I’m not sure if it’s because there isn’t free public kindergarten state-wide (yet) or if times have simply changed, but it seems the norm that kids in this area aren’t taught anything reading related beyond knowing the ABCs and identifying their own names until first grade.
When I was in kindergarten in another state- 20 years ago - kids in my class were being taught to read with Dick and Jane. Not me personally, since I was already reading by that point, but people were expected to be able to read simple words - ball, dog, see, run, you know how those primers went- before starting first grade.
So have things changed, or was my school unusual? When was reading taught in your school? Your kids/grandkids schools?
I was expected to read simple children’s books by the end of first grade. Where I went to school we had a combined kindergarten and first grade class, though, with the same teacher for two years.
I was taught to read before I started school. In kindergarten all the other children were taught and were up to reading simple fairy tale books (like The Three Little Pigs) by the end of the year.
We were reading Dick and Jane books in kindergarden when I started school - I was born in 1972, went to school in Oklahoma. I too already knew how to read by then, and I was thrown off by the phonics-style alphabet they used - for instance, ‘th’ was combined into one letter. But nearly every kid could read by the end of kindergarden.
I was shocked at how little kids were taught when my stepdaughter was attending school. They didn’t even try to teach them to read in kindergarden, and in 1st grade they were being taught extremely simple books (more so than Dick and Jane), and the teaching method was basically memorizing what 3 or 4 word sentence went with the picture on each page - I found if I covered the pictures she had no idea what the words on the page were.
I went to KG in 1970, and I remeber being the only child in the class that could read (my mom taught me to read the year before KG). It wasn’t taught, and I was singled out by the teacher (at naptime) to read for her. I went to a different sort of grade school, kids weren’t separated by grade level, there were four “colonies” and kids progressed by goals met. So I was already able to read by the time I made KG, went to a new, totally different grade school, and had to advance to the second colony almost right off the bat. I didn’t like it one bit, I was separated from the other kids my age.
I don’t have kids, so I don’t know the second part. I think they are taught letters and such, but not actual reading until later.
I was reading before I started kindergarten, but those who didn’t already know were taught then - BUT there was continuing work on reading/phonics in first grade.
Seems that in our school, reading was taught in first grade, and wasn’t something kindergarteners were supposed to know how to do. But I knew how (my Mom had taught me when I was three or four), and when I was caught reading in the kindergarten, the teacher actually called my mother to report me!
She got no support from my mother. Apparently, Mom just replied, “Well, if he wants to read, let him. And get him more books.” Sadly, the kindergarten teacher did neither.
This was in the mid-1960s, and I hope such policies have changed in the years since.
I learned to read when I was 3 (I’ll use/try the same method if/when I have kids: my mom would sit me on her lap and hold the book open to see, and as she read, she’d move her finger to each word as she said it; eventually my brain figured it out on its own and I was reading soon after that), and I have a tendency to not pay attention to things that don’t really directly influence me when it’s being taught. As a result, I only have fuzzy memories of any reading-related studies in Kindergarten and 1st grade.
I remember that in Kindergarten, we had books for each letter of the alphabet, and each letter book would have pictures and words next to them that began with that letter. I assume basic reading was required (but I don’t remember, as I was reading the Ramona books by that time). In 1st grade, we had Phonics books (this was in 1988-89 I believe) and reading groups; everyone was expected to read at least a little bit, but I don’t know what the lower level reading groups did. But definitely, by the beginning of 1st grade, it was expected that you could at least slowly sound out words.
This was a Catholic school though, not public, if that makes any difference.
I could read the Children’s Bible and my uncle’s Marvel and DC comics and write my name, address and phone number before I went to parochial school kindergarten in 1976 – but I had a wonderful kindergarten teacher named Mrs. Bering who singled out me and another girl who could read for advanced reading lessons for 15-20 minutes every day. As a result of her encouragement and the reading materials around my house, I could read and write third grade material by the end of kindergarten. By third grade, I had the reading vocabulary of a junior high school student. This was not terribly uncommon among middle class and educationally-prioritized working class children where I grew up in South Carolina.
As a kindergarten teacher now, I rarely see students in the inner city school I work at who can read before coming into my classroom. I’m lucky if they even know how to hold a pencil correctly and can identify their names, numbers and alphabet correctly. But those who show any aptitude at all in the phonics reading program my school uses, I can usually have reading on the second grade level by May. If I’m lucky it may be as many as a third of my class.
Ohio state grade level indicators (State Learning Competencies) require that all students in full day kindergarten be taught to read and write. I spent the last 9 weeks going over narrative writing; this quarter I’ll be teaching kindergarten students how to write personal letters. In addition to that, I teach my students how to write their full names, their classmates’ names, common sight words in kindergarten and first grade, as well as, oh, science, math, social studies, health, art.
I never went to kindergarten, at least partly because I was reading Dr. Seuss books by the time I was two. My siblings and I all skipped kindergarten and went straight to first grade when we were five. My mother taught us very early, she had homemade flashcards and books and all sorts of stuff. We were special. But I seem to remember everyone being expected to know how to read in first grade, so I assume they taught them that in K.
