Post by circa1978 on Sept 29, 2016 21:41:25 GMT -5
We had parent-teacher conferences today and I was a little taken aback by some of the things they've already tested for (and my child failed).
Things they brought up that he had "failed" included not knowing the purpose of a question mark or comma (it literally never occurred to me to go over that with him, but I will and I'm sure he'll get it) and math problems like 4+3 (again, he understands the concepts of subtraction and addition and can do very simple sums but this is his sixth week of kindergarten). He can sound out basic words (cat, dog, pop) and has a few sight words but isn't "reading." He has many books memorized. He knows his right from left and can name any animal ever featured on Wild Kratts, LOL.
He draws stick figures and can write his name, the letters and all the numbers legibly, but the teacher said he has concerns about his fine motor skills. I walked away feeling like I have no idea what he's "supposed" to know. I thought he was totally on track and left feeling like he's way, way behind.
Things they brought up that he had "failed" included not knowing the purpose of a question mark or comma (it literally never occurred to me to go over that with him, but I will and I'm sure he'll get it) and math problems like 4+3 (again, he understands the concepts of subtraction and addition and can do very simple sums but this is his sixth week of kindergarten). He can sound out basic words (cat, dog, pop) and has a few sight words but isn't "reading." He has many books memorized. He knows his right from left and can name any animal ever featured on Wild Kratts, LOL.
My kindergartener knows none of this! They are working on letter recognition, counting, printing (letters and numbers), rhyming and JUST starting sight words (so far she's learned I and like)
?? My kid doesn't know any of this stuff, and they want to move her into a K-1 split because they're worried that she's bored. Maybe Canada has lower standards?
Post by dancelnow on Sept 29, 2016 21:47:13 GMT -5
A comma in kinder? No.
My kinder son may know a question mark, but that's recent. He understands the concepts of add and take away, but not the nomenclature really yet. He can count to 100, write his numbers at least to 20.
The big thing right now is improving writing, not just legible but correct size and starting points. I wish his teacher would correct his pencil grip more. And sounding out words. No regard to real spelling except their designated sight words. The rest she just wants to see sounded out (which is extra funny when your kid has a lisp and can't sound out L's)
David did not know a question mark or a comma beginning K. I also realized I failed to teach him sight words (oops! I figured "he'll learn that in kindergarten! lol) Whatever. Long story short, David did extremely well afterward. I think these standards are weird.
Post by circa1978 on Sept 29, 2016 21:53:42 GMT -5
This makes me feel slightly better. At one point I said that we'd never had any reason to think Henry wasn't on track and the teacher was like REALLY?
But, at the same time he said he thought Henry had a great chance of being successful in kindergarten and that he didn't suspect a delay. IDK. He also suggested maybe seeing a counselor because a lot of things Henry won't try. (ETA: We both kind of suspect anxiety there.)
I fucking want to put him back in the womb where things were easier.
This makes me feel slightly better. At one point I said that we'd never had any reason to think Henry wasn't on track and the teacher was like REALLY?
But, at the same time he said he thought Henry had a great chance of being successful in kindergarten and that he didn't suspect a delay. IDK. He also suggested maybe seeing a counselor because a lot of things Henry won't try. (ETA: We both kind of suspect anxiety there.)Â
I fucking want to put him back in the womb where things were easier.
The teachers are testing so they know where to start with each child. He doesn't know those things now, but he will. Don't sweat it.
Post by CrazyLucky on Sept 29, 2016 22:19:12 GMT -5
DS was just starting sight words, and definitely couldn't do math at this point in K. He did know punctuation though. Does anyone else have that Leap Frog game? It sings, over and over. "Punc punc punc punctuation. Punc punc punc punctuation. When there's a comma, you should pause for a beat. A period means that the sentence is complete." It's great. That song never gets on your nerves.
This is some serious bullshit. BULLSHIT. It is not appropriate AT ALL to be expecting 5 year olds to come in to kindergarten already knowing how to read. And how to use a comma? Are you fucking kidding me?? And are they expecting them to do 4+3 with use of manipulatives or just the number sentence? I mean either way, BULLSHIT. Most students don't know what the addition symbol even is yet!
These are some insane and definitely not age appropriate expectations. These kids were just learning how to sit on a toilet like 2 years ago, can we not give them a minute before we're demanding they read Hemmingway or some shit?
Your child sounds 100% fine and on track. You're doing a great job. The education system in the country doesn't know what it's doing.
