all a blur to me otherwise. I think we worked on writing letters too. I attended head start, which would be equivalent to Kindergarten prep, and all I remember from that is art projects with paste, feathers and construction paper. Addition and subtraction at 4? I bet some kids are ready for that but that many will not be ready. Very interesting.

Wow, that seems to be a bit much for a 4 yr. old. My 5 yr old can't print his name yet . I think that's WAY too much pressure on a little kid to learn. I think its setting them up for a future of failures. Although some kids might be ready for it, then those are the ones that should be doing it. They need to do it on a kid-by-kid basis, not make it a standard for everyone.

Oh yes, it's amazing how the standards have changed. I feel like I have to get Conner reading because they are expected to read now in Kindergarten and I haven't been working with him as much as I should have. Cade was reading level 2 books because he went to a Montessori preschool but Conner's preschool isn't doing that much. They are writing their names, learning letters, basic math (more the idea of adding things together than actual addition on paper).

The problem is each preschool does different things so kids are going into Kindergarten at so many different levels and you feel like a bad parent if your child isn't up with the others. I can't believe what Kristen is doing in 4th grade and the amount of homework is unbelievable!!! It's good for them to learn more but it sure is hard with 4 kids. Once Keegan starts school I'll just have to give up any kind of life for myself because I'll be helping with and checking homework until midnight!!!!

I just wanted to say that my son is in 1st grade and this week he is doing 2 digit addition.. 10+10= and his spelling words are driveway, gumdrop, blister,
helpless, and softness etc

when I was in 1st grade I remember see Dick run???

The expectations are becoming more and more extreme. My students are taking the state assessment this week and some of the math problems they are being asked are REDICULOUS.
Kindergerteners are reading and should enter K writing their name, knowing their ABC's, counting to 100, etc...

I just remember coloring dinosaur pics using the appropriate color and playing in "areas".

Thank you very much, No Child Left Behind. We won't leave them behind, we'll just stress them out.

its wwaaaayyy different than when we were in school. I remember learning to write and recongnoze letters in Kinder....but Jason is working on that in preschool 3 yo program.

On a sad note, my nephew is is Kinder and he didn't go to preschool becuase, here unless you live in an abbot district (low income) preschool costs a lot of $$$. My bro and sil couldn't afford preschool, so he didn't go, but now he is 1 month in kinder and he is already behind.

I haven't talked to a single teacher that is happy about No child left behind!

My 2 year old just learned to count to ten, but he doesn't know his ABC's yet. I worry that he wont be ready for preschool next year!

Yes that is what they do since I started working here close to the elementry schools I have come to find that they teach children LOTS of stuff now and they have to know how to count and their abc BEFORE starting k-5!! That is the stuff I learned IN kindergarden!!

teaches I hear that no child left behind crap all the time it seems to me that here a LOT of kids are still getting left behind anyway.. but that is in alabama not too sure about anywhere else!

My ds started Kinder 9 weeks ago and let me tell you I was surprised at what he had to know at the end of the first 9 weeks. Counting not only to 100 but to 20 by 2's, 50 by 5's and 100 by 10's. Also all of his letters (upper and lower case), write his name (first, middle and last), all colors, shapes and then what they call sight words. Meaning he might not know how to spell them but he will be able to recongize them in a sentence. I was absolutely floored but he is slowly learning all of these things but it is a constant battle. My mother retired from teaching school at 25 years to keep dd when she was born and even mom is amazed at what they are requiring him to know.
Sometimes I think they are pushing him way to hard for his age but what do I know.

This is exactly what I'm against in the new programs... I'm not in the US, but they do this at schools too.

It's absolutely dumb. How are they supposed to know if there's a spelling mistake???

It's why so many people can read a sentence and not notice a few mistakes... it's interesting.

There was a tv commercial a little while ago where the whole sentence was poorly written... every word had mistakes in it, I don't remember how it went.... but I had SOOO much trouble with it the first time I saw it - because I learned to read the right way, not by memorizing sight words.

It really bugs me that my kids will be subjected to that crap.

It sounds like all the things that should be taught in Kinder are expected to be known before they even enter Kindergarten. The thing that disturbs me is that kindergarten is suppose to be fun, and make the kids excited about school and learning. If all this pressure is put on kids so young, it's just going to set them up to dislike school and learning. Besides, these are 5 and 6 year olds... they have plenty of time for all that stuff... why not let a kid be a kid!

And you know what's even sadder, Dee? Two friends of mine who are therapists (one in the public sector and one in the private sector) have told me, completely independent of each other, that they are seeing 3 TIMES as many 5, 6 &7 year olds as they used to. The single cause of it~school related stress. How incrediably sad is that?

O's best friend is in Kindergarten this year. It's the 6th week of school here and her spelling words this week (yes, spelling words!) included kitten, maybe and seven. HOLY COW!!! There are no naps/rest periods. Down time is music, art and recess. It is completely nuts!!

Amen!! I'm a certified K-6 teacher..I agree NCLB does nothing but stress kids out and teach them how to take a test.

My gosh things have changed. I am just 18 and was in kindergarten not all that long age. You learned numbers,shapes,the alphabet,etc. Is it required they know all this to go to the next grade? Those are big words for first graders!

