Gifted Program and/or skipping a grade at Taylor Elementary? Should we go private?

[Anonymous]

I know of one FCPS child who was moved from kindergarten to first grade shortly after kindergarten began. Had a fall birthday but had missed the cutoff. Mom seemed very neutral as to whether it had been a good thing. Child went from being far ahead to being average in the new grade.

[Anonymous]

Is your daughter a Fall birthday? If she will be close to 6 I'd do it. If she is an August/Sept bday (starting at 4-5)- I would not do it because it will be a problem socially later on.

[Anonymous]

No respectable privates will skip your kid to first from pre-K.

[Anonymous]

We recently moved from fairfax county, but the feeling I had there was that being able to read and do math a a couple of years ahead was not uncommon in their public schools. There are just a lot of children coming from enriched homes. Now, if she were reading and writing at a fourth grade level or higher I would look into private school. I would not expect much accommodation in the publics.

[Anonymous]

OP, that's why we bought in Fairfax for AAP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, that's why we bought in Fairfax for AAP.

Dumb and presumptuous.

[Anonymous]

OP, I think it's fairly common for there to be a real range of reading/counting levels in kindergarten. My kid was advanced but we didn't consider skipping kindergarten because we recognized that at least 50% of kindergarten has to do with social/emotional development, and also making the transition from preschool to elementary. In my kid's class, the teacher would break them into smaller groups at different points of the day, so those that each kid could at whatever level was appropriate. I would stick with K for now. After your child has been in the school system a year, the staff their will be able to give you a better assessment of where your child is, and what like of acceleration might be appropriate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I think it's fairly common for there to be a real range of reading/counting levels in kindergarten. My kid was advanced but we didn't consider skipping kindergarten because we recognized that at least 50% of kindergarten has to do with social/emotional development, and also making the transition from preschool to elementary. In my kid's class, the teacher would break them into smaller groups at different points of the day, so those that each kid could at whatever level was appropriate. I would stick with K for now. After your child has been in the school system a year, the staff their will be able to give you a better assessment of where your child is, and what like of acceleration might be appropriate.

And things tend to equalize by about 2nd or 3rd grade anyway. The "advanced" kids tend to set a pace and everyone else catches up.

[Anonymous]

OP, just wanted to weigh in with the perspective of someone who did skip a grade (though admittedly many years ago) and who didn't suffer socially for it. My twin and I skipped 3rd grade and we did fine- had lots of friends, were social, did many sports, and still graduated top of our class. But, had we stayed in our grade, we would've had a fairly average birthday so when we skipped, we were young, but not overly young, if that makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Former first grade and K teacher here: Many would be surprised to know that there are kids who start in the lower tier and rise to the top around January. Preschool is far too early to decide to "skip" your child.

[Anonymous]

(cont.) I recommend against skipping. Many problems can occur when the child gets to high school. If he is that far ahead of his peers now and is that smart, he will also be ahead with the next class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, that's why we bought in Fairfax for AAP.

But as a pp stated, for those kids who are truly ahead, AAP isn't really enough.

[Anonymous]

Does your DD go to an academic preschool full-time, OP? It could just be that the director is touting the success of their amazing curriculum. It could be just a lot of hot air. I mean how far advanced is your DD? We have a four-year-old who is reading the Boxcar Children and goes to a church preschool a few hours a week. The teachers there really could not care less. They are working on entirely different areas of development and focus on these kids having fun. I imagine the same will be the case in kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former first grade and K teacher here: Many would be surprised to know that there are kids who start in the lower tier and rise to the top around January. Preschool is far too early to decide to "skip" your child.

Yes. There are many if us that don't send kids to academic preschools, Kumon, do worksheets, stress reading--bug have very bright kids.

Firstborn did not read going into K and by end of the year was at a 2nd/3rd grade level. He is now in GT reading. There were many kids that started K where your daughter is--some did not stay on same trajectory. Those that did had their needs met.

[Anonymous]

I attended Taylor years ago but as a kindergartener I was among a handful of kids who came in already knowing how to read. The group of us was sent daily to a first grade class to do language arts while our classmates learned to read. Same group went to second grade for reading as first graders. I would find it hard to believe Taylor is not still able to properly accommodate its students of all levels in one way or another, including your daughter.