In what ways might Kindergarten curriculum, cultures and expectations in the US today be developmentally appropriate or inappropriate?

1. In what ways might Kindergarten curriculum, cultures and expectations in the US today be developmentally appropriate or inappropriate?

2. How might we improve our children’s outcome by learning from other cultures?

3. If we were to redesign aspects of our kindergarten, what would you focus on, and why?

4. Given many of our schools had to transition to be “online” this past few months, what are your thoughts on how realistic and developmentally appropriate it is for Kindergarten-aged children to learn effectively via “Zoom” class?  Why or why not?

While you do not post to answer all the questions below, I want to invite you to think back to your kindergarten experience and use the following guiding questions for your background research:

1. What does kindergarten look like now in the US?

What’s their schedule like?

How many recesses do they get?

What do they learn about?

What are the expectations academically, physically, and socially?

What are the indicators that a young child is kindergarten ready and would likely?

Are expectations for kindergarteners really developmentally appropriate?

2. What are other countries doing for Kindergarten? 

What’s their schedule like?

How many recesses do they get?

What do they learn about?

What are the expectations academically, physically, and socially?

What are the indicators that a young child is kindergarten ready and would likely?

Are expectations for kindergarteners really developmentally appropriate?

3. This is where I hope your creative juices come in.  Given what you have now researched about US kindergartens vs. other places in the world, if we want our children to be successful future citizens and leaders of the future, what should an ideal kindergarten look like?  Talk about the design of your kindergarten, what you would teach them and other expectations?

4. Apply what you’ve just researched and learned from the chapters and think about how our recent changes may or may not have been developmentally appropriate?