My twelve months of wisdom... our only kid DS6 has a December birthday and is tall for his age. We were lucky to get into a gifted feeder magnet (no official testing until 2nd.) Since the 3-5 gifted magnet is in the school, they are very accomodating. They use an online reading system for accelerating/test and different types of pullouts.
The send home parent sheet asked "What do you hope for your child?" We only put down "that he is challenged"
Connecting with the gifted coordinator was helpful as well as volunteering and a friendly relationship with the teacher. Supplemental reading material in his backpack, definitely useful.
In the "modern" US system, I figure we are offering a guaranteed achievement test pass and are only asking them not to impede his learning.
The one offer of advice I gave our DS (I didn't figure out until around 3rd grade myself):
Don't try to answer every question, just the ones no one else knows.
