So I found out the following DS needs to be familiar with by K:
Visual Recognition and/or Ability to Write the following: ABCs, Vowels, Numbers 1-20, Full Name & Phone Number, shapes & colors Sight words & basic reading, and basic math (addition).
DS is currently working on his visual recognition of ABCs, and writing the lines necessary form words. He knows his full name and phone number, numbers 1-13, basic shapes & colors. Now once he masters his ABCs, we will be working on sight words.
Hopefully DS will be educationally ready by Kindie, but I thought we could cross-check with others here (if interested) to see where we are all at.
Seems a bit extreme to me. Addition? Really? I guess DS knows the basics like adding one and one gives you two but.... Also it never even occurred to me to have him memorize a phone number. We don't keep a land line so I guess we would have to pick one of our cells. I guess he is getting to the age where he should know how to call 911 too...
He is good with everything else on the list and In comparison, we have no list of readiness. Or if they do, I didn't hear about it bc he is moving up from their preK class.
Ugh, I know! Gone are the days of colors and shapes, glue, and the simplicity of children running, playing and learning coping skills for life...its almost too much pressure.
Now IDK if this "list" is simply where we live (florida), or nationwide though.
We have a full year, so I'm not super stressed.
Fred, now that DS knows his numbers visually, I was thinking of using cherrios (or whatever) to place on the matching card to practice basic math. Isn't this a montesorri method?
I would say my 4 yr olds know most of the first line of the list but can't write much of it... she can write most letters and he struggles w/ writing beyond his name. We need to work on the phone # memorization, just haven't done it though I guess we should have! I know they worked on which letters were vowels in preschool & will prob work on them more in pre-k, I am not stressed about that. No sight words here or basic math beyond as others have said, low numbers like 1+1, 2+2, etc and if i get much more complicated they use their fingers so I know they sort of get the concept of addition... again, really not worried too much about that? This stuff all seems so variable to me...my kids knew all letters by sight shortly after 2 only b/c they were obsessed w/t he eric carle ABC book and it wasn't until recently that I found out that letter recognition is sometimes not attained until pre-k, but then at the same time, I know that there are things (like writing his name...and.... potty training....) that other kids do earlier and mine do later... I guess it all evens out around K but I feel like having a super set checklist of items doesn't really allow for much variability b/w kids - seems to me like if they're doing most of the list, theyll be fine.
We got a kindergarten readiness list from our school, and sight words and reading are goals for the end of kindy in our area. The math skills they're looking for are more like 1 to 1 correspondence up to 20, and our list had a lot of self-help and social skills on it.
I have never seen a list anywhere that a kid needs to know sight words and basic reading going into K. Those sound like the Common Core Standards leaving Kindergarten and while my son could do those things going into Kindergarten I would be annoyed with a school that expects my kid to know the common standards for a grade before he enters it. That would mean that they technically do not have to teach the kids anythin in order to meet the standards of the grade.
Jen - Mom to two December 12 babies
Nathaniel 12/12/06 and Addison 12/12/08
@cmeon, no, I didn't expect that all kids could. All kids learn differently...I know kids heading into first grade that read less than my incoming kindergartener.
But I do think that list is a decent guide. ABCs, numbers to 20, shapes and colors should usually be a given. Sight words and pre-reading skills are a plus. And IMO, knowing your name, phone number, and address are important for emergencies.
I teach K (in WI), for my district this list includes beginning year, mid year and end of year expectations. Thanks to 4K and preschool programs, many kids enter knowing all capitals and some lower case, a handful know all letters. We don't assess sounds until mid year and knowing vowel sounds (in isolation and starting to use them accurately in writing) is end of year.
Rote counting to 20 sounds good for beg of year, our goal is rote counting to 100 by spring and one to one counting to 30+ (spring).
Most kids enter knowing shapes and colors.
We introduce basic sight words in late fall/early winter, and skills like adding we do along the way through problem solving, but we don't introduce number sentences until winter.
Re: Kindie Prep Discussion (if interested).
Also it never even occurred to me to have him memorize a phone number. We don't keep a land line so I guess we would have to pick one of our cells. I guess he is getting to the age where he should know how to call 911 too...
He is good with everything else on the list and In comparison, we have no list of readiness. Or if they do, I didn't hear about it bc he is moving up from their preK class.
Now IDK if this "list" is simply where we live (florida), or nationwide though.
We have a full year, so I'm not super stressed.
Fred, now that DS knows his numbers visually, I was thinking of using cherrios (or whatever) to place on the matching card to practice basic math. Isn't this a montesorri method?
This stuff all seems so variable to me...my kids knew all letters by sight shortly after 2 only b/c they were obsessed w/t he eric carle ABC book and it wasn't until recently that I found out that letter recognition is sometimes not attained until pre-k, but then at the same time, I know that there are things (like writing his name...and.... potty training....) that other kids do earlier and mine do later... I guess it all evens out around K but I feel like having a super set checklist of items doesn't really allow for much variability b/w kids - seems to me like if they're doing most of the list, theyll be fine.
But I do think that list is a decent guide. ABCs, numbers to 20, shapes and colors should usually be a given. Sight words and pre-reading skills are a plus. And IMO, knowing your name, phone number, and address are important for emergencies.