It is Shapes and Letters week in Daycare/School. On Tuesday they introduced the letter A. Are they serious?
This is a room full of two-to-three and a half year old toddlers. Our girl is in the middle of that range. Shouldn't kids really know their shapes, colors and letters by now? Must schools and daycare centers "teach" to the lowest learning level in the class? Does that not limit the other kids? I can only imagine that this is how many kids get bored and disenfranchised with school and learning. Apparently, this can start as young as 2 years old.
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A Monday night conversation between the Mrs. and the little one:
Little One: I would like Mary Poppins on.
The Mrs: Mary Poppins is on honey, the whole CD is Mary Poppins.
Little One: I realize that the cd is Mary Poppins but I want Mary Poppins.
The Mrs: Do you want a song Mary Poppins sings?
Little One: Yes Please.
Tuesday night comment from the Little One, upon realizing that only three of her set of five new water flutes where in the tub with her:
Little One: I am assuming the other flutes are not in the tub.
If she can use correctly, the words realize and assuming (and also Damnit! - she never utters it out of context. brilliant!) does she need to learn the letter A (and the color red) this week? ummm, no.
This is one of a dozen or so reasons we have and continue to consider a move to a Montessori school - where kids are taught on a more individual basis and are not held back by the limitations of others. It is bad enough to be held back in adult life thanks to bad managers, lame co-workers and red tape. Must it start when our kids are toddlers?
Jeff
14 comments:
uummmm, she doesn't know the difference between a movie and music? she needs to learn the letters CD and DVD
hey, thanks for the insightful comment. maybe giving the post a second read would be in order, slower this time.
sorry, cd is in there, now
lets teach your little one not to push and hump others in daycare, i mean play doctor.
hey anonymous, that's ignorant
Ugh! Parents ruin learning for everybody. "Teaching to the lowest level" --give me a break. Just because YOU think your child is gifted does not mean she is better than anybody else. And since it is a daycare you should not expect them to teach at all. They are there to change her diapers and introduce social play with others, which obviously you think she is to good for.
this post is coming from someone who has a kid that doesn't sleep through the night, still is in a crib, and just stopped eating boogies? (all at age 2 1/2?) I think you need to take your own advice and begin to "Parent differently".
A few things:
1) If you are bold enough to make such comments, do so with your name.
2) It is a pretty bleak world you either wish to live in or think you do. No one is allowed to excel or be better than anyone else? No one should have higher expectations for themselves, their children and the institutions they employ? Are we really to be bland automatons that learn the same way (which is false) and progress at the same pace (which is unrealistic). Is it really that unreasonable or narcissistic to expect a slightly more advanced curriculum? The place (which I refer to as both daycare and school) advertises that they promote both stimulating and educational programs.
Plus, she is not in diapers anymore.
You don't imagine that school's teach towards to the youngest or lowest level in class? I imagine this is pretty standard for regular schools. After all, no child should be left behind. Also, do you deny that this level of teaching can lead to boredom in school as bright kids get older and more basic, already known info is "taught" to them? Would you not get bored sitting in a room hearing all things you know already? Would your mind wander? Would you maybe start to get into trouble because you are so detatched from the proceedings? I think this happens every day in this country.
As far as "Parents ruin learning for everybody". That takes the cake as the dumbest comment ever left here. Congrats!
How exactly is wanting kids to learn more (not less or repeat things from 6 months ago) and be exposed to more diverse and interesting things ruining learning?
3) It is obvious that I think she is to good for social play?
What have I ever written that makes this so obvious to you?
(assuming I am talking to one Anonymous person)...you are leaving comments faster than I can respond to them! Geez. You should blog yourself, it seems you are passionate enough about these subjects.
She does sleep through the night and has for a while. I cannot fault her for have nightmares, being congestated, etc. There are times where she is up and I have been honestly reporting on the challenges surrounding that.
I am sure there are nights you do not sleep well, like the rest of us. We as adults just work it out ourselves, usually...I guess she is not able to do that yet.
The crib thing? How is that an issue? There is no standard. Most people I have talked to make the move because either 1) the child is climbing out and they are endangering themsevles...she has never tried to climb out in the middle of the night...or 2) a 2nd baby arrived faster than expected and they need the nursery/baby room again. This 2nd reason is closer to our situation, as we have #2 on the way and will, as a result, need to move her into a regular bed between now and then. I am in no rush though.
