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

Hello Kindergarten friends!

Now that we're all half-way through the year, I was wondering if people would be willing to give a mid-way update on their kindergarten experiences? Maybe take a look back at your expectations going in and whether they are being met?

I'll start.

As you may remember, I have dd5 at a private, gifted school. The school prides itself on ability grouping, so children can work at the appropriate grade level while still remaining in the kindergarten classroom.

My fears going in were that she would throw the placement test and not be appropriately placed in reading and math.

Fortunately, this did not happen. She is in a reading group (two students) ... working at somewhere around the 3rd or 4th grade level. She is also in the "most challenging" group for math.

Overall, I am pleased with how the year has gone. DD is very happy, which cannot be overlooked. However, I think there is room for improvement.

The reading group she is in seems to meet infrequently. I am thinking other groups are getting more attention from the teachers, probably because they are at various levels of learning *how* to read. This does bother me. However, dd has been learning a lot about phonics, long and short vowels, plurals, etc. during this time - which, though she doesn't need to know for reading, she does need to learn for spelling (at which she is not nearly as advanced).

My biggest problem is with the math because I do not find their "most challenging" to be nearly challenging enough. DD could have done all of this a year ago, if not more. That being said, I am not confident that dd presents herself at school to be as good at math as I know she is. She is an early summer birthday, and seems less mature than some of her classmates when it comes to clear handwriting, etc. Plus, she is not one of these "worker-bee," task oriented, children who tear through the material with a single-minded focus. If she already knows the concept, she is not going to do page after page of it, just to show you that she has it mastered. She's bored and on to something else in her mind.

I'm not sure if I am going to talk to the teacher about math or just let it ride because, as I said, dd is not complaining. I know that they have plenty of "mathy" kids at this school ... so as long as dd is in the "most challenging" group, I am inclined to believe that real challenges lie ahead. Or maybe I will talk to her teacher about it if the opportunity presents itself. We'll see.

Sometimes I worry that dd doesn't have any good friends in her class. But then, she is invited to birthday parties and other outside activities and always enjoys herself. I think she sees herself as a "friend to all" while I worry she is a "good friend to none." Perhaps this, too, will come with maturity.

How about you?

I'm glad to hear that things are going pretty well. The reading group not meeting very often seems problematic to me. But otherwise, it sounds like a workable placement.

DS5 is in half-day public school K--the same school we pulled DS8 out of for homeschooling when he was in 1st grade.

The year is going just about as blandly as I thought it would. It's really free childcare for us and very little more. DS5 is bored in school, but he does okay with it for the 2.5 hours that he has to be there. His teacher likes him a lot, wishes she had a roomful of kids just like him, but she isn't really doing anything to differentiate for him, even though she is aware that he is far ahead in math.

He's reading a bit better than he was, he's had more practice with writing correctly, and he has buddies in class. (His best buddy is a boy who loves division. I think the GT kids find one another!) So there are small bright spots.

He gets picked on a little on the bus by a "mean girl" in kindergarten (not in his class), but he's the last stop going to school and the first stop off after school, so I'm not too worried about it. He still wants to ride the bus--gets upset if I need to drive him for any reason--so I figure it can't be too bad.

Honestly, it's mostly a wasted year of school, but at 5yo, that isn't the end of the world. In the teacher's defense, I haven't pushed for more--I just give him what he needs at home and he gets through school. It's easier on all of us.

I think next year we're probably going to homeschool, though nothing's officially decided yet. But I can't imagine his needs being met when he has to be there a whole day. I mean, he was asking me about dividing by fractions yesterday. I told him about "invert and multiply" and he started doing problems! How can that kid be expected to suffer through a full day of counting and adding 2+2? I can't see it happening.

So I guess the year is pretty much what I expected. Not great, but not a surprise either.

