Words Are A Wonderful Thing
By Susan
@HazySue (39265)
Gouverneur, New York
April 15, 2017 12:20pm CST
I was running around myLot reading comments and post when I noticed someone mentioning how much kids are expected to know when they start school.
It seems that these days they are expected to now a whole lot more than when my girls started school. However it reminded me of how I taught my girls to recognize certain little words before they began kindergarten. I wanted them to have a little bit of a head start.
I used to take index cards and write site words one them and tape them to the item or a picture of the item.
For instance: I would write DOOR on an index card and tape it to a door. Or the word DOG and tape it to a picture of a dog.
The girls loved it. They learned these little words quickly and felt a big sense of accomplishment.
Of course, it helped that I would give them a couple of M&M's for each word they learned. Bribery always seems to help.
12 people like this
12 responses
@DWDavis (25797)
• United States
15 Apr 17
I am convinced our school system expects too much too soon from these kids. Research has shown that all this pre-school and HeadStart learning gives kids no advantage. By the end of third grade, there is no difference in achievement between kids from the same socio-economic and demographic groupings who did or did not have all that pre-learning. All it really does is put pressure on the kids and teach them to be bitter and resentful about school.
3 people like this
@DWDavis (25797)
• United States
15 Apr 17
@HazySue When you start setting learning goals and achievement targets for Kindergarteners and First Graders, something has gone wrong with the system. The developmental progress of kids in this age group vary so greatly. To pigeon hole kids by demanding they be able to accomplish certain things just because they've reached a certain age is a sure way to stress them, and their parents, and turn them off to school. K-2 should be a time for them to learn how to be courteous, respectful, play fair, share, and work and play together. The academics will come easier if the children have been schooled in proper social behavior first.
2 people like this
@HazySue (39265)
• Gouverneur, New York
17 Apr 17
@DWDavis I think if you play at learning when they are that age, they become aware of words and such. I do agree that social behavior has been left out somehow in the scheme of things. The behavior of the kids now days has shown that there is clearing something lacking. I believe it is a combination of over zealous expectations and a lac of teaching the ids common courtesy and good behavior. There is way too much pressure on these kids to preform way to early. If they could learn how to behave and play at learning along the way it would be so much better for all concerned. They need to be allowed to be kids.
1 person likes this
@HazySue (39265)
• Gouverneur, New York
15 Apr 17
I think it is all in how you approach it. We have to make it fun for them, like playing a game. I do believe that there are some that want their child or children to be up there as the smartest in the school. I have found that in the school I taught at for many years that a lot of the apathy shown by the children is a mirror of what the parents feel about education. Somewhere along the line we have lost that fun part of learning.
2 people like this
@dragon54u (31633)
• United States
15 Apr 17
It is scary how much they want them to know! In kindergarten they expect them to be ready to read, know and recognize their letters and numbers. Kindergarten used to be used to teach these things.
A recent study showed that the more formal instruction given to a child under the age of 5, the more antisocial they will become. So if you sit your pre-K child down and try to teach them letters and numbers and drill them, you're not doing them any favors. Yet the school system demands they know these things.
That's why I hope my granddaughter won't be in the public school system. She is 3 now and knows some letters and their sounds. I make a game of it. She learned a lot of letters from a Nick Jr. show called Wallykazam. It is a really fun show about a little troll that finds a magic stick. He sounds out words and letters during the show. My granddaughter loves it and so I can now sound out a few words with her as a game and she enjoys it. She may even be reading by kindergarten but I'm not pushing it and neither is her mom.
Kids should be allowed to be kids.
2 people like this
@HazySue (39265)
• Gouverneur, New York
17 Apr 17
I would most liely home school my children if I had young ones these days. There are so many ways to teach them that does not put the excess stress and pressure that they seem to receive in some formal education settings. I think there are fun and easy ways for them to learn. You have the right idea about making learning a game. Mix that with social awareness and you have a terrific system to teach a child about life and book learning.
1 person likes this
@epiffanie (11325)
• Australia
16 Apr 17
Yes, kids these days are a lot more knowledgeable before they start school .. Modern educational tools help a lot.. But of course they have to be motivated to learn .. so yes, bribery helps a lot too .. 
1 person likes this
@Courtlynn (67089)
• United States
15 Apr 17
When I was growing up, (I'm 24 now). we had to know our phone number, how to say and write our first and last name, and our parents. plus be potty trained.
Don't really know how it is now, but do know they don't ask if kids know a phone number for parents in case of emergency anymore.
1 person likes this
@HazySue (39265)
• Gouverneur, New York
17 Apr 17
@Courtlynn I was quite yound when I knew my address and phone number. Part of the problem is that the families move around so much that the ids and parents aren't concerned with them learning their address and phone numbers.
@Courtlynn (67089)
• United States
15 Apr 17
@HazySue I knew where I lived by 2nd grade. lol
1 person likes this
@LovingMyBabies (85923)
• Valdosta, Georgia
15 Apr 17
My children are Home Schooled and I'm glad because we make it fun at home while learning! They love learning. =)
1 person likes this
@BelleStarr (61463)
• United States
16 Apr 17
I wish we would let our children be children a little longer, we didn't learn anything in Kindergarten except how to be social and color. If the education system was better from then on, the United States would not be so far behind the rest of the world. I am not picking on teachers at all, it is a system that just doesn't work well, the teachers really just have to survive within it.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21845)
• Canada
15 Apr 17
Bribery is a good incentive, I read to my kids every day and pointed out words and pronounced the letters, I think it helped them more than I thought it did. Love the card on an object, I never thought of that.
1 person likes this
