What should a child know before begining kindergarten?

[Jezmom]

I am a preschool teacher and want to know what teachers think a child needs to know to be prepared for kindergarten.

[kat]

I always have to think about that question everytime it is asked. I teach kdg. What do I expect. When I first started teaching I thought, I get them first and so they don't knowneed to know "anything". I still kind of hold that position. But here is what is helpful : be able to seperate from mom, be able to sit and listen without interrupting to a story/lesson for 15 min., take care of toileting/dressing needs. It is helpful if they have an awareness of the alphabet (ie. sing the song, identify some), lots of experience with songs and rhymes, an awareness of number (rote count to 10, developing 1 to 1 correspondence when counting objects), some knowledge of basic shapes: circle, triangle, square, rectangle, lots of experience using crayons, pencils, scissors (draw, draw, draw; color, color, color; cut, cut, cut) It's really frustrating to me when given a large sheet of drawing paper they don't know what to do with it ("I can't/don't know how")

About the only thing I really wish they all knew well was how to write their names with first letter upper case, all others lower case (some learn to do it all uppercase, and that can be hard to break - it's their name and they are proud of it).

Hope this helps.

Where in Ark do you live? I'm in Clarksville.

[Jezmom]

I am in Conway. I think we have talked before. I have not posted in a long time. I am now working in a preschool,and the parents have been asked to hold their children back another year, due mostly to a lot of late birthdays(cut off date). Most are sending them anyway.

[kat]

Sorry, as soon as I posted that I thought I remembered that you lived in Conway. Nice to see you back on the boards.

[MaryL]

I agree with Kat. As a Kdg teacher, I also want my students to definately know how to print their first name, preferrably with first letter capitalized, and rest lowercase. This is such a hard habit to break! It is helpful if they've had experience of cutting, and gluing. "Ooey Gooey, One drop of Gluey!" LOL I like the children to be exposed to the alphabet, and at least name the letters in their name. (Can the children orally spell their name??) I always encourage parents to encourage creativity....there is more than one right way to make a project. Appreciating their attempts will make the children want to try the activity again.

[Jezmom]

Thanks so much kat and MaryL!!! It just seems like in my area that they expect a lot out of a 5 year old. We do have a program and want the children to learn while in our care, but they are still 3-5 year olds and we teach them on that level. One parent told me they (the school) would prefer for the children to be able to spell their first and last name, know all of the alphbet and things that I do not even think i knew in the second grade,LOL! We even have a boy that can say and indentify all of the states on a map, and they told his mom she needs to concider holding him back another year, because he doesn't seem ready. I am just venting, sorry. Do either of you have anything to add that you would tell a preschool teacher about what to do that would help better prepare the children? I know that MaryL said to let them be creative.

[MaryL]

Hope that they don't learn what an eraser is used for! LOL I always tell kids to "x" out something they don't like, and not to erase. In Kdg. I want to see all of their attempts and errors, and I don't want them to feel self-conscious about making them. I think "erasing" can start in 1st/2nd grade. IMHO

Give the children an environment rich in printed language. Even if the children can't read a poster, or a classroom rule chart (for example), they will understand it's purpose if you are reading it to them and referring to it

Start teaching left/right skills. It takes a while for the children to get the hang of it.

[Jezmom]

Thanks MaryL for the info!!!

[KarlaB]

Originally posted by kat


About the only thing I really wish they all knew well was how to write their names with first letter upper case, all others lower case (some learn to do it all uppercase, and that can be hard to break - it's their name and they are proud of it).



Can you help me?? :banghead: LOL!

When I first read this I was excited that ds (just turned 4) has been writing his name like this since we taught him. Well, in just the past few days he started writing his name with a mix of upper and lower case letters. So, how do I get him to go back to writing them lower case without making him feel bad that he's doing something wrong? He's so excited to be writing different letters - upper and lower case and to know how to do it in his name! Do I just leave it alone or do I try to correct it now since he just started doing it? I tried to explain that upper case letters go at the beginning of names and showed him a few examples... I don't want to discourage him, but if I could make it easier now for him and his teacher later that would be great! :) I'm not overly concerned, just want to know if there's anything I could/should do! TIA! :)

[MaryL]

Karla....

Sometimes giving them praise for their accomplishments, and a reminder of the "grown-up school kid" way to write his name will do the trick. ("Hey, great job writing your name! Remember that the grown up way is to make your first letter "big", and the other letters "small".")....or something similar!

Practice with shaving cream on the table...kids LOVE that and it gets your table sooooo clean!

[KarlaB]

Thanks Mary!! Love the suggestions and will definitely give them a try!!! :thumb:

[RCT]

but ds has had more trouble holding a crayon and pencil than anything and I wish someone had told me to get him more acclamated to writting instruments before kindergarden.....JMHO