My four year old!?

I am an itant Preschool teacher in NC. We teach our children their ABC's and what each letter sounds like. We do numbers, colors, shapes, calander, and weather. We also incorporate science throughout the day and week. Kids here are supposed to know how to read when they get out of kindergarten. If it was my cl (we are a daycare, so it's not state mandated), I would have sight words as well. Spelling his name is good, and it's normal for him to spell it out of order (as long as he's writing in order, get what I'm saying?) and up-side-down and even backwards. Matching is good. Kindergarten used to be a place for socializing, but with the push-down of academics, it's much like 1st grade used to be. Just make sure he's getting lots of experiences, and that you are showing, explaining, and talking about things. Find out what he's super interested in, and use that to teach him new things. On walks talk about flowers and trees and walking safety. When at home encourage him to be independent with things that he is capable of doing himself. If he's really attached, try to get him in a program that gets him away from you for a little while, if not everyday then at least 2 or 3 times a week. It will make the separation easier. Workbooks are really good, too. I'm not for making a child sit for long periods of time, but that's what they're going to be doing for the majority of their day in school. Try maybe 10 or 15 minutes everyday and get him to write his letters and numbers. You can get character themed ones at the Dollar Tree. When you read, ask him questions during the book (like, what do you think is going to happen next?) and at the end of the book. These ensure he is getting the story, and also builds his cognitive skills. He sounds like he will do fine in Kindergarten, but keep working with him, it's always nice to have parents that don't rely on teacher's to do everything.