Sara Johnson, Bordentown Township
I just want to know what happened to kids starting out their first year of school learning their ABCs and 123s? I have a brother who is five years old and has just started school and loves every minute of it. Luckily, he entered school already knowing his letters, numbers and how to spell his name. My problem is why does the school system expect children who have just turned five to read and write as if they are in the second grade?
I have learned that instead of focusing on the actual sound of the letters they have started using “sight words” which has more to do with memorization than actually knowing how to spell. My mother and I have heard from other parents whose children are in my brothers’ grade as well as first grade; this to me should be called third grade, that have been asked to have their children tested to be entered into basic skills classes. These suggestions are made a month and a half to two months into the school year. I heard of trying to catch the problem early but that is ridiculous.
How can the school say that your child needs to be tested because they have trouble sounding out or reading words, then ship them to a basic skills class to teach them something that was never focused on to begin with. My friends and I all went through the Bordentown school system and were fortunate to have teachers that actually took the time to sit down and help you understand the things that you were having trouble with, not write you off and put you in another class two months after the first day of school and make you feel as if you aren’t smart enough because they don’t want to take the time to do their job the right way.