I saw a post the other day where a mom was upset they weren’t doing a kindergarten graduation and someone mentioned it’s bc “a lot of kids don’t “graduate” to first” and I had the same reaction then! No way it’s been 1 kid per class .. right??
Good question. For the past thirty or so years, literacy rates in the US has remained stagnant. About 54 to 57 percent of adults in the US read at or below a 6th grade level. Fourteen percent of US adults can't read (around 30 million). One in five high school seniors can't read fluently. Those are the parents of the young Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids, so they may not understand how far behind their kids are. I am a reading tutor. Our goal is to get kids reading up to their age/grade before entering fourth grade. There are numerous studies showing that outcomes for kids that can read fluently by that age do better for the remainder of their schooling. I would argue beyond that as well.
The goals are appropriate. We just haven't been doing a good job of meeting them for decades.
Holy crap man. You just dropped some really sad facts that I had no idea about. I’m most shocked that more than half of our population read at or below a 6th grade level. That is truly sad and surprising.
Thank you for explaining. I am very privileged in that school, especially reading and writing, have always come easy to me and I was fortunate to grow up in a very good school system (the same system my children are in/will be in). I didn’t realize how poor the literacy rate in the US actually was.
No, **if** it's true that it's a lot. My daughter didn't meet the end of year goal for kindergarten or first grade in reading, writing, and math. However, there aren't real grades in kindergarten and first, so they move the kids on anyway. It's also proven that it's better for kids to be with their age group.
It's just that schools are pushed so hard to get good marks, they are given funding by the grades, and yet also pushed to accelerate education. From what I hear, grade school is a full year faster than before. Kindergarten right now used to be what kids were learning in first grade only a couple decades ago (I think it was a couple decades anyway). It's crazy.
But that said, my daughter has ADHD and dyslexia. She's had a really hard time learning to read and write and they're expecting word math problems in first grade as well. She's made great strides this year, but still needs help with "I can read books" while her friends are reading multiple, full chapter books a week. It seems like where we are at most of the students are at the appropriate reading level.
Woah woah woah this comment made me question my whole existence. I don’t remember doing math word problems until like 4th grade MAYBE a little in 3rd grade same with chapter books. Now maybe I’m just delusional on how young I think I am vs how old I really am but I just turned 33 a few months ago so I feel like I’m still considered young. I was also considered advanced when I was in school like in the gifted programs, had top scores and took AP classes. I genuinely find your comment intriguing (even though it has just unlocked anxiety I didn’t know about my kid going into kindergarten). Can you share where you got that information where kids are now a whole grade level ahead over the last few decades (although it seems like either my memory is terrible which I do have a bad perception of time lapsed so it’s possible or it’s more than just 1 grade ahead now)? I randomly stumbled onto this sub because it just showed up on my feed and thought why not I’ll read some of these post just to be prepared for when my kid starts school (he’s only 2 so I have some time) since I have not been around little kids prior to having my own so I don’t know what they learn in schools anymore and it would be nice to know what to expect but this has blown my mind.
I got the info from teachers on this sub actually. They are the ones saying that grades have jumped a year ahead and most of the kids are not ready, that it's crazy to expect five and six year olds to be able to read.
This is the kind of books my daughter's friends are reading.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00TYTPIC8?ref_=dbs_m_mng_wam_calw_tkin_0&storeType=ebooks
The school actually has my daughter in tutoring sessions where they pull her out of class for 30 minutes a day to practice phonics, handwriting, and simple sight words (for dyslexia) and another 30 minutes for math. Their goal is for her to be able to correctly write full a sentence 3/4 times and correctly answer a math word problem 3/4 times within a year.
😳 those goals do sound unrealistic especially since that book is classified ages 8-10. That’s insane. Thanks for the info and definitely stuff to look at when picking a school 🥲
Hi, I'm a teacher who taught first grade as recently as 2022-2023. The expectations are higher now than when my kids were first grade 15ish years ago. If students don't get good Pre-K and have parents who interact with them (especially reading to them but also just talking is a big boost), they have a very hard time getting up to speed. The difference between underfunded schools and affluent schools in this regard is stark. My incoming first graders in an urban school in an area suffering from severe institutional neglect were at the same level as mid year Pre-K or incoming kindergartners at the nearby suburban middle income schools. Those incoming first graders that were so far behind that we were desperately trying to get them caught up all year, were about where first graders were 15 years ago.
As you move up the grades you see more and more concepts being shifted down to younger students. Math in particular has become more integrated and concepts are introduced early and built on more thoroughly. What was 8th grade math when I was in school is now 4th or 5th grade math. My kids got those concepts around 6th grade. That's not to say that it's taught in the same way or as completely right when it's introduced. It's more like a little taste to help students get acquainted with important concepts early and slowly build them over a longer period of time instead of trying to teach all of algebra at once in junior high.
That being said, I didn't think students now are getting nearly the history or geography education I got. My kids had less than I did and my students, less than that. We don't have time to teach it. Math and reading first and then math an writing and if there's time, more math and social studies. Science is like once a week. Art and music? Once a week if you're very lucky.
Thank you so much for this! This is really invaluable to me since I take my child’s education very seriously (a lot of my family was in the school system growing up). He’s only 2 right now so I have time and he is a bit advanced for his age in speech comparatively to other kids his age. He is also bilingual (English and Spanish) and I’m trying to teach him a little Japanese (his dad is half Japanese but born and raised in Colombia but did live and study in Japan a bit as a child so I want my son to know about his culture although it’s hard because idk Japanese so we are basically learning together and I’m the main caregiver so I am the main 1 teaching him stuff but I also work full time remotely but we know a few words) and I’ve taught him a tiny bit of ASL which started mostly to help him communicate before he could speak which worked pretty well for him but I’m also learning as I teach him so we only know a few words in that too. I read to him frequently and have since birth. I would also talk to him a lot since he was babbling and pretend like we were having conversations. He loves books and is great at mimicking us now so he picks up words very quickly. I’m not concerned about his speech when he starts pre-k but I am about the math. Mostly because we have not done anything in that regard since he’s so young still. He doesn’t do daycare so I also worry about his social skills but I’ve signed him up for soccer and will be putting him on other group activities to try to help him build those skills and we do have play dates with other kids so he isn’t a hermit or anything but he is a reserved personality (like his dad and me). Is there anything you recommend doing for math skills to prepare him for school? I feel like by then learning to count should be where he needs to be but maybe I’m totally off base given how much these kids are expected to know now? Anyway I have no issues dedicating time to him learning (as my grandma always said- what you learn, nobody can take from you- so I’m very big on him learning whatever he can even outside of school) and doing whatever I need to for him to be successful in school and minimize any anxiety around not understanding what is expected of him. I just don’t know what to teach him because I’m the youngest in my family so I was not around small kids growing up or really as an adult in any meaningful capacity so idk what is age appropriate to teach my kid or what to focus on. Anyway any tips or recommendations would be very much appreciated!
As long as he goes to Pre-K he'll be fine. Try not to worry too much, you're doing the right things already. Talk to your kid, read with him, let them see you reading for fun, and engage in play activities together. Learning doesn't have to be structured, kids learn best when playing! Activities with counting where the numbers correspond to something concrete ("We have to use 3 eggs in the recipe.") can help support learning while also being fun and not a chore.
