Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School Kindergarten 2009-2010

1st, I agree with everything Kriston said

2nd, I also agree that it is confusing about what is meant by the "learn to read year". shellymos, were you saying that in your district Kinder = letters and phonics and sight words (prereading), 1st = more complex reading (sentences) and spelling?

I am not sure where our school is on this continuum. I think it may be as you described. I think the major distinction I was trying to make earlier is that in some schools (and in years past) Kinder is just for play based activities, getting a long in a group etc., learning to be away from parents etc. In which case it could be easier to accomodate the whole range of LOGs because the focus of the class would not be academic activities. (as opposed to shoe tying, cooking, dress-up, sing-alongs, and whatever else they do in play based programs)

But when the emphasis is to teach prereading and/or reading there is going to be a huge range of kids with regards to prior experience and ability. As we can imagine, some may not know their letters at all, others may be reading years ahead, and everything in between. And that is when the problems might come up for some kids...


So, I agree with you too. Either K or 1st could be bad.

In our case, I am waiting to see how high my son's tolerance is for "A is for apple". I also need to find out if they will get put in groups for reading (prereading) given the fact that they have more kids in the class than usual. I don't know if Mrs. Teacher has the capacity.


In a way I wish they didn't even bother to teach reading! see next post...

Happy news! I just found out that DS5's favorite person from preschool is in his kindergarten class. He was so happy he screamed! (He has a crush on this little curly-haired girl. Kind of like Charlie Brown and his little red-headed girl...)

Based on the gifted coordinator's advice, the principal said that I could suggest a kid DS knows well to be in the same class with him to make him feel more comfortable. The particular friend we discussed has older gifted siblings, and the principal did place him in DS's class too. Yay! I put the little curly-haired girl on the request form as an afterthought, without discussing it with anyone, and not really expecting her to be placed in the same class too. (There are several kindy classes.) Sometimes all you have to do is ask! yippee!

Still 2 weeks away from start of school here...

short replies. more later
1- true. when will you test? we will probably wait until closer to 6 yrs, late winter early spring.
2- we are on the wait list for charter public school that is very near current school. philosophy incorporates NVC (nonviolent communication) and borrows from montessori and waldorf they do not teach reading in K (but won't squelch a kid who is reading already). that is loooking very appealing right now. so much to learn about science,nature,culture etc. why emphasize reading, which I'd rather him do at his own pace anyway? more natural.
we are trying to move in the next few months. have alreay researched the situation where we are going. more on that later
3&4- me too! ha!

congrats! 2 weeks away, wow. seems like a long time to wait. hope you and your ds are enjoying your summer!

Oops. One week away! Silly me. Still kind of far away. It's MN dontcha know. We can't possibly have school start before the state fair ends!

Yay! That's really cool. We don't know any kids in DS's class yet...or in the school. Actually we met a neighbor who is 2 years older than DS and will be in the grade above him and they will be at the same bus stop together. Hopefully that will go well. They played together the other day and seemed to get along.

I'm debating about requesting that he be tested by the school in the fall instead of waiting until the spring. (He'll take the WISC when he turns 6 in the late spring with a private tester.)

The school only tests twice per year, giving kids the the WJ achievement and the Cogat. Part of me thinks that if the school fit is bad, it might actually hurt his scores, and I'd kind of like to see where he is with a more or less blank slate. Also, if he does have some sort of LD, I'd like to know about it sooner rather than later.

The danger is that I'll come off as pushy before the teacher has a chance to get to know him. DS8 was IDd as GT in the spring by his K teacher without my requesting testing, and that was a good situation.

I figured from a previous post that you were thinking of moving/planning to move. That sure throws a wrench in the works, I'll bet!

Oh, and yay for the little curly-haired girl! (I just typo'd "the little curly-hared girl, which would be a very different thing! LOL!)

DS5 has a friend from the neighborhood in his class and other kids he's fast attaching to. No surprise from my little social butterfly, but nice anyway.

Kriston -

yup . moving throws a big wrench.

your DS5 is sounding more and more like mine. My DS5 is also very social!

Yes, we need to keep in touch, I think.