Schooling Central

Just curious....
I have not had a child start prep in Australia.
How common is it to be reading independently on entry to prep (ie the year before year 1?)
If your kids were reading, how many others were reading too in their class?
Did the kids have to sit through "A is for apple" http://schoolingcentral.com/components/com_fireboard/template/default/images/english/emoticons/dizzy.png
or did the teachers differentiate for those who could already read?
I think my DD (5 tomorrow!) is reading at about year 2 level and improving really rapidly. She will start school in February next year.

Thanks!~

Hi Happymum,

From what I have seen, it is quite common for Kindy children to be able to read picture books independently from DAY 1. This is thanks to more educated parents reading with their children at home from very young, Sesame Street, CD ROMs teaching reading, reading readiness classes for those who want/need them, and many parents delaying sending their children to Kindy until they almost turn 6, etc. In my son's school, by Year 2, there were a dozen students assessed to be reading at Year 6 level. This year, a new student joined, and he was assessed to be reading at Year 8 level while in Year 1. Go figure!

You would want to look for a school with a strong literacy emphasis for your DD. You may visit the Kindy classroom to see what readers are available to use, what books they stock in the infants library, and what programs they run to encourage and celebrate literary achievement, e.g. writing competitions, from the very junior years. Tell the Kindy teacher your DD is reading at Year 2 level and check her response. Is she excited to welcome your DD to her class, or does she seek to put you in your place by telling you that your DD has to read at 95+% accuracy to be considered at any particular level.

Good luck!

Thanks mumof1!
My son is an excellent reader but I did not know enough to know it was kind of unusual when he started school. I'm just a bit nervous as he was not well catered for at all in the early years.
There is one boy at my daughter's creche who also reads, which is a great help. Last week she came home saying "I can't read cos kinder kids can't read" so it was helpful to be able to remind her about the other child who can read too.
cheers.

I don't *think* there were many children in my son's class who could already read before they started school. Regardless of whether or not they could read, all children went through the 'letter a week' thing, although I don't know how much actual time in class was spent learning the letter of the week (I never actually saw the teacher 'teaching' this letter). Our prep teacher (who was very talented at teaching children to read) taught all the reading component of the literacy block in small differentiated groups and so children who could already read (or who picked it up quickly) could work at their own pace. I imagine this is how it would work at your son's school. It wasn't perfect - many times when I was in there my son was doing tasks that were too easy for him, but in his teacher's defense it was her first year teaching at the school and I'm not sure she was used to having 3 out of 16 Prep children reading at level 30 by the end of term 3 (with another 5 not far behind) lol!

My son could not read before he started school and I'm convinced it was because he considered reading something you could only learn to do once you were at school. He could write simple words, such as 'cat', because he would sound it out, but if you showed him the word 'cat' to read, he would yell out 'feather,' or some odd word that didn't even start with the same letter We wondered if he had some kind of dyslexia lol! Once he got to school though, and all the other kids were learning to read, he picked it up effortlessly.

It's great that there is another child at your daughter's creche who can read. She must love her knew skill -the world really opens up for them once they can read doesn't it?

Annabel.

A positive development!
After last week's "kinder kids can't read" incident, today she took in a book for show and tell (the social highlight of the week) and read it to the whole class! She said the other kids thought it was "good".

Hooray!

Cool!!!

It's sounds as though she is in a good creche she if is supported by both the teachers and the other pupils to show off her new skill. How cute - I bet you wish you could have had the video recorder going for that one!

Annabel.

I so do. I wanted to ask if I could stay to watch but I am sure that would have mucked up the whole thing! So I had to make do with monosyllabic descriptions
"good"
"fun"
Still i am pleased!