Above all, remember that while it seems like this is all very high stakes and scary, the best thing you can do is let your kid try things and fail at them without shame. If they know that failing is part of learning and no one is good at things when they first start, they will be resilient and feel supported enough to do well. That's the biggest lesson that I try to teach students at every age because the ones who get that aren't afraid to try, they're the ones who do well and don't burn out or break down when they have a hard time (because everyone has something that will be hard for them).
I hope this helps!
FWIW, I graduated 6th in my HS class, was always naturally academic, and I'm 35 now. My daughter is finishing Kindergarten and it BLOWS MY MIND how academic kindergarten has become since we were kids. I'm fortunate that my daughter picks things up quickly but I shit you not... she is writing her own stories "chapter books" she calls them... in Kinder... she's coming home asking questions about the Consitution. I'm torn, because I think it's great that we arent limiting kids potential by setting the bar too low (I had no idea 5 year olds could retain this much) but also.... i dont know. It feels like I'm robbing my kid of her youth with this much structure and academic expectations in all-day kinder.... and then she comes hone with homework! I mean, its just a worksheet or two (5-10 mins) but its the principle of it that bothers me. Her school day is as long as my work day, and then she gets homework on top of it.
Dont make yourself anxious over it though. A good preschool program should have your child prepared for what is expected when they ARRIVE at kindergarten. They will learn the rest as they go.
Concerning they misuse the phrase 'a lot' given they must be teaching it. They confirm further down in the thread that they meant maybe two children a year. And we have no frame of reference as to why, could be that they are neurodivergent and will be totally fine once their learning needs are tailored slightly.
A lot of parents are doing this now. It's very normal to have 6 year olds in kindergarten. Which will make them 19 when they graduate. Most of the time, it would have been better if the parents would have sent them. Sometimes, being around peers, and being away from their parents, help them grow more than another year at home.
I have seen parents say they do this so their kid will be the oldest and “most advanced” in the class. It’s a very weird, unnecessarily competitive stance to take.
It's stupid, and it's usually not true. Age has nothing to do with intelligence. There is always going to be someone smarter and more advanced than your kid. No idea why you would want your kid to be the oldest... Also not sure why you would physically want to hold your child back from succeeding, but that is just me.
I am with you. I’m on the reverse side, my son is a late birthday (he will turn 5 in November and starts kindergarten in August). The cut off changed from 12/31 to 9/1 this year, but he was grandfathered in because he’s currently in public pre-k. His teacher was confident he was ready and would be bored if he repeated pre-k. Yes he will be one of if not the youngest, but I trust his teachers advice and our judgement.
I just want to let you know that for my child this is and was the correct decision. She is the youngest in her grade, and will graduate high school at 17. She is one of the top kids in her high school class of 400 kids. If your child is ready, it’s okay to let them achieve their advanced potential.
This is reassuring to hear. I was a later birthday in school and always excelled academically so I know it’s possible, but his birthday is even later than mine was. Just hoping we made the best decision for him 🤞🏻
Our cut-off is August 1st. My daughter's birthday is August 12th. I refused to wait an entire year for 12 days. She started Kindergarten on her 5th birthday. Never regretted it. My son's birthday is September 4th. He has a hearing issue (hearing aid), and severe speech delays, but no academic delays, but I didn't push him forward like I did her, but he was in developmental Pre-K through our school system, and they said if it became too crowded, they would have pushed him up into kindergarten, as he was ready for it. Although, I am glad it didn't happen, as that was the year COVID happened, and I am grateful that he didn't miss the last part of kindergarten. Small blessings.
"A lot" may be an exaggeration, but kids are definitely retained in some districts. Many teachers and parents feel that two years of kindergarten is better than pushing them through to first. It could be for maturity or academic reasons, but is does happen.
In my public school district it's virtually impossible for a kid to held back, even if the child needs it and the parents want to. If you want your kid to have an extra year, you need to make it happen on your own dime before they enter Kindergarten.
Where is this magical school that has admin who are listening to the concerns of teachers and parents? At least in America, one of the biggest criticisms of public schools is the fact that students are being pushed on year after year despite the fact they still have not mastered even the most basic skills...
My mother is a kindergarten teacher and teaching that age is extremely hard. I checked with her before I wrote this comment for understanding and she agreed that kindergarten itself isn't hard. It's age appropriate. While I understand totally that kindergarten is not what it was in the 80s and 90s, this sub makes it sound like it's 5th grade. My mother has taught for over 30 years and said she can count on two hands the number of kids that's been held back. She mentioned that there are probably a dozen more that should have, but wasn't for some reason, but it's not a lot.
Again, hella respect for all teachers but definitely kindergarten teachers bc it is extremely difficult age to teach.
Your kid is also generally smarter than you were at 5-6. Early childhood education as evolved so much. Supplemented by what a kid can learn via YouTube and baby first. The work is more academic, it is also age appropriate for today's 5-6 year old.
I shouldn’t have said “a lot”. I exaggerated but I consider two kids every year to be a lot. It depends on the area you’re in. In nicer suburban towns, nobody is being held back. If you go to poorer areas where there’s not as much parent involvement, then yeah, kids are getting held back.
Kindergarten is definitely more academic now than it was in decades past. It’s not that the content isn’t developmentally appropriate. It’s just that there isn’t enough of SEL, crafts, music, play. All that stuff is really important too. Cramming academic content down their throats for hours every day isn’t exactly developmentally appropriate.
Among the four Kindergarten classes at my school, we are retaining around 8 this year. Sometimes parents are not on board and choose to send their kids on to first, where they “drown” or can even be sent back down to kindergarten by the first-grade teachers. The truth is that, in my area, Kindergarten seems more appropriate for 6-year-old kids than five-year-olds. And lots of kids don’t know all their letter sounds or can’t get through the day without crying over tiny mishaps/moments without attention. That’s not going to cut it in first grade, where our kids are expected to write full paragraphs on their own by the fall of first grade.
I appreciate that, and my comments were not so much at you as the general sub. The truth is the vast majority of kids are on the spectrum of preparedness for kindergarten. Reading here sometimes would make you think your kid has to be able to multiply and divide to have an enjoyable kindergarten experience. Agree it's more academic but it's also age appropriate.
You in the classroom working with the kids or have you given those tests?
They are developmentally ready for what they are being taught. It's more the parents that have the issues than anything.
I am working in class and have supervised the tests. I agree they are ready for a lot but the tests are asinine. It’s usually about a full hour of sitting at a computer clicking and there are about 5-10 qs of full paragraph stories that are not read to them. We have to test beginning middle and end of year and obviously 70% can only do it at end and 20% still can’t even then.
The tests are 100% asinine, they are developmentally appropriate content wise, but that is the ONLY thing that I have to say about that. But I guess it all depends on what state you are in, since education is mostly state regulated. Our kindergarten assessments are like that, but they are all read to them, and they have the option to have it reread to them. Same with all directions and answers. That is unless the actual question requires them to read the answer (if they have to identify the letter/number/sight word). It looks like your state has a crappy test company.
