What is your kindergartener actually reading/writing?
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Anonymous
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I'd be so grateful if your could share actual examples of what your current or recent-past kindergartener in MoCo is (or was) reading and writing.
We just found out that we'll be moving to the DC area in a few months, likely to MoCo, and my six-year-old will have completed kindergarten in a system I think is radically different. I worry she will be underprepared for first grade. I am searching and finding references to numbered reading levels that don't correspond to grade levels, a Washington Post reference to most kindergarteners being able to read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (this does me no good, as mine has this memorized on account of hearing it read gazillions of times to her baby brother), and the official Curriculum 2.0 guide is so frustratingly vague... Please tell me what your kindergartener can (or could, ahead of entering first grade) read independently. What kind of words/sentences/stories can or could he/she write? Thanks!! |
Anonymous
| By the end of K she must be able to read like 50 sight words I think. First grade first 3 months was repetition of K. She is good to go. |
Anonymous
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Relax. Truly.
DS could read the Bob books towards the end of K and that's it. He's now in the top reading group at the end of 1st. Don't let DCUM get you crazy |
Anonymous
| There is a HUGE range of normal in any school. My kindergartner was reading those inane Rainbow Fairy books at this time last year, but there were absolutely kids in her class working on Bob books and other early reader books, plus a handful of kids already moving onto Geronimo Stilton and the Fat Stanley level books. |
Anonymous
NP here. That's really good to hear, because my DS is not quite reading yet, even though everything else (math, comprehension) comes easily to him. |
Anonymous
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We are not in Moco but Arlington.
At the start of 1st grade 6 kids were reading far above grade level, the other 18 were reading at, or slightly above or below. So this means your DC is fine and will be right with 75% of the other kids. |
Anonymous
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Its a range and how wide the range is will depend on your ES. My younger child was reading at Fontas and Pinell level 12 at the end of K and was towards the bottom of the class but there were some kids on level 4 or 6. At our school the top the kids out at level J at end of K. These kids can ready fluently though and probably really at 2nd or 3rd grade level. You can google to find me sample texts based on reading level.
For writing most kids are writing a few simple sentences but of course on the top end are kids able to write a full page. I wouldn't worry too much. Again, its a huge range. |
Anonymous
| My kindergartner is at a level 7 reading. I wouldn't worry either way. |
Anonymous
| Here is a document from MCPS describing targets and giving examples of texts at various levels (level 4 = official end-of-kindergarten benchmark, level 6 = target they really want to get kindergarteners to if possible): http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/curriculum/english/elementary/7keystextlevels.pdf |
Anonymous
| My son is in K now and tested as a level J in December...I know he's the highest in the grade--next highest is his reading group companion who is a 15. Below that there is a large cluster of kids around 10-12 and another large cluster around 4-6. So, it varies a lot. |
Anonymous
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OP, if you google "guided reading level" for various book titles, you will get an idea of which books are on which level. Pick something he can read and see if you can find it. FWIW, I think scholastic typically indicates the guided reading level, so it will go quicker if you use one of their books.
Level totally doesn't matter. My DD finished K at an 8 last year. We read regularly over the summer and she tested at a 12 at the start of 1st. Then things took off. She's an N now. Her class has kids who started at a 4 and are still somewhere around a 10. |
Anonymous
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My child is very into Toon Books at the moment. There are three beginner levels. He can read level 1 and 2 independently, level 3 with help on certain words, and we read Magic Treehouse together, he reads a chapter, I read a chapter (which actually aren't that well written, but he's thrilled to have made it to chapter books). No idea about the grade level. |
Anonymous
This. Do not worry, OP. They review (read: briefly reteach) all the basic code spellings in the first few months of first grade. No matter what the kids did in K, some enter first reading above grade level, some need remediation, and teachers will work to bring any struggling readers up to grade level. I'm sure your child will be just fine! |
Anonymous
For a student to be be on grade level, MCPS expects reading levels 4-6 by the end of K, reading level 16 by the end of first grade, reading level M by the end of second grade, and reading level P by the end of third grade. http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/info/grading/GK%20Report%20Card.pdf As a PP suggests, you can Google books by reading level. Here, for example: http://www.benchmarkeducation.com/reading-level-conversion-chart.html The reading levels are not MCPS-specific. |
Anonymous
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The range for kindergarteners and 1st grade are so wide. If you are worry, just practice reading with her on a daily basis. If you can't do that, try to fit it in every other day.
Find the best time in the day to have her try to read to you. Go to the library and get the I CAN READ BOOKS or the ones that have level 1, 2, 3... on it. If you can't do that, get a list of the sight words (that the teacher passes out) and go through those and make sure she gets all those down. I just go online and search for common words in the English language and do cards or type them out or make sentences with them. Try to think outside the box about what words kids would come upon. And I make booklets for road trips. It can be as easy as just printing out word sheets from the web. I would say it's easier to do that than to teach math, which is not my strength when geometry kicks in. |