3 year old Preschool question?

SLO2005 · October 2012

My son goes to a full day preschool 2x a week. He is 3.3 years old. For homework the teacher has been sending home letter papers. I don't mind doing them with my son at all. But he is totally not able to complete this on his own. He basically scribbles a lot and is not able to form any letters yet. He is able to recognize all letters, but not write them. What should the expectation at this age be?

VTbride05 · October 2012

Totally normal for your son at this age to not be writing.

My son is writing (at 4.5 years old) and I WANT his teacher to do more of this in school, but I was told that by the time they leave PreK they need to recognize their name and 4 other letters. Lame!

I would talk to the teacher, that seems like a lot for someone so young.

LoveEeyore · October 2012

I was just talking to my kids' teacher today about writing. They are also 3yr3mos.

DS just started writing his name out of the blue, letters perfect, and written in the correct sequence, but he writes right to left. He does not like drawing and will barely humor me when I press for more.

DDWrites all the letters in her name, in the correct sequence, but upside down. She loves drawing and writing.

So weird. But the teacher said that was fine. Like pp noted, they have low standards for sending on to k. Write their name, recognize their letters and cut with scissors.

That said, I seem to recall from my schooling that the area of the brain that controls drawing is the same area that controls writing until like 6. So if that is true, it makes sense to me that writing isn't really focused on. They all learn differently.

AgrippaRidesAgain · October 2012

They don't even start working on writing in DS's preschool until the 4 year old class. They're doing the handwriting without tears program with the kids. While DS has been a bit obsessed with learning how to write, so he has been able to at least write his name for quite a while, his best friend (also in his class) definitely wasn't ready to start learning how to form letters until this year. I think it's pretty normal for 3 year olds to not really be into it or ready to start learning it yet.

Littlejen22 · October 2012

VTbride05:

Totally normal for your son at this age to not be writing.

My son is writing (at 4.5 years old) and I WANT his teacher to do more of this in school, but I was told that by the time they leave PreK they need to recognize their name and 4 other letters. Lame!

I would talk to the teacher, that seems like a lot for someone so young.

It really is school by school, and curriculm by curriculm because by the end of preschool at my kid's Montessori preschool my son was writing his numbers past 800 and was expected to write his letters. My DD is 3 and in the same program and is writing her letters in school right now, although her handwriting is not nearly where my son's was. But FWIW, she traced a triangle and then drew circles because she said she did not know how to make a triangle!

I think it is normal not to be able to, some schools push it more than others.

rsd12 · October 2012

Homework in preschool? That is odd. I think it is great that my boys traced letters in their preschool, but they had no interest at home. My oldest was able to write all his letters in k, and his fname and lname. My middle son can do the same in prek.. I don't force it at this age, and all of my boys preschool teachers said the same thing.

NicoleWI · October 2012

My daughter goes to preschool 2 mornings/week and it's mostly about social skills and fun. They talk about weather, days of the week, etc, and have a theme for the week around which they do art projects and other activities. That's totally fine for me at this age, and she turns 4 in Jan. I think barely over 3 is way too young for letter worksheets. Most kids just don't have the dexterity to make that work.

Angela814 · October 2012

DD1 was just learning to write letters at age 3. She could write most of them by 4 and all of them by the end of 4K.

I think it's a lot to expect for kids to have homework at that age. We're just starting nightly homework in 1st grade, and it takes 5-10 minutes.

ETA: At daycare, they started working on tracing the letters in their names at 3 years. The 4K program used the handwriting without tears program to teach all letters.

weddedwife · October 2012

DD attends 2 days a week for 3 hours a day. It's not a fundamental program- more focused on socialization, getting along with others, playing, listening, etc. By the end of the year they are able to write their names. There is no homework. 3 is too young for homework!

bearkatjen · October 2012

DS is 3 years and 10 months and I noticed just last month that his scribbles have become identifiable shapes and that he tracing letters. I want to say last March we were just in scribble land. He was in the two year old room then, so they I don't think they were practicing writing letters. It sounds like your son is on the younger side of his class, so I wouldn't sweat it at all. At this age, a few months in age still makes a big difference developmentally.

I do think homework in preschool is an issue though.

penguingrrl · October 2012

I can't imagine my 3 year old being able to do those at all. And I wouldn't be happy if our preschool sent home homework. My kindergartener hasn't had homework yet (aside from reading every night, which we have always done anyway). At that age it's not going to have much impact in their learning.

jnksmom · October 2012

penguingrrl:
I can't imagine my 3 year old being able to do those at all. And I wouldn't be happy if our preschool sent home homework. My kindergartener hasn't had homework yet (aside from reading every night, which we have always done anyway). At that age it's not going to have much impact in their learning.

I agree that homework like that at 3 is a little ridiculous. DD is in pre-k4. Her "homework" is optional and all they have to do it bring a picture of something that starts with the letter of the week to put on the letter web. They are practicing tracing/writing letters but only at school.

DS is in K and has not had any homework other than reading every night which like the pp we have always done anyway. Also, he can write his first name but is struggling being able to write some of the other letters. His teacher is working with him and gave us some extra ideas of things to help him at home also. However, she said that although it is part of the K curriculum, most kids don't have the ability to form perfect letters until age 6.5-7 so forcing that at age 3 seems ridiculous to me.

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