So My K'er Just Had his Yearly Evaluation...

[TKDmom]

Grrr. I didn't realize my evaluator was not a homeschooler (friend of a friend). She gave him the public school assessment for entering first grade. Ok, no problem, I thought. Afterward, she told me he had atrocious spelling. :glare: These were the spelling words:

 

jumped

space

edge

page

boat

 

He spelled them:

jupt

spase

ej

paje

bott

 

Of course he reversed his P, B, and S, but that's normal for a 6yo, right?

 

Do these words seem unrealistic for a kindergartner? I sure thought so. I was expecting CVC words, not these.

 

She signed off on the evaluation, which is all that mattered. But I'm feeling a little bit "mama bear-ish" about my boy, now.

 

Ok, I'm trying not to rant, so I'll just stop. :tongue_smilie:

[abreakfromlife]

they want a graduated K'er to spell those? Yeah, my kids couldn't do that. Shoot, I don't even start spelling until 3rd gradish :tongue_smilie:

[sassenach]

Grrr. I didn't realize my evaluator was not a homeschooler (friend of a friend). She gave him the public school assessment for entering first grade. Ok, no problem, I thought. Afterward, she told me he had atrocious spelling. :glare: These were the spelling words:

 

jumped

space

edge

page

boat

 

He spelled them:

jupt

spase

ej

paje

bott

 

Of course he reversed his P, B, and S, but that's normal for a 6yo, right?

 

Do these words seem unrealistic for a kindergartner? I sure thought so. I was expecting CVC words, not these.

 

She signed off on the evaluation, which is all that mattered. But I'm feeling a little bit "mama bear-ish" about my boy, now.

 

Ok, I'm trying not to rant, so I'll just stop. :tongue_smilie:

 

Those are ridiculous spelling words for a rising 1st grader. Edge? Come on! My rising 2nd grader couldn't spell those. I don't think my rising 1st grader could read a few of those words.

[TKDmom]

they want a graduated K'er to spell those? Yeah, my kids couldn't do that. Shoot, I don't even start spelling until 3rd gradish :tongue_smilie:

 

Those are ridiculous spelling words for a rising 1st grader. Edge? Come on! My rising 2nd grader couldn't spell those. I don't think my rising 1st grader could read a few of those words.

 

EXACTLY!!!

 

I'm pretty sure I was teaching DD to spell words like edge after I pulled her out of ps in 2nd grade.

 

Thank you for validating my feelings. :D

[Laurel]

I wouldn't expect a K'er to necessarily be able to read those words, much less spell them. My almost 7yo would definitely have missed one or two of them, and, according to standardized testing, she spells well above average.

 

I wonder if maybe his spelling was atrocious compared to everything else? If he is a fluent reader, etc perhaps she expected all his skills to be about the same level?

[Suzanne115]

I taught public school kindergarten for 10 years. Yes, those words are too difficult for most rising first graders. I wouldn't worry about it at all. His invented spelling shows a good grasp of phonics. The spelling will come later.

 

Suzanne

[jewellsmommy]

That does not seem right at all! I do not think that was realistic for a rising 1st grader.

[twoxcell]

My 7 year old can read all of those, but wouldn't spell them right.

[Capt_Uhura]

Ok, I have to add to the Hive this is absolutely ridiculous. Not much more to be said about it. That's absolutely, unquestionably, developmentally inappropriate.

[NanceXToo]

Get a different evaluator next year! :)

[TKDmom]

Ahh, thanks for the support everyone. I'm almost calmed down enough to go back to entering lesson plans into HST. :D

 

I was sitting across the room from her, realizing that she was asking him (over and over) to spell "edge", and I just had to bite my tongue. I peeked at his paper, he had written "ej" and probably didn't understand why she kept saying the word to him. Afterward, I tried to be very calm as I explained that schools only expect "substitute spelling" out of kindergartners. Which he did very well, I think. ;)

 

Next year I will definitely seek out a homeschooler to do the evaluation, rather than subject them to a ps teacher's idea of the proper "standards". Ugh. I pulled my kids out of school to avoid stupid tests and developmentally inappropriate standards.

[higginszoo]

Definitely developmentally inappropriate. I'm another one with a first grader who could read those, but probably not spell them. He did a good job picking sounds that fit.

[Night Elf]

I wonder if she gave him the test for kids leaving 1st grade. I would have asked to see the word lists for the other grade levels. I would have been furious if she wouldn't sign his evaluation based on those spelling words. That's crazy.

[*Amber*]

My DD is a rising first grader (she did K in ps) She can't even read those much less spell them.

[skueppers]

I thought you might find it reassuring if I asked my daughter to spell these same words.

 

She is starting K officially this fall, but for the most part, she operates on what I think of as the level of a child who has finished Kindergarten.

 

She wasn't willing to venture a guess on "space", but for the others, she came up with:

 

jumd

ege

paj

bot

 

She hasn't received any spelling instruction, but all of those words are ones she would normally be able to read.

[elfinbaby]

I would be shocked if my dd could spell those words. We completed VP Phonics Museum K and I don't think some of those blends were even part of the program. I think that's 1st grade work.

