Well, I got the call today. DS is going to start first grade in the afternoons tomorrow. They are going to work him up to all day in first grade. It sounds like a reasonable plan to me... I hope things go well. I haven't even gotten to meet the teacher!

Cathy

Congratulations on your successful advocacy! The earlier the skip, the better!

Great news! Congrats!!!!!!!!!

Incog

Great! What's the plan for checking in on things? Just curious...

Go get 'em, Cathy's DS!

Well, when we went to pick up DD we stopped by his new classroom. The teacher seemed very nice and DS seemed very comfortable with her. DS will have his own desk with a nametag like the other students. DD has been giving him pointers on how to navigate recess He is excited for tomorrow!

Cathy

Congratulations on some amazing advocacy work. That sounds like a great plan. I hope he loves it!

LOL! No, he's not being bussed. I will have to eat lunch with him after K and then walk him to the 1st grade class.

Cathy

Kathy A,
((tears)) Wow! Sounds like a great way to gently try out First Grade, and then expand or let go as needed. Lovely! And you get to have lunch with him!

My guess is that you'll be hearing a lot of chatter about the arrangement from your DS, Yippee!

There's yet another advantage to half day kindergarden!

Smiles,
Grinity

Congrats! Sounds like a good transition plan to me. Let us know how it goes!

Mia

Wishing you all the best. I hope it went really well. What did he think about it? Did you talk to his new teacher?

So far, so good! DS was so excited to go to first grade that he inhaled his lunch and we ended up being 10mins early. The teacher seemed very welcoming, showed him where to put his things and where to sit. I tried to say goodbye but DS didn't even hear me, he was so focused on what he was going to do.

They will be going to music class and then recess (where he has plans to meet up with his big sis) and then back to class for some language arts work.

His K teacher told me that if this goes well they will switch him full time to 1st in a week or two. She doesn't want to drop him from the K roster until we're sure about the switch because someone will immediately fill his spot (our district is very crowded.)

Cathy

Ha! That would actually be a great set up for a lot of these kids if you could get it.

It sounds like a very positive move. Make sure that you go out of your way to thank the admins and teachers who made it happen!

LOL, Dottie! Oh, the joys of parenting ...

Yeah, one step at a time, right

I promise!

I just got back from picking up the kids. I checked in with Mrs. First Grade as she was leaving. I asked her how it went and she said it was great, he was a pleasure to have in class, he "blended in well" with the other kids and that he took a spelling test. He got them all wrong, LOL, because it was all words like "boat", "goat", etc and he spelled them "bote", "gote" and so on. But he was game to try the spelling test even without having seen the list and the teacher didn't seem to expect him to know how to spell them.

Cathy

Dottie, I'm not worried about the spelling. DS learns spelling words easily. He knows how to spell "turquoise" because he asked me how to spell it. I guess he just never needed to spell "goat"! But he could EASILY learn a list like that--as the teacher will find out next week when he gets the spelling list along with everyone else. I'm going to ask him on Sunday to spell the words for me and I bet he will already have learned them (and memorized most of the list.)

I think this placement is great for him. Finally, something to actually work on

Cathy

Well, the early K was not my accomplishment. Here in CA, he made the cutoff by 2 weeks. Most kids his age are redshirted around here, though.

I did get him into a private K when he turned 4. It didn't go well...it makes me a little nervous about our current endeavor but I think we have to keep trying.

Cathy

Yes, that's my plan. We plan to move to WA. Seriously!

This got me thinking that the various age requirements of different states are so broad that it makes the schools' quibbling over a few weeks or days to "grant" early entry seem ludicrous.

Cathy

Good point!

LOL! You got that right! It all just seems so blindingly obvious, and yet they make everything sooooo difficult. Last week the principal made sure to mention to me how "unusual" my requests for DS are. I wanted to say, "But he's a very unusual boy!" I don't think that's what she meant, though. She meant that I was forcing everybody to put forth unusual effort to do something for my child. So I made sure to thank her for all she's done to smooth the way for him. I am grateful, but on the other hand I feel like handling requests like this is part of their job...

Update: DS went to K in the morning and 1st in the afternoon all week last week. It seemed to go well and the principal seemed satisified with DS' performance at recess.

We are now in stage 2, DS goes to K until 10am and then goes to first grade, eats lunch with the first graders and finishes the day with them. It sure feels weird not to pick him up for lunch! I'm crossing my fingers that all has gone well today--no calls from the school is a good sign.

DS' K class is going on a field trip on Weds. this week. He was given the choice to go on the field trip or spend the day in the first grade class. I expected him to choose the field trip, but he chose the first grade class! He said it was because he had been to that museum several times already (true). I am relieved because I hate chaperoning those things. It's just chaos--like trying to herd cats.

Great news! It looks like everything is going really well. Pretty soon he will be full time in the 1st grade!

Oh, Cathy, it sounds like it's going great! You must be proud of your little guy!

I'm jealous.

I am proud of my little guy It really amazes me how self-possessed he is. My DD was barely holding it together for first grade when she was six. She is one of those very sensitive kids. DS is totally different. He wants to change classes, he wants a challenge, he wants to do more math, science and reading. Writing he regards as a chore...but we're working on that.

He had a good day. Even though someone "crashed into him" at lunch recess, he was able to recover.

His first grade teacher seems really enthusiastic about him and about me coming in and doing a math lab for her. She is really the one who is making this work. She was willing to give him a chance and she really put in the effort to integrate him into the class. This makes a HUGE difference!

He was accelerated to K last year (when he had just turned 4) with lousy results. The reason? The teacher was not on board with it. She undermined and excluded him.

I am so hopeful that it will "take" this time

Cathy

That has to look good to the school folks - they just don't expect a kid who would choose learning over a field trip!

Glad that the recieving teacher is so into him - that makes all the difference!

Grin

Woo Hoo! It's official DS is now a first grader!

(Whew!)

YAY!!!!

Congratulations Cathy!!

That's fantastic! Enjoy!

Congrats!

Awsome! Congrats to all of you

DS is the one who deserves the kudos. He wanted to do this and he really stepped up to the plate.

All it took was for the teachers and principal to be willing to let him show what he can do. (I guess that was may part )

Fantastic!! Great job, both of you