How can i keep my child from being behind in k5...?

Question

my daughter is 5 she will start school in august.. she can write her letters and numbers but she can not reconise them.. will she be ok to start school?

Answer 1

I am a recently retired preschool/elem teacher.  My first question is how does she feel about working on letters. If she balks at all, let it go. The worst thing that can happen is a bad attitude towards any type of learning.,  Just let the pressure off.  She is like a little flower, and will bloom when she is ready.  As far as I know, she will learn to recognize letters in kindergarten.  LIttle ones all blossom at a different time, but the love of learning, if killed, can not be brought back

Answer 2

Yea i'd think so. You have a summer to work on it with her. Keep working with her and she'll be fine. Congrats on kindergarten, try not to cry on her first day!! I didnt think i would, buttttt i did lol.

Answer 3

My husband taught my kids to read before they started kindergarten.

He got a book that had one picture, one word on each page.  Like a picture of an apple, and the word below it.  He patiently spelled out the word letter by letter as he pointed to each letter, then ran his finger under the entire word and said "apple", then progressed to the next word until he finished.  He did this 3 times a week.  Right after he finished the book, he got out Peter Rabbit stories and read them.  

This whole process took 1 hour and he did it 3 times a week.  My kids started school reading in kindergarten.

You could also put a piece of red paper on the front door, spell r   e    d   as you put your finger under each letter, then say red as you run your finger under the entire word, and then go about your errand.  Do for 30 days and your kid should know the word anywhere.  Be very cheerful about it, never be upset about your child's reading.  

Then use green paper, etc.

Then use one and put the numeral 1 on the paper.  Spell the word one as mentioned above, say 1, then leave the house.

It's casual repetition done in a friendly way that will enable your kid to catch on to reading.  

So read to your child every night for 20-30 minutes and get a stack of library books from the public library for this purpose.  It's the love of being read to that makes a child want to learn to read.  They are willing to learn to read because they associate reading books with lots of pleasure.

Answer 4

You daughter will learn easily in school what she does not know now, especially if YOU help her to come home and review what she did that day, such as to "recognize" her letters and numbers.

Read to your child.   She will learn from that experience, even when she starts school.   Go to the library and ask them to help you find books that deal with basic colors, numbers and the alphabet.   Also there are a number of songs you can borrow on CD.

Your daughter will do fine if you praise her for her accomplishments and help her to learn when she does not do so well.

Answer 5

My kindergarten teacher told my mom I would be those "slow children" because I didn't grasp the concept of letters and numbers as fast. Nahh...she was wrong, as well as cranky and old.

Give your daughter time to grasp the idea...YOU be the teacher at home, make it a fun game. Play matching games with cards...have her practice writing them out OVER AND OVER AND OVER again. Definitely helps!

Whatever you do, don't tell her she's slow...that'll just kill her self-esteem.

Answer 6

It sounds to me as if she already has a good start. If she is beginning to write her letters and numbers it won't be long before she will be able to identify each letter and give the letter sound. Make a game out of her recognizing her letters and numbers. Make learning fun. Don't stress her or push her. Make sure that she is enjoying the learning process. There is time for her to learn at school. When she gets to school, she will begin to realize that learning is not only fun but an important part of her growing up. She will learn that the symbols she has been learning to write really mean something and make sounds. You will be pleasantly surprised when she comes home and tells you what she has learned each day. Make sure you make a big deal out of asking about her day at school and what she learned. Showing that you care about her education and that it is important will set a standard and expectation about school. Enjoy your child and get involved with her education. By the way, I am a kindergarten teacher. Stop worrying, you sound like you are doing a great job.

Answer 7

Yes.  What you can do is write the alphabet on 5 X 7 index cards.  One at a time.  Then with your daughter sitting in front of you, read letters one at a time, out of alphabetical order, to her on a daily basis.  Kindergarten is a time of introduction of letters and numbers.  So, it is ok if you work with her during K also.  At the end of K your daughter should master reading and writing the alphabet, out of sequential order.

Answer 8

Interesting that she can write them but not recognize them!  Focus on uppercase letters first, and also focus on the ones that are not simlar to others - for example S, A, Z do not look like anything else, but D and O, R and P, E and F can often be confused.  Don't focus just on learning letters, but rather make it a game while you're doing other things.  Reading a book?  Ask her what the first letter on the page is, these are usually capital letters; just simply point to it and ask "what's this letter?"  If she doesn't know or answers incorrectly, don't make a big deal out of it, just say the correct letter, maybe even trace the letter.  If she does get it correct, praise, praise, praise - "yes, that's right, good job."  At the grocery store?  Go down the cereal aisle and play a game, for example "can you find the letter T?"  Same thing if you're driving down the road, look at road signs.  If she get's frustrated, don't make a big deal out of it, just do something else; if she loves the game, keep going until she gets tired of it.  The big lessons you want to teach are that learning is fun and print (letters and words) is everywhere.

As for being ready for school, yes, she's ready.  Give the teacher some time to get to know your daughter so he/she can assess what your daughters strengths and weaknesses are.  Usually by winter break.  Ask the teacher about what kind of activities can be done at home to reinforce what is being learned at school and work on weak areas.  If the teacher has any major concerns, they will call you for a parent-teacher conference before then.