Ready for Kindy?

[MsMe]

Are children entering Kindy suppose to be able to reconize all the ABC's?

I have 4 boys going in the Fall (and 1 to Pre-K) and all but 1 can tell me wich letter I am holding up (even the Pre-k boy) . For him I even do them in order (not tryign to 'trick' him.) I knew he could not do this last spring and we worked on it at storytime (as a group). With his August birthday there was a lot of talk about sending him to pre-k. They decided to send him to Kinder.
Now that it is one week before everyone heads to school we have been doing more ABC and 123 @ story time (we PLAY a lot in the Summer) I am so worried that he STILL can not tell me the letters!! (he only knows the ones in his name)

He also puts his shoes on the wrong feet everyday. I have tried to teach him a couple of differnt ways to tell right from left and it hasn't helped at all. He has a hard time even remembering what 'trick' i tough him to tell the differance.

He is very shy when asking me for anything, but speaks well when telling me a story. He often whines or cries when given the smallest direction.

Socialy he is great. He plays well, is very active and loud (not shy or meek like with adults) when he plays with the other children.

[SilverSabre25]

No, he does not *have* to be able to do it. That's one of the things that they teach in K. If he doesn't do well, the teachers/school will be on top of it.

[Lilbutterflie]

Well, he may not be completely ready; but I have to say that there were some children in my DDs kindy class that didn't know the ABC song, recognize any letters, etc... It was a long road for those kids, but they made it! There was a LOT of work done during kindy recognizing letters & learning their sounds, as well as learning the numbers and learning to write everything.

[Heidi]

He should go to kindergarten ready to learn; able to wait his turn, able to seperate from mom, understands the structure of being in a group (what comes next), and hopefully sitting still and focusing for a few minutes.

The rest he will get.

Oh..shoes on the wrong feet: Try drawing smiley's with big lips on the insides of the shoes with a sharpie. If they're smooching...they're on the right feet! Or...if you don't like the kissy-face thing, maybe little stick people that dance together....

[Blackcat31]

Here are some great printouts about Kindy readiness skills in all areas of development http://www.getreadytoread.org/images...n_handouts.pdf

[MsMe]

Thanks ladies. I took a class last year taught by a preschool teacher eho had taught Kindergarten for 15 years. She made the switch bc she said kids were expected to come into her Kindergarten class KNOWING all the things she was used to teaching her class (all letters, numbers, and letter sounds) She dropped down to teaching preschool and kept her same curiculum.

[Heidi]

Thanks ladies. I took a class last year taught by a preschool teacher eho had taught Kindergarten for 15 years. She made the switch bc she said kids were expected to come into her Kindergarten class KNOWING all the things she was used to teaching her class (all letters, numbers, and letter sounds) She dropped down to teaching preschool and kept her same curiculum.

Yes, many school districts have "pushed down" the 1st grade curriculum in order to keep up with "the rest of the world". ha!

Of course, the answer to that is that more and more people are waiting to enrol their child in kindergarten, because they are not ready.

In my unsolicited opinion, we are way on the wrong track with no-child-left-behind. They take the test in the fall, and get the results the following spring, just before school gets out. How does that help anyone? Most teachers I know think it's a huge waste of resources.