K moms - what are your kids currently learning in the classroom...

Just wondering where other K classes are at - at other schools and if our school is within the norm.

K moms - what are your kids currently learning in the classroom...

Counting by 2s to 30 was on homework sheet.
Draw pic starting with Q and write five sentence story on it.
Coins
When I was there this week, read the a story, they had books with four comprehension questions, they had to answer in sentences and sound out all words.
Taking a number, ex. 9, dividing it into two groups to show if it is even or odd.

Re: K moms - what are your kids currently learning in the classroom...

K moms - what are your kids currently learning in the classroom...

They have to read and answer questions for homework. Mine is level d. Some are above, some are at c, two are still at b.
In class, I read a long book, they had to answer questions.
She needs to get everyone to a d or they get retained.
Once they hit d, then she wants concentration on comprehension. We have to read a lot of non fiction at home.

K moms - what are your kids currently learning in the classroom...

Much more into sentence writing then reading levels though. It is only discussed at report card time. Sentences and stories are drilled nonstop

K moms - what are your kids currently learning in the classroom...

Most books he comes home with a level d. She wants me to ask him questions about book, he writes answers in complete sentences on his own ...she wants all spelling on him.

Re: K moms - what are your kids currently learning in the classroom...

Re: K moms - what are your kids currently learning in the classroom...

I feel like our kids are not doing as much as Janice's child! I think she is in NC though.

They are doing basic math, adding and subtracting. Writing sentences to go along with pictures they have to draw about a particular topic. No one fixes the spelling, and many of the words are usually spelled wrong. I see it on the stuff hanging in the classroom from all of the children. Not sure what they do as far as reading goes in the class. They have to read each night as homework.

I'm really only going by what comes home as homework, so I'm sure there is more, but I don't think they learn as much as they should be. I feel like their class is very crowded and there is too much to fit in. They have 26 kids. I'm curious as to what others are learning as well. My child was reading as a level B at the beginning of the year. Not sure of her level now, but she reads better, so I'm assuming a C?

Message edited 3/8/2013 8:32:14 PM.

K moms - what are your kids currently learning in the classroom...

I am in NC. They are held back if not at d level. They start again in k..once they get to d, they go up to first.
We had two boys start the year like this in our class. Both in first now.
We have 23 in a class. One morning assistant, one volunteer mom till noon.
A ton of misspelled words from students as they write sentences.
I went to a common core meeting. I was told writing is everything now. Even in math lessons, science, huge focus on writing.
If you opened my kids school bagt, it would just look like he made crafts all day though. I bet more is going on in class then you think.

Message edited 3/8/2013 9:00:20 PM.

Re: K moms - what are your kids currently learning in the classroom...

I am in NC too-and I think we are all on common core. However, I don't think my school is as had core as Janice's.

That means that by end of year kids are expected to be a C or higher reading level.

For writing, they draw a picture and write a three sentence story about it. Like bargain mama, spelling doesn't really count as long as they spell it like it sounds (ex love could be luv)

They have to know fiction vs non fiction, plot, compare characters, talk about the story, etc.

THey need to know the top 100 sight words by end of year.

Count to 100 by 1s and 10s. Working on counting by 5s.

For math, adding and subtracting, they use manipulatives, break things into 10s and 1s. They do math word problems.

They do other stuff for science and social studies but nothing as regimented as they do for reading, writing and math.

Message edited 3/8/2013 9:06:01 PM.

K moms - what are your kids currently learning in the classroom...

Monday Write a sentence with each vocabulary word: then away father mother after
Wear crazy socks

Tuesday Draw and label 3 “Jj” pictures. Select one of your pictures and write a story about it, at least 5 sentences.
Spell orally: then away father mother after
Orally give mom and dad a sentence with each word.

Wear your favorite hat. Interim reports go home

Wednesday Bring in your Dr. Seuss books. Put your name in them, we are going to use them for graphing. Draw pictures to show the following opposites: yes-no up-down wet-dry?
tall-short on-off? fast-slow?winter-summer.
Orally count by 2’s to 30, 5’s to 100!!!!

Wear your pajamas.
Thursday Ordinal numbers


Color the 3rd bulb blue, 1st red, 5th yellow, 2nd orange, 9th green,
4th purple, 6th black, 8th leave white and the 7th pink.
Tacky Twin Day

K moms - what are your kids currently learning in the classroom...

Here is homework sheet from this week

Our math is very similar to cranks

Last year, you had to be at B level. This year is D to move ahead for us. Teachers stressed, they stay late to tutor two days a week. I have to listen to kids read once a week.

Re: K moms - what are your kids currently learning in the classroom...

Recently our homework sheets are:
Simple Math (adding, subtracting)
Site words
Rhyming
Word families
Letter of the week
Tally Marks
Counting by 2, 5 10, etc
Practice address, phone number, full name, etc
Writing a sentence - using cap letters at begin, punctuation, etcc.

As for reading, they bring home little simple site word paper books frequently. Every week or every other week, they bring home abook that they have mastered in their reading groups. This week he had a worksheet he did in class that went with it that showed some reading comprehension. Simple questions. I never noticed a worksheet before with the book - not sure if they always do this or this was the first time. They just started reading groups in January. I think they are grouped according to level so not sure who brings home what. DS is a decent reader so most books are level E/F.

Message edited 3/8/2013 10:05:01 PM.

Re: K moms - what are your kids currently learning in the classroom...