Yeah, the eating boogies thing was strange. Naturally, we would always tell her to stop but those little goodies must have had some strong appeal to them.
i swore i already commented here, but blogger must be acting wonky...
kids at that age might know their shapes, colors and letters, but they might not--instead, they may have near encyclopedic knowledge of dinosaurs, ballet postitions, music and instrumentation, tree and leaf identification, the cannon of dr seuss, etc. some theories of education (waldorf, pure montessori) do not introduce the concept of letters or reading until a much later age(seven or eight in waldorf education!), it's really only in the institutional learning environments of the latter 20th century american and european educational model that put such a strong emphisis on such things at such a yound age. my children were/are expert at imaginative play at 2 1//2, and love stories and looking at and making art, but not so much into letter/number/color/shape memorization and pleasing me(their parent) with the right answer vs the imaginative, creative answer. i was much more enthused when my 2.5-year-old could explain improvosational music than when he successfully identified a capital and lower-case "g". i suppose it's a matter of priorities, but some parents who send their children to "school" with your child might not be as enthusiastic as you are about reading and (w)riting and (a)rithmatic, and i don't think it's fair to set your child upwith a notion of superiority because the strength of those children may lie elsewhere and the "teacher" is trying to get all of the kids on the same page, so to speak so that when they do enter the institutional learning environment at 5/6, the LCD won't be quite as low and the kids will bbring all their myriad of interests and skills to the table, as well as knowing a few things about the basics.
Very good points Extrafrosting. I hope I am not setting her up with an air of superiority. She has been excited to be tracing letter A's this week.
I simply am wondering aloud as to the validity of such a basic learning program. But you are right, some kids at that age are far better things other than letters and colors and the teacher is trying to find a level field for them all to learn something each day. I can accept that.
I too equally enjoy the completely made-up stories she comes up with while "reading" a book and when she can hear and point out the sound of a trumpet in the music being played in a loud and busy retail store as I am when she can spell "lid" on her new Leapfrog word whammer.
Thanks for your thoughts!
my name is Olive Blacoque
I feel as though I must state for the record that my girl loves her school and loves going in every morning. Part of me thinks I should simply be thankful for that - as having a child who likes going to school is an awesome thing. And the teachers there are very good, she loves 'em.
All that being said, I still wonder at times about the programs themselves. Can they be more adventurous? Should they be?
We did not put her in the school accidentally. We drive out of our way everyday (pretty much the opposite direction of work) to go there. We pass numerous other places that would be much more convienent, but we like the place and the people. We like that it is a family run, independent establishment. Would we like to see more interesting things being discussed and taught, yes. But we have not been nearly vocal enough, or at all, in trying to bring about any change.
Hi Jeff - I actually linked over to you because I was reading your "review" of the Gustafer Yellowgold show. I'm glad you guys enjoyed it. I am Morgan's sister.
I read your other blog entries and decided to put my two cents in. When I read this particular one about the learning of Red A in daycare/pre-preschool, and you asked "are they kidding?", I thought your next sentence would be, "these kids are too young to be learning this yet!", so I was definitely surprised that it went the other way! Although I suppose I shouldn't be, as my other brother had taught himself to read by 3 1/2 years old with the use of some colorful 78rpm vinyl records and corresponding booklets; a predecessor to Hooked on Phonics, I suppose. The gamut of learning curves (as Extrafrosting pointed out) is quite wide. And the very fact that you go on to state that your daughter is having great fun drawing red A's shows that you should definitely hang back and see what her reactions to these situations are before jumping in with your own conclusions! (I mean that in a gentle and good way...) In this world there are a wide variety of people and levels of development, and really, deep down at the core creature level, we are all equal. The trick to life is to excel at what we can and accept everyone else for exactly who they are. And if that means drawing red A's when one could be writing essays already, and being able to find a way to enjoy it, then I think that makes for a happier person in the long run. It sounds as if your daughter has already figured out how not to be bored. If the day arrives that she is bored and let's you know, then that might be the time to switch to a Montessori school or the like. In the meantime, let her enjoy being right where she is.
Hope that doesn't sound too preachy...
Not preachy at all Ann. You are spot-on. Thanks for the comments.
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