MBTP: Prek or K?

[ItoLina]

I am asking this for a friend. She wants to use MBTP and is unsure weather to get the prek or k curriculum. I have no experience with it so I told her I would post here.

 

Her son will be 5 in December. He is pretty bright for his age I think. He reads cvc words and two consinent blends, maybe even other things I am not totally sure. I told her from what I have seen here she probably will want to do some phonics and math in addition to MBTP?

 

Her main question is weather to get the prek or k. Is the prek pretty easy? Or Challenging? Would the K level be too hard for him since he will still be 4 for a while?

 

Thanks!

[Tanikit]

I think she should determine where he is with the skills needed for the 5-7 year old section before deciding. By preK version I presume you mean Peak with Books which is actually fine for kindergarten too and is being used by quite a few people here. If she wants to go with the 5-7 curriculum then she could always buy a unit and try it out and see how it goes and go on with Peak with Books if it doesn't work out. I would be a bit wary moving ahead if he cannot write as there are a lot of worksheets - it might be better then to work on his handwriting first.

[ItoLina]

I think she should determine where he is with the skills needed for the 5-7 year old section before deciding. By preK version I presume you mean Peak with Books which is actually fine for kindergarten too and is being used by quite a few people here. If she wants to go with the 5-7 curriculum then she could always buy a unit and try it out and see how it goes and go on with Peak with Books if it doesn't work out. I would be a bit wary moving ahead if he cannot write as there are a lot of worksheets - it might be better then to work on his handwriting first.

 

Sorry, I did mean Peak With Books vs the 5-7 year old curriculum (I am not very familiar with MBTP myself).

 

Thank you for the feedback. It is good to know that he would need to be able to write. I will let her know about that. I am not sure where he is as far as his writting skills go.

[sewingmama]

We use the 5-7 level. My kids using it are almost 6 and 4.5.

 

The content is not difficult for a 4 yo but your friend needs to decide where her son is at in reference to wanting to do school. There are a lot of worksheet type activities (most are narrated - my 4yo is not required to write himself unless he wants to). There are also handwriting practice sheets for letters and numbers etc.

 

I bought this curriculum to use mostly for my DD (who is doing K) with the thought in mind to let the 4yo tag along. He keeps up fine with the content but is not always interested in doing the handwriting component (it is only a little - every now and then they include a letter to practice).

 

He does not need to be able to write for the 5-7 curriculum. All of the activities start out by saying "Have your child narrate to you ......." I usually scribe for both my 5 and 4yo - it isn't a lot of scribing required.

 

The worksheets at this level mostly consist of graphic organisers and cut and paste activities.

 

If your friend goes to the website it lists the exact skills required before choosing the level - these are very accurate.

 

This is what it says for the 5-7 level - so if he can do this he will be fine.

 

Knows letters and their sounds

Recognizes and understands numbers 1-20

 

 

Neither of my kids are reading independently yet - just CVC words and they are doing fine with it.

 

She will need to do a separate math and phonics program. MBTP does not teach reading and only a small amount of applied maths.

 

You can go to my blog and see what it all looks like.

 

There are also complete lesson samples on the MBTP website - so she could do a few of these with him and see how it goes. http://www.movingbeyondthepage.com/curriculum/samples.aspx?level=Age+5-7

Edited April 14, 2012 by sewingmama