The first learning expectation for this component is: Understands story events and overall theme, and conversations. The first performance indicator is: Recalls more detail from stories, using growing vocabulary. Wow, this performance indicator assumes quite a bit. I have read to many, many PreK programs and Headstarts, and for the first half of the year those poor teachers do well to get them to sit through an entire short book. Trying to recall details and story events is sometimes not even attempted until nearly Christmas. Children are simply not read to on a daily basis at home. Parents just do not understand how vitally important that is for their children's language development. For those few parents that do read to their children, their children nearly shine out from the pack. I can tell within 5 minutes of meeting a child for the first time whether or not they have been read to on a daily basis. Parents, it is that obvious. Most PreK and Headstarts spend the year trying desperately to undo the language deficiency in which the children arrive at the start of the year. Some make it. Some do not.
The next performance indicator is: Recalls many events from recent experiences. This one has more potential to be acquired by today's children than the previous one. However, I am seeing children that still do not have a great concept of time by this age. They remember what they did and can talk about it using the vocabulary they have developed, but sometimes they confuse when it happened. Some children cannot do this right after their fourth birthday but can by their fifth birthday. I have had some very immature 4 year olds that took until nearly their fifth birthday to be able to do this. A language delay will also affect how well children can recall events and be able to talk about those events. Language delay affects so many other areas of development.
Next on the list is: Holds conversation with adult or peers about familiar books. This one again assumes quite a bit. A lot of 4 year old children are not familiar enough with a book to have a conversation. Even if they are in a program at 4 years old that stresses reading books, it takes nearly 6 months of exposure to books to be familiar enough to hold a conversation. Many of these children do not pay attention during story time enough to even pick up on the plot or the characters. When the teachers try to have discussion about the book afterwards, these children often interject off the wall comments. This is where children that are read to on a regular basis shine like the sun. They can do this. The others cannot.
Now we move on to the next learning expectation - Relates plot of story to self and own experiences. The first performance indicator is: Makes comments during story reading that relate the story content to previous stories, or to his own life experiences. Realistically, every class of preschoolers has one or two children that can do this well. Most of the other children usually make comments that might somewhat relate but are usually off the subject entirely. If the conversation of the class turns to something they know, they will make appropriate comments. However, the one or two that really conquer this concept start the conversation. The others just chase rabbits.
The other performance indicator for this learning expectation is: Correctly answers questions about the story plot and events. This one assumes the child was listening. Most often that is not the case. There will always be those few that do listen and can answer these questions, but they are usually the lucky few that have parents that read to them on a consistent basis. I hope you are picking up on the theme of this post. Parents read to your children!!!!!!!!! Nothing replaces this valuable experience for your children and if you do not, your children's teachers will have to work that much harder to make up for your lack of reading. Rant over.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!! https://linktr.ee/natawade