Post by thatgirl2478 on Sept 29, 2016 22:49:33 GMT -5
Your kid sounds fine to me - my 5 yr old has been in K for a little over a month and doesn't know any of that stuff. They are working on letter recognition & sounds, printing, counting, writing numbers, and have about 8 sight words. I know that the testing they do on our K kids happens like 3 times during the year and again at the beginning of 1st (STAR I think is the program name). I have her report, but I basically looked at the total score, determined she was above what they consider 'average' and in the 'meeting expectations' range and called it a day.
I agree - it was so much easier when they were in the womb!
This makes me feel slightly better. At one point I said that we'd never had any reason to think Henry wasn't on track and the teacher was like REALLY?
But, at the same time he said he thought Henry had a great chance of being successful in kindergarten and that he didn't suspect a delay. IDK. He also suggested maybe seeing a counselor because a lot of things Henry won't try. (ETA: We both kind of suspect anxiety there.)Â
I fucking want to put him back in the womb where things were easier.
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Not trying to start shit but I might be pissed at this teacher if I were you....I mean, we are maybe a month into kindergarten? This all seems really... over the top. Like, we aren't prepping for the SAT's here.
We just had DD1's parent-teacher conference. She's also in K.
They haven't learned about commas or question marks, but have been learning about using capital letters at the start of sentences and ending sentences with a period.
As far as reading, the class breaks out into small groups arranged by level. I think they do this for other things as well, like letter, number, word, and sound recognition.The teacher also pairs up more advanced students with students who need a little more help.
DD1 is ahead of expectations, but she also did preschool and junior K through her daycare, which covered a lot of our district's K curriculum. The teacher mentioned that some students came in without any previous exposure to school, which is why they try to keep all levels engaged as best they can. It really sounds like you might have a teacher problem, not a kid problem.
Post by PeonyParty on Sept 29, 2016 23:37:25 GMT -5
We just had our conference today. She was tested on capital letters, lowercase, numbers to 20, and letter sounds. They have just started sight words, she has learned 4 of those. She needs to know 45 by the end of the school year. They say she should also be attempting to spell phonetically since they're learning about sounds and reading basics. Nothing about any punctuation. Hopefully those are just year end goals? Her teacher seemed pretty stoked she knew the above so I can't imagine your kids teacher should be shocked or somehow imply he is behind! That makes me mad.
There are full-grown adults who can't use a damn comma
Apparently, he's supposed to be able to say what it is for/how it is used. Thankfully, they didn't give him an AP style test or anything.
That's craziness! My daughter knows what a comma is, but not what it's used for (she's in 1st grade). She does know what the question mark is and what it's used for, but that's not usual for Kindergarten. That's pretty crazy that they expect your child to know that before they've really gotten into any instruction.
I will be honest and say that DS1 knows the stuff you mentioned (except maybe the comma); however, none of that is stuff I would have ever expected him to do at the beginning of K. He's an outlier for sure and just really into language/learning stuff and at his preschool (Montessori), they just let (pushed) him keep working farther and farther ahead. DS2 is going to a more traditional preschool, and I can guarantee that he WON'T know these things. And I'm not at all concerned about it.
Is this a first year teacher? Is he a parent? I ask because when I think back to the way I explained things to parents before I was a parent myself, I cringe. As a therapist, when I said, "he failed to do XYZ", it just meant that the child didn't do it. It didn't mean that I even expected him to do it, just that I asked the child to do something and he didn't. Nothing more. Now, as a parent, I understand that when a parent hears that, it sounds like "blah blah blah blah FFFFFFAAAAAAIIIIIILLLL blah blah blah your kid is going to really struggle with this blah blah FAILLLLLLL." So, I wouldn't worry at all at this point. I'd probably call the teacher and ask about what was meant by that and explain how you felt hearing it expressed in that way.
Also, DS preschool teacher thought he had fine motor issues, too. The issue was really that he just didn't feel like it. The more he had to write/color stuff, the better he was. He rarely colored at home because he just didn't like doing it (& I didn't care, since he was, you know, THREE!)...once he was doing it more frequently, he was just fine. I think it's great, however, that the teacher is keeping an eye on the students' fine motor skills.
I really wouldn't worry about it. I'm guessing that this is a case of poor wording on the teacher's part. These are NOT things that should be expected of a beginning K student. He's probably going over this in hopes of being able to look back at the end of the year and say, "SEE!!! Look at all that your child has learned in Kindergarten!!!" Yet he doesn't realize that as K parents, when we hear the word "can't" or "doesn't" or "fail", we can't help by worry.
