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Kindergarten To A Literacy-Rich Environment

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The question is to “push” or “not to push” our students in kindergarten to a literacy-rich environment. As a teacher who taught in the upper grades, grades 4-6 and dealt with the state testing, it is a must. However, a teacher in the lower grades, K-3, this is sometimes a very difficult task. Therefore, at this time, I feel that our school system is too aggressive. There are many issues that are correlated with question. Some issues include not all states require kindergarten, many five year olds are not developmentally ready to read, and fine motor skills are not developed. The first issue is only fifteen states require students to attend kindergarten. In Illinois, where I teach, sometimes the funding is not available to fund an all-day …show more content…

For students to be successful in the learning process or a literacy-rich environment, students in kindergarten need to attend school fulltime not part-time. The kindergarten curriculum includes teaching students how to hold books, how to recognize book covers, and how to differentiate between letters, words, numbers, and sentences. Students will also learn how to listen, speak in public, and write their names. This does not include everything a kindergarten student will learn about math, science, social studies, and even technology. Therefore, if a student moves from a state that required kindergarten, he/she is ahead of most of his/her classmates.
The next issue that I have about a literacy-rich environment is that many five year olds are not developmentally ready to read. Under the Common Core State Standards, kindergarteners do more than just sing the ABCs. They are guided to develop a deep understanding of what the alphabet does and how each letter blends to make words. Many students have not learned their letters let alone the sound that they …show more content…

Many elementary schools throughout the United States are set up to provide experiences that are developmentally appropriate for students from a lower middle class or higher socioeconomic background, but that are not appropriate for many students who have never been exposed to reading or books prior to entry into school. One important necessary skill is developing fine motor skills. Many kindergarten students do not have the fine motor skills to hold a pencil effectively or tie their shoes. Without well-developed fine motor skills, a student may have difficulty learning to write or performing many of the other critical tasks in kindergarten. Handwriting is one of the fundamental building blocks for reading, communication, expression and test-taking. Effective writing helps children remember, organize and process information.
Various studies and articles share that some schools develop programs that allow students to play. These programs assist students in developing their gross and fine motor skills, and are seeing improvements in hand-eye coordination to track words on a page, improvement in strength used for attention and focus, retention of facts, letters and instructions given by teacher, and stronger development of handwriting with fine motor

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