Kindergarten Reading Pandemonium

Actually, this started in our pre-K class.  Six of the pre-K kids read very well now, and I work with them and their teacher, Ms. Velez, once a week on reading.

To my mind, the test of whether young children can read is not showing them a picture book of a bunny and having them look at the picture and repeat after you as you touch the words “Hello, Mr. Bunny” with your finger.  The real test is when you give children a page of just text.  No pictures, no help from you.  Just words printed in black letters on a sheet of white paper.  If they can read the sentences and immediately react to them and talk about the content, I’d say they are reading.

For example, if a child reads, without any help, the sentence I have a lot of fun with my daddy at sunset, then right away starts to tell you about her/his own daddy and what they did together last weekend, I’d say the child is reading and responding like a capable adult reader.  If a child reads I can sleep on fifty beds and laughs, saying “That is so silly!”, then the child is understanding written text.

So I typed up sixty provocative sentences (see below) and brought copies for the children, Ms. Velez, and me.  We sat in a separate room, away from the rest of her class.  I thought we’d read through the sentences one by one, each child taking a turn.  I thought it would be a pleasant and civil activity.

I was wrong.

As soon as the children received their papers, they started reading silently any sentence their eyes landed on, flipping willy-nilly though the pages.  And almost immediately the reactions kicked in.  One child laughed loudly, another said “Ewwww,” a third shouted out “That’s impossible.”  They started demanding that everyone look at this sentence, or that sentence, or this one over here.  Because the sentences were numbered, they started using the word “chapter,” as in “Hey everybody, read Chapter 52!”

Ms. Velez and I couldn’t control them, and for thirty minutes the children kept reading aloud and reacting noisily and interrupting each other because they were so eager.  To my mind, it seemed they didn’t believe that such sentences could actually appear on paper.

So here are the sentences.  Read them yourself, then I’ll tell you what happened when a Kindergarten teacher gave them to her entire class.

Sentences

How many can you read?

1.  I am a man.
2.  Sam is a man.
3.  I am not a man.
4.  Pam is not a man.
5.  I like to sleep.
6.  I like to sleep on a bed.
7.  I can sleep on fifty beds.
8.  I like to play.
9.  I like to play in the mud.
10.  I like to play in the mud with a toy.
11.  I like to play in the mud with a toy truck.
12.  I hate to be late.
13.  I hate to be late for a date.
14.  I hate to be late for a date with a horse.
15.  If I am late for a date with a horse, I kiss the horse.
16.  My horse likes to sniff.
17.  My horse likes to sniff me.
18.  I sit.
19.  I sit on a pin.
20.  I sit on a pin in the sun.
21.  I sit in the mud.
22.  My sister likes to run.
23.  My sister likes to run after rats.
24.  I can run.
25.  I can run fast.
26.  I can run fast when I am happy.
27.  I can run fast when I am happy and I see the sun.
28.  My daddy has a tummy.
29.  My daddy has a funny tummy.
30.  My daddy has a funny tummy, and I can sit on it.
31.  I like to swim.
32.  I like to swim in a pool.
33.  I like to swim in a pool and have fun.
34.  I like to swim in a pool and have fun with my sister.
35.  I like to swim in the mud.
36.  I make a mess.
37.  I make a mess in the mud.
38.  I make a mess in the mud, and dad gets mad.
39.  I make a mess in the mud, and dad gets mad at me.
40.  I will go to the zoo.
41.  I will go to the zoo with mom and dad.
42.  I will go to the zoo with mom and dad to see the lion.
43.  The lion eats meat.
44.  The lion eats meat but not me.
45.  The lion wants to eat me.
46.  The lion wants to eat me, so I run home.
47.  The lion wants to eat me, so I run home as fast as I can.
48.  The lion wants to eat me, so I run home as fast as I can.  Then I eat the lion.
49.  I am sorry.
50.  I am sorry that I ate the lion.
51.  I am sorry that I ate the lion and not the tiger.
52.  My daddy has a big tummy.
53.  My daddy has a big tummy because he ate a tiger.
54.  My daddy has a big tummy because he ate a tiger and a lion.
55.  The tiger and the lion got mad.
56.  My daddy ate a tiger, then he sat in the mud.
57.  My daddy ate a tiger, then he sat in the mud and ate the mud.
58.  My daddy ate a tiger and some mud.  Then he got sick.
59.  If you want to eat mud, mix it with milk.
60.  Many of these sentences are silly.

Phew!

I forwarded the sentences to our seven kindergarten teachers.  One teacher, Ms. Walker, printed copies for her entire class.  It’s the end of the year, and she needed to give one-on-one tests to each child at her desk in the corner.  She needed the rest of her twenty students to sit quietly at their tables, working independently.

“Here,” Ms. Walker said to her class.  “While I’m working with Jayden at my desk, I’d like each of you to read these sixty sentences quietly and by yourself.  Voice level:  0.  Take a pencil, and if you understand a sentence, put a check mark next to it.  If you don’t understand a sentence, don’t write anything, and go on to the next sentence.  I’ll look at your papers later.  But I need you to work quietly now.”

Ha!

Once again, pandemonium ensued.  Children were chuckling, pointing out certain sentences to their neighbors, groaning in shock or disgust, reading sentences aloud to their entire table, laughing.

Ms. Walker gave me three pieces of feedback:

• First, she gave up trying to control the kids or have them quiet down.  She decided to wait to do her end-of-year one-on-one tests.

• Second, when she looked at the papers, almost every child had written a check mark next to every sentence.

• Third, the kids stuck with the activity.  They didn’t get distracted.  They didn’t stop reading, reading, reading.

Ms. Walker then asked me to create another batch of similar sentences.

So I did.  The second batch has 100 sentences.

This is what’s thrilling about my school in general.  The other teachers and I try to create learning situations where (1) the students throw themselves into the work, and (2) the teacher can pretty much step out of the limelight and just watch, intervening only if necessary or to clarify things.  Or to ask the kids to explain what they are doing as they do the work.