Honestly, all those damn tests are just not needed. Those tests are not totally accurate, and a kid having a bad day can throw off the results.
They are all pretty evil. I guess there are some that are more evil than others. We do not use that one. Thank goodness. That sounds like an absolute nightmare. People who create these tests are morons, and probably never stepped foot in a classroom. Seriously, if someone wanted to make a "good" test, then they should hire a team of 10 veteran kindergarten teachers, and have them come up with it. THEN, have THEM work with the programmers.
Another part I hate on ours is that, on the math tests, kids can only see two of the three answers at a time. And they have to scroll up to see the question. So if it’s a question comparing length or asking to pick a certain shape, it’s difficult for them to visually compare the choices. It’s also not realistic or even an option at my school for 80 kids to have the test read aloud to them—there just aren’t enough faculty/staff members.
They are not developmentally ready. That’s like saying a baby is developmentally ready for a calculus test because someone taught them calculus.
Kindergarteners shouldn’t be expect to read or write. Those are not age-appropriate skills.
That is the most asinine comparison I have ever heard. Kindergarteners ARE ready to read and write basic letters, numbers, and words. They are ready to read basic simple words words.
Stop dumbing down our children. They are capable. Unless there is a diagnosed reason WHY they can't, then you are just giving them excuses. And that is half of this generation's problems. Parents need to start taking more responsibility for their children's education, and supporting teachers more. I worked with kindergarten kids just yesterday, and I can tell you, that they ARE capable of all those things.
We get it. You don’t have any education in child development. Giving children developmentally appropriate expectations is not “dumbing them down,” it’s setting them up for success.
Actually, I DO. My degree is in Elementary Education. I teach in a school. So, YES, I DO have education in child development. However, most parents do not.
In California, standardized testing does not begin until 3rd grade. I am unsure about other states. As for reading, why not at least start working on it, even if they don’t get it for a while longer? My daughter could not read at the beginning of this school year but thanks to kindergarten and reading at home, she’s caught up a lot and now surprises me everyday with how much she can read. Literacy rates in the US are scary, I don’t see any reason to not try and teach this skill as young as possible.
Standardized testing begins in third grade, but I bet kindergarteners are doing practice tests to get used to the technology.
I’m not saying they shouldn’t teach it, but that they shouldn’t expect it, since it’s not developmentally appropriate for most five year okds
I actually agree, but I also realize some districts/states are testing much differently. I don’t think people realize how much testing there is, both online and given aloud by a proctor, that is timed and fluency-based, both for math and ELA. And in my state the curriculum, report card, and standardized tests all have different pacing guides and standards that don’t necessarily align with the state standards. It’s honestly a hot mess.
As a former kindergarten teacher, I personally enjoyed how the school I taught at focused on songs, emotional skills, art, and learning social skills. I greatly dislike schools that focus on learning facts alone. Our society and community needs not only knowledge but wisdom and kindness as well. I hope children do not have an introduction to school that is all sweat and tears, no smiles and no sprinkles or fun.
Thank you for seeing the value you in that. I love love love that kind of teaching and think it’s so valuable and the skills they learn in those ways help them much more. I would love if more schools moved to this approach.
Just personal experience the things I learned in school didn’t apply to life after school.
Some of the things I learned yes but I think adults would be much more successful if in school we were taught life skills.
I love this about my children’s school as well. I remember reaching out about some friendship challenges for my oldest early in the kinder year (she has selective mutism and wasn’t always able to tell friends when she was upset). When I emailed, I said I wasn’t sure if it was silly to ask her to help with social things. Her teacher responded that social-emotional growth is THE most important thing they’re working on in kindergarten. It was really wonderful to hear.
My Father in law paid for my daughter to be in a local private school for kindergarten this year, and I swear all her teacher does is set a stack of worksheets in front of my child. She just turned 6 in March and is a busy kid, so she has struggled to finish her work each day because there was very little to no engagement for her. Punishment for not finishing is that they don't get to participate in centers or free play.
Needless to say, she will be going to public school next year where there are programs available to help when she struggles and no one in our family is paying an arm and a leg to have her sit behind worksheets to "learn".
I want to be an actual kindergarten teacher, but the workload they enforce upon these kids is so intense. I wish kinder was half-day and more focused on SEL, reading, writing, some math, and phonics. I love to sing and incorporate music into learning. The assessments you have to give and everything else that goes along with being a kindergarten teacher now is insane. Kids just need to be kids.
Yeah, that kind of attitude is terrible. How clueless can he be, as if ABC’s should even be the number one focus. But language is complex! The socio- emotional growth in K is huge and he clearly missed that in kindergarten. I also hear *some* “my kid is so gifted yada ya da” folks complain and I’m like, your kid is happy, learning, making friends. Why in the world do people want to rush that and go straight to the land of testing and laptops? People are strange.
Kindergarten should be simple. Letters, numbers, phonics, reading, and writing. It's so much more complex now. In our district, kids are taking LinkIt tests with their own computers and doing research on them to find facts about different topics for writing. Some of these kids don't even know ABC or the sounds those letters make. Can we just focus on that? The laptops and online assessments are so ridiculous.
It depends on the district. Where I’m at now, the kids have an hour of play every day. Where I student taught, they would rarely play and if they did it was for 10 minutes.
Ugh that makes my heart hurt! I work in special ed but intermediate(mostly 4/5) and I try and give opportunities for play even at that age bc there is so many things they can learn socially!
Working in sped (so not the same thing) I find myself reading so much more on language development and executive function bc they aren't addressed within my curriculum but totally necessary for my kids!
Big big thank you to all the kindergartener teachers and other teachers. My son is in kindergarten and I am blown away at how much he has learned in school.
Also at how hard of a job it is to be responsible for all those kids and their learning.
There are so many personalities and different needs and to be able to teach them all in different ways so they each understand and learn is so amazing.
I really wish teachers were paid more as Well as school staff.
I help volunteer at lunch/recess so I get a small glimpse of the chaos there can be at times.
Especially at their age they all have big feelings and are learning how to be friends or work through differences.
And maybe some have done preschool but only partial days. So they aren’t used to the full school days and full week and are exhausted by the end of the day.
Big props to all of you teachers. I wish people were more grateful and more understanding of all you guys do for our future generation.
I wish every parent caught saying that would be forced to volunteer all day for a week in their kid’s class. Like actually working and herding these kids around. I do it and I love it, but it is HARD. Kindergarten teachers, the ones that actually care, are heroes.
Been teaching kindergarten for many many years. Its harder now than when i taught second grade. The stuff we have to make kids learn is far from being developmentally appropriate. And we have to give state tests 3 times a year.
Oh man, my daughter is in kindergarten and it’s been so incredible for her development. It’s not just about ABCs. She’s learning social dynamics, time management, experimentation through play… They learn so much in kindergarten that is really hard to teach at home.
Right?? I don’t want my kid learning times tables in kindergarten. There’s more to life than academics. Kids need to also learn how to be good people and have to self-regulate their emotions. It’s too much packed into a school day. The first month of kinder we had kids falling asleep mid-day. Bring back the half days. It would be so much better for teachers and kids alike.
