Grades in Kindergarten

slg1999

My daughter's kindergarten teacher gives U's and N's on work.  It seems so harsh.  What are your opinions?  I don't expect my child to get an E on everything, but she's just 5 and in her first year of school.  She thinks she is doing poorly in school and I think that is too much negativity for the first year of school. 

neverblushed

What percentage of her papers come back with an "N"?  Does she get positive feedback with an occasional "oops" paper thrown in, or is the great majority of her work coming back indicating that she's not producing the quality of work the teacher is looking for?

If my child was getting an occasional "needs improvement," I'd be happy that the teacher is willing to give honest feedback and let me and the child know what needs work!  I would emphasize to the child that the teacher cares and wants to help her learn.  I would remind her that not everyone does everything perfectly the first time.  Learning takes practice. Giving feedback so that you can learn from mistakes is a powerful way to help a student learn and grow.

On the other hand, if my child was getting LOTS of "needs improvement" feedback, I'd be concerned that there's something wrong.  I don't think it's good for a 5 y/o to get lots and lots of negative feedback.  I also suspect that it's not normal for a child to get many negative grades, as opposed to satisfactory or outstanding (or whatever terms your school uses.)  In that case I would call the teacher to discuss why my child is struggling and to begin to work together to help her along. 

FWIW, my kids' school used a 3-letter system for K grades:  P = proficient in that skill, I = skill is in progress, N = not yet demonstrating that skill.  Both of my kids got a combination of "in progress" and "proficient" at the start of the year, with an occasional "not yet."  Later in the year, they began to bring home mostly "Ps." 

lami22005

We don't receive anything graded that is returned on a daily/weekly basis.  At conference time, we discussed what areas my kids were already demonstrating proficiency in, and what is still being worked on.  When it comes to "grades," it is what the kids are able to do on their benchmarks that matters.  

 I do not understand why the teacher feels the need to put a "N" or "U."  Is she referring to printing or neatness?  I don't feel that it is beneficial, and would rather the teacher work with my child if he/she feels that the work is subpar, and then discuss it with me if my child wasn't making progress or having difficulty.  Maybe you should schedule a meeting? 

Littlejen22

Is she giving tests or is this for daily papers? Is it school policy or her policy? I find it weird that she is lettering papers. My kid's teacher writes something nice like "well done" or "amazing" or a smiley star for perfect or she corrects the error and calls it a day.

shopgirl78

My DD didn't get any grades on any work.  On her report card she did get S or N or US (unstatisfactory).   At the school I work out, KG gives a star if you did well and tried your personal best on your little worksheet and then their is an assessment on letters and numbers for the report card.  

jnksmom

DS only gets smiley faces, "good work", "great", etc on daily papers. Some papers he brings home don't have anything written by the teacher. The only grades he has gotten are on mid-term progress reports and report cards. The grade system they use in K here is NS(needs support), AE(approaching expectations), ME(meets expectations), EE(exceeds).

The county I taught in used E, S, N, U as grades in K. However, those were mostly only given on report cards. It seems harsh to me to grade all papers like that in K. 

His handwriting needs improvement. His teacher talked to us about it and we are all working on it. She has never given him a negative remark on a paper because of his writing though.

I think they need positive feedback. If there are some things that need improvement it should be discussed in a conference and worked on in a positive way. I would not be happy with a bunch of papers with U's and N's. It breaks my heart that she thinks she is doing poorly in school at 5yrs. 

FriskyPanda

DD doesn't get grades on her assignments. She gets the standard E, S, N, or U on her progress reports for behavior plus details about where she is with skills. Her teacher explained that K is more preparing them for the rest of their schoolinggetting used to the schedule, listening to teachers, checking their planner and doing homework, and being resposible for bringing stuff back and forth. They are learning stuff, but the experience of K and behavior is most important.

Nikko Blue

I am a K teacher. I don't think it's appropriate to "grade" assignments for this age group. Our report cards list skills that we assess our students on. For each skill, I check off whether they are showing the skill consistently, developing it, or if they are not showing the skill at this time. It's meant more for the parents than the children.

fsumom

There are no grades or progress report cards in kindergarten at DD's school.  She goes to a small, private school that has only one class per grade.  The teachers have a parent/teacher conference twice a year to go over how the child is doing along with showing a portfolio of things the child has worked on.