Post by notasafeplace on Sept 30, 2016 0:04:06 GMT -5
We have parent teacher conferences coming in the next couple weeks and I'm so nervous. We got the "midterm progress report" last week and apparently my son is failing to meet academic standards.
He doesn't know sight words, can't consistently identify letters, can't count over 10, and can't write his name. Except...he can do all those things besides the sight words. So I think during the testing maybe he just froze?
So the teacher has started sending home these worksheets to be completed by the next week. He's supposed to do 5 pages per night! I think it crazy. I always though that was he stuff they would teach him, not that he needed to know it all before he got there.
So I feel like a shit parent but also like they have unrealistic expectations. 5 pages a night is crazy! But I do it because I don't want the teacher to think I don't care or for him to fall more behind.
Even though I don't feel like he's "behind" it really stung to read it in his first progress report.
This makes me feel slightly better. At one point I said that we'd never had any reason to think Henry wasn't on track and the teacher was like REALLY?
But, at the same time he said he thought Henry had a great chance of being successful in kindergarten and that he didn't suspect a delay. IDK. He also suggested maybe seeing a counselor because a lot of things Henry won't try. (ETA: We both kind of suspect anxiety there.)
I fucking want to put him back in the womb where things were easier.
Maybe he needs to see a counselor because they're expecting a KINDY kid to understand sentence structure and basic arithmetic..
That is a lot of pressure for a 5 year old.
And, ok.. I know I don't have kids.. But I was one once. Since when does a kid "FAIL" a semester of kindergarten in less than 2 months? That seems insane to me.
DS was just starting sight words, and definitely couldn't do math at this point in K. He did know punctuation though. Does anyone else have that Leap Frog game? It sings, over and over. "Punc punc punc punctuation. Punc punc punc punctuation. When there's a comma, you should pause for a beat. A period means that the sentence is complete." It's great. That song never gets on your nerves.
Non-mom who's nephews have this "darling" game- thanks for getting that endearing tune stuck in my head😜
OP: this non-mom is at a loss. I'm very close to two K teachers, & they have always maintained any testing done at the beginning of the year is/ should be for INITIAL placement. Not at all "skills child should know". Psh!! Was he serious with that?! Sorry man.
Post by broadsheet on Sept 30, 2016 4:57:29 GMT -5
We had DD1's kinder conference last night. They tested her on sight words, letter recognition and sounds, rhyming words and "blended words." She's ahead on most stuff but they haven't even begun to talk about punctuation, and she goes to a year-round school (so she's been in kinder 2.5 months already.)
I guess it is one of the trade offs of having a child on the Spectrum.
5 year old E has been reading for about a year, and has been counting objects (One-to-one correspondence) since age 2. However, he does have fine motor & gross motor delays. He knows "?" and "!" but I am not sure about "," - never thought to teach him that one.
He spent 1 school year in a Montessori school (started age 2) and then moved to public preschool. He had learned to count before starting school.
ETA: Over the past few months, he has started learning basic addition ie 1 +1 = 2. He confuses the minus sign with the addition sign.
This makes me feel slightly better. At one point I said that we'd never had any reason to think Henry wasn't on track and the teacher was like REALLY?
But, at the same time he said he thought Henry had a great chance of being successful in kindergarten and that he didn't suspect a delay. IDK. He also suggested maybe seeing a counselor because a lot of things Henry won't try. (ETA: We both kind of suspect anxiety there.)
I fucking want to put him back in the womb where things were easier.
That's ridiculous!! DS just started first grade and there were things last year that he wouldn't try. Reading and writing being two of them. It was because he didn't think he was good at them. Once we got him past this and got his self confidence up he started trying and advancing. Seeing a counselor is crazy. 6 year old kids don't like to do a lot of things they are asked to. No reason to see someone about it.
I'm also pretty sure my son still doesn't know what a comma is used for. In his beginning of year assessment last year he only recognized 23 of the 26 letters . He would have been sent back to preschool under those standards.
Is this some sort of standardized test they use for all K or just this teacher's test? Our K's all use a standardized test (PALS and another one) to assess where kids are. Those questions are way beyond what our tests assess.
Post by truckentruck on Sept 30, 2016 5:49:51 GMT -5
It would seem the teacher's word choice and delivery are the problem here. My guess is she gave some sort of assessment to see what students already know when they came in. I don't know of any kindergarten where this would be expected knowledge at the start of the year. "Failed" is a completely inappropriate term for her to use because I doubt any of that has been explicitly taught thus far.