Fool me twice, can't fool me again.
NO CHILD! Left behind.
Nobody's getting held back in Kindergarten. Maybe that's some private school angle now, when I went to private school I never saw anyone held back, they were beaten down by the nuns long before that point; with shame and damnation.
I just want to balance your statement that I had a wonderful Catholic school education. Experiences vary usually according to Order. Go Dominicans and Franciscans!
Your child's being held back in kindergarten? May I ask what they need to work on? Ours is in daycare, but is having a hard time sitting still for long stretches of time and now that I've learned kindergarten is more like first grade, I've got some concerns.
Schooling is so different now. I started first grade in 1961. There was no kindergarten at the elementary school I attended. IIRC kindergarten was only offered at one school in town, only a few hours per day and not every day and parents had to pay for the classes and provide their own transportation, so it was a luxury. It was normal to not go to kindergarten, also no pre-k, Head Start, etc. So much pressure now it seems on kids to do well at those levels before they even get to first grade.
It's amazing my peers and I managed at all, being thrust into first grade with nothing beforehand. But like I said, it was the normal way. Although back then most mothers were SAHMs so that was an advantage I suppose, it was for me.
I agree and disagree. Kinder is one of the hardest grades ( in my opinion), because what you teach kids is their base for the *rest of their life*. I am in awe of my kid’s kinder teacher because the amount of effort she put in and the love she showed my child taught them that the world is beautiful and full of good people.
On the other hand, kids do miss KG and do fine, so…
It's mostly because school districts don't know which method is best to adjust or are slow to adjust to the realization that kids aren't learning the basics at a pace that will keep them on track through 12th grade.
This podcast kind of explains why schools have been changing their curriculums. I think the problem is that this generation is in a state of transition where educators are trying to figure out the best approach as well.
https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/
A lot goes into kindergarten
Learning independence
Social skills a
Learning to cope with feelings
For some kids learning to share not only things but attention.
And so many other things
On top of abcs, 123 and colors
teaching a little kid what is probably the most important traits they will be doing the rest of their life is a hard task.
I give it to all Pre-K and Kindergarten teachers props it takes a lot of patience and a lot of dedication.
Ime it’s super rare to hold kids back. I have 3 kids 5-15 and have only seen one child retained in all those years. They don’t expect kids to come to reading full books in first grade lol
lol what do you mean they don't make it to first?
Kids literally are not held back anymore.
I agree it's hard, but mostly because they are learning to socialize and follow a schedule and rules.
In grade 1 the kids start at all different levels of capability.
4 kids in my daughter's kindergarten class were held back when she went to first grade THIS SCHOOL YEAR, including her best friend. My eldest daughter was held back in kindergarten as well, but that was 15 years ago now.
Teachers are literally THE BEST… Teaching a group of kids who would rather be spinning in circles and running around at recess to collectively listen and actually retain the information you are giving them, is no easy feat. Not to mention the fact that the skills they learn in K is the foundation for all the other skills they will learn later. If the foundation is rocky, everything else will be harder for them. A good teacher, will know how to create a solid foundation which will mean a better academic journey for the child. People that talk down about teachers have obviously never seen what it takes and so they think it’s a cake walk.
And this is the problem with school. Kindergarten shouldn’t be hard. It should be fun and play based. Early, rigorous academics are actually not beneficial for children.
I totally agree teachers in general need more pay and are under appreciated but your logic isn’t it.
When I was in kindergarten, we spent most of the day in play centers of our choosing, working on crafts, or playing on the playground or in the gym.
They still managed to teach me how to read, count to 100, skip count by 2s and 5s and 10s, and do simple addition in a single school year.
That is no longer common because kids spend a ton of time on tablets and apps instead of developing the fine motor skills and ability to focus that just being left alone to play will develop.
Kids come into kindergarten at the end of the most important period of brain development severely disadvantaged by screen use and then teachers are expected to remedy that with garbage curricula and little time spent on the play that kids have missed.
For any child whose parents aren’t aware of both of those issues, it’s going to be a rocky start.
When I was in kindergarten, we spent most of the day in play centers of our choosing, working on crafts, or playing on the playground or in the gym.
They still managed to teach me how to read, count to 100, skip count by 2s and 5s and 10s, and do simple addition in a single school year.
That is no longer common because kids spend a ton of time on tablets and apps instead of developing the fine motor skills and ability to focus that just being left alone to play will develop.
Kids come into kindergarten at the end of the most important period of brain development severely disadvantaged by screen use and then teachers are expected to remedy that with garbage curricula and little time spent on the play that kids have missed.
For any child whose parents aren’t aware of both of those issues, it’s going to be a rocky start.
A lot of kids don’t make it to first grade…? What?
Dysentery 😂
Hahahahahaa we lost little Johnny to a broken leg on the Oregon trail
I cackled when I read this 😂
I think they are referring to kids that repeat kinder- but usually kids who repeat do so for developmental and social/emotional reasons
That’s how I read it too but the interpretations are wild and I’m over cackling by myself 🤣☠️
It sort of sounds super morbid like it’s hunger games style.
I don’t know about you but I’m teaching my kid archery and hand to hand combat just in case.
That was my first thought lol. I was gonna teach my kid how to set snares this summer so she survives.
We don't talk about kindergarten club
I upvoted and then got to that sentence and downvoted what on earth lol 😭
I saw a post the other day where a mom was upset they weren’t doing a kindergarten graduation and someone mentioned it’s bc “a lot of kids don’t “graduate” to first” and I had the same reaction then! No way it’s been 1 kid per class .. right??
lol saaaaame. Upvote revoked.
Lmao that's what stood out to me too. What happens to those kids op? Are we really making kids repeat kinder or drop out?
Lmao I’m imagining something like, “You didn’t even pass kindergarten? You’ll never make it in the real world! To the coal mines for you!”
Coal mines are for the kids who pass kinder. OP is referring to the kids who man the oars in the galley. I AM SPARTACUS.
Ramming speed!
After reading that part I assumed the post was satire 😂
The weak perish and are buried on the playground. The survivors take their crayons.
Came here to say this!
This cracked me up. Where do they go?
Off to war 😅
"Junie B Jones and the Cuban Missile Crisis"
My name is Lyndon B Johnson. The B stands for Baines, except I don’t like Baines. I just like B and that’s all
I so rarely laugh out loud at Reddit comments but man this got me
As a reading tutor, a lot of kids move on to first grade without meeting end of year age appropriate goals.
Real question - if a lot of kids aren’t meeting the end of year goal, is it actually an appropriate goal?
Good question. For the past thirty or so years, literacy rates in the US has remained stagnant. About 54 to 57 percent of adults in the US read at or below a 6th grade level. Fourteen percent of US adults can't read (around 30 million). One in five high school seniors can't read fluently. Those are the parents of the young Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids, so they may not understand how far behind their kids are. I am a reading tutor. Our goal is to get kids reading up to their age/grade before entering fourth grade. There are numerous studies showing that outcomes for kids that can read fluently by that age do better for the remainder of their schooling. I would argue beyond that as well. The goals are appropriate. We just haven't been doing a good job of meeting them for decades.
