I'm just curious to know what, so far, have your kids learned at vpk or are going to learn? My son's vpk has only started w/ the alphabets, each week is a new letter & they also practice writing the letters among other activities. My son already knows his letters, numbers & can also read very well (a few grade levels). However, he still needs practice w/ writing & spelling.
My husband was talking to our neighbor whose son is in a different vpk & she told him that her son is already learning to spell at his vpk. This of course got my hubby in a tizzy like, why don't they teach that at our son's vpk? I told him different schools use different curiculums (am I wrong?)
I told my husband that I'm not worried they're not teaching him spelling, that vpk is for him to have fun socializing w/ his friends & learning all the etiquette of being in school. That kindergarten will come soon enough & he will learn to spell (I'm teaching him that at home now too)... Now I'm 2nd guessing myself, should I be worried about my son at his vpk? Honestly, he is not learning anything new (he was in a preschool before) at this vpk but he loves it & says he has fun!
I say you let him enjoy his vpk. Even if you teach him some other stuff at home, he's socializing and a learning other things at the same time. He's making friends, he's learning to share.
Every VPK is different. The VPK at my son's school (my son is only 3, so he is in their pre-school 3 program) is awesome from what I have heard. This week, they had the kids put together and run different businesses. For instance, one day they setup a bank. One of the classes were the employees and all of the other classes came to the bank as customers. They deposited and withdrew money, talked about loans, etc. They even gave out lollipops. :-) Another day, they setup a Publix store. One class, again, were the employees. They rang up the groceries, had baggers, etc. and the other classes did the shopping and practiced paying. Today was fireman day. They taught fire safety and one class were actually the firemen and had to work as a team to put out the fire. I'm not sure what is on the academic agenda, but I can tell you that this impressed me beyond measure. You should see my other post about the state's class size cap. My daughter's kindergarten class is working on letters and numbers up to 5. Very disturbing. She has been reading, writing, adding and subtracting for a year and even started doing simple multiplication about 6 months ago.
So, if you're worried about whether he will be behind for kinder if they aren't teaching spelling, not in the least. I don't think a VPK class needs to teach spelling, but I do know that the quality of these programs varies widely. Good luck. I'm considering pulling my daughter from public kinder and putting her at the same private school as my son. It will cost us a fortune, but I can't sit by and watch her miss out on a great learning opportunity because her teacher is too busy being a babysitter to ill behaved kids to actually teach them anything. (This is in no way directed at the teacher...she is doing all she can, but is just completely overwhelmed by an overcrowded classroom).
It's still very early in the school year - give it time and they'll get to it. My oldest went through VPK 2 years ago and my youngest is in VPK now. My oldest completed VPK not only writing but reading, too (in fact, she was kind of bored in kindergarten even because it was a lot of the same stuff she had learned in VPK!) My youngest who is now in VPK is also doing very simple numbers and letter recognition and spelling her name - things she already knows perfectly. I am confident, however, that in time she will come out of preschool reading and writing and more just as her sister did. Every teacher is different, but the cirriculum is basically the same and there are state guidelines, so I wouldn't worry about your son learning what he needs to know for next year - it will come!
Each VPK is run differently so they will have different ways of teaching the children. VPK is just that though-pre K so I wouldn't have expected my son to come out of it reading and writing anything more than his full name, ABC's and a few sight words. Pre K is for the social experience, how to share, work as a team, learn the social rules of behavior, etc. My son learned a lot in VPK compared to the Pre K program he started out in while we were in SC so I'm very impressed that this is free to us and that it helps give our kids a head start to Kindergarten. But don't just fall on the school to teach the kids everything too, it is also up to us as parents to reinforce what they learn in school too. It's also still early in the school year so give them time to get all the kids on the same pace and go from there too.
Good luck!
S.
You're correct, the use different curriculum's. The VPK I sent my kids too was excellent and by the time it was over they were reading, writing and could count to 100 (many Kindergartners couldn't do that in my boys classes). A VPK my friend sent her daughter too in the same county, hardly followed any curriculum. The teachers told her if the child didn't want to learn, they didn't make them, which is ridiculous to me!
I can tell you, if he's doing things besides coloring and playing he'll be fine in Kindergarten.
Learning will accelerate after Christmas break! They just have to catch all the kids up who didn't have awesome parents that worked with them at home! ;)
What is vpk?
Reading, writing and spelling starts in kindergarten and first grade. Yes, some kids are taught and are able to learn these skills earlier, but it's not required. Social skills are what kids learn in preschool, so by the time they get to K they actually know how to sit still, focus, take turns, follow directions, etc.
Since VPK is state funded, I'm pretty sure all the schools who do it are supposed to follow a similar curriculum/guidelines. My daughter did VPK last year and it was very similar to how your son's is. It was perfect for her. She knew all her letters, but is only now starting to read. The VPK program is just to get them ready for kindergarten from my understanding. Not every 4 year old is reading already so it's awesome your son is. Actually, if your son is already reading at a high level and can count higher than 5 (as I've no doubt he can), then he is going to bored in public kindergarten. What they are doing right now is ridiculously easy, but I guess they need all the students to have the same base.
I do think they get a lot out of the social and emotional aspect of pre-k though. I do agree with you there. In my daughter's case, she had only been home with me or her grandmothers, so getting her used to a classroom setting was a good thing for her. Three hours a day was hard for her for the first few months and I can only imagine how much worse the transition to all day kindergarten would have been for her. It's been much better for her this time around.
Why not talk to his teacher and see what she suggests? Maybe the teacher will send additional material for your son to work on?
I just came home from a meeting at my grandson's school. He is 5 and is in kindergarden. He is also behind the other students in everything. He know his colores, numbers, letters, shapes & alot of other things that we all thought that a 5 year old should know. SURPRISE ! He can't spell. He is in a wonderful school & has the very best teacher. But, he is behind. He has to go to a specialist in reading during the day just to get caught up to everyone elses level. He doesn't mind, because he wants to read. The problem is not his fault. The problem was the the VPK program that he was in didn"t teach him enough. I have been told that that teacher has been fired. My grandson has always been sociable but now he is (accordng to hs teacher) has become quiet. They do have spelling test & sight word tests every Friday & these will be graded for report cards. Since your son is reading above his level, he may not have any problems. We just wish that we had known all of this last year. My advice is to keep working with him at home, check on WHAT he is learning at school & make it FUN. good luck!
You can look up the effectiveness of each VPK program and determine how well the kids from their program did on the Kindergarten readiness test. See where your program compares and go from there.
