School Question for Teachers

[meldan98]

I know that there are a few teachers on Intercot, so I figured that I would pose this question to you.

My dd went to Jr. K at a private school for a year. She can count to over a hundred, can do simple math, knows the alphabet, knows all the sounds and is beginning to sound out words. She can also write all of her letters correctly. If I spell stuff to my dh she knows what I'm spelling. My dh got laid off recently, and we had to enroll her in public school and she started school this week. She has brought a few papers home so far, and they are all very basic work. All stuff that she did the first week of Jr. K. I talked with the principal before she started school and she insisted that my dd will be challenged and won't get bored. But now, seeing the work that they are doing in class, I'm really concerned.

Do the teachers evaluate the kids? I don't know if I should raise my concerns with the teacher yet. I'm just really not sure what to do at this point. I realize we are only a week in, but if my dd gets bored, she starts acting up in school and at home and I really want to see her grow academically and not be stuck learning everything all over again.

[Georgesgirl1]

I teach Pre-K. For the first few weeks in my class, my assistant and I do a lot of assessment in the form of small group activities to see where all of the kids are academically. Also, so much of the first days and weeks is learning our classroom rules and routines, that we don't really get into too much academically right away. I don't want to overwhelm them in the first week! After a few weeks, we begin to group them and plan activities according to what have we learned about their needs. We just finished our third week of school and my lesson plans next week have activities for different groups based on what we know about our students and their abilities. I caught a few of my advanced kids within the first few days and gave them some extra jobs and responsibilities to keep them from acting out or getting bored until we got our groups going. I wouldn't worry too much yet.

I hope that helps.

[IloveDisney71]

I teach kindergarten and agree with the previous poster about the first few weeks being a time for learning routines, rules, etc.We also do very basic activities until we see what each child is capable of doing. I have two students that I evaluated and one is reading on a late first grade level and the other on a late second grade level. Most teachers will meet the needs of each of her students. Even children who are above average enjoy participating in story time, circle time, and the art type activities. They also enjoy center time, recess, computer lab, music, art, library, etc. My students are grouped by ability for reading and I provide different math activities for children who already know the kindergarten basics. I'm sure your child will be fine. Just give it a little more time and see what happens. :)

[cubgran]

The first 2-3 weeks are spent learning rules and routines. In about the 4th week you should see more academics. Very high and very low students often get the short end of things because the teacher just doesn't have the time to give them. Since public schools educate the masses, the middle of the road is where most things are taught. That's not what most teachers want but it is a fact of life. If you or your dh can, volunteer in your dd classroom. I'm sure the teacher can use all the help she can get. As a last resort, talk with the principal about the situation. Have specifics in hand when you talk with the teacher/principal. Show work from last year comparing it to this year. Good Luck. Hope she has a good year.
Joyce

[Jillirose]

The first few weeks in kindergarten are a lot of teaching routines and procedures. Remember, many students enterening K have had no school or group experiences.

My kids (ages 11 and 14) have always been in public school. One is accelerated in academics and has been recognized and challenged each year. The other needed some additional support in reading and has received terrific support.

I've always felt that education is more about meeting children's individual needs and encouraging their creative and curious nature.... Kind of less about the race and more about the paths they take.

It sounds like you have a bright child, who will do well in school - relax and enjoy these years, they fly by so fast! :thumbsup:

[Disney Doll]

In my area pre-school is not required and there are lots of kids who don't go so I'm sure a good deal of time is spent on assessment during the first few weeks of kindergarten. It's normal for there to be kids who know it all and kids who are just starting out. It's not hard to identify the kids who excel and I'm sure the teacher will accommodate your daughter once things really get started.

[handmaidenofprincesses]

Pre-K isn't required in my area either, and as a result, kindergarten classroom have a huge variance in students' abilities. When I was student teaching 3 years ago, the public school requirement for kindergarten was to count to 31. Just 31! But still, there were several kids who, in May, couldn't count past ten. So out of curiosity, I dumped a box of toothpicks on the table and asked my niece (who was in her second year of pre-K at the time) to count them. She got to 500 and something before she said "I'm bored can I stop now?"

With non-mandatory Pre-K creating this huge gap, I don't see how it's possible for teachers to teach the higher-end, lower-end and middle-of-the-road kis. Unfortunately, decisions and sacrifices have to be made for the benefit of the classroom in its entirety, although we used centers and occassional one-on-one work to try and balance things out.

The only way to get kids on an even academic level would be to either level kids out by classroom like they do in junior high/high school (Here, kids are assessed and lower-ability kids are in one class, higher-ability kids in another) or to let students either skip grades or stay behind. The problem with skipping is that kids are then on a different maturity level

It's a tough issue...

