MidTerm Already!!!????

I don't know where this school year is going, but it is flying out the window already! We have been in school 4 weeks now and mid-term is this coming Friday! I seriously feel like all I have done is give placement test...with 35 kindergarteners this does take forever! Good news on the number of kindergartners I have this year, they will get me down to 27 (state limit) hopefully in the next 2 weeks and not the end of October like last year...well, that is what they are saying, but I won't hold my breath!

Over all this year is going a little better than last year. The kids still TALK so much, it makes me wonder if they open their mouths once they leave the classroom at the end of the day. For some of them, probably not - they are sat down in front of the TV/video games and have no interaction with a live human being until they come to school the next day. After talking with the other kindergarten teachers, as a whole this is the most chatty bunch yet.

This year we have found that the kids don't know:
1) how to write/spell their names (much less know their given name - please if you give your kid a nickname, teach them their given name - I can't call your baby ReRe, NeNe, "D", LeLu, etc - also, spellings...hello throwing some letters together and saying it spells Sam when there is no S, A or M in the spelling, the people at the hospital should have slapped you! For example in Mr. B's class there is a little girl named LeAnna but it is spelled: Lajhadienne ... I am serious as a heartattack.)
2) their alphabet (yes they can sing the song, but can they pick out an A? No!)
3) letter sounds ... how can I teach reading/spelling when they don't know the letter sounds?
4) numbers ...again they can count to 50, 100, etc but do they know what the #1 looks like? I have had this discussion with several parents already, and they just don't believe their baby doesn't know their numbers and letters.

So with these 4 major issues, I am (and the other kindergarten teachers) having to start from the bottom and build the foundation. Unfortunately the pacing guide doesn't factor this in so it is flying through the race and we are still trying to make it to the starting line.

Well, tomorrow is a kid free day, but it is parent/teacher conferences...I would much rather work with the kids. Some of the parents I have this year, oh my. That is all I can say. It should be interesting and I may have some stories to tell.

I will have pictures of my new class for you soon! They really are cute, when they want to be. Thanks for letting me get on my soap box there for a moment!