Ugh! The person who came up with this theory of teaching reading may well have been the same genius who invented the "new math" when I was a child. "New Math" is the reason why, to this day, I hyperventilate when faced with any problem involving fractions. or percentages. Or that contains the word "integer."
Clearly, one does not learn how to read by looking at pictures. I taught myself to read when I was Frances' age by listening to my mother read a bedtime story and then, when she left the room, getting the book and puzzling out the words under the covers with a flashlight. At that time, children entering kindergarten were discouraged from reading until the teacher introduced them to Dick and Jane and their thrilling adventures, all of which involved commands to "GO!" "JUMP!" and, my personal favorite "LOOK! LOOK! LOOK!"
At 5, I thought Dick and Jane were puerile and insipid. I still do, 35 years later.
A parent-teacher conference was arranged and the teacher actually commanded my mother to un-teach me how to read.
My mother tried, she really did, but it was a losing battle. Once a skill like reading is learned, it's almost impossible to unlearn it. Books disappeared from around the house. I felt like the heroine of "The Handmaiden," surreptitiously reading street signs and lists of ingredients from cereal boxes.
It was a very unhappy time for all concerned.
Eventually, I moved on to first grade where reading was permitted.
If i were in your situation, I'd comply with the "homework" but I'd make sure there were plenty of non-picture books around the house for her to look at. Frances is smart. I'm sure she knows the difference between reading and looking at pictures and making up a story about them.

she's FOUR!

this is why i'm moving to the jungle. i can't stand it anymore. it's like a Dr. Seuss tale gone wrong.

I have 4 yo twins who are in pre-school daycare for 10 hours a day. And they get homework too, thank goodness nothing like a daily reader! There's generally a weekly assignment to make something. Honestly, I am so not ready for homework again. Especially times two and in the short amount of time I have with them each day. As it is, I get home at 7 and they go to bed at 8. When the heck are we supposed to do this?

Wow, that's a different interpretation of the similar assignment that we had. When Snuggly Girl was in JK, the silly little readers came home with the instruction that the child could read it to the parent OR the parent could read it to the child. The basic theme being, read with your child every day, because children learn to read by being read to as well as through direct instruction.

I understand a bit of the whole language approach, and I think it does involve looking at the words along with the pictures. Like, "Yes, that's a penguin. Which word on this page might be penguin? P-p-p. Can you find the p word?" That kind of thing.

And, I forgot to say, good luck at your interview! That report is certainly timely for you.

We have our interview this afternoon, too. We have Issues we've been talking to the principal about since September. Very little motion so far. Grrrrr.

Is this what I have to look forward too? Goodness gracious! "Guess the words by looking at the picture"?!?! If I didn't know you, I'd think you were kidding.

I wish you luck...and look forward to you post tomorrow as to how it went.

Oh! One more thing, inspired by the post title. The backpack thing.

We have been endlessly trying to buy the smallest backpack that will do the job, because small bodies shouldn't be carrying big heavy bags. I'm guessing this will be a bigger issue for you and Frances, and possibly something to keep in mind if you are requesting accommodations -- if there are ways to minimize the need for her to carry large folders back and forth, you can stick to a smaller backpack. And if that gets her out of homework, too, all the better. :-)

Okay, ridiculous. My suggestion? Smile and nod, pay lip service to the "homework" and do your own reading together on a daily basis.

I think the "whole language" thing is crap. Seriously. I believe it's actually out of fashion nowadays, too, although things change so quickly that I'm not so certain.

Ridiculous.

(I'm a teacher, by the way. Just sayin'.)

I agree that daily required homework for 4-year-olds is ridiculous, and am very glad that my 4-year-old doesn't have any! That said, she is in a pilot program for teaching young children with DS to read, and we do have a fun lesson that we do todether "daily," or as often as we can fit it in, no pressure.

I haven't researched the pictures first, then words approach, but I know that research has shown that there are significant issues with the phonics approach for many kids. Ellie's program focuses on matching pictures to sight words, and I think that starting with "what does this picture say to you?" is not an unreasonable way to develop pre-reading skills.

Francis sounds like a very bright child, and I'm sure that it won't take her any time at all to realize that with her real books (rather than these "readers" she's assigned) the pictures don't perfectly reflect the text, but rather the two work together to tell the story. I bet she gets this already.

Jill--too funny. Un-teach your daughter to read. (I taught myself how to read, too--at 3--and it sure does make a kid a misfit in kindergarten, or at least it did 20-odd years ago.)

