The 3 Most Important Skills to Learn in Grades K-3

The 3 Most Important Skills to Learn in Grades K-3

During this pandemic period, the expansion of computer learning has brought to the fore one concern expressed by many of the parents who seek tutoring assistance for their child. Since many primary school (K-3) curriculums have abandoned the use of textbooks, some parents of K-3 students are unable to quickly refer to a Table of Contents with clear units, chapters, and lessons. This in turn has led to an increasingly common refrain from these K-3 parents: I’m not sure what my child is supposed to be learning. For these parents, here are some insights regarding The 3 Most Important Skills to Learn in Grades K-3.

The Developmental Task of Primary School

Several years ago, I referred our student Jack to the Tridas Center for Child Development in Tampa, FL in order to determine if there were underlying cognitive issues contributing to Jack’s consistent struggles with math. Following the Center’s thorough testing process, I had the pleasure of meeting legendary developmental and behavioral pediatrician Dr. Eric Tridas when he explained his diagnosis to Jack’s mother. During the conversation, Dr. Tridas shared his educational philosophy, part of which appears in his book From ABC to ADHD: What Parents Should Know About Dyslexia and Attention Problems:

 The developmental task of the early elementary grades is to develop literacy. That is, from kindergarten through third grade, the primary role of school is to teach children to read, write, add, subtract, and multiply.

Dr. Tridas had obviously mastered the art of cutting to the chase for his clients. The clarity and brevity of his explanation provide a superb guide to The 3 Most Important Skills to Learn in Grades K-3.

Reading Skills

A child who reads fluently has learned to bridge the gap between decoding the 40-52 English phonemes (distinct units of sound) and comprehending what s/he is reading. There are additional steps to reach fluency. For example, “chunking” is the skill whereby a child sees the printed phrase “in the middle of the road” but can quickly reorganize and read the phrase aloud (or silently) in one flow as “inthemiddleoftheroad”. In other words,

 decoding + chunking » fluency = comprehension

All too often, the steady diet of “sight words” first introduced at the VPK level takes precedence over building a firm foundation in the basic English phonics rules. For many students, this cart before the horse approach leads to deficits in logical decoding and chunking. These specific deficits strongly correlate with subpar reading skills. Add to this the standardized testing in the earliest grades, and an inadvertent message is sent to our youngest students: we learn to read to take tests. High-stakes testing does not nurture literacy for many children ages 4-8. On the contrary, the nature of this testing simply nurtures anxiety and preempts their joy of learning how to read. All of these factors necessitate that our K-5 reading tutors must remediate the phonics skills that many of these youngsters never learned well in the first place.

Writing Skills

One parent contacted Club Z Tutoring because his daughter Jane in Kindergarten was expected to write a one paragraph essay in school on a regular basis. There are some self-confident Kindergartners whose creative juices may flow freely, even though the essay itself may resemble hieroglyphics. Jane, however, would freeze. She didn’t know how to spell because she didn’t know the phonics rules. She was scared of making mistakes and disappointing her teacher. Additionally, Jane had an awkward pencil grip which would inevitably lead to a very tense and tired hand after any extended period of writing. These scenarios are likely what Dr. Tridas had in mind with regard to writing instruction in the earliest grades.

Years ago, K-3 report card categories included line items for handwriting or penmanship, which reflected an emphasis on the development of fine motor skills, proper letter formation, and legible printing. (Remember when students were taught “start your letters from the top down”?) Today, penmanship may not be graded, but it should, nevertheless, be carefully taught. Once the youngest students have mastered a pencil grip and printing, they should progress to writing simple sentences with the requisite spaces between words. Orally dictating simple phrases and sentences to a student that are comparable to his or her reading level is the first best step toward actual writing. The next step is to have the youngsters write an original sentence with accuracy, clarity of expression (“think before you write”) and – proper grammar! Learning the parts of speech and how they function will reap huge dividends for these youngsters in grades 4-5 and beyond.

Numeracy Skills

Mathematics can be loosely defined as the science of numbers and their operations. Arithmetic is the branch of mathematics that deals with the properties and manipulation of numbers. Numeracy is the ability to reason and to apply simple numerical concepts and operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Although K-3 report cards in Florida include a line item for mathematics, students ages 4-8 are, in reality, learning numeracy skills. However, are they learning those numeracy skills well? Are they building the critical foundation for the mathematics they will subsequently study in grades 4-12? For many young students, the answer is an unequivocal “no”.

Prior to the implementation of the Florida Standards in the 2014-15 school year, there was a television campaign of sorts that eschewed rote learning as part of promoting these new standards. There were valid reasons to question certain aspects of rote learning, but as far as numeracy skills are concerned, rote learning via memorization has been a rite of passage for primary school students for centuries. Memorizing the math facts through sums of 20 and the multiplication tables through 12 X 12 teaches children the values of practice, perseverance, and (eventual) achievement.

Currently, there are far too many middle school students whose struggles with mathematics stem from the fact that the math facts and multiplication tables are not memorized – skills that should have been acquired by the end of grade 3. Unfortunately, some school curriculums no longer include in-school verbal drilling of addition and multiplication (and the inverse operations of subtraction and multiplication); teachers simply are not accorded the time to include regular verbal drilling as part of their weekly lesson plans. Therefore, the coaching (and patience!) to assist students ages 4-8 to memorize their math facts and “times tables” is delegated by default to the parents, older siblings, or tutors. Regardless of higher order thinking, word problems, baby Geometry, and other material included in grades K-3 mathematics curriculum, the memorization of numeracy skills requires a singular focus.

Summary

The 3 Most Important Skills to Learn in Grades K-3 can be summarized as follows:

• Reading:  phonics, chunking, and reading aloud
• Writing:   penmanship, spelling, and grammar
• Numeracy:  memorization of addition facts and multiplications tables and        their inverse operations

Parents who are anxious to understand how they can help improve their child’s academic performance are well advised to ensure their child is learning these fundamental skills. Club Z In-Home & Online Tutoring is well equipped to provide highly individualized assistance for youngsters who need to learn the 3 Most Important Skills in Grade K-3.