Kindergarten Readiness

I promised in my blog on process art that I would write a Very Important Blog on current PreK and Kindergarten expectations. I alluded to the fact that those school expectations aren’t developmentally appropriate.

So here it is…my Very Strong Feelings about what I perceive to be a MASSIVE and pervasive problem in our nation regarding what we expect of our very young children. And, later on after my slightly-unhinged-but-accurate rant, my suggestions for how you, as a parent or caregiver, can best prepare your preschooler for formal education.

The pervasive problem I mention above trickles down to what we expect of parents and teachers. There is a terrible and damaging mismatch between what developing brains *should* be doing and what we are *expecting* them to do. There is a concept in Early Childhood Education called developmental appropriateness. We talk about developmentally appropriate practice constantly - you’ll find it in most teacher classes and most textbooks on teaching, you’ll hear it at conferences…it is a big-time buzzword. The problem is, Early Childhood Education in America is anything BUT developmentally appropriate. If we are speaking of developmental appropriateness, we would be speaking about evidence-based practices that are genuinely what is best for very young children’s brains and bodies.

We would be doing what I am constantly preaching here: giving them tons of unstructured time outside, reading to them constantly for pleasure, and focusing on the teaching of inter- and intrapersonal skills. We would be giving them TONS of free play and not getting in their way during that free play.

Most importantly, we would be delaying the formal teaching of reading and writing until the age of 6-7(ish…heavy on the ish…this obviously varies between individual children. Some are definitely ready earlier!). This does NOT mean that we shouldn’t be teaching any reading skills in PreK or K. What it DOES mean is that we should not be EXPECTING PreK and Kindergarten kids to be reading fluently. Some may be, and good for them. Some may not be, and good for them, too! They likely have other strengths that aren’t being given an opportunity to grow or shine because the focus is all on reading, which some might just not be ready for.

Instead of these developmentally appropriate practices they OUGHT to be getting in PreK and Kindergarten, they receive only tiny chunks of recess, they are told how to play, they are kept inside, they are forced to use screens and to learn to read at an early age. AND THEN - schools are forced to assess and assess and assess…all at the expense of so many more valuable learning and life experiences.

So as parents (and as educators), we are left to flounder around and find a balance. We KNOW what our children need - research has shown it time and time again…but we can’t give it to them and then risk sending them to school completely unprepared, now can we?

Every last one of us that has sent a child off to kindergarten has worried about whether or not they are “ready” for kindergarten. We stress about letter recognition and counting skills, about whether our child will measure up academically. We also stress about social skills, but what that really means for a lot of us is worrying that our child won’t sit still and be quiet. (Talk about an inappropriate expectation for a 5- or 6-year-old!)

We know (or we are pretty sure we know) what will be expected at school and we feel the pressure of teaching to the school expectations. Homeschooling is an obvious answer, but not everyone can do that, for SO many different reasons. I’m over here writing about this very subject, and do you see me homeschooling Big Girl? Nope. Feel free to ask me why! I’m happy to chat about it, but that’s not what this particular blog is about.

This blog is about my RAGE (that’s not too strong a word!) that we are doing this to our kids (and that society is doing it to us as parents). This is RIDICULOUS. Just absolutely ABSURD.

The academic expectations of five-year-olds these days are what they used to be for seven-year-olds. Have five-year-old brains evolved to function as the seven-year-olds brains of yesteryear? Of course not! Society has just decided that we need to read and write and add and subtract earlier. Policy-makers have decided that young children should be held to “measurable” goals. (There are several reasons WHY these expectations exist - the biggest one being that we are educating for the purpose of people being “work-ready”, which is definitely not why we should be educating…I’ll write about that at some point, don’t worry!)

Social skills aren’t objectively measurable…Even though there’s a plethora of serious research that shows the absolutely crucial nature of developing strong social skills early on. Policy makers don’t care about a child’s ability to climb a tree…even though, again, there’s a serious research base demonstrating that risky play as a child has life-long benefits.

We expect very young children to meet insane reading goals and then “label them” with problem dysfunctions when they can’t do it. The thing is though, one of the reasons this has become such an accepted practice, is that we *can* teach most kindergarten-age children to read. We can! It’s possible! And since it is possible, many of the decision-makers in our country have been led to believe that it’s desirable. Since they CAN learn to read early, they SHOULD learn to read early. NO. Nonononononono!!!

The major problem with this mindset is that by spending so much time teaching reading and writing (and math, in which the expectations are equally inappropriate), we are using up all of our instructional time. There is no time left for tree climbing. There is no time left for more recess or free play or “extra” time to read aloud to your students simply for the joy of reading. There is not enough time to dig deep into social skills and leadership skills and problem-solving skills.

So why am I writing this? What is the point in sharing my anger and outrage over our damaging educational system? Well, I’m not just ranting. The fact is, unless we choose to homeschool, we have to send our kids to school. (Even if we DO homeschool, our kids are held to some of these standards. Not all, and not always as early, but some of the expectations are still there.) 

Here is our Big Girl on her first day of Kindergarten, off to meet impossible expectations!

I’m writing this so I can share some actionable recommendations that you can do at home in light of the current kindergarten readiness expectations.

