Do 4-year-old's read and write? UK versus US

[nomedoit]

Just trying to get some perspective here. My daughter is 4 and a half. She has done a year of pre-school in the US, another pre-school year to go before she starts formal school (Kindergarten) at 5 and a half.

They don't seem to do much compared to the UK! They have done some letters but very little writing and no reading. I actually got told off by the teacher for teaching my daughter to read ("Oh no, you should be concentrating on motor skills"). It's mainly crafts and songs etc which is fine but is the UK the same or more ahead?

wheresthepimm I like the sound of courteous children . but surely that also has a lot to do with parenting?

Even in the UK I think there's a realisation now that there's no benefit in pushing children early.

Today preschool and reception year have much more of the kind of play-based, motor and social skills focus that you see in the US or Scandinavia or Germany.

This is a new angle for lots of schools - even my cousins who are only 8-12 now had far more formal teaching in the early years.

well thank you TheRealMBJ but I can't take all the credit they did change a lot after schooling in the states, more laid back about learning and tests (they did them every year but just to check the teacher was being good ) and suddenly all our friends were Mr X or Miss Y (married or not) and I still get yes Ma'am from them when I ask them a question, the teachers were on them like a ton of bricks if they ever heard them cheeking a parent. There was a lot more cross over between home and school, naughty behavior at school was dealt with at school but every little thing was told to you as a parent and they expected you to back them in any decision they made and reinforce at home, also if they were naughty at home then you told their teacher and the reinforcement would be there in school too. It was like having an extra pair of hands and eyes on them to deal with anything. We were in a military area so I think there was a lot more this is what is expected from a child, as a parent you could be in trouble for your childrens actions (even letting them play out unsupervised under a certain age) and this could go on your DHs work record. We did however continue with the style once home as I like my courteous children too :)

Thank you to everyone who has posted here! I have learned so much. Math thank you for your detailed post and Pimms my experience is the same -there is a lot of emphasis on correct behaviour.

This has put my mind at rest. My daughter does plenty in school that I hadn't realised e.g. the show and tell; "clean-up" which they are very keen on; crafts; and lots and lots and lots of "holiday" celebrations which seem to happen nearly every month here - Christmas, Valentines, Easter, 4th July, Halloween, Presidents' Day, Birthdays...

She is very happy at school and self-sufficient.

I do think she is a bit bored though. I am teaching her to read because she showed all the signs of reading readiness and she loves books and obviously wants to be able to read them herself.

(My son went through the US public High School system and I have to say I found that very dumbed down. There was no real critical thinking, analysis or detailed work.)

DD1 and 2 went to preschool. They got home readers, key words and writing to practice.

DD3 starts in September at a different Nursery who do not do any of the above.

Im in UK. I think it depends what preschool/nursery they attend.

(I found the US HS experience of DD1 to be the opposite I must say -- it was a public HS with a very high rating, prided itself on the number of pupils sent to the Ivy League annually. I thought her AP courses were excellent.)

One thing I still admire about the preschool and elementary work they did was teaching the children to plan projects, to break down activities into separate parts and organise their work. When they came home with a book report to do in second grade, the instruction sheet included a timeline and calendar blank they were to write the various deadlines into -- choose book and submit idea to teacher by X date, read book by X date, find shoebox and supplies for diorama by X date, write first draft of report by X date and hand in for correction/suggestions for improvement, write final report by X date, hand in diorama and report, with all instructions carefully adhered to by X date, be ready to present report to class with second group, Tuesday 9th (or whatever).

I also liked the easy availability of teachers when you wanted to talk about a problem -- school had email and phone numbers available for teachers, and they would phone themselves if something came up or if there was a trend of two poor tests in a row. You would get a return phone call within 24 hours. And yes, you were really expected to be in partnership with the school (but this is a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned).

Our elementary school is good, but the high school is not. :( I should start saving for private ed now...

Good for the US. I hate the early reading obsession in the UK. Ridiculous.

In the Far East, where many children come from homes with a first language that may be either English or a different language, at reception age (4+) they don't read books but instead read out flashcards or sentences from a board in unison with the teacher. Formal reading from a book started at year 2 (6+ to 7). On the whole the results for literacy and reading both languages (the children are taught bilingually throughout) are good. I do feel there is a bit of a obsession with early reading in the UK, to the detriment of other skills. The problem is that at a young age, many children I've observed among family and friends aren't actually reading but memorising the story like a script, or just fitting the letters together without quite understanding what the sentences mean.

If we lived in Germany (where I grew up) DS would be starting school in September. Unfortunately, he had to start here in the UK at age 4 1/4! He took in the jolly phonics at school and read there too, so his teacher said, but at home he told me reading is too hard. I left him alone until the middle of Y1 and then started a rading routine as I didn't want him to fall behind. He is just about an average reader (for UK standards) but he still will not read a thing for himself, even a Xmas card, he will always ask me to read it to him. I feel sad to make him read, and I would feel sad if he fell behind and felt that he was stupid - I just wanted him to enjoy reading! I hope it will happen at some point in the future.