It's no secret that students and teachers across America have to play "catch-up" this year in school. Although we did our best teaching through the pandemic, children may have not gained all the necessary skills needed to advance in the next grade. Angela Snodgrass reached out to more than 50 Kindergarten teachers in the United States and posed the question, "What skills do you wish every incoming kindergartener would have mastered when they come to your classroom on the first day of school?" (Snodgrass, 2021) Of the 73 responses she received, only 9 of them were academic skills. 88% of the responses were related to life and social skills.
Of course it is important to teach the content we normally would during any other school year! However, being a little behind with the pandemic and learning at home, Kindergarten teachers would like to have more a focus on the life and social skills a child should know when they enter Kindergarten. Snodgrass mentions using the restroom, eating lunch, adjusting clothing, knowing important family information, behaving in the classroom and motor skills.
At our Back to School Night, the Kindergarten Team shared with parents that we would like students to be independent or working on independence in the following skills:
- Tying shoes
- Zipping coats/pants, backpacks, lunch boxes
- Buttoning and unbuttoning clothes
- Holding a pencil correctly
- Using scissors
- Bathroom independence (closing the door, flushing the toilet, washing hands)
- Recognizing their name
- Opening and closing food/drink containers
- Following directions from teachers
You would be surprised at how many students could not recognize their name on the first day of school or went to the bathroom with the door open!
As a fifth grade teacher, I am naturally terrified of smaller kids in school buildings! There is so much learning about social skills and public norms that gets taken for granted. Many students are experiencing their first school experiences in kindergarten and this is something that can't be easy. With COVID keeping so many more families isolated from the outside world, the kindergarteners this year must be unique from other school years. I don't know how you do it Mrs. Lyons!
ReplyDeleteReading this reminded me of one of my struggles this year. I teach high school ceramics and this year I actually had to teach high school students how to use scissors. Students are spending less time working with their hands and more times on their electronic devices so they are coming to me with less skills. Are you finding students are coming to K with less or different skills that in the past?
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