Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Typical Kindergarten Behavior

So we will likely enroll our 4.5 year old in kindergarten this fall. Her academic abilities are all more than there. Her older sister skipped K for an early enrollment into first.

So here is my question. Our oldest is the golden girl in terms of behavior. so, I'm trying not to compare the two in terms of the 4.5's readiness for k. but what i need to know is how do typically kindergartens behave. do they always listen, do they ever have an arguement with another child, etc. i know she'll be at the top in scholastic abilities but i want to make sure she not in the bottom for behavior (but i will settle on the middle). any antidotal experiences with yours - or really typical classmates would be great. or anything i should be concerned with. again, she's hg/eg but she interupts a lot (personality trait of her mother's so probably won't improve with age).

thanks.

May be helpful. Behavior in home is not always the same at school. Does she have any pre-school history? How is she when you are not around?

I think there is a great deal of leeway in kindergarten with the expectation that the child is learning to do school.
By mid-first grade I think the expectation is a more in terms of getting along with others, following direction, not interrupting, etc.
I think it does make it difficult for a summer kid who intellectually needs the next grade but is not developmentally ready for the expectations.
I also don't think that's the only thing to take into consideration for skipping...
I'm sure behavior won't be an issue for K., but I can't imaging a HG/PG having a really good experience in K.
Last year was a disaster for us.
And our oldest daughter didn't have the same terrible experience, but it just wasn't a good fit.

I thought last year for DS5 would be hard for him. It went great, mostly because of the teacher, doing additional school work at home, and it being a half day class. Our son likes to please adults, so maybe that also helped.

I volunteered weekly in DS' Kindergarten class last year so I got to see all kinds of behavior. His teacher sent home little slips of paper for behavior issues. Her biggest problems were:

Kids that can't keep their hands to themselves.

Kids that can't stay seated when they are supposed to be listening or working.

Kids that don't follow safety rules (e.g. no running indoors.)

Kids that talk when the teacher is talking.


A LOT of the day was spent on managing behavior. That was one reason DS wanted to skip to first. He was very frustrated by the other kids' lack of self-control.

Cathy, how did that compare to first grade classes (if you got to observe)?

JB

The first graders had a lot more self-control. I volunteered in the first grade after DS made the switch. The teacher was able to pause and wait for a few seconds and they would stop talking. She was able to get them to line up quietly and keep their hands to themselves. Staying seated was no longer a problem. The kids were much more able to focus on their work.

I think some of what Cathy describes is a maturational difference, but I think some of it is the teacher. I would say that DS's K class was better behaved than his First grade class. The reason--Mrs. K was a really good teacher and set up the classroom in a way that worked well for the kids, clear rules, lots of personal attention, lots of opportunities to learn physically, visually, aurally and through interacting with each other. Mrs. 1st, OTOH, was having problems in her home life, was tired and had trouble getting the kids to behave. These were many of the same kids in both classes and their behavior went down hill between K and first.

I think this is about the teacher. All those things on the list are things on the list for DD's preschool and the class is 3-5 year olds. There are kids doing K in the class with kids just turning 3 and they are expected to follow the rules. They learn quickly.

Ren

I agree that DS' first grade teacher had a much better handle on discipline. The K teacher was very scattered, always had several things going on at once. (In fact she told me she takes Ritalin for ADD herself!!)