Free Kindergarten Common Core (US) workbook download....with conditions.

[Korrale4kq]

If any one is interested there is this offer that expires tomorrow.

http://corecommonstandards.com/blog/free-kindergarten-common-core-workbook-giveaway/

[Mandabplus3]

Thanks for posting. It seems a bit strange, we have to blog about it before we get a copy of it? Hmmm.

[Korrale4kq]

It is a promotional thing I believe. I did a quick write up on my blog. We will say how it goes.

[Tanikit]

Yes, very promotional - didn't think it would hurt any so I wrote what I knew and will see what happens - how can you promote something you have not used - it is basic advertsining to say here is a workbook you can buy - maybe they will later want people to update their blogs with how they have used it - who knows? I have a feeling my DD is well beyond the common core standards and I would only be using it to check I never missed anything.

[Korrale4kq]

I didn't write to promote the book, although it does look really good from the samples I saw. I wrote to promote the free book offer. I don't think they expected a review on something no one has seen.
It was suggested that people blog about the kindergarten common core standards that are to take effect in 2014 in all US states. They are already implemented where I live.  The common core standards are public knowledge. This company just decided to do a workbook for it.

A link to the common core standards that are to be implemented. Frankly every public school teacher I know that has to meet these standards in the next fee years are freaking out.

http://www.corestandards.org/

[nee1]

A link to the common core standards that are to be implemented. Frankly every public school teacher I know that has to meet these standards in the next fee years are freaking out.
http://www.corestandards.org/

Korrale,
Any ideas why they are freaking out?

[Korrale4kq]

Because not every student can meet the standards. Students that were previously solid C students are D and under now.  They are extremely rigirous compared to old standards. Our school district has implemented the standards and over half the kids are struggling. Now in our local school district, students do not repeat grades unless parents specifically request it. So children passing school with grades of Ds Es and Fs are going up a grade and falling behind even more,  and it is harder for them to meet the higher grade standards. The teachers that "inherit" these kids are very worried because it reflects on their performances. And they have to teach the lower grade core standards as a foundation before they can move on.

I have a friend who taught middle school English and she was at a loss of what to do. She has to "pass" some kids who could barely read and write because she was pressured to because they could not keep repeating children.

All in all I think core standards are great. But it is hard when the majority of kids can't meet them.

[HavingFun]

DId you get the workbook?  Which one did you get - the English or Math or both?   What do you think of them?

[Tanikit]

I have looked through the workbook and do not feel that the Math is a tremendously high level - it is certainly doable by my child who turned 5 last week and much of what I saw in the Math workbook is in many kindergarten homeschool curricula already.
The Language Arts I did have a problem with - it appears that they expect writing of a standard a kindergarten child should not cope with more because the amount they are expected to write is far too much for a child of that age. It also makes absolutely no sense that a child who is supposed to be learning the alphabet and also how to write can be expected to write paragraphs - how can they possibly get this right?They are also expected to analyse main ideas in books and subsidiary ones when just getting a child to retell a story can be difficult at this age let alone to summarise and analyse.

I also feel that the outcomes can be achieved more easily than is shown by these workbooks and with far less written work expected - for example I taught my DD about illustrators, authors, title pages, front and back covers and other parts of the book by playing a game outside where she ran around and danced until I yelled Book and then she went and picked up a book we had set out at various places in the garden and found the part of the book I was talking about or told me who the author was etc. It took all of 10 minutes to do and she was very happy playing this game (of course many of the concepts she already knew due to all the reading we have done).
The workbook has language arts first and Math second but it is all included.

[Korrale4kq]

I have both. Actually english and math are together. I really like it. There are a lot of activities. It is more for the classroom but can be adapted for the individual child. And the way that it is laid out leaves many of the questions open.
The book is full of "posters" mostly. There will be a poster that says what the core standard is.

For example core standard R.L.K.3 has a poster that says. "With promoting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story."
Then there will be a series of cards that you use to ask your child questions about a story. I plan to print, cut, and laminate these to put on a ring. Then I will flip through these question cards when we read stories. There are pages and pages of these. And I really like them.

There are also cards of words and phonics practice. And math practice. I really love how each activity is an example of the core standard that is to be met. It is the most comprehensive kindergarten core "curriculum" that I have found. Most kindy curriculums I have read are theme based. And frankly a little over the place.  This is just cold hard English and Math requirements. I hesitate to call it a curriculum. Maybe it is beat to call it a guideline for lesson planning? For most people it is not enough because it only covers English and math. But it covers everything standard that is meant to be met by every kindergartener.
I plan to write my own curriculum instead of a prepakaged system, so I will most likely buying the other books.

