Back To The Basics.

It came to my attention today that there is a need to get back to the fundamental reading skills that my Kindergartners have acquired from the start of the year. I was encouraged to see how quickly these bursting buds picked up basic reading concepts this year. They began to read much sooner than I anticipated. My overflow of encouragement boosted their eagerness to read and their confidence that they can do it.

As they have dramatically improved, however, it seems like we've all of the sudden hit a wall. I'm not sure if I'd call that wall 'laziness' or 'over-confidence' but they have started to develop bad habits. They begin to guess words they think they know based upon the beginning letter and sometimes the end, rather than taking the time to sound out every letter and not forget about the middle letters. So today, I implemented a new rule. We must go back to the basics and sound out ALL letters of every word, even the ones that are labeled easy. It's time to implement some new techniques so our middle letter friends are not forgotten!

I suppose this laziness or over-confidence can be found in any of us. As humans, we tend to fall into monotonous routines that run our everyday lives and sometimes forget the need to keep things fresh. It therefore becomes important for everyone, not just five-year-olds, to get back to the basics. Who wants to get stuck creating bad habits? Just a thought, but this appears to be something we all can learn a life lesson about.