This is a series of books written for The Core Knowledge Series to help parents "prepare their children for a lifetime of learning." This book is a great resource for helping parents know if the school their child is attending is teaching the basic skills that are needed. These are skills that are the foundation for other skills to be built off of. There are multiple books in this series, but today I would like to focus on What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know.
This book was written with the parents in mind to encourage them to have a say in the education of their children. The author believes each of these is vital for children to learn in order to be able to build off of these in future grades. He encourages parents to ask to see what curriculum their students are learning and either ask that teachers begin implementing this essential knowledge or that parents teach this on their own at home.
I find that the books has a lot of great ideas all located in one place covering a variety of topics. The main topics included in the book include Language and Literature, History and Geography, Visual Arts, Music, Mathematics, and Science. Each of these sections is broken into smaller sections.
In the Language and Literature section, parents will find information about teaching their kindergartner to read and write. There are also a lot of well recognized poems included that each child should learn at some point. Aesop's Fables and stories are also written in the book. I like that these are included here instead of having to dig in other books to try to find them! Sayings are also in the book, such as "It's raining cats and dogs." This is the largest section of the book, but the amount of material included is a great deal.
In the section on History and Geography, many countries are explored with an emphasis on the United States. The different continents as well as countries on each continent are discussed. Then the history of the United States as well as presidents who have made a major impact. This section is just an overview and does not really go into depth, seeing as how you are discussing this with a five year old.
Visual Arts is kind of a small part of the book. They discuss what artists are and what they do. They also look at some famous paintings by a few artists. This painting by Mary Cassatt is actually one my kids learned about using our Ambleside Online curriculum.
The twenty or so pages of Music begins by asking the kids if they like music. Then there are various activities to do related to music, such as moving to the music and playing various musical instruments. Quite a few songs like "Bingo," "Old MacDonald" and others are on the following pages. These are songs that all kids should learn in their childhood!
The Mathematics pages follow and are classified by Patterns, Numbers, Money, Computation, Measurement, and Geometry. Each of these smaller categories have various activities that the students would enjoy doing. This is a section I am going to have to visit again and try many of these out with my kids. I know they will love them and I appreciate that the activities are included instead of just saying, "Do an activity where you sort shapes by size." It actually gives you examples and an activity to do.
The pages for Science are filled with information about life around the students. They include Plants, Seasons, Animals, The Human Body, Taking Care of the Earth, Magnetism, and Scientists. The illustrations are colorful and information provided is interesting and thought provoking.
I believe that this would be a great book to help any parent who is questioning if their child is getting a well-rounded, fundamental public school Kindergarten education. It is even something a homeschool parent would want to use to make sure they have covered all the basis for their child. This is a book I plan to pick up again, even if it is to check off the nursery rhymes and songs as I teach them to the kids.
There are many books in this series and I plan to go through each one in the future. Be sure you check back to see what your 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th grader needs to know. Sadly, I don't have 3rd grade (and I have no way of getting it here)! Each photo was taken by me of the book pictured.
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