"We didn't do much learning today," my grandson told his mommy when he got off the bus. It was his first day in first grade. Last year, in a different school, his Kindergarten year was a lot more academic than what I would like to have seen. Since I don't mention names, I guess it's okay to say that my grandbaby's opinion of school was that he hated it. Hated Kindergarten? Yes, almost every day of it. I have to admit, that when I visited last year's school, the physical environment did not appear to be one that would nurture the developmental stages of five and six-year-old children.
As a retired teacher with a Master's Degree in Early Childhood Development, I have more confidence in discussing this subject than I do in most other topics. My education and personal experience in teaching young children has grown within me a passion for letting people know how wrong it is to push our young ones beyond what their developmental ages can handle. Not all five-year-olds have the same developmental age. Even if they differ by just a few months, consider what a huge percentage that is of such a small amount of years lived so far.
Growth happens in natural stages. The best example I can think of is baby teeth. No parent or teacher can look at a child and say, "If you try really hard, and pay close attention to me as I speak, you can make your front tooth fall out." That sounds ridiculous, yet, it's similar to what our nation is doing as we take away each five-year-old's time to be a child in Kindergarten by forcing a first grade curriculum down their throats. Think of it. Not all of those children are ready for sitting quietly to learn how to read, write stories on their own, and do most of their work with pencil and paper. So what happens? Even more play time is taken away in an effort to have more "practice". Then, sadly, those who still don't conform to what our nation says is grade-level, are placed in special programs and labeled "at-risk". Hog wash! They're young, that's all!
Instead of experiencing failure and growing up thinking that school is hard right from the beginning, Kindergarten is supposed to be a transition from home to school through: playing, singing, being read to, and social interaction (Don't take my word for it, look in Wikipedia.). The word, "Kindergarten", means "children's garden" and used to be a place for children to "bloom" and get ready for school. Five-year-olds are like sponges; they love to learn, but we still need to feed their developmental hunger for doing gross motor (large muscle) activities such as running, building with blocks, finger painting at easels, and active games of movement and song that incorporate pre-reading and pre-math skills.
In a nation that sounds like we know what we're doing by spewing the phrase, "no child left behind", what I'd rather see is, "no childhood left behind". So when my grandson came home after his first day of first grade, I was thrilled to hear that they "didn't do much learning", because that meant his new teacher took the time to make sure her students had a wonderful first day. She made sure her students want to come back. My grandchild says he loves school this year, and he's ready to learn.
My photo today is for my grandson.
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