Testing for Entrance into Kindergarten

In the recent New York Times article, Tips for the Admissions Test ... to Kindergarten , Sharon Otterman highlights aspects of a disturbing new trend that focuses on prepping children to take Kindergarten admission tests.

For example...

Kayla Rosenblum sat upright and poised as she breezed through the shapes and numbers, a leopard-patterned finger puppet resting next to her for moral support.

But then came something she had never seen before: a visual analogy showing a picture of a whole cake next to a slice of cake. What picture went with a loaf of bread in the same way?

Kayla, who will be 4 in December, held her tiny pointer finger still as she inspected the four choices. “Too hard,” she peeped.

Test preparation for basic skills leads to a number of problems including 1) a reluctance of children to experiment and learn by trial and error, and 2) the creation of a fear of making a mistake, which will inhibit normal development processes.

For those of you not using our Montessori teaching albums, here are a few pages of age-appropriate material for children in the PreK to Kindergarten years!

One of Maria Montessori's original books, The Montessori Method, has also been made available online for free, many thanks to The Celebration of Women Writers project.