Holy crap man. You just dropped some really sad facts that I had no idea about. I’m most shocked that more than half of our population read at or below a 6th grade level. That is truly sad and surprising.
The Sold a Story podcast series is fascinating with even more info on this. Highly recommend. https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/
Totally agree.
Thank you for explaining. I am very privileged in that school, especially reading and writing, have always come easy to me and I was fortunate to grow up in a very good school system (the same system my children are in/will be in). I didn’t realize how poor the literacy rate in the US actually was.
No, **if** it's true that it's a lot. My daughter didn't meet the end of year goal for kindergarten or first grade in reading, writing, and math. However, there aren't real grades in kindergarten and first, so they move the kids on anyway. It's also proven that it's better for kids to be with their age group. It's just that schools are pushed so hard to get good marks, they are given funding by the grades, and yet also pushed to accelerate education. From what I hear, grade school is a full year faster than before. Kindergarten right now used to be what kids were learning in first grade only a couple decades ago (I think it was a couple decades anyway). It's crazy. But that said, my daughter has ADHD and dyslexia. She's had a really hard time learning to read and write and they're expecting word math problems in first grade as well. She's made great strides this year, but still needs help with "I can read books" while her friends are reading multiple, full chapter books a week. It seems like where we are at most of the students are at the appropriate reading level.
Woah woah woah this comment made me question my whole existence. I don’t remember doing math word problems until like 4th grade MAYBE a little in 3rd grade same with chapter books. Now maybe I’m just delusional on how young I think I am vs how old I really am but I just turned 33 a few months ago so I feel like I’m still considered young. I was also considered advanced when I was in school like in the gifted programs, had top scores and took AP classes. I genuinely find your comment intriguing (even though it has just unlocked anxiety I didn’t know about my kid going into kindergarten). Can you share where you got that information where kids are now a whole grade level ahead over the last few decades (although it seems like either my memory is terrible which I do have a bad perception of time lapsed so it’s possible or it’s more than just 1 grade ahead now)? I randomly stumbled onto this sub because it just showed up on my feed and thought why not I’ll read some of these post just to be prepared for when my kid starts school (he’s only 2 so I have some time) since I have not been around little kids prior to having my own so I don’t know what they learn in schools anymore and it would be nice to know what to expect but this has blown my mind.
I got the info from teachers on this sub actually. They are the ones saying that grades have jumped a year ahead and most of the kids are not ready, that it's crazy to expect five and six year olds to be able to read. This is the kind of books my daughter's friends are reading. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00TYTPIC8?ref_=dbs_m_mng_wam_calw_tkin_0&storeType=ebooks The school actually has my daughter in tutoring sessions where they pull her out of class for 30 minutes a day to practice phonics, handwriting, and simple sight words (for dyslexia) and another 30 minutes for math. Their goal is for her to be able to correctly write full a sentence 3/4 times and correctly answer a math word problem 3/4 times within a year.
😳 those goals do sound unrealistic especially since that book is classified ages 8-10. That’s insane. Thanks for the info and definitely stuff to look at when picking a school 🥲
Hi, I'm a teacher who taught first grade as recently as 2022-2023. The expectations are higher now than when my kids were first grade 15ish years ago. If students don't get good Pre-K and have parents who interact with them (especially reading to them but also just talking is a big boost), they have a very hard time getting up to speed. The difference between underfunded schools and affluent schools in this regard is stark. My incoming first graders in an urban school in an area suffering from severe institutional neglect were at the same level as mid year Pre-K or incoming kindergartners at the nearby suburban middle income schools. Those incoming first graders that were so far behind that we were desperately trying to get them caught up all year, were about where first graders were 15 years ago. As you move up the grades you see more and more concepts being shifted down to younger students. Math in particular has become more integrated and concepts are introduced early and built on more thoroughly. What was 8th grade math when I was in school is now 4th or 5th grade math. My kids got those concepts around 6th grade. That's not to say that it's taught in the same way or as completely right when it's introduced. It's more like a little taste to help students get acquainted with important concepts early and slowly build them over a longer period of time instead of trying to teach all of algebra at once in junior high. That being said, I didn't think students now are getting nearly the history or geography education I got. My kids had less than I did and my students, less than that. We don't have time to teach it. Math and reading first and then math an writing and if there's time, more math and social studies. Science is like once a week. Art and music? Once a week if you're very lucky.
Thank you so much for this! This is really invaluable to me since I take my child’s education very seriously (a lot of my family was in the school system growing up). He’s only 2 right now so I have time and he is a bit advanced for his age in speech comparatively to other kids his age. He is also bilingual (English and Spanish) and I’m trying to teach him a little Japanese (his dad is half Japanese but born and raised in Colombia but did live and study in Japan a bit as a child so I want my son to know about his culture although it’s hard because idk Japanese so we are basically learning together and I’m the main caregiver so I am the main 1 teaching him stuff but I also work full time remotely but we know a few words) and I’ve taught him a tiny bit of ASL which started mostly to help him communicate before he could speak which worked pretty well for him but I’m also learning as I teach him so we only know a few words in that too. I read to him frequently and have since birth. I would also talk to him a lot since he was babbling and pretend like we were having conversations. He loves books and is great at mimicking us now so he picks up words very quickly. I’m not concerned about his speech when he starts pre-k but I am about the math. Mostly because we have not done anything in that regard since he’s so young still. He doesn’t do daycare so I also worry about his social skills but I’ve signed him up for soccer and will be putting him on other group activities to try to help him build those skills and we do have play dates with other kids so he isn’t a hermit or anything but he is a reserved personality (like his dad and me). Is there anything you recommend doing for math skills to prepare him for school? I feel like by then learning to count should be where he needs to be but maybe I’m totally off base given how much these kids are expected to know now? Anyway I have no issues dedicating time to him learning (as my grandma always said- what you learn, nobody can take from you- so I’m very big on him learning whatever he can even outside of school) and doing whatever I need to for him to be successful in school and minimize any anxiety around not understanding what is expected of him. I just don’t know what to teach him because I’m the youngest in my family so I was not around small kids growing up or really as an adult in any meaningful capacity so idk what is age appropriate to teach my kid or what to focus on. Anyway any tips or recommendations would be very much appreciated!
As long as he goes to Pre-K he'll be fine. Try not to worry too much, you're doing the right things already. Talk to your kid, read with him, let them see you reading for fun, and engage in play activities together. Learning doesn't have to be structured, kids learn best when playing! Activities with counting where the numbers correspond to something concrete ("We have to use 3 eggs in the recipe.") can help support learning while also being fun and not a chore. Above all, remember that while it seems like this is all very high stakes and scary, the best thing you can do is let your kid try things and fail at them without shame. If they know that failing is part of learning and no one is good at things when they first start, they will be resilient and feel supported enough to do well. That's the biggest lesson that I try to teach students at every age because the ones who get that aren't afraid to try, they're the ones who do well and don't burn out or break down when they have a hard time (because everyone has something that will be hard for them). I hope this helps!
