Parenting Big Kids (5-8) Support Group

What's 'close enough math'? I'm almost afraid to know...

well my daughter is in kindergarten and they read dr suess and they have a special section in the library for kindergarteners to check out books they can read. and yes they are studying math! its not hard math just like adding and subtracting but still...its kindergarten! i never studied that when i was her age!!

well, here's my 2 cents, being deep in the throws of kindergarten and all.

I also attend the best school in the wide area here, so I had high expectations too and so far they are meeting my expectations.

i can see that the reading the kids are doing in K isn't from books. the teachers will read from books (their faves) at storytime, but the kids read from these thematic papers and they focus on certain letter groups at certain times. it's handouts, not books.

they do have scads of books for the kids to look at when they are finished with paperwork early but i could see why my teacher wouldn't have a "list" per se. they have their reading "materials" but they are for teaching, not for casual reading.

so, that's my own experience. I am pretty amazed at how much more my son is reading so I'm happy with it all. they are also doing basic addition and subtraction, complex shapes, art, gym, library, spelling/writing small words. they had a reading book that was just lists of words that get more complex. mostly sight words. that was nice so I could work with him on that.

hopefully the teachers will be excellent, but that they're just not used to parents being so involved, weren't expecting those questions. good luck!

when you read to your son, run your finger along the words so that he will associate those letters with what you are saying, and he will see that you are going from left to right.

Don't worry too much about whether he is going to have a hard time reading. Just read to him, and make sure to give him the best command of the alphabet that you can. If he is entering with the ability to identify all of the letters and has a basic command of most of the sounds they make, let the teachers handle it. Read to him and let it be fun. He will develop a love for reading not by how his teachers teach him, but by how he enjoys having book time with you. They will teach him to read one way or the other, don't sweat it. Its not your job to worry too much about how they do it, so long as they do it. Your primary job is to bring him a love a books. Let him see you enjoy reading yourself, and let him enjoy exploring books with you. Don't worry too much about how he is going to be taught.

Go to the library and let him pick out books that attract him.

Some of my daughters first favorites were:

happy birthday moon
corduroy
green eggs and ham
old lady who swallowed a fly


does he watch sesame street?

Teachers seem to complain if you are not doing enough or when you are doing the right thing they act like ,.,.,
Give your son jobs to do and tell him to work from left to right. It is a guy thing, for some reason there minds have to be trained to work left to right. I know when my husband would hang trim or something around the house I noticed he was working from right to left and thought well..... that is the reason it never turns out right. He got upset with me several times like hanging wall paper etc....I would not let him help if he was willing to work from left to right. Anyway it took me awhile to retrain him as an adult, but by george he's got it!

Conduct disorder. You can click on C in communitys here and read some about it. I also went to a site and printed out some things.

sorry wrong post.............

If you want to help starthim out work on the sight words. I can get you the list if you would like. Words like A, can, the, saw, see, you, me. This is how they start the kids out. Just just Mechelle said, they don't read from books at this age at least not until the end of the school year. It is all about the sight words. Also a good thing to do is when he is doing his alphabet, instead of just saying teh letters you should say the letter, the sound it makes, and then a word that starts with that sound. A, a, apple, B, b, book, C, c, cat...and so on. Both of my girls had this method when in kindergarten. I am pretty sure it is a standard. I can't remember the exact name they use for it though. Also if you are worried about the math program, ask the school if they use Saxon math. this is by far the highest standard of math for a school.

Don't worry about the reading left to right, he will get that in time.

i know for my school they have a website that has suggested books to read for kids. so you might want to check with your school and see if they have a book list on a website too.

here is a link if you need it, anything 1.0 and above is for first graders. anything below 1.0 is for K. good luck

http://www.salida.k12.ca.us/school...

I have always read to my son, i also bought a collection of books called 'the oxford learning tree'. He really enjoyed them, they also came with a book for me showing the best way to teach reading. I don't know if they would have them over with you but if you can, they are great books.
My son is 7 but now reading age of 10.