Should Pre-K Kids Be Doing Worksheets?

Originally published on October 2, 2018 at SchoolingTinyHumans.com

Worksheets. The bane of any preschool teacher’s existence.

Some parents want their children to play all day.? Others want them churning out worksheets faster than a photocopier.? Kindergarten teachers I’ve spoken with want them at least familiar with the process.? There are so many perspectives to juggle, and it’s hard to make everyone happy.

In our classroom, we ease our students from zero worksheets at the beginning of the year to about one most days in June (largely because we are heavily focused on handwriting at that point).? ? Primarily, our learning still comes from art-based projects and hands-on learning, which I still prefer to worksheets, as the content is learned in a more meaningful and engaging way.

Why We Include Worksheets as Part of Our Curriculum

There’s no way I’m getting out of worksheets in my classroom.? By November, despite explaining our process at Back to School Night, I have parents chomping at the bits to get their children doing handwriting pages.? We hold them off until January, but there’s not a chance of putting it off past then.

Not to say I disagree with worksheets.? I think they serve a few important purposes:

• Following Directions:? Worksheets teach us is to work as the teacher directs.? If I instill nothing else in them, I want them to learn not to go ahead until I give them the direction.? (Especially because this age group tends to cry when they don’t follow a direction correctly and can’t erase crayon!!!)
• ?Worksheet Classroom Routine:? Think about a worksheet.? First, you wait until you receive your worksheet.? Then, you always start by putting your name on it.? After, you wait for the teacher to explain what the worksheet is about, and so on and so forth.? I think there’s significant value in practicing that process so it’s not a foreign concept when transitioning to Kindergarten.
• ?They’re a Vehicle for Communicating with Parents:? “Hey Mom, look what we did today!”? Worksheets help communicate what’s happening in our classroom to parents.? It also encourages conversation, especially if a parent is concerned about how a worksheet came home.? If it was scribbled all over instead of having a nice set of the letter A, the parent sees that their child may be struggling and come in to speak with us.? We can tell some parents all we want that their child is struggling.? Some only realize it when they see the classwork firsthand.
• ?Some Concepts “Require” Worksheets:? Learning to write letters is definitely a process that can be taught through a variety of fun and engaging ways.? Eventually, you have to put the shaving cream and sidewalk chalk down and hand the children a pencil though.? Perhaps you don’t believe that should be during Pre-Kindergarten, which is very valid.? However, not all teachers can get away with this.

As the years have gone on, our curriculum moved away from worksheets, saving them for very specific purposes.? Pre-Kindergarteners learn better from more hands-on instruction and project-based learning, especially at the beginning of the school year.? However, as the year goes on, I want my students to get into the “Kindergarten mindset”, so I slowly increase the number of worksheets we do each week.? As with most classroom decisions, I try to do what will prepare them best for the following school year.