Fill It Up Friday- Reading too soon?
Fill it up Friday
Each Friday we will look at an article to fill up on the whys of teaching.
I currently teach Kindergarten and have taught in a preschool setting as well. One thing that is constantly being debated by fellow educators and parents is the timetable for appropriate reading instruction.
I think we can all agree that there has been a push on curriculum downward. If you haven't seen it step into any classroom and compare it to what you were learning at that age. Have you seen 5th grade math lately? I mean really!
In the article Reading at five: Why? on the SEEN magazine website, Joan Almon suggests that children are being required to learn reading much to young. She implies that we, being the United States, are pushing an unrealistic curriculum due to our fear that children will not be reading fluently by third grade, a proven indicator for success.
My own philosophy is that each child is different and each child needs to be pushed to the limits of their ability. I like to think about my class as being several small classes of one child. Using that rule I like to push them to meet what they can do individually. I am lucky in that we have so few children in our class and this is possible for me. Some of my children leave kindergarten reading on a fifth grade level and some on a middle kindergarten level. As long as it is the best they can do that's all I ask.
As for the article's encouragement of play I absolutely agree. Even when completing "learning" tasks I incorporate as much movement and play as I can. We learn sight words through bean bag toss, lego building, and Jenga just to name a few. You can see a sample of these here. We utilize reader theaters with the children leading the entire production to allow the children to problem solve and think creatively.
I think the struggle comes from meeting the demands put in place by those who are unfamiliar with child development, but who set the rules and standards for education. This is another illustration of why child advocacy is so important.
Read the article and tell me what you think!
I currently teach Kindergarten and have taught in a preschool setting as well. One thing that is constantly being debated by fellow educators and parents is the timetable for appropriate reading instruction.
I think we can all agree that there has been a push on curriculum downward. If you haven't seen it step into any classroom and compare it to what you were learning at that age. Have you seen 5th grade math lately? I mean really!
In the article Reading at five: Why? on the SEEN magazine website, Joan Almon suggests that children are being required to learn reading much to young. She implies that we, being the United States, are pushing an unrealistic curriculum due to our fear that children will not be reading fluently by third grade, a proven indicator for success.
My own philosophy is that each child is different and each child needs to be pushed to the limits of their ability. I like to think about my class as being several small classes of one child. Using that rule I like to push them to meet what they can do individually. I am lucky in that we have so few children in our class and this is possible for me. Some of my children leave kindergarten reading on a fifth grade level and some on a middle kindergarten level. As long as it is the best they can do that's all I ask.
As for the article's encouragement of play I absolutely agree. Even when completing "learning" tasks I incorporate as much movement and play as I can. We learn sight words through bean bag toss, lego building, and Jenga just to name a few. You can see a sample of these here. We utilize reader theaters with the children leading the entire production to allow the children to problem solve and think creatively.
I think the struggle comes from meeting the demands put in place by those who are unfamiliar with child development, but who set the rules and standards for education. This is another illustration of why child advocacy is so important.
Read the article and tell me what you think!
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