Does a child need to know how to write his letters when he starts kindergarten?
He knows everything. All of the alphabet, numbers, colors, shapes, how to spell his name (not write it). He can cut.
Thanks for all of your responses. It looks like either way he'll be okay.
Lonie
As a former Kindergarten teacher, a child should be able to write their first name... beginning with a capital letter and the rest lower case.
A child at this age.. should be able to write their letters but it is not necessary. However,they should be able to write their name.. it just takes a parent/teacher to sit down and work with them
J.
They'll work with him on it. My son is in kindergarten this year - he was writing his name when he went, but they didn't start 'making them' until November. Now they're writing other words too. If he can color and cut, he should be good... if you feel the urge, Handwriting without tears PreK is great for the lines, or dwtk online.
S.
YES, from my experience with kindergarten aged children, it definitely helps for them to be able to write their letters and their name. My daughter was NEVER bored with kinder and the Kinder class seems to expect a lot more from the kids these days. It won't hurt if he's not perfect at his letter writing but practice with him as much as you can so he can get the hang of it.
Take care.
In my opinion, he should at least go in able to write his name legibly, with proper capitalization and lowercase letters. Kids WANT to write, so keep it fun. My son (3 1/2), and the two 4 year olds I take care of love to write. They can all write their names and they use invented spelling for everything they are unsure how to spell. If you decide to teach him, start BIG. Fat pencils, big letters (not on lined paper), and don't be picky about pencil grip. He can move down later, but staying appropriate to his motor development requires bigger movements.
As a former teacher, my opinion is that some children enter K knowing how to read and write and some can't even write their name or know the alphabet and that's ok. That is what school is for, to teach children on all levels. It may mean more work for you as a parent at home with your child because learning is a cooperative effort between teachers and parents.
I believe this is a big part of kindergarten readiness. In my son's 4/5 year old preschool, they work on a different letter each week. I believe all of the children in his class can write all of their letters and I know each child can write their own name (they have to do this everyday of preschool). If the child was not able to do this, the teacher would recommend an additional year of preschool (Pre-K).
No, that is partly what Kindergarten is for. He'll love it!
No. He will do just fine and may seem bored for a bit.