[Georgesgirl1]

I don't want to highjack this thread, but y'all say that pre-K isn't mandatory in your area, well...in good ole Georgia, kindergarten isn't even mandatory. Not many people know it, but occassionally you will get a kid in a first grade class who had never been to school. I get enough of a variance of school experience and abilities in pre-k to make my job pretty difficult, but can you imagine a student who has never been to school pitted against a student who has been to pre-school, pre-k, and kindergarten:confused:???? Poor kids...

[meldan98]

With such a focus on education right now, I'm really suprised that Kindergarten isn't mandatory. My dd is one of the oldest in her class because she missed the cut off by 4 days. I'm she could really handle being is school all day long and it's really frustrating that she is only able to go half day. She has really been acting up at home lately, and I'm pretty sure it has something to do with her being bored silly. I'm really hoping that in a couple of weeks things will get moving and she will start to be challenged. I talked with another mom who's child when to pre-k with and it seems that he is really bored as well. I just hope things change quickly. I've decided to give it a couple of weeks and then I'll email her teacher to find out how things are going.

[Phantod]

Melissa,

I understand that you're concerned. When our DD went to Kindergarten, we spoke to the teacher and her attitude was that she was just babysitting them and had little to no intention of teaching them much. Our DD was well advanced (she could spell iguana...her older brother taught her lots of weird stuff). We immediately had her transferred to a different teacher, the same as our DS had, who we really liked.

Here are my suggestions. Talk to other parents who have or had a kindergarten teacher at the school where your DD attends. Get recommendations on the best teacher(s) there.

Secondly, and most importantly, if you have concerns, you really need to go to the classroom and talk to the teacher. See what his/her plan is for the year. You'll learn so much more about what's going on that way. And I wouldn't wait. I'd go as soon as possible and express to the teacher your thoughts in a kind, mild way.

[Jen C.]

I understand your concern. My DD, now 9, has always been leagues ahead of her classmates in academics and maturity. I felt very much like you. However, I have come to realize that a truly gifted child is never bored. They find ways to learn more, and seek out knowledge. She will always be leaps and bounds ahead, by the sounds of it, but you will be amazed at what can be learned just by holding that title. She will learn to be very empathetic, to assist others with their work, at the same time, she will learn ways to be humble.

Now going into 4th grade, my DD has been invited into the gifted and talented program. She has never once complained of boredom in school. Good Luck to you!! ;)

[Dakota Rose]

DS5 started kindergarten last week and we're in a similar situation as he is already reading and doing addition and subtraction. I was starting to get frustrated earlier this week when I found out they are assessing the kids next week. I'm sure both your DD's teacher and my DS's teacher will see that they are ahead of the others and will make the appropriate recommendations. :fingers:

[Cinderelley]

It is early in the year, and the teachers have to get to know each student. When I was in elementary school I was sent to the gifted program. I became bored out of my mind. My mother took me out at my request. Before and after that program, my teachers always found ways to keep me occupied - and it wasn't always with abc's and 123's. I learned a lot of things that most students only get an inkling of such as classical music and fine art. They taught me life skills that help me to this day. They opened up lots of new horizons for me even though my parents would never see that on a homework assignment or report card. Each year started the same way though - reviewing what was learned the year before.

[meldan98]

Well, we just started the 3rd week and I am already frustrated. I sent the teacher an email yesterday asking about how my dd was doing in class. I also mentioned that I thought that she might be really bored in school because she is really acting up at home (which usually happens when she is bored with school - as we saw during summer camp).

All I got back was a form email from the teacher talking about all the "fun" things that they are doing and that she is making friends. She also talked about how they are working on writing their letters and learning to write their name. All of which she has been doing for a year. They are also "reading" a book that they "read" last year during the 1st couple of week of Pre-K. My dd is already reading basic sight word books. I am so frustrated!!! Why is it that the schools set such low standards for our children. They don't excpect them to read sentences until the end of the year.

[Dakota Rose]

Melissa,
I'm in the same boat, as you know. And I'm starting to lose hope.

Today was DS's 8th day of school and I met with his teacher. On Friday, he told me and my mom that he's only doing the calendar and learning a letter of the day. He also got very upset. This really bothered me. But I let it go so that he could enjoy our getaway week-end.

Last night, DH chatted with him about school. Very upbeat. DS told him that he isn't learning what he was learning at Montessori. And then he told me that he misses doing reading and math lessons.

So I emailed the teacher and went in to see her today. She told me how they're doing baseline testing right now, and establishing routines, etc. I asked what else they were doing and she said the calendar and the letter of the day. I had kept the meeting request lighthearted as in --'you know how hard it is to get kids to talk about school'-- so she didn't feel attacked. Honestly, since we haven't seen any lesson plans or notes about what is going on in the classroom (as we had with Montessori), I didn't know if he was telling me everything or not. But when I told her, at the end of the talk, that DS had told me about the calendar and letter of the day, she got defensive.

I also told her that I was working with him at home and that did not go over well. I don't understand.

I talked with friends whose kids are in local private schools and they're already way ahead of DS' class.

I think I'll go check out the enrollment info at the private schools and go from there.

So irritating!