Here are my recommendations:

Avoid explicit letter name instruction with 3-4 year-olds. Instead, engage in phonemic awareness activities. Forget about teaching them to recognize the alphabet just yet. Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds in a word. Early phonemic awareness includes the ability to rhyme, and to identify beginning sounds in words, Don’t confuse this with with beginning letter names…phonemic awareness has to do with spoken language; phonics has to do with written language. Later phonemic awareness skills (again, not visual letter-recognition skills) include segmenting words into syllables, adding/deleting/substituting sounds in words, and blending sounds to form words. There is a direct link between strong early phonemic awareness skills and later success in learning to read.

The Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement compiled many studies in 2000, all of which drew the same conclusions about phonemic awareness instruction: it helps kids learn to read words and comprehend them.

The best part is, this feels playful to your kids. Kids love to play with words and sounds - they think it’s hilarious! That’s because our brains are hard-wired for language acquisition, so we are by nature fascinated by language.

Avoid sight words as long as you can - seek out phonics-based curriculum if at all possible. As I am so fond of saying, the research wholeheartedly supports this. 
For example, a study from The Ohio Department of Education Literacy Academy in 2019 tells us that students who can decode (that’s phonics, folks) need only 4 “quality encounters” with a new word to learn it. Students who can’t yet decode and are memorizing the word as a whole (sight words right there) require 30 or more encounters with the same word to learn it.

Sight words and “whole language based instruction” are the opposite of phonics instruction. When a child is taught using sight words (whole language instruction) they are shown whole words and asked to memorize them as a whole. They are taught to read using the illustrations and context clues.

When a child is taught to read using a phonics-based approach, they are taught each individual sound that letters make, and the sounds that combinations of letters make (such as /th/, /sh/, /ou/, and many others). They are taught to blend these sounds together and they are taught the “rules” of the English language. Every last study every conducted supports phonics over sight words - there is evidence that sight words are easier for children to learn, but that phonics instruction results in stronger life-long reading skills, which is obviously the end goal.

Avoid educational apps and screentime designed to teach. It’s not that this screentime is inherently damaging - it’s what it replaces that is problematic. If it’s replacing exercise, outdoor time, free play, read aloud time, or conversation with a grownup, it’s not meeting any educational goals. Screentime, even “educational” screentime, does not benefit children. The research on this is VERY clear. It should be used as a last resort, if none of those other higher-quality options are a possibility. (Look for a blog on screen time soon!)

Here’s a write-up (from my alma mater - shout out to Penn State!) of a study conducted based on the “four pillars of learning.” The Four Pillars of Learning is a framework designed to explain the fundamental elements of successful learning. The Four Pillars of Learning essentially tells us that educational apps score very low when analyzed according to those four pillars. The research is pretty black and white - nothing can compare to the interaction between a learner and a teacher (or you, as a parent working with your child at home). There’s also some concerning research emerging about the social and emotional dangers of utilizing educational apps as opposed to traditional teaching methods. The lack of connection with teachers and peers, as well as the loss of time learning to attend to less overstimulating activities are equally dangerous.

For what it’s worth, there is some limited data suggesting that educational screentime helps children score better on Common Core assessments. My personal opinion regarding that data is this: of course it does! Common Core assessments measure such a narrow knowledge base, and those educational apps are able to teach directly to that test. If we are looking for true education that isn’t geared strictly towards Common Core, apps are not what we want.

Spend as much time reading aloud to your child as humanly possible. This is the NUMBER ONE factor associated with academic success and ease of learning to read. Turn. Off. The. Screens. And. Read! Check out these 50 different statistics espousing the importance of language and reading aloud to your young children! Number 16 states unequivocally that “The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children. (National Commission on Reading, p.23. 1985). That’s huge! The number of words a child hears from birth through age three is a very strong indicator of eventual reading success….the easiest, most effective, and most enjoyable way to increase the number and variety of words they hear is to read to them. And remember, it doesn’t matter if they are sitting right beside you attending to every illustration. Just read. All the time.

• All. The. Time.

Our favorite thing to do.

Spread the word! Every one of you has an important part in all of this: don’t stay quiet about it. If we collectively get loud about how inappropriate the expectations are, change will follow. It won’t follow quickly, but it will change. Talk to other parents. Talk to teachers. Talk to administrators. Post things on social media. Write to politicians. Our children deserve for us to advocate for them, in any and all ways possible. Contact your school board. Send a letter to the Secretary of Education of your state and our country. We, together, must be the change.

Finally, trust the research. Do what you feel you have to do in the way of teaching letters and numbers and counting…but make it as developmentally appropriate as possible. Don’t spend too much time on it. Phonics and handwriting and letter recognition are NOT what your 3/4/5 year old’s brain should be doing. They should be dramatic playing with friends and building with blocks and exploring outside. They should be spinning and swinging and tumbling. They should be listening to story after story after story. They should be learning how to navigate friendships and disagreements and how to crack eggs. Every single one of those things I just listed are critical for brain development.

Here’s what they SHOULD be doing!

Finally, here’s my most important takeaway: we don’t get these years back. We need to give their brains and bodies exactly what they need while we are an integral part of their little lives, because once they start school, we will have so much less time with our children. Do the things I discuss above NOW, and I guarantee that when their brains have developed appropriately, they will learn to read SO much faster and SO much more easily.

Need more information? Want me to explain anything in more detail? Drop a question below or on my socials!