Midway -

DS6 was grade skipped in September. He starts Target (ALP) this week on Fridays and is a member of the Literacy Club. And other than not being able to remember where he put random articles of clothing (can I write those off on my taxes as a donation?), he's thriving. He's the "model" student in his 1st grade class.

DS(newly 5!) is doing great in his small private kindergarten. The teacher doesn't give him reading instruction because, as she puts it, "He knows how to read." Instead, his language arts material is dedicated to writing and spelling, which is challenging for him. When school started in the fall, he didn't write much other than his name unless I really pushed him. By Christmas he was penning entire thank you letters without any help or complaint. This rapid progress wouldn't have been possible if his teacher wasn't also going out of her way to deal with his perfectionism. We've seen enormous improvement in that area as well, which is maybe the best thing to come out of school so far.

In math, his teacher is giving him first grade material. I think he could probably go faster than his teacher is moving, but I agree with her that he's not nearly as strong in math as he is in reading. That said, his interest in numbers and math has increased noticeably in the past few weeks. All of a sudden he wants to talk about numbers in the car, at dinner, etc. I don't know if this is a developmental thing, or if it's a result of exposure in school, but a lightbulb seems to have gone on. The next semester will be interesting.

Overall, we're very happy and have already paid most of next year's tuition. Next year, he'll be in a multi-age progressive classroom with a lot of older kids, which I think will be great for him. Right now, he's the youngest kid in his class (and the entire school), but many parents didn't even realize this until I invited them to his birthday party recently.

Ms. Friz - I will be interested to hear if your ds experiences a math explosion. If I remember correctly, your son read quite early, like my dd. I always thought that made her a verbal/language type of child. But now, I have read literature that says that early, whole-word reading can be a sign of math giftedness, since the child is essentially cracking language like a code.

Kriston - I am sorry this year has been so much treading water for your son. I, for one, am certainly impressed with his dividing of fractions! Wow!

JJsMom - How funny that you started this thread so many months ago and now seem to be having the smoothest ride. Good for you (and your ds)!

Thanks for the updates, everyone. I am enjoying reading them all.

I have a DD5, that we homeschooled by default this year because her older brother is HS after attending K and 1st. She has a summer birthday and we only have full day kindergarten. She was emotionally a little weepy after preschool last year. Honestly, at the beginning of the year I didn't know if she was even GT or not. She is very intense and sensitive. And she was academically ahead of the average kindergartner, but not crazily so. She is a child that LOVES social outlets and also likes to push my buttons.

Anyway, it's become crystal clear that is more than a little gifted. And she has thrived homeschooling. She is screaming on reading and math to the point of I'm ready to toss the materials I'm using with her. She is showing very similar learning style to her brother (jumping grade levels in reading since fall). He jumped to at least 5th grade level in kindergarten after showing zero interest previous (although hindsight, I think he could read a little, and her too). I can now see her in a similar place by the end of the year. She's also 9 months younger than he was at this point in the year.

One thing I love about HS is the ability for kids of multiple ages to be friends. DD's best friend right now is 2 year older than her. She seems much more confident and secure than she did in preschool. Which maybe wasn't as great the 2nd year for her as I was hoping (some weird social dynamics with the girls that year).

Anyway for a kid I thought I might throw into school by October, we're doing great! I'm enjoying reading about other people's experiences.

Well, this was just last night, so don't be too impressed! I'm not sure he *really* gets it. My intended point was that he's *interested* in stuff like dividing by fractions, and that's not going to make 1st grade easy for him.

I think there's no way around the conclusion that he's past 1st grade math though. Of that, I have no doubt! But he's so asynchronous that I don't even want to try for a grade skip. And I don't know that subject acceleration would cut it for him either. Maybe. Not sure.

Many decisions to make...

I'm also enjoying reading the updates.

Sounds like things are going fairly well for you and your DD. When the group isn't meeting for reading what reading instruction does she get during the day?

Kriston..it's good to hear that your son has made friends in school. Does he want to home school or stay there?

AWESOME!!!