Is there a point at which kindergarten gets kicked up a notch?

[Anonymous]

For the past couple of years, I have been hearing how kindergarten in MCPS is the new first grade, the expectations are high, etc. I gotta say, I am not seeing that thus far. The level of work I see on the worksheets that come home is incredibly basic stuff like identifying upper and lower case letters. I haven't seen anything yet that DD was not doing in preschool. She is bored, and thinks it is "baby stuff." I have been holding off asking the teacher about it because I know they need to assess where everyone is. She is in a reading group with one other girl, but it seems that the reading group time is the only time she is getting any work on par with her existing skill set. Sure, she can work on her handwriting, but I want her to learn more in kindergarten than good penmanship. So, does it eventually kick in to something more challenging? DD is the type to develop behavior issues if she is bored.

[Anonymous]

Except for her reading group, that is usually the only individualized instruction they get. I would wait until the Nov. parent teacher conferences to discuss this further. My son is in the same position. His teacher said we can adjust the homework to whatever level our child is at currently. So he reads books on his reading level (second grade currently) and instead of just practicing writing his letters, I have him write a short letter or a sentence or two with a drawing.

[Anonymous]

Kindergarten is not meant to be 'kicked up' a notch. It's kindergarten! Feel blessed and just wait until 2nd grade. You'll be longing for those playful K days.

[Anonymous]

Kindergarten does get kicked up a notch and I am dreading it for my DD who seems to have some learning issues. It's funny for my DS (now in 1st), I thought it was too easy and I wanted him challenged more, but for my DD I want it to be easier! My 2 children are prime examples of the extremes that the kindergarten class has to handle in terms of skills. In my experience, the first 2 months of K is when the teacher determines skill levels and then they start separating the kids by ability.

[Anonymous]

OP, when I was growing up, preschool was not about letters at all. In preschool we played with blocks and strung beads on strings, worked with playdough!

Then In K (which was half day) we were introduced to the letters. One letter each week.

In grade 1 we learned our capital and lowercase letters and how to start sounding out words. Second grade was where we really started reading.

So it sounds to me like your in your child's schooling, everything has been bumped up a year from when I was growing up! Letters in preschool; cap and lowercase in K and sounding out words, and really reading in first grade!

I bet your child will start doing more sounding out words in her journals and such fairly soon.

[Anonymous]

Just yesterday we were notified that our MoCo kindergartner's reading group will begin next week.

[Anonymous]

Interesting, this bored thing. My daughter is ahead of her peers (PG Co. school) and she's also done what they've done before in PreK. But I hear this a lot that the kids are "bored." And it's always from mothers, not the kids. Most of the time, I think that idea is spoonfed by the parents, who see the "easy" work and decide to tell their kids it's too easy for them. And the kid picks up on it.

My daughter actually feels self-satisfied that she can perform the work so quickly and I know this may not always be the case. The teacher told me she lets my kid return books to the library or clean the board. And she is thrilled about school.

Kindergarten is supposed to be kindergarten. Where should kids learn the foundations --whether it's learning to properly form letters (not the way overly pushy mom taught them) -- or phonics etc. I resent the notion that kindergarten needs to be adjusted to fit those who've ordered the "My Baby Can Read" DVDs. Can't we let them be kids? There is plenty of time to ramp up academically. The countries' that teach kids to read much later actually outperform our kids when it counts.

[Anonymous]

The problem is that when schools adjusted their curriculum, many parents responded to it. So K classes are filled with a wide spectrum of kids now. Kids who can read, kids who can't and kids who don't know much of anything. OP- If you are expecting the K teacher to individualize the curriculum for your child, it probably won't happen. She might get put into a reading group that meets her needs but that is about it. You can talk to the teacher about what YOU can do to help her at home but most teachers cannot do much more. My son is way ahead of his class in reading but I don't expect his teacher to do anything more than group him accordingly. They have a classroom library and they go to the library at school and we check out lots of books at our library. He individualizes his own instruction with the books he chooses (and the teacher and librarian have taught them how to choose appropriate books). I also send in word searches to school for the class since my son loves them. My son usually finishes his work faster so that helps keep him out of trouble. Talk to the teacher on conference day and ask what is coming up. Ask what you can do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting, this bored thing. My daughter is ahead of her peers (PG Co. school) and she's also done what they've done before in PreK. But I hear this a lot that the kids are "bored." And it's always from mothers, not the kids. Most of the time, I think that idea is spoonfed by the parents, who see the "easy" work and decide to tell their kids it's too easy for them. And the kid picks up on it.

My daughter actually feels self-satisfied that she can perform the work so quickly and I know this may not always be the case. The teacher told me she lets my kid return books to the library or clean the board. And she is thrilled about school.

We also live in Prince George's County. My son attended a parochial school in K and complained bitterly every day that the work he was being given was exactly the same as what he got in nursery school. "It's nursery school stuff! It's really boring..." He complained about math and reading/writing.

The funny thing was I specifically picke dthat school because the K teacher was known for not starting serious reading instruction in K. She believed kids should be kids and do more old fashioned kindergarten activities. So I really didn't care all that much that he was bored by the repetition. Also, he was hardly a "hooked on phonics" kind of kid.. not advanced in either area at all (at the time) and got very little instruction from me at home... he just had NO interest at all.

So this is just to say, some kids really DO report that they are bored by school work, and not because their parents are telling them the work is too easy for them. My son wasn't the kind of kid who took pleasure in work that was easy for him, in just doing the best job he could. He always wanted a challenge.