Word Searches used in First Grade as a teaching tool?? - Page 2

[VisionaryMom]

Originally Posted by dbsam

My children went to a Montessori Kindy...They, and I, don't care for the worksheets either.

I think it's too simplified to view any work on a single sheet of paper as "worksheets" and then dismiss them. My son (in K) started doing adult word search books around age 3.5. It would take him maybe 5 minutes to do the word search you linked to in your original post. I think your view of the word searches as worksheets with no value comes from the fact that your children couldn't complete them. The difficulty level is a separate issue from whether they're useful.

I wouldn't mind seeing an occasional worksheet come home with DS, but I wouldn't want to see them constantly. I would want to know what the teacher intended from them. I will say that they didn't help DS learn to read or spell. It's code-breaking to him. That's why he likes them, but I don't think they would help him learn to spell. OTOH, I can see how some children may remember better if they've done the repetition of "saunter" as an action verb in a word search. So perhaps your child's teacher is trying to offer a different way for some people to learn the words. Have you asked her the intent?

Parents doing homework would bug me. It's not something I've encountered as a parent, but it's certainly something I dealt with working as a tutor. Many college-aged people I tutored had parents who'd done work and projects for them since early elementary, and they were lost (and often angry) when trying to figure it all out at the college level.

[dbsam]

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