Exactly how I feel. I'm all for more "structered" learning in Kinder, but without the pressure. I hate the thought of that, I know it's life blah blah but come on, they are still babies as far as school goes. I hate to think of these poor kids dreading school already and still having so much left ahead of them.

yes times have changed, I have seen some 1st grade curriculums that required a graphing calculator my wife teaches preK and she has an actual curriculum so I dunno, sure not when I was that age

These expectations, at least here, existed in the pre-W era. All of our children were expected to know alphabet, spell simple words, write their names and be able to read a what used to be a first grade primer by the time they were in K.

I haven't read the other post and here it is the Norm. Mya did a project on the scienfic method this year ( kindergarden) and I was shocked. I don't know if it is good ro bad..

Yes, this is the norm. I run a childcare and preschool out of my home, and my 4 year olds are beginning to read, do addition, etc. It's not the candy and cookies fun it use to be when we were small. Don't get me wrong, it's still "fun", but things have changed. However, it's not necessarily bad, as long as you find the right center/preschool that doesn't push too hard. Kids are so smart and pick up things so easily. A child only knows as much as they are taught. They are big sponges, and when given all the opportunites they will flourish. The right center/school will do these things, but also foster a love of learning in the children to make them WANT to learn. In order for kids to succeed in K and above, us preschool teachers have to teach them more and more now, in order for them not to fall behind when they get to school.

They do not have to know how to spell them. They are called sight words for this very reason. Words that are readable by just seeing them. Even as adults our sight word vocabulary grows. As you are reading this post right now, you probably aren't even "reading" it an sounding out the words, you know the words just by looking because you have seen all these words before. Does that make sense?

I teach my preschools sight words. So far they know about 20 of them. You can get a list of them on many websites. My favorite is at www.janbrett.com.

Just a couple more things...yes, I agree NCLB sucks! I'm glad I'm not in the school system, but because my kids WILL be a part of the system, it still affects the way I run my program, or should I say HAVE to run my program.

Parents, the best thing you can do for your child before going to K is get a list of benchmarks from your local school system when your child is about 3 years old. This will hopefully tell you what they would like each child to know before starting school. Also, find out your child's learning style. This will help you teach your child in the way it is easiest for them to learn. Is he/she a physical, auditory, or visual learner? Last, please do your part as a parent and teach your child and correlate at home what is going on in preschool. Don't leave all the teaching to the "teacher". Children learn best when they are getting things reinforced at home, and not just preschool/school. It is still our job as parents to teach our children, especially when they are not in "school" yet. I have seen too many parents say "well, this is YOUR job and this is why you get paid". That is very frustrating to hear.

Also, let them be kids, but teach them what they should know, and MAKE LEARNING FUN! There are so many opportunities during a single day for learning. Nobody says learning has to be "seat work and worksheets".

This post has been edited by TannerBugsMom on Jul 4 2006, 12:20 PM

As A kinder teacher, I can tell you that the standards have changed within the last 8 years. It is no longer enough just to know their letters by the end of kinder and be able to read a "pre-primer" level. They must actually be reading- using letter sounds to decode words. They must also have a good sight word vocabulary.

As for sight words- in kinder the sight words are no, I, like, you, my, etc- words that they would read in the simplest books, and write in their own writing- I like my mom. They help your child read with increased fluency, as they do not have to stop to try to decode the word- such as using the short sound for I, then trying to make sense of what it says. Imagine trying to sound out the word like before you learn about cvce words? (Consonant vowel consonant with a final e- vowel takes on the long sound because of the final e.) It's not words like building, internet, or classification- just everyday words that we would already use in their daily life that make reading and writing easier and more managable for them. They can easily write the sentence "I like my dog" if they already know how to write I, like, and my. And we teach it in context- we play with the words we know to make new combinations of words, and practice finding sight words in our reading and pointing them out. I hope that helps....

As for NCLB- those of you that have known me for a while know that I think it stinks too. Teachers are all for acountability- we just want it measured in more than one way. Especially if our livelyhood depends on it. Standardized tests are not the only (and certainly not the best) way to measure learning.

This is also my concern.

These days, great schools are where your kids learn things earlier than you did back when you were little.

I know that now the competition is getting hard. You'd better be as smart as possible to survive in this world.

I also agree that kids are like sponge, they absorb anything into their brain.

But...I believe that they also need to enjoy their childhood. That will make them great people in the future for their not being too stressed out when they're little.

So, now, I think I'll just look for school where my baby will be able to learn many things without being too pushed to do it.

I believe that now the expert are getting ways to make learning as fun as possible.

So, what we, parents, should check out about a school is not only what they teach our kids, also, how they teach it.





Cheers,

I called the school system this past fall, and was told that the kids dont have to know how to do anything specific except take care of themselves in the bathroom and tie shoes and zip coats..
I dont want to put my son in preschool, I want to keep him home as long as possible. I think he gets enough social skills from church and play dates, and being in public.
I am wondering if he will be ready for school. He isnt able to go until he is 6 due to his birthday.
he can write most of his alphabet, and do simple math, not on paper though. he can write some word and spell three of them.
I am worried about setting him up for failure if I dont get him a head start though, after reading this I wonder if I am doing him an injustice by not starting him into some form of school.
i agree totally that there is just to much pressure....to early.