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There's a word to describe the parents of kids going into kindergarten: panicky.
At least that's the one Julie Evans uses. Evans, an educational computer consultant in Mission Viejo, gets anxious calls all the time from parents of prospective kindergartners.
They're worried about whether their kids are ready for school even if they meet the cutoff of 5 years of age by Dec. 1. Would they do better with an extra year to play at preschool? And then comes the question they pose to Evans: What does my child need to know about computers? Will the other children know more than theirs do?
The first thing Evans does is calm them down.
There are official California state guidelines of expectations for children entering kindergarten, and only parents know how well prepared their children are.
Under the guidelines, the children should be able to:
* distinguish separate words;
* recognize rhyming words;
* know some letter names and shapes, including the letters in the child's name;
* demonstrate reading-like behaviors, such as pretending to read and write;
* begin to demonstrate understanding of picture books and simple stories; and
* retell stories, make predictions, and connect stories to background experiences in a teacher-guided group format.
As for computer literacy, it's not so important how much the children know about the computers, but how comfortable they are with them, Evans said.
"I tell them that all we want for kids is to become familiar enough to know the keyboard and manipulate the mouse. The computer should be a playground, an opportunity for them to explore different ideas."
Similarly, Catherine Follett, assistant superintendent of instruction...