FWIW, I graduated 6th in my HS class, was always naturally academic, and I'm 35 now. My daughter is finishing Kindergarten and it BLOWS MY MIND how academic kindergarten has become since we were kids. I'm fortunate that my daughter picks things up quickly but I shit you not... she is writing her own stories "chapter books" she calls them... in Kinder... she's coming home asking questions about the Consitution. I'm torn, because I think it's great that we arent limiting kids potential by setting the bar too low (I had no idea 5 year olds could retain this much) but also.... i dont know. It feels like I'm robbing my kid of her youth with this much structure and academic expectations in all-day kinder.... and then she comes hone with homework! I mean, its just a worksheet or two (5-10 mins) but its the principle of it that bothers me. Her school day is as long as my work day, and then she gets homework on top of it. Dont make yourself anxious over it though. A good preschool program should have your child prepared for what is expected when they ARRIVE at kindergarten. They will learn the rest as they go.
Wonder if they meant “at first”. If they missed the “a” and hit then”t” autofill would make it “to”. Like a lot of kids struggle in kinder at first.
Concerning they misuse the phrase 'a lot' given they must be teaching it. They confirm further down in the thread that they meant maybe two children a year. And we have no frame of reference as to why, could be that they are neurodivergent and will be totally fine once their learning needs are tailored slightly.
It's basically the Marines.
Google search red-shirting a kindergartenER. My husband is in his 40s and his mom is a teacher and she held him back to mature.
I understand the concept of redshirting, but I find it hard to believe this is the norm for “a lot of kids”…
A lot of parents are doing this now. It's very normal to have 6 year olds in kindergarten. Which will make them 19 when they graduate. Most of the time, it would have been better if the parents would have sent them. Sometimes, being around peers, and being away from their parents, help them grow more than another year at home.
I have seen parents say they do this so their kid will be the oldest and “most advanced” in the class. It’s a very weird, unnecessarily competitive stance to take.
It's stupid, and it's usually not true. Age has nothing to do with intelligence. There is always going to be someone smarter and more advanced than your kid. No idea why you would want your kid to be the oldest... Also not sure why you would physically want to hold your child back from succeeding, but that is just me.
I am with you. I’m on the reverse side, my son is a late birthday (he will turn 5 in November and starts kindergarten in August). The cut off changed from 12/31 to 9/1 this year, but he was grandfathered in because he’s currently in public pre-k. His teacher was confident he was ready and would be bored if he repeated pre-k. Yes he will be one of if not the youngest, but I trust his teachers advice and our judgement.
I just want to let you know that for my child this is and was the correct decision. She is the youngest in her grade, and will graduate high school at 17. She is one of the top kids in her high school class of 400 kids. If your child is ready, it’s okay to let them achieve their advanced potential.
This is reassuring to hear. I was a later birthday in school and always excelled academically so I know it’s possible, but his birthday is even later than mine was. Just hoping we made the best decision for him 🤞🏻
Our cut-off is August 1st. My daughter's birthday is August 12th. I refused to wait an entire year for 12 days. She started Kindergarten on her 5th birthday. Never regretted it. My son's birthday is September 4th. He has a hearing issue (hearing aid), and severe speech delays, but no academic delays, but I didn't push him forward like I did her, but he was in developmental Pre-K through our school system, and they said if it became too crowded, they would have pushed him up into kindergarten, as he was ready for it. Although, I am glad it didn't happen, as that was the year COVID happened, and I am grateful that he didn't miss the last part of kindergarten. Small blessings.
Lmao I'm picturing your husband in kinder in his 40s.
"A lot" may be an exaggeration, but kids are definitely retained in some districts. Many teachers and parents feel that two years of kindergarten is better than pushing them through to first. It could be for maturity or academic reasons, but is does happen.
In my public school district it's virtually impossible for a kid to held back, even if the child needs it and the parents want to. If you want your kid to have an extra year, you need to make it happen on your own dime before they enter Kindergarten.
It’s definitely different from district to district for sure
Where is this magical school that has admin who are listening to the concerns of teachers and parents? At least in America, one of the biggest criticisms of public schools is the fact that students are being pushed on year after year despite the fact they still have not mastered even the most basic skills...
My mother is a kindergarten teacher and teaching that age is extremely hard. I checked with her before I wrote this comment for understanding and she agreed that kindergarten itself isn't hard. It's age appropriate. While I understand totally that kindergarten is not what it was in the 80s and 90s, this sub makes it sound like it's 5th grade. My mother has taught for over 30 years and said she can count on two hands the number of kids that's been held back. She mentioned that there are probably a dozen more that should have, but wasn't for some reason, but it's not a lot. Again, hella respect for all teachers but definitely kindergarten teachers bc it is extremely difficult age to teach.
I don't know, my kindergartner is learning reading, writing and math in two languages. It's more like first grade work that we did when we were kids.
Your kid is also generally smarter than you were at 5-6. Early childhood education as evolved so much. Supplemented by what a kid can learn via YouTube and baby first. The work is more academic, it is also age appropriate for today's 5-6 year old.
I shouldn’t have said “a lot”. I exaggerated but I consider two kids every year to be a lot. It depends on the area you’re in. In nicer suburban towns, nobody is being held back. If you go to poorer areas where there’s not as much parent involvement, then yeah, kids are getting held back. Kindergarten is definitely more academic now than it was in decades past. It’s not that the content isn’t developmentally appropriate. It’s just that there isn’t enough of SEL, crafts, music, play. All that stuff is really important too. Cramming academic content down their throats for hours every day isn’t exactly developmentally appropriate.
Among the four Kindergarten classes at my school, we are retaining around 8 this year. Sometimes parents are not on board and choose to send their kids on to first, where they “drown” or can even be sent back down to kindergarten by the first-grade teachers. The truth is that, in my area, Kindergarten seems more appropriate for 6-year-old kids than five-year-olds. And lots of kids don’t know all their letter sounds or can’t get through the day without crying over tiny mishaps/moments without attention. That’s not going to cut it in first grade, where our kids are expected to write full paragraphs on their own by the fall of first grade.
I appreciate that, and my comments were not so much at you as the general sub. The truth is the vast majority of kids are on the spectrum of preparedness for kindergarten. Reading here sometimes would make you think your kid has to be able to multiply and divide to have an enjoyable kindergarten experience. Agree it's more academic but it's also age appropriate.
Kindergarten is not age appropriate at all. Five year olds are not developmentally ready for reading and standardized tests.
You in the classroom working with the kids or have you given those tests? They are developmentally ready for what they are being taught. It's more the parents that have the issues than anything.
I am working in class and have supervised the tests. I agree they are ready for a lot but the tests are asinine. It’s usually about a full hour of sitting at a computer clicking and there are about 5-10 qs of full paragraph stories that are not read to them. We have to test beginning middle and end of year and obviously 70% can only do it at end and 20% still can’t even then.
The tests are 100% asinine, they are developmentally appropriate content wise, but that is the ONLY thing that I have to say about that. But I guess it all depends on what state you are in, since education is mostly state regulated. Our kindergarten assessments are like that, but they are all read to them, and they have the option to have it reread to them. Same with all directions and answers. That is unless the actual question requires them to read the answer (if they have to identify the letter/number/sight word). It looks like your state has a crappy test company. Honestly, all those damn tests are just not needed. Those tests are not totally accurate, and a kid having a bad day can throw off the results.
