What is supposed to be taught in a 4yo prek class (or UPK)?

Does anyone know what is "supposed" to be taught in a 4 yo preschool program, and/or, Universal Pre K program.

Are they supposed to learn the alphabet? Is it odd if a school teaches them at that age to write the letters of the alphabet?

Message edited 4/18/2012 12:33:33 PM.

Re: What is supposed to be taught in a 4yo prek class (or UPK)?

I'm not sure if there is a set curriculum at that age, but I would find it very odd if kids were NOT learning the alphabet and writing their letters.

Re: What is supposed to be taught in a 4yo prek class (or UPK)?

My DD is in pre-k... she's been taught to write the whole alphabet, her name, upper and lower case letters and now they're working on writing numbers.

They've also done some math. Every pre-k class I've seen has been the same.

Re: What is supposed to be taught in a 4yo prek class (or UPK)?

NYS along with almost the whole country adopted new standards. These standards are designed to create "college and career ready" students.

There wasn't a Pre-K section of the new standards but NYS added it in.

It's great that your child is learning letters! The more they come into the classroom with (from home), the better off they'll be! Also, the more they learn early on, the better off they'll be!

http://www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/common_core_standards/pdfdocs/p12_common_core_learning_standards_ela.pdf

These are the standards. They are broken into sections, reading, writing and language for Pre-K

Re: What is supposed to be taught in a 4yo prek class (or UPK)?

My DS wasn't in UPK, but a private preschool. I loved his teachers and they did work on letters, but not quite as much as I would have liked. The expectations in kindergarten are so much higher then I expected, learning his letters earlier would have been a big help. On the upside, he's reading/writing at a higher level now, but he did have catching up to do at the beginning of the year.

Re: What is supposed to be taught in a 4yo prek class (or UPK)?

I believe this all depends whether your child attends a private preschool or the Universal Pre-K. I know in UPK they learn the alphabet, numbers, colors, etc. It is a minimal standard to introduce the children to the basics of early learning.

My son is in private preschool and during the first half of the year they covered the alphabet and writing capital letters as well numbers from 1-100. The other half is focusing on actual phonics exercises (learning sounds and reading simple words) as well as writing capital and lower case letters, simple math such as counting, estimation, learning about coins/money and simple addition and subtraction. In addition, they learn about different science, geography and history topics appropriate for their age.
It all depends on the school's curriculum. I have to say though that as we were advised in our Kindergarten orientation, the State's standards have risen dramatically. Kindergarten now has very high expectations of the little ones. I guess the more they're prepared, the better, and if the school is not covering the topics, parents should work with their kids at home through reading and holding various discussions about different things.

Re: What is supposed to be taught in a 4yo prek class (or UPK)?

My child is in UPK and while she knows how to write her letters, numbers, her name, some words, etc. I don't think they teach writing of the alphabet at school (she learned this at home and at nursery school). I've never seen anything come home with actual writing on it. It's been identifying letters, numbers, etc. but no real writing that I can recall. Most of the kids in the class cannot write their own name.

These posts are confusing though, because many teachers on here have said UPK and Pre-K is not about writing, etc., it's about socializing, taking turns, learning how to behave in a classroom etc. Then in another post, other teachers say they need this to succeed in kindergarten.

Edited to add that I asked my DD and she said they draw letters on the dry erase boards during centers. She said most of the kids just draw pictures though instead of the letters

Message edited 4/18/2012 6:59:12 PM.

Re: What is supposed to be taught in a 4yo prek class (or UPK)?

My DS went to a private pre-k....

In the 4yo program they were writing their names (first and last) on every ditto...By June were able to write all letters in capital and lowercase and had been doing site words , spelling and reading of basic words and short books....

Kindergarten was quite an eye opener...So much is expected of them, way more than when we were that age ! He would have been at a big disadvantage I feel if he did not know how to write his letters....

My DD is going to a different private pre-k next year and I am hoping that they share the same standards as my DS's because he was very prepared..Hoping the same for her.

Message edited 4/18/2012 3:43:02 PM.

Re: What is supposed to be taught in a 4yo prek class (or UPK)?

My daughter went to UPK and yes, they learned their letters. They write their name, write individual letters and need to count up to 30 and recognize ALL letters upper & lowercase and recognize numbers.

Re: What is supposed to be taught in a 4yo prek class (or UPK)?

My DS is in a 2 year old program and they do the Creative Curriculum, which is theme based. He does tons of art projects, lots of pre-writing skills and learn the letters of the alphabet, colors, numbers.

I sat in on class last month and couldn't believe that he recognized his name and could identify the letters in his name and so could most of the other kids.

We have been working on colors and shapes so much that I hadn't even started the alphabet.

My DS loves to read so I found that has really helped him learn.

Re: What is supposed to be taught in a 4yo prek class (or UPK)?

I am a pre-k teacher and I teach my class all of the letters of the alphabet. They learn to write all the letters of the alphabet both upper and lowercase. My students also learn to write their first and last names as well as writing and identifying numbers 1-10. I teach in a private school so every school is different, but with the demands of kindergarten now they need to be prepared. The state has also come out with common core standards for pre-k so we will be focusing a lot more on what the state is requiring.