[Korrale4kq]

Tanikit,

All  the stuff in the book is what every child who graduates kindergarten in the US must know and should able to do. It isn't just a standard made up by the publisher of the books. It is the National Standard to be adopted by every state. And I agree it is rigorous. That is why teachers are freaking out. Kids aren't meeting these standards and are still going up grades. Upper elementary teachers are struggling because they are inheriting these kids without these foundations.

Here is the link to all the language arts.
http://www.corestandards.org/assets/CCSSI_ELA%20Standards.pdf

And here the link to all the math
http://www.corestandards.org/assets/CCSSI_Math%20Standards.pdf

So in reality you do not need to buy the book. All the book does it takes each standard and gives examples and activities for it.

For what it is worth. The boys I nannied did meet all of these core standards last year when they graduated kindergarten. As did most of their classmates. So it is possible. Their school district is doing full day kindergarten which helps. Their teacher said that kindergarten is what used to be taught in first and second grade.

[Tanikit]

Korrale - I do understand that it is the standards due to be met by all kindergarteners, however the workbook presumes that this standard must be met with a lot of writing and it is the writing that appears not to be so clear in the standards - if one of the standards is that children are meant to write all upper and lower case letters that is one thing - writing a paragraph is another thing entirely - which means that the standards could be met without such hefty writing expectations (whereas the workbook I was looking at seemed to expect children to write a lot). I also think that some of the other standards especially for language arts are too advanced for children unless they have done an excessively academic preschool curriculum.

I have heard other complaints about this curriculum and can understand why people think it is crazy - my own DD will surpass these criteria before the end of kindergarten, but she is homeschooled and has had a lot of previous education and she is bright - I would hate to have to teach 20+ children whose abilities differ so vastly.

Having looked at teh core standards however and then at the workbook it seems that they are teaching to a higher level in the kindergarten workbook than is expected by the core standards - eg: Kindergarten: "With prompting and support, retell familiar
stories, including key details." First Grade: "Retell stories, including key details, and
demonstrate understanding of their central
message or lesson." and Second Grade: "Recount stories, including fables and folktales
from diverse cultures, and determine their central
message, lesson, or mora"
So then why is the kindergarten workbook expecting them to find main messages and subsidiary details and messages when that is more a grade 2 core standard? As I said - to retell a story is one thing, to find the main messages and supporting details at that age is entirely a different issue.

[Mandabplus3]

Keeping in mind that I havnt yet read the standards...
In Australia kids enter the first year of school ( prep, kindergarten) knowing very little academically. The first term they spend learning the alphabet. They learn to read it write it and in a good class sound it out too. 2nd term they continue focussing on letter sounds, begin with sight words. All the stuff they learn they learn to write also. At some point in term 2 the groups are determined and children progress at their own pace. They will begin to read short books. Usually sight word based readers. They have worksheets for each book. The worksheets usually have a writing component but often have a cut and paste option for this that need it. Children are ( as of last year) expected to be able to write most of what they can read. This is only the case in the first year of school and children's reading will be slowed in order to strengthen their writing skills and spelling. I used to think it was a terrible idea until I saw the results of it all. ( and realized I can supplement the reading at home!) from grade 1 their reading and writing become two separate components.
By term 3 the whole class is able to legibly write a sentence telling of what they did on the weekend or using familiar words such as " I played with Courtney on Saturday" about 1/2 the class will manage multiple sentences and the occasional adjective.
Term 4  includes more advanced phonics ( digraphs, endings, blends) and by the end of our school year most of the class could write a paragraph quite easily.
As for the ability to understand the point of a story well I actually would be surprised if a first year kid couldn't do that. They usually use fairy tales and familiar stories to test them on, " do you think goldilocks did the right thing? Why? " my preschoolers had no trouble with that one the only difficulty with a retell is if you have a very shy child but usually well before the end of the year they will feel secure enough to give a retell.
Even 2 years ago I would have questioned the chances of success with those curriculum expectations but I have seen just how easy it is to achieve since then, on multiple occasions. Children learn to write well when they are given the opportunity to write often. They will learnt to retell and understand stories by getting a chance to discuss stories that are read to them, and answer questions.

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