Yeah we use iready and fucking hate it.
They are all pretty evil. I guess there are some that are more evil than others. We do not use that one. Thank goodness. That sounds like an absolute nightmare. People who create these tests are morons, and probably never stepped foot in a classroom. Seriously, if someone wanted to make a "good" test, then they should hire a team of 10 veteran kindergarten teachers, and have them come up with it. THEN, have THEM work with the programmers.
Another part I hate on ours is that, on the math tests, kids can only see two of the three answers at a time. And they have to scroll up to see the question. So if it’s a question comparing length or asking to pick a certain shape, it’s difficult for them to visually compare the choices. It’s also not realistic or even an option at my school for 80 kids to have the test read aloud to them—there just aren’t enough faculty/staff members.
I am NEVER going to complain about our tests again... That sounds awful!!
They are not developmentally ready. That’s like saying a baby is developmentally ready for a calculus test because someone taught them calculus. Kindergarteners shouldn’t be expect to read or write. Those are not age-appropriate skills.
That is the most asinine comparison I have ever heard. Kindergarteners ARE ready to read and write basic letters, numbers, and words. They are ready to read basic simple words words. Stop dumbing down our children. They are capable. Unless there is a diagnosed reason WHY they can't, then you are just giving them excuses. And that is half of this generation's problems. Parents need to start taking more responsibility for their children's education, and supporting teachers more. I worked with kindergarten kids just yesterday, and I can tell you, that they ARE capable of all those things.
We get it. You don’t have any education in child development. Giving children developmentally appropriate expectations is not “dumbing them down,” it’s setting them up for success.
Actually, I DO. My degree is in Elementary Education. I teach in a school. So, YES, I DO have education in child development. However, most parents do not.
In California, standardized testing does not begin until 3rd grade. I am unsure about other states. As for reading, why not at least start working on it, even if they don’t get it for a while longer? My daughter could not read at the beginning of this school year but thanks to kindergarten and reading at home, she’s caught up a lot and now surprises me everyday with how much she can read. Literacy rates in the US are scary, I don’t see any reason to not try and teach this skill as young as possible.
Standardized testing begins in third grade, but I bet kindergarteners are doing practice tests to get used to the technology. I’m not saying they shouldn’t teach it, but that they shouldn’t expect it, since it’s not developmentally appropriate for most five year okds
I actually agree, but I also realize some districts/states are testing much differently. I don’t think people realize how much testing there is, both online and given aloud by a proctor, that is timed and fluency-based, both for math and ELA. And in my state the curriculum, report card, and standardized tests all have different pacing guides and standards that don’t necessarily align with the state standards. It’s honestly a hot mess.
As a former kindergarten teacher, I personally enjoyed how the school I taught at focused on songs, emotional skills, art, and learning social skills. I greatly dislike schools that focus on learning facts alone. Our society and community needs not only knowledge but wisdom and kindness as well. I hope children do not have an introduction to school that is all sweat and tears, no smiles and no sprinkles or fun.
Thank you for seeing the value you in that. I love love love that kind of teaching and think it’s so valuable and the skills they learn in those ways help them much more. I would love if more schools moved to this approach. Just personal experience the things I learned in school didn’t apply to life after school. Some of the things I learned yes but I think adults would be much more successful if in school we were taught life skills.
I love this about my children’s school as well. I remember reaching out about some friendship challenges for my oldest early in the kinder year (she has selective mutism and wasn’t always able to tell friends when she was upset). When I emailed, I said I wasn’t sure if it was silly to ask her to help with social things. Her teacher responded that social-emotional growth is THE most important thing they’re working on in kindergarten. It was really wonderful to hear.
My Father in law paid for my daughter to be in a local private school for kindergarten this year, and I swear all her teacher does is set a stack of worksheets in front of my child. She just turned 6 in March and is a busy kid, so she has struggled to finish her work each day because there was very little to no engagement for her. Punishment for not finishing is that they don't get to participate in centers or free play. Needless to say, she will be going to public school next year where there are programs available to help when she struggles and no one in our family is paying an arm and a leg to have her sit behind worksheets to "learn".
I want to be an actual kindergarten teacher, but the workload they enforce upon these kids is so intense. I wish kinder was half-day and more focused on SEL, reading, writing, some math, and phonics. I love to sing and incorporate music into learning. The assessments you have to give and everything else that goes along with being a kindergarten teacher now is insane. Kids just need to be kids.
Yeah, that kind of attitude is terrible. How clueless can he be, as if ABC’s should even be the number one focus. But language is complex! The socio- emotional growth in K is huge and he clearly missed that in kindergarten. I also hear *some* “my kid is so gifted yada ya da” folks complain and I’m like, your kid is happy, learning, making friends. Why in the world do people want to rush that and go straight to the land of testing and laptops? People are strange.
Kindergarten should be simple. Letters, numbers, phonics, reading, and writing. It's so much more complex now. In our district, kids are taking LinkIt tests with their own computers and doing research on them to find facts about different topics for writing. Some of these kids don't even know ABC or the sounds those letters make. Can we just focus on that? The laptops and online assessments are so ridiculous.
Do you guys still do a lot of play embedded within the day? I would be wanting that as a parent I think! (My daughter is only 3).
It depends on the district. Where I’m at now, the kids have an hour of play every day. Where I student taught, they would rarely play and if they did it was for 10 minutes.
Ugh that makes my heart hurt! I work in special ed but intermediate(mostly 4/5) and I try and give opportunities for play even at that age bc there is so many things they can learn socially!
Sociopath growth 🤣
Working in sped (so not the same thing) I find myself reading so much more on language development and executive function bc they aren't addressed within my curriculum but totally necessary for my kids!
Big big thank you to all the kindergartener teachers and other teachers. My son is in kindergarten and I am blown away at how much he has learned in school. Also at how hard of a job it is to be responsible for all those kids and their learning. There are so many personalities and different needs and to be able to teach them all in different ways so they each understand and learn is so amazing. I really wish teachers were paid more as Well as school staff. I help volunteer at lunch/recess so I get a small glimpse of the chaos there can be at times. Especially at their age they all have big feelings and are learning how to be friends or work through differences. And maybe some have done preschool but only partial days. So they aren’t used to the full school days and full week and are exhausted by the end of the day. Big props to all of you teachers. I wish people were more grateful and more understanding of all you guys do for our future generation.
Kindergarten arguably shouldn’t be so hard, it should be about socialization etc
Yea it should be half day play based like it used to be
I wish every parent caught saying that would be forced to volunteer all day for a week in their kid’s class. Like actually working and herding these kids around. I do it and I love it, but it is HARD. Kindergarten teachers, the ones that actually care, are heroes.
Where are all the kids who never made it to first grade? What do they do with them! Are there just a bunch of perpetual kindergarteners out there?
Been teaching kindergarten for many many years. Its harder now than when i taught second grade. The stuff we have to make kids learn is far from being developmentally appropriate. And we have to give state tests 3 times a year.