[catz]

Sounds nuts to me too. My son went to PS for K and 1st grade. None of the standard first grade spelling words were that hard!

[Hockey Mom]

Wait, she gave him a spelling test for the evaluation? Is that standard?

 

We had our first evaluation earlier this year, and all our evaluator did was read my blog, flip through DS's portfolio of work, and check off my book list and field trips. She didn't test DS at all.

 

I think those words are too advanced for a graduated K'er. My graduated K'er would have spelled them exactly the same way your DS did.

[ABQmom]

Ahh, thanks for the support everyone. I'm almost calmed down enough to go back to entering lesson plans into HST. :D

 

I was sitting across the room from her, realizing that she was asking him (over and over) to spell "edge", and I just had to bite my tongue. I peeked at his paper, he had written "ej" and probably didn't understand why she kept saying the word to him. Afterward, I tried to be very calm as I explained that schools only expect "substitute spelling" out of kindergartners. Which he did very well, I think. ;)

 

Next year I will definitely seek out a homeschooler to do the evaluation, rather than subject them to a ps teacher's idea of the proper "standards". Ugh. I pulled my kids out of school to avoid stupid tests and developmentally inappropriate standards.

 

Now you've got all of us riled up too! No public school teacher or official in their right mind would expect a Kindergarten child to spell those words! That's just ridiculous!

[jfletcher8091]

My daughter went to public school for K and when I went in for a Parent/Teacher Conference in the spring, her teacher showed me a sample of her work, I cannot remember the exact words, but they were words about like the ones you mentioned, and she had spelled them about how your son had. The teacher told me that she was spelling them phoenetically, which was exactly what she was supposed to be doing!

[Daisy]

My husband teaches first grade. He says that is utterly ridiculous. There is no way he'd expect that from a rising first grader.

[Aoife]

most PS kids don't even learn to read until 1st grade. My DSD couldn't even read those words at the end of first grade let alone spell them. Even now at grade 3 she would have trouble spelling them. I think that was either the wrong test or someone who is not friendly to homeschoolers period to give a K kid those words as a spelling list.

[swellmomma]

It seems unrealistic to me. My kids are having their year end evaluation redone in August. Although my kids schol books were approved in the fall and we had 2 evaluations during the year the facilitator gave them VERY low marks and claimed their books were not grade level after all in teh year end review. Although Austin got 80-90s for everything in Language arts except for composition she gave him a C in LA and said he needed remediation in reading comp and spelling(though in teh paragraph previous she said his reading comp was at grade level). She did not account for the fact the kids have disabilities or the horror/life changes that affected our year. At least the principal agreed with me and is having a separate (objective) person come in to reassess. One of the things that bothered him and me the most was she wrote on their evaluation that if I bothered to teach virtue and character training they would be good kids. Umm no a) they have disabilities and b) she has no clue what virtues/character traits I work on enhancing in my home. I have already switched boards for the fall BUT I did not want those comments stuck in their permanent record that gets sent from baord to board so we are having the new evaluation done. Sometimes the expectations of the evaluators are far too lofty imo.

[Dmmetler]

That's more the level expected in the 2nd or even the beginning of 3rd grade Scott Foresman spelling book I have on my shelf, and it's a PS series.

[Joyofsixreboot]

I've had 4 PS k'ers and they never did anything like that. They were working on 3 letter words and if spelling made phonetic sense they were good with it. I think your examiner is nuts.

[EJCMom]

Could it be that she didn't necessarily expect him to spell the words correctly, rather to see how he attempted to spell them to see if he has a good grasp of phonics? In my mind, the way he spelled them shows that he understands the phonetic concepts that he should know up to this point. Maybe the evaluator was just confused? :confused:

[mystika1]

One of the things that bothered him and me the most was she wrote on their evaluation that if I bothered to teach virtue and character training they would be good kids. .

 

If someone would come into my home and say that about my kids I think I would have exploded.......

:cursing:

Does she think that those topics are covered in public school??? NOT!

She should not be allowed to evaluate children.

 

Sincerely,

 

Penny

[jewel7123]

Wow, all I can say is, thank goodness I live in Texas and don't have to get my kids evaluated!! That is just ridiculous!

[2cents]

Seriously?! That is just nuts! I would have been all over that 'evaluator' for that! Those aren't words that most soon to be 1st graders know. Grrrr! People like that make me so angry. :rant:

[Wee Pip]

I have a friend whose 3rd grader had spelling words like "rhyme" and "illustration". Sure, every day words like those (*sarcasm*). I don't put a lot of stock in public school ideals for spelling.

[TKDmom]

FWIW, the woman who was doing the evaluation does not do this professionally. The requirement in FL is that we have a yearly assessment performed by someone who is a certified teacher. This was a friend of a friend who is a teacher and agreed to do the eval.

 

I think she just pulled some placement tests off the web so that she could see how ds compares, since she doesn't teach K. Here are the guidelines that tell which test to use (he got the one billed for 6 yo). And here is the actual test. I was amazed spelling would even be on this assessment. And I was annoyed that her common sense didn't tell her it was too hard for K. But I'm not upset anymore--she doesn't do this for a living. Next time I will make sure to find someone who has more experience with doing these evaluations.

