Kindergarten Should Teach School Skills, Honig Says

Writing and language skills can be, and should be, learned at the kindergarten level, state Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig told a state education panel meeting here Thursday.

Speaking before the state Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials Commission, Honig said he believes public kindergartens play a very important role in the fabric of education. He said that kindergarten-age children have abilities to start skills, such as writing, that they’ll need to develop in later years.

“Kindergarten should be in the whole spectrum (of education),” Honig said.

“If we’re going to have the kind of broad-based high schools that we envision (in California), that has implications for junior high. Junior high has implications for elementary school, and elementary school has some implications for kindergarten.”

The education chief said that he thinks many academic skills can be taught to kindergarten children through storytelling by teachers and other adults.

“Oral language--reading to students--is a very rich program of language development,” Honig said. “To me it’s a key: one objective of kindergarten. This is especially important where we’re trying to develop English in bilingual students.”

In other comments to the curriculum commission, Honig said that California will need to hire 100,000 new teachers within the next five years.