This is my first year with 3rd grade but I've had experience with 1st and 2nd. I'm amazed by some of the things that my students don't know. I have relocated a bit so perhaps some if this could be attributed to the area but I wasn't prepared to start from scratch with some of these things. - Home Address. Students don't know their home addresses (not much transiency in the district either, most students have lived in 1 home since birth). I just worry a.) what if the student gets lost, kidnapped, etc. and doesn't know how to tell the police where they live. - Phone number. Maybe with cell phones being more popular, home phones have gone by the wayside. - Birthday. Some of my students don't know the day they were born on and most have trouble knowing which year. - The order of the months. I still have students who think November comes after August. Is this typical? I know that I will always have a few students lacking some of these "basic" skills but I wasn't prepared for the majority of the class. Any ideas?
Many years ago there was a program, Basic Skills, which emphasized the nuts and bolts of every day living - how to read a bus schedule; phone book; use reference works/library; address an envelope; count change etc. Of course, other countries passed us in math, reading, science so emphasis shifted to academic disciplines. Kids could find the area of a polygon but not their way home.
That seems normal to me. In my district, those things are not included on the state assessments, so they are not taught.
Many of these are listed in our new Kindergarten standards so maybe the trend will swing the other way.
BINGO!!! The address and phone numbers are for us parents to teach. Nowadays with so much being done via the internet kids don't see us addressing letters and envelopes much any more.. My daughter is in third grade and she does know our home phone number, not sure about my cell. She knows the town we live in but not the full address.. Now that you mention all this I'm going to work on it with her.. it is improtant info that she really should know and it is my job to teach it to her.. As a suggestion, you could make it an exercise for social studies, possibly make a map of where each student lives in the area you teach in.. My daughter is learning all about communities and neighborhoods this year.. you could tie all of that in together.
My student is in fifth grade and doesn't know her address. Luckily I wrote it in my calendar-I have to use it all the time! I think I'LL have it memorized before she does!! She just learned the important phone numbers in her life-mom, dad, grandma and grandpa-but she doesn't have the rhythm down. She just recites numbers. We're still working on the months as well.
Sounds like my class! I've been in education for 15 years....this is my 7th time teaching 3rd grade...NY, FL and NC.....all students the same thing! Sad
It all sounds normal to me, except the birthday thing. It is rare I have a student who doesn't know his birthday. This year I have a student who doesn't know her last name. THAT'S not normal.
Ok. Not that it makes me feel much better, because these are still things I think children need to know but it's reassuring to know that it's not out of the ordinary. I had a student ask me today, "Is my birthday in summer?" His birthday is in February. SCARY!
OMG! This just validates my decision this year to work on memorizing these vital pieces of information! I have a poster that says, "I know my phone number" and when they can say it to me correctly, they sign their name. For a five year old, this is motivation! lol I'm also doing birthday, address, and I wanted to do parents names but very few of mine live with parents! I can't even tell you how many live with mawmaw but can't tell you her name...just mawmaw!
I also have kids that don't know their birthday. It always amazes me, because birthdays are so exciting for kids. Not very many know their phone numbers either.
When I taught elementary most of the students didn't have phones, or they changed phone numbers every month. I did try to teach them their birthdays, though.
I thought about the issue of transiency and I can understand how that would affect a child's understanding of their address (no sense of permanency) or phone number. This isn't an issue in my district though. We have a very large district in terms of mileage but student population is very small. The majority of my students have lived in the same home all of their life. I too have a lot of students living with Nanny or Papaw.
This reminds me how I got lost when I was about 7 or 8. (This was in a nother country.). I was just a few feet away from the adults but with tear welling in my eyes, am asked me where I lived and I said " the street address" and he brought me home while my mother and sisters were looking for me at the carnival. I wouldn't know how to write it but I knew how to say it along with my parents name. And that brought me home
WOW. I'm shocked that third graders do not know their phone numbers, parents' cell, or address! What happens if you're at a friend and need to ask mom a question? Want to sleep over? Need to be picked up? Want to stay for dinner? What do you do--look it up in the phone book- your OWN phone number? Ask your friend what your OWN number is? And why am I the only one who doesn't think this is normal? I agree that it is definitely a parent's responsibilty. But now I'm thinking I should assess each student and make some type of unit out of this. Apparently, it's not being taught at home.
There are some 10/11 year olds hear that don't know this info, let alone a parents name or how to get a hold of them. It is so sad.
Yes, the Internet and other forms of technology are great. But aren't we forgetting one major problem...what if your child is actually lost! Shouldn't they know their telephone number and address in order to tell a cop so they can be returned home! I am young and tech savy, but come on!!! Yes, your children should know their address and telephone number. As a third grade teacher, I actually put this on one of my language arts tests. There are kids who do have to study it for the test.
ok I guess I'm a believer that this is the parent's job. Never was i even taught these personal skills at school. It was my parents job to teach me these things to keep me safe. I'm thinking even now as a parent I work with my child so that if something were ever to happen he could give his information to the authorities. We actually practice this! I'm wondering if the parents who don't teach their children these things, want their children back in case of an emergency! Sheesh when did society start to believe that only schools should teach children? Who let the parents off the hook for any educational responsibility!?! (ok I'll get off my soap box now)
WOW! As a parent, I made sure each of my kids knew their address and phone number before starting Kindergarten, just in case they ran into some sort of problem-- they could always rattle it off to a policeman if possible. (Don't laugh... we parents worry about stuff like that!!!) Birthday and birth year aren't as important to me.. I'll have to check later and see whether my 6 year old knows the year of her birth. And all 3 of mine learned the same song in Kindergarten about the months.
My 8 year old does know her birthday and birth year but only because she is a master at technology and often uses her birth date as her password, etc. That is a sign of the times for sure. As for address, phone numbers, etc., I continue to teach it to her, however, she is not asked for it daily so she continues to forget it. Use it or lose it, I guess. And, with the way today's academic expectations continue to rise, she has so much more to focus on and so much more for me to work on with her (she is bright but has to work hard to pull good grades) that I guess the basics fall by the wayside with many of us parents.
