Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Kindergarten orientation

So, today was interesting.

This morning DW and I drove nearly an hour away to visit what I think is the only school for the gifted in the entire state. The Head of School personally took us on a tour of the whole school. We saw a Pre-K class of five students and one teacher in which they had all just finished reading a sixteen-page story and were diligently writing out summaries of the beginning, middle, and end. Next week they were going to set up a real store in which the 4 year olds could buy and sell stickers for set prices; they have to pay, make change, keep accounts, and so on. We also saw an eighth grade humanities class in which a boy read a lovely and sensitive monologue he'd written from the point of view of a depression-era factory worker who supported a family of four and was worried about the family of the person working next to him. All the students seemed happy, engaged, well-cared for, and all the teachers seemed to know what they were doing. The classes are grouped by age for social reasons, but every class works at least one grade level above its age on average, and the students who need more are given individual plans. It was idyllic. The fact is, however, we are not about to drive an hour each way for kindergarten.

By contrast, last evening was the orientation night for kindergarten at our town's public schools. This consisted of a pathetic and disorganized presentation full of platitudes and lacking all content. It was delivered in one of the school gymnasiums to 500 loudly suffering parents. The meeting opened with a 15-minute, un-narrated slide show full of smiling children and spirited catch-phrases like "Kindergarten is cool!" I wanted to shoot myself. The only person who had anything at all interesting to say was the one kindergarten teacher they recruited to answer questions. She was smart, articulate, and interesting to listen to. It was clear she was working against the odds.

Is this what we've come to?

yes. And lots of coloring.

I would also add that while more academics is often better, I think for the very young kids, some things still need to be developmentally appropriate. I know several HG+ kids (boys) would who not be able to write in preK. They would be able to think critically however and dictate to someone but even as 3rd graders, getting them to write beginning, middle, end of a story is like pulling teeth or worse.

Yes K orientation is to calm the fears of parents. A good thing about ours is that after the main part by the Superintendent and Principal, you break into groups of 25 and get to go to a classroom w/ a teacher.

Other districts have curriculum nights for those interested that goes over scope and sequence and what is expected.

Don't be disheartened yet BaseballDad! It's still early in the game.

Wow, what a difference. I too just visited our public elementary school for DS4. We have recently decided that I think we are just going to go ahead with a public school and then if it fails and the school is not working with us at all...then look into something else.

Anyhow, I only visited a classroom for about 30 minutes. It wasn't horrible. I went in and they were drawing pictures about what they did over the weekend. A few tried writing a couple words about their story. Then they went to the rug for a minute and split up into centers. One group went to computers and the others got to choose between playdough, kitchen, or writing. Anyhow, I realized that it wasn't that horrible but the big problem was that it was Kindergarten, and they were doing things Kindergarteners do. I don't know if I was expecting to walk in and have it be at a 4th grade level and appropriately challenging. I work in pre-k's and K's all day long so I should have completely known what to expect.

The teacher did talk with me during centers and she seemed to have good control of her classroom in a calm focused way. She seemed good, but I could tell not completely knowledgeable of gifted children. She said a few dumb comments, but most were pretty good and supportive. She said that we should do our testing and share it with the school, specifically with the principal and psychologist so we can plan the best set up and services for him in their school. I am trying my best to stay positive and to not assume it is going to fail. But it is hard to imagine my DS not getting bored and acting out in a class that is learning letter sounds and counting.

I would suggest setting up a time to go and see a classroom during the day like I did, and to speak with a teacher. If you talk with a principal or someone first they will probably set you up with a teacher they feel would be best. Good luck.

Wow, BBDad. That gifted school sounds amazing - for some kids. Our DS5 does not like writing (once he figured out at age 2-3 that his letters were not coming out how he wanted them, he quit). And he is not interested in spelling or phonics at the moment, so the writing part would have been horrible for him, I think.

My DH and I are thinking the same thing that you are, though - we are not driving an hour away for kindergarten. To me, this first foray into school is like a test year. We will learn lots of things about what may or may not work. We are soooooo lucky and happy that the local public school gifted coordinator met with us and reviewed our private SB-V results, and she's going to bat for us. She met with the school psychologists and the principal, and we are meeting with them next week to start planning for next year.

So, we are hopeful that things will work locally, but we are also thinking of other schools in case things don't. I would recommend meeting with the local schools at least before the teacher choosing time for next year. You will need an out of the box teacher. And as I've heard many times before on this site and elsewhere, make sure that the results, if you have testing, are shared with the teacher.

Much will also depend on the teacher. The orientations are not terribly helpful from what I have seen but the classroom experience can still be great. My dd's Kindy teacher was lovely. DD got to participate in all the regular Kindy stuff - she loves to color and sing - but she also was given books to read and a journal to write in. We did most of the differniated work with her at home but the teacher looked at it and gave feedback. It turned out to be a very supportive environment in Kindy. I guess I'm saying try not to judge from the orientation, I know it is hard and they can be awful, but look into the way the teachers run the class.

I have noticed that the public schools do not make much of an effort to wow parents with their presentation. They simply don't see that you have a choice to attend elsewhere rather they view you as a given. OTOH, the public magnet schools that you have to choose/lottery into do make the effort knowing that you have a choice and would need to select them. Today's KG is just extremely basic, particularly for GT kids - essentially modified preschool...

Coming in late because of my oral surgery...

Around here, private schools are soooooo common that Ks actually make quite an effort to attract people. In fact, the best teachers in the public school are usually the K teachers!

The K presentation was a lot better than the 1st grade one, however, where DS's soon-to-be teacher worried us before we had even met her by talking ad nauseum about how much work they would do on getting kids who were behind up to speed in reading. We were still hoping for the best from her, but on retrospect, I think the writing was on the wall from the start! It wasn't all platitudes, but I think it might have been worse!

I wouldn't drive an hour each way for K either, BBDad. Maybe later. For us, homeschooling the early grades has seemed a better choice, and when he outstrips my ability to teach him or craves more day-to-day contact with other kids--say, at puberty--then we'll make that 45-minute drive to the GT school.