Thanks everyone for your replies. Our school -- in Montgomery County, MD, is a bit hit and miss. The principal is a difficult nut who consistently tunes parents out. Last year, I had a really difficult time getting older son 1st grade math work when he went in adding. The school was using him to teach the other kids. And the teacher said he was easy b/c it didn't bother him if she gave him work that was too easy for him. He'd happily do it anyways. He's in a better position now because of the differentiated learning in 1st grade. I don't know how DS5 will react. He tends to just enter his own little pretend world and make up stories if he's bored. I doubt he'd be disruptive.
We're in a school where about half the population is low-income. I ran into the principal last week and asked her if she knows about how many kids come in reading each year. Her response was that kids are all over the spectrum with a lot of kids who've never held a book. She had nothing to say about reading kids, hence my worry.
We do have a kindergarten roundup where the teachers meet each child. But it only lasts about 15 minutes. My understanding is that it gives the teachers a quick sense, and they mostly use it to deal with diversifying the classes.
I do know a mom who got the school to advance her daughter to 1st grade midway through K, but it was a different principal. And I'm a little worried about doing that b/c DS5 is not a big guy and has some health issues.