 

Sorry to get everyone else riled up! :001_smile:

[Renee in NC]

FWIW, the woman who was doing the evaluation does not do this professionally. The requirement in FL is that we have a yearly assessment performed by someone who is a certified teacher. This was a friend of a friend who is a teacher and agreed to do the eval.

 

I think she just pulled some placement tests off the web so that she could see how ds compares, since she doesn't teach K. Here are the guidelines that tell which test to use (he got the one billed for 6 yo). And here is the actual test. I was amazed spelling would even be on this assessment. And I was annoyed that her common sense didn't tell her it was too hard for K. But I'm not upset anymore--she doesn't do this for a living. Next time I will make sure to find someone who has more experience with doing these evaluations.

 

Sorry to get everyone else riled up! :001_smile:

 

She messed up. Mastery on the Advanced Phonics test places them in 2nd grade, not first! The Basic Phonics test was the appropriate screening tool.

[LunaLee]

Okay, I agree that those words are too hard for a kinder, but my son did get a test like this at the end of his kindergarten year in ps. His teacher called it a "monster" test because the first word the kids were given was monster followed by about 5 more equally long/difficult words. She said that they didn't expect the dc to be able to spell the words, but gave some other reason why the give the test. Something about hearing the phonics and translating it to paper.

[zaichiki]

She gave him the public school assessment for entering first grade. Ok, no problem, I thought. Afterward, she told me he had atrocious spelling. :glare:

Never mind. I see now that she had no experience testing K'ers.

Edited July 24, 2010 by zaichiki

[imhim]

These words are much harder than the spelling bee list my first grader had last year.

[mom31257]

Now I know why so many schools aren't performing well on tests. It's because the tests are ridiculous. Those are phonics rules that would not be taught in any Kindergarten program I've seen.

[NanceXToo]

By the way, I just googled "first grade spelling words" to see if I could find a list of common ones and to see what might be on that list. The lists were things like:

 

an

can

man

ran

ten

pen

hen

in

pin

pond

fun

run

at

sat

cat

that

pot

got

put

gut

mug

dug

 

The "bonus" words were stuff like:

 

land

spin

flat

trot

 

...then again I looked at the first five lists. There were like 30 lists for 1st grade spelling and apparently they got harder as they go, because I peeked at list 30, which I guess would be for the end of the year, and it had words like:

 

stem

stamp

nest

street

stand

grass

[RobinF]

Wow, all I can say is, thank goodness I live in Texas and don't have to get my kids evaluated!! That is just ridiculous!

 

Me too!

 

I have a friend that teaches 1st grade locally and she gave me a copy of their First Grade Priority Word Spelling List

 

all

an

and

are

as

at

be

but

by

can

do

does

for

from

get

go goes

had

has

have

he

his

in

is

it

me

my

not

of

on

one

or

put

said

saw

she

that

the

there

they

this

to

want

was

we

were

what

when

with

you

your

 

Those aren't the only words they work on but are the ones that they want every child to be able to spell correctly by the *end* of the year.

[kiana]

She messed up. Mastery on the Advanced Phonics test places them in 2nd grade, not first! The Basic Phonics test was the appropriate screening tool.

 

What she said. :D

[creekmom]

My sister's kids DID have extremely difficult spelling words in K in ps. But, you have to remember, they are learning TONS of "sight words"- they're on the walls, they're in the hallway, they hang from the ceiling, they are taped to every object in the classroom, etc. They are EVERYWHERE! The kids memorize the words; there's no "phonics" in spelling for the most part for these kids. Personally, I think that's why hs kids are usually weak in the spelling dept. in the younger years - bc they spell phonetically. Ps kids have been taught to memorize the word as a whole- to read it and spell it as a whole. I wouldn't worry that your child didn't do well on the spelling; give yourself a pat on the back for doing such a good job with phonics! - He'll thank you for it when he's way ahead of the ps kids in reading/writing later on!

[shusband]

my rising 2nd grader would have misspelled most of those. I'm not doing any spelling with my k'er next year.

 

Summer

[Peaceful Isle]

Wow! I just gave my first grader (6yrs) her first spelling test. Her words were bit, hit, set , wet, etc...

[kalanamak]

 

She signed off on the evaluation, which is all that mattered. But I'm feeling a little bit "mama bear-ish" about my boy, now.

 

Ok, I'm trying not to rant, so I'll just stop. :tongue_smilie:

 

Your state requires evals for Ks? Yow. I did the ITBS (not required) for K, and it had no such thing as spelling those words!:grouphug:

[Celia]

Wow. Around here, most K'ers don't even end the year reading anything but CVC words, if they're reading at all!

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

Okay, I didn't read all the posts, but those aren't even standard first grade spelling words. DS1 just finished first grade and he was always given the challenge word list, but the regular list was stapled behind it, and there were never any words like jumped or edge on the regular 1st grade list! Boat, maybe toward the middle/end of 1st, but not the beginning! Expecting a Kindergartener to spell those is ridiculous.