Kindergarten Teachers

I want to be on the same page as my son's teacher. I'm sure she knows what she's doing more than I do, but somethings are making me wonder...I'm not sure if I'm missing something with new curriculum.

My son's teacher gave them sight words to read but they weren't in block print. He knows how to sound out words & can read small books. But the sight words she gave him, he is having a hard time with. The letters have curls (bordering on cursive). Also I've noticed when we get a ditto home, they will be sometimes be san serif and other times there is that curl again. There is no consistency. Are they teaching this for a reason? I always thought you teach sans serif or block like letters first, no?

Also - they asked the kids to know their addresses by Dec. 20th. My son received an award for knowing his address. Great, except my son also told me that the teacher told him he only needed to know his street address & didn' t need to remember the city, state & zip. Annoyed me since he was taught the other way - and I think he should know his full address. What if he gets lost in Florida while visiting relatives? I felt bad telling him to listen to my rules & he had to remember the city, state & zip.

I don't want to be the mom that questions her teaching. She's been at teaching lat least 1 year longer than I've been at mothering. It just seems odd & I'm not sure how to approach it. This all came up the week AFTER the parent-teacher conference.

Re: Kindergarten Teachers

I'm not a kindergarten teacher, but i did student teach... I have to say the lettering does confuse me. I always type everything in comic sans since there are no crazy loops or anything.

As for the address... maybe she didn't want to overwhelem some of the kids. While I agree it is important that they know the entire address... that may have been too much for some kindergarteners, so she may have been going for small steps.

HTH.

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I'm not a Kindergarten teacer, I teach first grade, but this is what I think. I use the same font for the sight words that I give out each week because we also teach handwriting along with the sight words. However, it is important to expose the children to other fonts and types of letters that they might encounter. But I usually do this through shared reading of big books and other elnarged texts.
As for the address, I think your son just exceeded her expectations. You'd be surpised how many of my first graders dont even know their street address.

Message edited 12/14/2006 8:32:45 PM.

Re: Kindergarten Teachers

I would think that's the first thing you should teach the kids after manners.

I'm ok with him exceeding his expectations but when he insisted that his teacher said he didn't need to know it & that he should forget it, I jumped the gun & said "You need to follow my rules when it comes to your address. You need to remember the city & the state"

Re: Kindergarten Teachers

Posted by nrthshgrl

I would think that's the first thing you should teach the kids after manners.

I'm ok with him exceeding his expectations but when he insisted that his teacher said he didn't need to know it & that he should forget it, I jumped the gun & said "You need to follow my rules when it comes to your address. You need to remember the city & the state"

Re: Kindergarten Teachers

Posted by nymommy2be

Posted by nrthshgrl

I would think that's the first thing you should teach the kids after manners.

I'm ok with him exceeding his expectations but when he insisted that his teacher said he didn't need to know it & that he should forget it, I jumped the gun & said "You need to follow my rules when it comes to your address. You need to remember the city & the state"

i totally agree, can your son be in my class next year?

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I used to teach kindergarten. I used to always write the sight words on index cards in my handwriting. This just kept it consistent for the children. Then I used a consistent type when I assessed them on the sight words.

Also, as far as the address, I used to ask the children street, city and state. They would get some credit if they only knew some of it, but we would stress knowing all of it. Also, phone number with area code is important as well (because now the different counties have different area codes)

Even if she wasnt looking for city and state, she should have commended him for a job well done on knowing that, not told him he didnt have to know it

Message edited 12/14/2006 8:47:52 PM.

Re: Kindergarten Teachers

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I realize I am getting the story from a 5 year old - so the translation could be messed up. Often times people think he understands but I get completely different information.

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I thought it was because they start learning to write in cursive, but couldn't remember when we start that.

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Cursive is usually in 2nd or 3rd grade.

Montessori does say that they should learn cursive first though since children naturally write and draw in loops and circles.

The importance of handwriting has defintely declined in recent years though because of all the testing. Most of my 5th graders can't write or read cursive, but with 5 tests, I don't have time to go over it.

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I agree - I miss Palmer cursive

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I teach Kindergarten and I think it is fine that you told him he had to know his city/state. Something probably was lost in translation between the teacher and your son. As far as the words, I agree with an above poster if it is getting in his way of learning the sight words, retype them or even write them on index cards so you have a big pile by the end of the year and you can play games with them. If he is being tested on the words in her print, I would ask if there was a reason. We don't mind questions as long as you aren't telling us what to do.