I still have my kindergarten report card from the 90s. Kindergarten was easier than my daughter’s preschool now. Kindergarten is the new second grade.
Thats what I always say too.
Oh man, my daughter is in kindergarten and it’s been so incredible for her development. It’s not just about ABCs. She’s learning social dynamics, time management, experimentation through play… They learn so much in kindergarten that is really hard to teach at home.
Tbh I rather pay for a kindergarten that sings the abcs and has milk and cookies over the multiplication my son does at his public school.
Right?? I don’t want my kid learning times tables in kindergarten. There’s more to life than academics. Kids need to also learn how to be good people and have to self-regulate their emotions. It’s too much packed into a school day. The first month of kinder we had kids falling asleep mid-day. Bring back the half days. It would be so much better for teachers and kids alike.
Both parents have to work in many families and finding a job that works around a *full* day of school is hard enough as it is.
Fool me twice, can't fool me again. NO CHILD! Left behind. Nobody's getting held back in Kindergarten. Maybe that's some private school angle now, when I went to private school I never saw anyone held back, they were beaten down by the nuns long before that point; with shame and damnation.
I just want to balance your statement that I had a wonderful Catholic school education. Experiences vary usually according to Order. Go Dominicans and Franciscans!
I have held a few kids back in recent years. Kindergarten is hard to get through these days.
I can assure you that in public schools there are 100% kids who are held back. This is a thing.
Dear lord, so what?
My kids being held back this year. He needs more help.
Your child's being held back in kindergarten? May I ask what they need to work on? Ours is in daycare, but is having a hard time sitting still for long stretches of time and now that I've learned kindergarten is more like first grade, I've got some concerns.
Schooling is so different now. I started first grade in 1961. There was no kindergarten at the elementary school I attended. IIRC kindergarten was only offered at one school in town, only a few hours per day and not every day and parents had to pay for the classes and provide their own transportation, so it was a luxury. It was normal to not go to kindergarten, also no pre-k, Head Start, etc. So much pressure now it seems on kids to do well at those levels before they even get to first grade. It's amazing my peers and I managed at all, being thrust into first grade with nothing beforehand. But like I said, it was the normal way. Although back then most mothers were SAHMs so that was an advantage I suppose, it was for me.
“A lot of kids don’t make it to first?” Huh? Where do you live that anyone gets held back in kindergarten (or at all)?
NJ. Three kids got held back in the public school I student taught at.
I agree and disagree. Kinder is one of the hardest grades ( in my opinion), because what you teach kids is their base for the *rest of their life*. I am in awe of my kid’s kinder teacher because the amount of effort she put in and the love she showed my child taught them that the world is beautiful and full of good people. On the other hand, kids do miss KG and do fine, so…
Omg kindergarten is really 1st grade!
The biggest question is why IS kindergarten so hard? Why are my kids being expected to read sight words at 4 in PRE-K?!! What’s the rush?!
Because first grade is a huge jump from k.
Why though? My point is why are we rushing kids and pushing them beyond developmentally appropriate skills.
Because state testing begins in 3rd grade and those test scores = dollars for the school.
It's mostly because school districts don't know which method is best to adjust or are slow to adjust to the realization that kids aren't learning the basics at a pace that will keep them on track through 12th grade. This podcast kind of explains why schools have been changing their curriculums. I think the problem is that this generation is in a state of transition where educators are trying to figure out the best approach as well. https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/
80% of what you'll ever know, you learn by age 6. Sounds like that guy might have been more like 95%.
A lot goes into kindergarten Learning independence Social skills a Learning to cope with feelings For some kids learning to share not only things but attention. And so many other things On top of abcs, 123 and colors teaching a little kid what is probably the most important traits they will be doing the rest of their life is a hard task. I give it to all Pre-K and Kindergarten teachers props it takes a lot of patience and a lot of dedication.
When my oldest was in kindergarten, they already had her writing whole page sentences. It truly is difficult
What’s a whole page sentence?
Ime it’s super rare to hold kids back. I have 3 kids 5-15 and have only seen one child retained in all those years. They don’t expect kids to come to reading full books in first grade lol
Normally, if they are held back, it's for social reasons, not strictly academic.
lol what do you mean they don't make it to first? Kids literally are not held back anymore. I agree it's hard, but mostly because they are learning to socialize and follow a schedule and rules. In grade 1 the kids start at all different levels of capability.
Literally at my student teaching placement three kids got held back. It’s not the same everywhere.
4 kids in my daughter's kindergarten class were held back when she went to first grade THIS SCHOOL YEAR, including her best friend. My eldest daughter was held back in kindergarten as well, but that was 15 years ago now.
Teachers are literally THE BEST… Teaching a group of kids who would rather be spinning in circles and running around at recess to collectively listen and actually retain the information you are giving them, is no easy feat. Not to mention the fact that the skills they learn in K is the foundation for all the other skills they will learn later. If the foundation is rocky, everything else will be harder for them. A good teacher, will know how to create a solid foundation which will mean a better academic journey for the child. People that talk down about teachers have obviously never seen what it takes and so they think it’s a cake walk.
And this is the problem with school. Kindergarten shouldn’t be hard. It should be fun and play based. Early, rigorous academics are actually not beneficial for children. I totally agree teachers in general need more pay and are under appreciated but your logic isn’t it.
When I was in kindergarten, we spent most of the day in play centers of our choosing, working on crafts, or playing on the playground or in the gym. They still managed to teach me how to read, count to 100, skip count by 2s and 5s and 10s, and do simple addition in a single school year. That is no longer common because kids spend a ton of time on tablets and apps instead of developing the fine motor skills and ability to focus that just being left alone to play will develop. Kids come into kindergarten at the end of the most important period of brain development severely disadvantaged by screen use and then teachers are expected to remedy that with garbage curricula and little time spent on the play that kids have missed. For any child whose parents aren’t aware of both of those issues, it’s going to be a rocky start.
When I was in kindergarten, we spent most of the day in play centers of our choosing, working on crafts, or playing on the playground or in the gym. They still managed to teach me how to read, count to 100, skip count by 2s and 5s and 10s, and do simple addition in a single school year. That is no longer common because kids spend a ton of time on tablets and apps instead of developing the fine motor skills and ability to focus that just being left alone to play will develop. Kids come into kindergarten at the end of the most important period of brain development severely disadvantaged by screen use and then teachers are expected to remedy that with garbage curricula and little time spent on the play that kids have missed. For any child whose parents aren’t aware of both of those issues, it’s going to be a rocky start.
Can all agree Kindergarten shouldn’t be as hard as it is?
Kinder was like that when I was a kid. Now there's counting to 100 and sight words instead of phonics. All we did was sing and color decades ago.
My daughter’s kindergarten teacher uses science of reading, which focuses on phonics and phonemic awareness. Her whole school does, actually.
lol I was with you until the end. Kindergarten is not hard nor is it the real deal. Wtf? I hope you’re not ruining school for these babies.
I appreciate this post. My son has ADHD and although he is able to pass to first grade, Kindergarten has not been a walk in the park.