Granted it's been a few years, but my recollection of kindergarten and the present day version are literally worlds apart. I may be mistaken, but I don't remember homework. And just to be clear, I am talking actual work to do at home. Abby has one math assignment and one spelling/reading/printing assignment to do each week. This week's math homework is pretty easy. It involves using the maracas and tambourine that were sent home to practice a rhythm or a pattern. I have to admit I'm not really sure how that pertains to math, but I'm confident Miss Abby'sTeacher knows more in this area than I do.
The other assignment is a little more involved, requiring her to draw pictures that start with the letter of the week (this week was a) and then try and print the word without help by stretching it out. Abby is taking this stretching out very seriously, stretching out words whenever and wherever she can. So now you're likely to hear her ask Muuuuh..... ommmm.....meeee can I have a duuuuhhhh...rruuuuu....eeeeee.....nnnnnkkkk? The instructions with the homework stress that we shouldn't correct our child's attempts at spelling. I have to admit again, I was skeptical, but for this week's letter she drew a picture of an arrow and after stretching out the words she spelled it arro. And her attempt at apple ended up being aple. That's pretty damn close if you ask me. Now she's bringing home little books to read as well. Books full of sight words, meaning words they see so often they should know them by sight like the, can, see and so on. It's a really interesting approach combining sight words with phonetics.
For her part Abby is loving all this learning. She peppers her day with sounding words out, stretching them out, telling me what sound and/or letter words start with. She just can't get enough of it. Mike and I are continually amazed every day that in a year she's gone from a child who couldn't recognize all the letters to one who can read and spell. I realize she's still a beginner, but wow. Just wow.
6 comments:
I find it amazing how much they can absorb at this age and how fast. Makes me feel pretty dumb in comparison.
I agree - WOW! It's a lot for these little ones to grasp - but they seem to get it. Good for her!
Little sponges! They have already soaked up the walking, talking and recognizing stuff, as well as many of the most basic social skills. Reading, writing and 'rithmetic should be no problem. But isn't it fun to watch those little sponges grow?
The only assignment I remember from kindergarten was that we were each assigned a letter of the alphabet and had to bring in an item that starts with the letter.
I had P. My mom sent me to school with a jar of pickles. A glass jar. A glass jar that broke the moment I entered the classroom.
Nothing goes with a kindergarten classroom better than shards of glass and puddles of pickle juice, right? Yeah, the teacher totally called my mom about that one.
She's getting to be a big girl. Now if only the guy at work can stop talking like that. It's not cute when you're in your 30's.
It sounds very much like my grand daughter..who is 5 going on 30...the little brat is an information sponge....it's amazing....
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