What Can You Do?

 

The first three years of school

Kindergarten is relatively easy for the child who has been in preschool, but can be a shock for the child without any previous school experience and the passage from kindergarten, where the emphasis is on socialization, to first grade, where the student must be "ready to read," can be another shock, one that can challenge any child. The move to second grade is often equally abrupt. Fluent oral reading is expected by then, and students who, for whatever reason, are still struggling to decode printed words begin to attract attention.

Prepare in Advance:

Ask about the academic program – not just kindergarten, but the years following, as well.

How do the teachers describe their approaches to language and social development? To the acquisition of reading and writing?

How do they handle individual differences among children?

Don't wait until the fall; visit school during the spring to gain a sense of how "graduates" perform.

The challenge is to find a school that avoids extremes, one that offers children opportunities to explore while seeing to it that they also gain skills.

While in School:

Far and away, the most important thing you can do is to stay in touch with your child and with the school.

These are years when you are most likely to be welcomed as a parent volunteer, when class sizes are relatively small, when the teacher can offer personal attention to students and to families, when your child is likely to experience accelerated development in both language and literacy.

Stay connected with your child's experience and with those adults who play a critical role in his or her development.

Promises of Commercial Packages:

What about quick fixes like the commercial packages, computer programs, professional tutors? Statistics don't tell the tale for individuals, but the evidence provides some guidance nonetheless.

Few commercial packages fulfill their claims.

Computer programs for the early grades tend to rely on skill-and-drill, or to emphasize the entertainment value of the medium.

Individual tutoring depends greatly on the tutor.

Most of your child's educational progress depends on what happens during the regular school day-so focus your attention on this experience.

Think about:

Spend time in the classroom and think about the curriculum and instruction that you see at work.