Moms of Kindergardeners

I found the following on I-Village. It shows more standard abilities:

3 year olds: Running, jumping, walking and climbing quickly are now second nature. Other physical feats, such as standing on tiptoes or balancing on one foot, still require a child's full concentration. http://choosers.ivillage.com/parenting/development_tracker/

4 year olds: She can stand on her tiptoes, hop on one foot, turn somersaults and maybe even skip. http://choosers.ivillage.com/parenting/development_tracke...|

5 year olds: Your child will:
• Play games that encourage running, jumping, hopping and skipping.
• Add physical movement and dance to music.
• Learn to control the small muscles of the hand by using scissors, crayons and pencils.
• Develop a better sense of balance to walk on a beam or stand on one foot. http://choosers.ivillage.com/parenting/development_tracke...|

Hi!
I am a kindergarten teacher and we do not evaluate kids on hopping. I remember hopping and skipping myself as a kid! We try to focus more on academics and social skills. If a child had problems walking or running, we could make physical therapy referrals, but we just check for basic skills like holding a pencil, etc.

I have a daughter who was in Kindergarten last year. My son is in Pre-K this year. They test on motor skills. I don't really think they grade on them. My son is very clumsy and hops around really funny-like. His teacher hasn't said anything about it. As long as they don't fall over because they are deformed I don't think it really matters.
L. V.
Ida, MI

In gym class they might still grade on that sort of thing. It was not really discussed at carriculum(sp?) night. I know that in the classroom itself the focus is on learning how to read, write, math, and social skills. Or as my son's teacher put it, kindergarten is now the equivalent of what we remember as first grade.

I know our schools still do, I have a kindergartener. However, there are now extenuating circumstances that are taken into consideration such as learning/developmental disabilities.

My two school age kids did get graded on this during preschool. They recieved report cards and weird things were on there. My daughter is now in Kindergarten and I have not heard of this but report cards are next week I will let you know. It seems they focus more on academics now in kindergarten.

My triplets are now in Kindergarten and I have not heard anything about hopping, skipping or galloping. lol But then again my parent teacher confrence is not til next week, but I do talk to the teacher on a regular basis.

It really depends on the specific school/district you are in. When I taught kindergarten for a private school, we graded on gross motor and fine motor skills. Its not really a "grade" but more or less is the child able to perform certain tasks. All children develop at different rates so at such a young age it is nothing to worry about :)

I'm not sure if anyone is really "graded" on hopping, but all children should be able to hop on one foot by the age of 3 at the VERY latest. If they are unable to do this in Kindergarten, then there very well could be developmental delays and/or grave concerns. My son started to hop on one foot at a year and a half and had it mastered at 2. It is hard for me to imagine a developed 5 year old not being able to do this.