Yeah, like some of the other people have said, I was reading by 2 or 3; this was partly due to my mom sitting me in her lap and reading to me, and partly due to the fact that I was given a Nintendo at that young age, and constantly wanted to know what every single word that showed up on the screen was.
I won’t go off on the educational merits of video games, however. That’s because at approximately the same point in my young life, I was professionally diagnosed (don’t laugh, I’m not even kidding) as a child genius. Needless to say, it all went downhill from there.
Is it mere coincidence that every almost every free moment of childhood and teenage years since then were spent either playing or discussing video and computer games? I can’t say.
Oops, gotta go, I’ve still got to beat True Crime: Streets of LA on my Gamecube…
You mean 1697 don’t you or was it 1997? Wait a minute, I can read. Ever since before kindergarten. Mom taught me to read and count to ?? how high and add/subtract simple math. (I always wanted to go to school, mom and I used to play school at home)
I remember when I began the class was just learning their A,B, & C’s and counting to ten. They were reading basics by the end of the year. You know C-A-T and that kind of stuff.
IIRC that was 1967 also or was it? in '67 I was 5 y/o
BTW My kids could read and do some math when they started too. I taught my son to use the dictionary and encyclopedia when he was five. He asked too many questions. He’s now in the eighth grade w/ a 4.0 in all AP & honors classes. He was in GT’s all through grade school. Reads on upper college level, all of his academics are at college level. Eagle scout, ham operator, working on pilots license, dozens of trophies in sports and academic competition, last month got teen citizen of the year, has scolarships lined up already etc.etc. etc. (run-on sentence from HELL) so what, it’s almost three AM…
AND they told me to not teach him geometry and algebra when he was in the 3rd grade. :rolleyes: He was working out some trig functions the other day while doing some experiments at home. I looked/checked over his notes and he’s actually figured the burn rates on various fuels and their combinations. As well as the acceleration and projectile on some homemade rockets.
hmmm…that last sentence should include calculus and trajectory. It must be getting late. I haven’t had six hours sleep in the last couple of nights. Stayed out late last night drinking t-killya and got up early this morning and worked my ass off all day until well after dark.
Unfortunately, when I was in kindergarten in 82-82, I got in trouble for reading as well–so in pockets this hasn’t changed. In fact, my academic history is full of being scolded for knowing things that the teachers hadn’t taught me.
I taught myself to read at a young age (2-3?)–thank you, Dr. Seuss and when I went to kindergarten, the teacher was trying to get us to identify letters. I was bored out of my mind by this, but since I could always answer correctly, they let it slide.
The real trouble came in 1st grade when we were supposed to “sound things out.” It went something like this.
“Innanna, can you sound out this word?”
"Cat.’
“Sound it out. Ca-ah-t”
“Cat.”
“You can’t do that with every word that you come across, you know.”
Superior look on my face.
“How about this one, then?”
“Neighborhood.”
“Oh. Um. How about this one?” Writes really long word on board.
“Inconceivable.”
“Well, someday, you may run into a word that you won’t know.”
“Uh-huh. Sure.” Still superior. All of my teachers just loooved me.
WOW, your experience is very similar to mine. I didn’t “get in trouble” but I was discouraged from reading and wasn’t provided with any reading materials, or had any that I’d brought taken away.
I’m horrible at math, but in second and third grade I was reading 8th grade science and history books, and kid’s book that my grandmother would bring home from the high school at which she worked.
I hope that teachers encourage students who may be a bit “ahead” in this day and age, instead of shaming them as they did when you and I were kids.
I knew how to read before I went to kindergarten, which would have been 1970. I don’t think they taught reading until first grade though.
I tried to teach my son how to read before he went to kindergarten. I thought he might be able to read, but I wasn’t sure. You know how they have their favorite books and stick with those, so I thought he just memorized them. Turns out he did know how to read.
He could read at an eighth grade level in the third grade. But his comprehension level wasn’t that high. Must have been a little frustrating to read so well, but not understand it. We spent a lot of time with the dictionary.
I had also already learned to read well before Kindergarten. But unlike some of the horror stories some have shared (like Spoons being reported for Thoughtcrime because of wanting books in Kindergarted, or Innanna’s Phonics Nazi) my teachers encouraged me and provided me with reading lists and books that would challenge me.
My daughter was also reading before she entered Kindergarten, but at a lower level than I was at the same age. Most of the “work” the kids did in her Kindergarten class revolved around having the kids read well and know some simple arithmetic before they got to first grade.
Oh, wow, so THAT’S why my son learned to read so early!! I never even thought of that. He used to do the same thing you describe, and he’d quit asking and was able to play most RPGs (the ones where they give hints in long conversation balloons?), with some assistance on unfamiliar words, on his own before he was in kindergarten.
Like me, and his older sister, he was reading several years above his age by kindergarten.
Both he and his sister tested as “gifted” by 5th grade, and both of them could read upper high school levels (11th grade for her, 10th for him) by the 5th grade.
Sooo, I owe it all to video games huh?
Oh yeah, and I did that “read to them in the womb and play classical music” thing too.
in '67 I was 5 y/o