We are in NJ and also follow the common core standards here too.
DS has a sight word list with over 50 words that have to be memorized. From what I see on line, it is a mixture of the two major language systems and includes all words for the kindergarten and first grade word lists. They do fundations in class. Every week he has to hand in 6 sentences that he writes using his sight words. They are just starting leveled readers this month - no assignments have been made. Once a month he has to write a book report. In it he has to draw a picture of his favorite part of the story, write about his favorite part of the story and answer two questions. All writing is using sounded out spelling, but it is corrected by his teacher. Daily he comes home with a letter of the day that is traced. The word of the day, which includes his full name, date, the word and a picture of the word. They listen to a story in class and then are supposed to describe what happened, how they would have handled the situation, and give an example from their life regarding the story.
Math - they follow the singapore model. It includes what the other moms listed above (count 1-100, count by 2s, 3s, 5s, and 10s). Addition 1-20, Subtraction 1-20. They did a small unit on fractions with money, and bar charts/graphs. They also had to be able to take a jumbled pile and sort it and count it. They also have to be able to sort and match things of similar size and shape, as well as over/under, near/far, forwards/behind.
They have done some spanish and french, computers, gym, art, social studies, and science. This is a public school district in NJ that is considered highly rated. From my friends in other districts they do not do all that my son does in his class but they are more advanced with their reading than my son's class.
eta: he does tally marks as well (i.e. jumbled pile of items and cross off to indicate that the item was counted). They also have a lot on personal growth and development (paying attention, feelings, confidence, community, helping others).

It sounds like our kids are learning similar things. I personally feel that it is a lot more than what I had to know as a kindergarten student. I think they have pushed the 1st/2nd grade curriculum to kindergarten. I completely understand now why parents hold their children back.

Message edited 3/8/2013 10:23:57 PM.

K moms - what are your kids currently learning in the classroom...

Our school uses Fundations also, forgot about that.

Re: K moms - what are your kids currently learning in the classroom...

Re: K moms - what are your kids currently learning in the classroom...

I read it as state standards have increased so last year in kindergarten to pass they needed to read at a level b to move on to first grade, but this year all students need to be at a level d to move to first grade. If a child is under the level they will remain in kindergarten until they can get to level d and will be moved up mid year when they can read at level d.

Re: K moms - what are your kids currently learning in the classroom...

Re: K moms - what are your kids currently learning in the classroom...

Pls don't quote.

Thanks to all those who responded. Pretty much confirms what I thought. DS's school does some of what others are doing but, it seems they are not doing as much as they could - not even close. The problem is my DS is ready for this and I feel he is just waiting for others to catch up. He is bored and tuning out.

He reads pretty well and we go to the library frequently and he reads to me daily. At school they are only reading 1-2 times a week those photocopy books that go something like "the cat sat on the mat, the cat is fat..." you get the idea...this is something he could read probably a year ago. I have no idea what level he is at as they are not testing them until the end of the year. How would I find out what level he is at? I would like to work within that level at home and do some of the stuff that it seems the other schools are doing (ask him questions about the book, write about it etc.). I have googled the levels of the books he reads on his own but, the levels seem to be higher than I think where he is at (for ex. he can read green eggs and ham and that is level J when I google) so I am assuming it's not that simple to figure out...

Same story with the math - I think they could be doing alot more as it seems all your schools are doing...

Strange part is they are doing fundations and the singapore math program - math in focus. From all the meetings I've gone to they are in accordance with the core curriculum standards so I am wondering why the lag is there in comparison to some other districts....

TIA!

Re: K moms - what are your kids currently learning in the classroom...

Posted by Janice

Posted by LSP2005

I read it as state standards have increased so last year in kindergarten to pass they needed to read at a level b to move on to first grade, but this year all students need to be at a level d to move to first grade. If a child is under the level they will remain in kindergarten until they can get to level d and will be moved up mid year when they can read at level d.

Re: K moms - what are your kids currently learning in the classroom...

We do stuff at home in addition to what is done in school. If your DC is reading at a J level I would call the school and ask them to test them to skip a grade. I think they go by how ready the class is - and if the rest of the class is at a b or c level then they are going to stay at a b or c level to accommodate the rest of the class.

It is also up to the teachers to teach the students math in focus, fundations, etc. If it is not a great teacher then the kids suffer. If your child is that far ahead then I would push the district to get your DC help to teach him/her appropriately. My son is reading at a b/c level based on what I read on line and had him sit next to me today and read.They have yet to start leveled readers in his class and I see here how every other school is working on them already. In math he asks for more work, so we do fractions and money and time activities to supplement what he learns in school.

Message edited 3/9/2013 12:17:05 PM.

Re: K moms - what are your kids currently learning in the classroom...

Message edited 3/9/2013 12:33:30 PM.

Re: K moms - what are your kids currently learning in the classroom...

I go to amazing savings and costco and get the kindergarten workbooks and do them with my kids after school and on weekends. Perhaps pick up a first grade book to see if he can do it. They did triangle matching in october here. At this point it is more like here are 20 items and tally them but they are not in straight lines, and then sort the items from biggest to smallest. Alternatively it is following directions like Janice posted above, 1st color the second apple blue, then color the 4th apple red, then color the seventh apple orange etc.

Message edited 3/9/2013 12:24:00 PM.

Re: K moms - what are your kids currently learning in the classroom...

The Scholastic site has a book finder based on your child's reading level. Put in the level you think he is at, then see which books come up.

http://www.scholastic.com/bookwizard/

My daughter can read Green Egg's and Ham, but she is not a level J, no way. I don't think these things are entirely accurate to be honest.

Re: K moms - what are your kids currently learning in the classroom...

Message edited 3/9/2013 1:39:58 PM.