s/o K preparedness. 3 to 4 years old expectations

Okay, for those who asked, this is the list I have for 3 to 4 year olds.

Identify and name all the letters in my first name
Correctly match letters to similar shape families
recognize the labels on 5 common household objects
Sing and chant abc and number songs. Know 4 to 5 nursery rhymes
Say the sounds of all the letters in my first name
repeat the beginning sounds of words, clap word syllables with assistance
Anticipate what comes next in a story
Identify the parts of a book
Use 4 to 6 word sentences. have a 2000 to 3000 word vocab. recreate phonetic sounds when asked. Ask and answer questions.
Print or copy some letters in my name. Pretend to write.
Count to 10. Show age with fingers.
Match number shapes through nine
Match 10 common shapes and name them
Know nine basic colors
sort quickly by size and shape. Order from smallest to largest.
Recognize smaller than, bigger than, greater than and less than.
Copy two step patterns and three step sound sequences
Know 20 prepositions and do simple puzzles.
Play nicely with other children. Learning to share
Accomplish simple tasks with effort.
Easily remember and follow two step instructions. Understand basic safety rules.
Help in dressing, can put toys away and do simple chores.
Learning to name and express emotions. Learning to empathize and to not hurt others.

 

Wow, we can't do all of that. They know all their capital letters, but not lowercase. We're working on it, but they get confused.

 

One of the things they mentioned that was odd to me, but makes sense, is to start with the lower case letters first. Those are what we use the most. It never occurred to me to do it that way, but we'll see how it goes. They gave us an educational dvd for the kids produced by the school district that created the program and it is the dumbest thing I have ever seen. Mind you, my kids have been completely silent for the last 20 minutes. That is a rarity around here.

 

See, now out of that list, my DD who will be 4 in February CANT do at least 7 of those things. I think my son could do them at her age, but she is not as advanced as he is.

When I've tried to have her write her name by copying what I've written or even by tracing, she makes something that doesnt resemble a letter at all. She can recognize letters that are in her name by looking at them, but she doesnt know what every letter is. She knows her name starts with an S and she can recognize an S anywhere..but not the rest of the letters.

I have a lot of work to do with her..but we still have time.

Thanks for the list.
BTW, how did you find out about the meeting? I would be interested in going to something like that if they do it here in my area.

 

We were given a list of Fine Motor Activities to work on with our kids. Strengthening their fine motor skills will help with their ability to write their name

• Using tweezers to pick up cotton balls or pom poms and placing them in a bowl.
• Creating a cutting pool with scrap paper, wrapping paper and magazines
• Taking an empty parmesan cheese container and having your child put cut up straws through the little holes
• Placing your childs sweter or jacket on the back of a chair an dworking on buttoning and zipping their coat.
• Playing with little legos and other small manipulatives

 

wow! Having volunteered a lot in my kids Kinder class, I can tell you that most of the class didn't know how to write their names, couldn't do both lower and upper case letters and many of the things listed.

Ithink those are pretty high expectations.

 

I think they are high too, but I know that as my kids get close to four they can do most of those things. Kelly, don't be discouraged! Yours are on the low end of three so they have some time!

Maureen's list of fine motor activities is great! (My recommendation, use a clothespin instead of tweezers. And do that activity on the tummy to help build stronger torso and neck control.) I think that we spend so much time on some of the more "academic" aspects, that we lose sight of the importance of developing fine motor skills. To me, that is EQUALLY if not more important.

 

Maureen's list of fine motor skills is basically what our nursery school told us for John when he was 3. Definitely a high list to me.

I think John could spell his name by 4 and then he wrote it around that time too.

 

QUOTE(twoplustwo @ Nov 20 2008, 06:45 PM) [snapback]1079831[/snapback]
wow! Having volunteered a lot in my kids Kinder class, I can tell you that most of the class didn't know how to write their names, couldn't do both lower and upper case letters and many of the things listed.

Ithink those are pretty high expectations.


Exactly what I was thinking. Mine couldn't do any of that before they started preschool. They are teaching them those things now though.

 

thanks for posting this very ambitious list!!

As a side note, Walgreens has the school zone workbooks on a buy one get one free sale this week. I picked up some really good preschool workbooks that the girls love doing.

 

Elijah and Sarah have been in a preschool program since last year and they still can't do the following:

Identify and name all the letters in my first name
Correctly match letters to similar shape families
Say the sounds of all the letters in my first name
repeat the beginning sounds of words, clap word syllables with assistance

Copy two step patterns and three step sound sequences (not sure about this)

I can't even get them to write their name. They try...but it still looks like Hieroglyphics LOL! They start K next fall!