DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR CHILD IS LEARNING? K-3 As your child embarks on her educational journey, her foundation should be as strong as possible. The skills and knowledge that she acquires during the early elementary years will serve as the basis for her future both inside and outside of the classroom. As a parent, you need to be informed about what your child is learning to ensure that she is on the right track. Luckily, there is guidance available. States have established standards that outline what students should be learning in various subject areas at each stage in their education. Standards provide a clear direction and a challenge to teachers, students and parents. To better understand how standards apply to your child, discuss them with your child’s teacher. “Standards let us know what we as a community expect our children to know and be able to do,” says Richard E. Bavaria, Ph.D., vice president of education for Sylvan Learning Center. “Standards let parents know what their children are going to be learning. They also let students know what expectations the school, the teacher and their parents have of them.” Dr. Bavaria says it is important that parents review how standards will be assessed. “It is critical for parents to know what curriculum their children are going to be studying so that they can be as involved as possible in their child’s education. When parents know what is going to be taught, they can then play an important role in supporting their children and preparing for assessments.” As a starting point, consider the following questions to gauge what your child is learning at this point in her schooling. Is my child developing listening and speaking strategies? This is the time when your child should be learning to follow the conventions of conversation. For example, she should be able to take turns speaking, avoid interrupting and focus on a topic. Similarly, your child should start adjusting her voice level to different speaking situations. You also want to be sure that she is willing to participate in class and small-group discussions. If your child becomes an assured speaker and good listener now, she will be a more productive student overall. “Language arts skills are the foundation for all the other skills that a child is going to need in school,” Dr. Bavaria says. “Children need to learn early that it is important to listen to the teacher and their classmates.” Is my child becoming a confident reader and can he comprehend what he reads? As your child progresses from kindergarten through third grade, he should begin with a basic knowledge of the written word as something that conveys meaning, and he should eventually be able to identify themes and make inferences. A strong grasp of phonics is vital. Children must be familiar with different vowel and consonant sounds and how these sounds work together to create words; this will help your child to deal with unfamiliar words when he is reading. Additionally, he should become increasingly more comfortable reading aloud. Is my child learning proper writing and basic grammar? Your child’s writing skills should be advancing steadily. Pay special attention to her formation of letters, capitalization and spacing between words. Also, watch for an increasing use of proper punctuation such as commas and question marks. Another thing to note is her growing awareness of parts of speech and their functions. Does my child understand the concept of numbers and their basic applications? At this stage, your child should be aware that numbers are symbols that represent actual quantities. To go along with this, he must be able to count, recognize relationships between numbers (21 is less than 31) and solve addition and subtraction problems. Real-world math applications such as measurement, telling time and counting money are also learned during this time. By Heidi Neuzil