Anonymous wrote:Why would a school system honestly believe it is not their job?
Honest question. I can understand that students don't need to read early, so not their job there. K is early. And not all will read in 1st.

Any FCPS teachers out there. Not your job in grades 1-2?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS K-1 did not teach reading here. I heard all.the.time. from parents "it's the parents job to teach, not the school."

Find a set of teacher "decoders." It's little phonics books that build on each other.

I should add, in Fairfax County, despite any parents feigning a lack of care or concern about academics, many do Kumon in hopes by 2nd grade they test high to be on track for AAP. So take others words who claim they don't care about K or 1 with caution.

Yes. Many will not publicly admit they take their kids to Kumon or wherever for after school math and reading instruction, but those places’ parking lots are full. The Kumon site in N Arlington also, which is full of APS students after school.

Anonymous wrote:I’m just now going through the same situation with my child in 2nd. We are now catching up by focusing on at home learning. We were caught off guard because everyone around us always took a low key approach and seemed fine with it.

Are there other similar deficiencies in public school or child development that I should be aware of? I would love to be tipped off by some more experienced parents so that we don’t miss other unspoken milestones. This experience has been eye opening to say the least.

Handwriting, phonics, typing, reading novels. That’s my list so far with an MCPS third grader.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS K-1 did not teach reading here. I heard all.the.time. from parents "it's the parents job to teach, not the school."

Find a set of teacher "decoders." It's little phonics books that build on each other.

I should add, in Fairfax County, despite any parents feigning a lack of care or concern about academics, many do Kumon in hopes by 2nd grade they test high to be on track for AAP. So take others words who claim they don't care about K or 1 with caution.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also reading at 4 confers no long term advantages to kids and may even set up bad habits if they are not ready

All the "studies" that claim the above only looked at Head Start" kids - who by definition live in deprived circumstances.

The quoted claim above is emphatically not true for UMC kids. Reading at age 3 or 4 is fairly normal for UMC kids and it conveys long term academic advantages.

Early childhood educator here. Reading at 3 or 4 is not fairly normal or even typical for UMC kids. Teaching kids to read at this age is usually developmentally inappropriate. Kids at 3 or 4 in preschool are focused on pre literacy skills, building letter awareness, and emergent writing skills. Sure, a lot of academic preschools do teach it (because rich parents expect it early) but that doesn’t make it developmentally appropriate. And please do cite your studies about long-term academic advantages. My guess is the many other benefits of being in an UMC household are the cause of those advantages, not the fact that those kids learned to read very very young.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also reading at 4 confers no long term advantages to kids and may even set up bad habits if they are not ready

All the "studies" that claim the above only looked at Head Start" kids - who by definition live in deprived circumstances.

The quoted claim above is emphatically not true for UMC kids. Reading at age 3 or 4 is fairly normal for UMC kids and it conveys long term academic advantages.

Anonymous wrote:Also reading at 4 confers no long term advantages to kids and may even set up bad habits if they are not ready

Anonymous wrote:FCPS K-1 did not teach reading here. I heard all.the.time. from parents "it's the parents job to teach, not the school."

Find a set of teacher "decoders." It's little phonics books that build on each other.

Anonymous wrote:If you or the nanny spend any reasonable amount of time with your kid at home, they'll learn to read with you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but most people do it before K. So then in K they can pick up whatever the school does teach.

My oldest was a covid K kid, and we homeschooled and then went to private for 1st and 2nd. He could read at age 4. Started my second in public K, but had learned to teach her before then. So, I can say that private schools are generally much better at teaching reading than public, but in both cases you should do it at home before starting K.

MOST people do NOT do this before K. You must live in some crazy DCUM bubble.

I mean maybe, but this is DCUM. Everyone I know taught their kids to read before K. Not everyone was fluent by K, but they had all gone through the bob books or whatever method they chose. If you live in the DC area and are not doing this you will be in the minority.

No, this is not true nowadays, the trend is much more towards play based for ages 0-5 and not forcing reading.

Agree, most in my circle didn't want their kids doing formal worksheets at preschool. They learned letters and sounds, they read with the teacher a lot, but it was mostly play based and social skills in preschool. We had Bob's books at home when she showed an interest in reading, but ended up not getting through them. She's doing great in K with a phonics based cirriculum and a good teacher. I do not prioritize early reading. We have been supplementing math at her teacher's suggetion.

My kid's play-based preschool had 10 minutes a day of "kindergarten preparation" for the 4 year olds. 90% of their day was play but they also learned letter identification and sounds and could sound out basic words by they end of that year. Also knew numbers to 20 and had practices writing both letters and numbers (which is a great way to work on fine motor skills and build up hand and wrist strength).

I was glad when we got to K. It was very academic and it helped a lot that DC had that basis. We didn't "prioritize early reading" but kindergarten readiness was absolutely important and didn't feel at all at odds with a play-based Reggio program. It's not like the kids were tested or graded on the academic instruction they were getting. It was a small time commitment that helped ensure they were familiar with some basics which I think then helped K go a lot better.

I have never understood why some people seem to think it's all or nothing. You can emphasize play and social skills for 0-5 but also incorporate fun activities that will help set them up for academic success in early elementary. 5-10 minutes a day of academics (even GASP worksheets which are actually fine if used in moderation and as long as the kids are game) for a few months is worth not having to struggle with reading in K and 1st. Why not make that a bit easier for your kid if you can?