Madeleine--grrr indeed. And that's exactly it, shouldn't some understanding of how words work factor into this? What happens to kids when they stop reading picture books?

On the backpack thing--it seriously was a big issue back in September, both the daycare and the j/k were hassling us about getting Frances a backpack. There are no backpacks small enough for her and probably won't be until grade 1, but they just wanted something convenient to stick her papers into, regardless of whether it was healthy for her to be carrying it or not. Eventually they started putting the papers into her lunch bag, as I'd requested.

Naomi, we do read every day. That's part of what makes it all so frustrating.

SarahLynn, I haven't looked into the research either--but I can say categorically that this approach is not working for Frances at all.

And at this point, I'm not bothered by it (except that she's going to have a whole lot of unlearning to do later one when she figures out what reading actually is). She's four, she doesnt' have to be reading yet. It's this idea that we need to do this form of homework every day (or get chastised) which is not only not helping whatsoever but seems to be me to be actively hindering her in this area, when we have so little time together already.

Good luck with the interview!

That whole thing seems sort of ridiculous.

I mean, I understand that most families out there unfortunately do not read to their children, so maybe this is part of getting kids interested in books. I understand that storytelling and figuring out and being able to convey what is going on in a picture all key skills to have. BUT, it is NOT reading. To call it reading, and not storytelling or something like that, is absurd. Are they supposed to be just ignoring the words that are apparently written along with the pictures? Are they supposed to believe that those words say something other than what they really do? I see these teachers as setting themselves up for some major work down the road when the really do have to un-teach these kids how to read.

Most research suggests that homework before the high school level does not promote improved learning. That said, some scholars believe that it does promote the development of study skills and habits necessary for children in later years.

I've been a teacher at a number of private school in which homework was not only approved of, but it was something parents expected of their children.
At the school I work at now, homework is actively discouraged. I teach grades eight and nine, and at this age students need to do some homework in order to complete certain assignments. My grade eights more often than not don't get their homework done - which leads me to wonder if the policy of no-homework at the elementary level has negatively impacted their work habits.

If I were you, I would explain your time restrictions to Frances's teacher, and then do what you believe to be best. You know your daughter and your family situation better than her teacher possible can.

Good Luck,
Karla

I just had a talk with my son's kindergarten teacher about his writing homework. I told her he wasn't going to do it. I said I agreed that he needs to learn to write, but that I would only do it HIS way. I would not make him write some dumb sentence using the words "mom" "dad" and "can." I was all ready for a fight but she surprised me; she said, That's fine! I told her I'd take pictures of his writing when he did it (he likes to write airplane names on the airplane's wings) & that would be his "homework." I think she really just wanted to know that I'm an active participant in my son's learning, that I take learning seriously & wouldn't undermine her... Anyway. Here's hoping it goes as smoothly for you.

OMG she's 4!! and what is with this new site reading garbage!! Sounding out letters is how you learn to read!

She's FOUR!!

I have a friend who refers to the homework regimen as "homeschooling" every single night, after she has worked for ten hours and the public schools have not accomplished what they set out to for the day. They literally spend three hours a night doing homework with an 11 year old boy. It's completely ridiculous.

A four year old with homework. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ugh! Have you read The Case Against Homework? Homework is one of my pet peeves -- and homework for four-year-olds is worthless. Of course, being non-confrontational as I am, I just lie and say my kids did it. Whatever.

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I've been enjoying poking around yours and can see you already have some interesting thoughts on fate -- look forward to more if you get to it.

ugh, i hope they ban homework for jk by next sept. i've heard dd's jk teacher to be rips it up in front of kids if done incorrectly...wtf?

by the way we've been given 4 tiny backpacks over the years which fit... do they need to be a certain size or something??

As a special treat a couple of years ago, I bought Ellie a Dora the Explorer backpack that she was coveting but didn't really need. The best thing about this Backpack was that it had a smaller backpack ("Backpack!") attached to it. The smaller pack was the perfect size for a long time, and Ellie was so excited/proud/happy to carry it around, even if it only had a snack and a pair of sunglasses inside.

When she was, for a long time, too small/weak to hold baby toys, I bought a few American Girl Doll toys for her. She doesn't have any American Girl Dolls, but even the doll's toys are decent enough quality yet small enough that a (small, weak) baby could play with them.

Oh I hate the sight reading concept - and we only got it from 5 years old.

My 8 year old is still struggling with reading a little, mainly because she can't "guess" the word immediately and gets frustrated.

Funny, if she actually got taught how sounds and words got put together it may not be so bad.

So I end up "unteaching" her what she learns from school so she can have the knowledge.