What basic skills do kids need when entering kindergarten? And do American youngsters possess those skills?
Despite a national trend that shows more children are attending preschool, it appears that fewer children are starting kindergarten with the basic skills needed to get them off to a good start.Kindergarten teacher Susan Ginsburg laments the fact that a growing number of pupils entering her class don't know how to write their own names. "And some of them can write the names, but they don't know the letters," said Ginsburg, who teaches at Hall School in Lincolnwood and who has been a kindergarten teacher for 20 years.
"I've seen a downward progression over the last 10 years," Ginsburg said.
The rest of the short article is equally anecdotal, but it's still disheartening to hear teachers explain that maybe parents just don't have the time to spend with their kids anymore. If not when the child needs to learn to read and speak and dress themselves, then when?
This article, on the other hand, suggests parents are becoming too concerned with kindergarten readiness, and that part of the problem could lie in rising standards:
The decision [of when to start kindergarten] is much more complicated these days because of increased academic standards and an innate sense that parents want their child to be able to succeed. Moms and dads must mull factors such as birth month, personality traits and gender in an attempt to make sure their kids are up to the task of the first year of public school.Being "ready" for kindergarten doesn't constitute what it used to mean, either. Remember the old poem, "All I ever needed to know, I learned in kindergarten," which espoused simple pleasures like naps, snacks and friendly socialization? Well, that could be changed to "All I ever needed to know I learned in pre-K class, because kindergarten just got tougher." These days, kids are expected to learn how to read, do basic math functions, have decent handwriting and essentially complete what used to be a first-grade curriculum in kindergarten, which makes it all the more critical that kids are ready.
I'm out of my league here, because I know next to nothing about this topic, but there's a whole website devoted to it, with lots of links, articles, and other resources. And I'd love to know what my Devoted Readers think.
Posted by kswygert at April 27, 2005 11:26 AM