Are there specific letters that look cursive like the a & g because in print my students learn their is regular a/g and fancy a/g? The fancy ones are the ones we usually see in books. That does't mean we write them like that but we should recognize them.

Hope this all helps! If you need anymore help feel free to ask.

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I used to teach kindergarten. The writing you're describing sounds to me like D'Nealian writing. I teach in California, but out here some districts use it (it's supposed to get kids ready to use cursive later on), others use the block printing we're used to. Maybe she was using an old or borrowed ditto and didn't bother to retype it (if that's what the words were printed on), or if it was in her handwriting, wherever she was educated, maybe she learned to write that way? I usually retype things if I think the kids will have trouble understanding the font, but sometimes there's no time. Some teachers I know feel that it benefits the children to get practice reading all different kinds of letters, but that's really a matter of opinion when the kids are that young and just learning to read in the first place.

Also, I definitely agree with you that your son should know his complete address - good for you for teaching it to him!!! I can't imagine a teacher not realizing how important that is, and telling a child to forget about it - is it possible that she meant he just didn't have to know the city, state and zip that day, and it somehow came out the wrong way or was misinterpreted? I'd ask her about it (nicely, of course), because if she did tell him he doesn't have to know it, well, that's just not safe, but I'd personally wonder, since I've gotten all sorts of questions myself from parents whose kids report things back to them that are less than 100% accurate.

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Posted by JessInCA

I've gotten all sorts of questions myself from parents whose kids report things back to them that are less than 100% accurate.

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yeah I wouldnt worry....some of my FOURTH graders don't know their address or phone number!!!!!

(Thanks to parents who move them 3x a year in the same neighboorhood b/c they cant pay rent or cell phone bills )

I would just say bring your questions to the teacher- she/he might be able to explain without you feeling like youre a nudge

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Hmm, thats odd that she told him to forget or "unlearn" something so important
about the letters, Ive seen it in my district that the D'Nealian
this this
CLICK
is used as their standard. At first I just thought the teachers were putting a little creativity into their handwriting but was told it's the standard and is used starting in kindergarten.

and as far as seeing different fonts, thats pretty hard to control with so many books and different things theyre exposed to. but it's good that they ARE exposed to different types of print so they wont have a hard time going fwd.

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Posted by anna
about the letters, Ive seen it in my district that the D'Nealian
this this
CLICK
is used as their standard. At first I just thought the teachers were putting a little creativity into their handwriting but was told it's the standard and is used starting in kindergarten.

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Barbara --- I taught K one year --- and Prek for 3 years .... but I am also a special ed teacher for lower grades so I am somewhat familiar with the lower grade levels...

And it is true that a lot of schools have D'Nelean (sp?) print programs --- which teaches the kids to write in print with somewhat of a curve because it makes it easier for them to transition into script later on. It is possible that your son's teacher uses this program. I used it when I was student teaching and it actually felt like a more natural way of writing.

As far as block letters one thing that drives me crazy about being a teacher is kids that write in block letters all the time. It is difficult to get a child out of the habit of capitalizing everything, or capitalizing random letters without meaning to do so, when the only things that should be capitalized are proper nouns and beginning of sentences. When I was in Pre-K I always stressed to parents that if you wanted to pick one or the other, capital or lowercase, to teach your child because you thought your child couldn't learn both yet, to focus on the lowercase, and add the capital in later. If you think about it we really use MUCH less capital letters (there I go using them!) in print then we do lowercase!

I hope this helps and please ask us any other questions about your son's Kinder program. I love Kindergarten!

Melissa

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I taught K for 2 years - the words should def not be typed in any crazy font. THe most basic one should be used....that is way too confusing, esp. since many kids in K are just learning how to form their letters the correct way. As far as the address, we had to assess them on their street address, city, and phone #. Most kids knew their state and zip code, and if they told it to me, then more power and praise to them! I would never tell a child that they didn't have to know something - esp. when it involves the safety and well being of a child. I also wouldn't tell the parents that they only had to know their street address - an address is just that - street, city, state, zip. If they don't learn it the correct way now, when will they?

ETA: I would write the teacher a note and say something like - the font is confusing for my child. It's hard for him to read the sight words. (Even if it's not - it's just not appropriate since half of K is teaching handwriting) Maybe she just doesn't realize it.

Message edited 12/15/2006 7:16:11 AM.

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I just wanted to say that my nephew is so brilliant.

Lots of and for him and my baby girl. BTW, she looks incredible in that picture. I hope that means Christmas cards are coming soon.

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I deal with K-12 and I have noticed that the older elementary teachers get excited with all the different fonts. (Is your son's teacher older?)