Off to the Write Start
You’ll be amazed at what your 5 year old can do by year’s end!
If your first child is just now entering elementary school, you may be surprised to find that kindergarten isn't what it used to be! Whether your child attends a half-day, full-day or something in between, kindergarten is more academic than ever. Curriculum that used to be taught in 1st grade is now covered during this initial year. Higher education standards set by the state and federal government demand that educators squeeze as much teaching as possible into the school day. As a result, kindergarteners spend less time playing and more time learning their ABCs.
First Days
Forming Letters
Writing for Meaning
First Days
At the beginning of the school year, the teacher will assess your child's writing skills to see where she stands: Can she write her name? Are the letters legible and spaced correctly? Does she use all caps, or does she understand the difference between upper and lower case? To make sure that the class is on the same page, the first few months are typically spent re-familiarizing children with the alphabet. This would include review of the upper and lower case letters, how to print them correctly (lots of bad habits develop in preschool, such as forming letters from the bottom up) and what each letter sounds like.
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Forming Letters
You can expect your child to receive take-home and in-class worksheets featuring each letter as it's studied. The worksheets will show the letter written with a series of dots or dashes (instead of continuous lines), along with arrows indicating the direction in which the pencil should go. Tracing over the dotted lines will help your child learn to print the letter on his own.
Don't be surprised if your child is not taught the letters in alphabetical order. "In normal child development, vertical lines are easiest to make, so capital F and E are often taught first," says Jan Olsen, an occupational therapist and creator of Handwriting Without Tears, a teacher's guide to handwriting instruction. "Diagonal and horizontal lines, then circles and crosses are more challenging for young children, so letters requiring those movements are generally taught later."
To prime students for reading, teachers help kids make the sound connection with each letter of the alphabet, often devoting an entire week each one. Fun activities are typically designed to saturate the class with the letter. For example, at my children's elementary school, "P" week gets kicked off with a pajama party. The kids — and teacher — come dressed in their p.j.s. While the children munch on pretzels and potato chips, the teacher reads a P-themed book, such as Laura Numeroff's, If You Give a Pig a Pancake. Homework — yup! These days kindergartners have it — consists of practice making upper and lower case "p's" (usually in a handwriting notebook with lined paper). Adding an element of fun, the kids are also given pictures of "P" words (pig, pumpkin) to color.
Other kindergarten writing goals include:
- Distinguishing letters from words and words from sentences.
- Printing name, address and phone number correctly "on the line."
- Being able to recognize, write, and spell between 30 and 50 high-frequency or "sight" words, such as "the," "is," and "I."
- Using writing (letter, pictures and words) to express meaning.
Writing for Meaning
At this stage, teaching writing as a form of expression is mostly done through teacher modeling, according to Karen Valdes, Regional Director for the Riverside County of Education in California. "Words are really abstract for young children, so elementary school teachers try to make them as tangible as possible," she explains. For example, a teacher might write a partial sentence on the board ("I have a _______") and ask children to fill in the blank. Early in the school year, they'll draw a picture and print whatever letters they hear in the word. Kids can usually identify the beginning and end sound — for example, a "d" and a "g" if the word is dog. After the December holiday break, however, children are usually able to provide more details about their drawings. Teacher prompts encourage them to think like writers. For instance, your child's teacher might ask, "What is the dog's name?" or "What do you do with the dog?"
The morning message, written on the blackboard, is another way in which teachers model writing. The message typically states the day's date, what the children will be learning that day, and what, if any, homework they will be given. Since most children aren't able to read yet, the teacher reads the message to them. This routine helps them to visualize concepts about writing — for example, that space goes between words. They also get the idea that words don't go from left to right forever, and that sentences get neatly stacked on top of each other.
Picture books may also be used to make children aware of words and meaning. Amy Fabrikant-Eagan, a writing specialist in northern New Jersey, says most kindergarteners have had so many picture books read to them by the time they start school that they are picture book experts. "They know the language of a good picture book," she says. "As I read aloud, I ask kids to raise their hands when they hear a beautiful sentence or a word that conjures up an emotion. Then they copy the sentence and draw a picture about it."
Keeping a class journal is another fairly common way to encourage kindergarteners to write. In my son's class last year, children took turns bringing home a small, stuffed lion named Fluffy. A notebook for describing Fluffy's weekend visit went home, too. Early in the year, parents record their child's journal entries. But as the year progresses and Fluffy returns, children are able to do more of the writing themselves.
Beyond a doubt, kindergarten is much more than a place to go for coloring and playing, as it was years ago. But one thing hasn't changed: It's still a nurturing place where kids are introduced to their first real school experience and, hopefully, a love of learning too.
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