1st, I agree with everything Kriston said

2nd, I also agree that it is confusing about what is meant by the "learn to read year". shellymos, were you saying that in your district Kinder = letters and phonics and sight words (prereading), 1st = more complex reading (sentences) and spelling?

I am not sure where our school is on this continuum. I think it may be as you described. I think the major distinction I was trying to make earlier is that in some schools (and in years past) Kinder is just for play based activities, getting a long in a group etc., learning to be away from parents etc. In which case it could be easier to accomodate the whole range of LOGs because the focus of the class would not be academic activities. (as opposed to shoe tying, cooking, dress-up, sing-alongs, and whatever else they do in play based programs)

But when the emphasis is to teach prereading and/or reading there is going to be a huge range of kids with regards to prior experience and ability. As we can imagine, some may not know their letters at all, others may be reading years ahead, and everything in between. And that is when the problems might come up for some kids...

Originally Posted by shellymos
See here is where I am confused. I completely get this....but then I wonder if it is a grade where they learn their letters and phonics then that would clearly be bad as well.

So, I agree with you too. Either K or 1st could be bad.

In our case, I am waiting to see how high my son's tolerance is for "A is for apple". I also need to find out if they will get put in groups for reading (prereading) given the fact that they have more kids in the class than usual. I don't know if Mrs. Teacher has the capacity.


In a way I wish they didn't even bother to teach reading! see next post...