Kindergarten Readiness

[Anonymous]

OP here. My daughter is 4.5 and we are leaning towards starting her in kindergarten this fall (turns 5 late July). She knows all letters and numbers 1-10, can write her name and all letters and numbers 1-10, knows a few sight words, knows all letter sounds.

She's very social and has no issue being separated from me (she goes to all day preschool). The only thing she struggles with a bit is her reaction when things don't go her way. Crying is a natural response for her but it is SO MUCH better than 3-6 months ago, so expecting even more improvement. She loves to learn and her teacher says she's very engaged.

Based off of the feedback above I think she's ok... I'd just heard about some kids reading before kindergarten and got kind of worried. Though, if we held her till 6, I have no doubt she'd be reading before she entered kindergarten. But then she may be frustrated if they're working on things like sounding out letters?

Struggling with this decision of sending a young 5 to kindergarten a bit if you can't tell...

[Anonymous]

No need to hold her back from your description. I think it depends on the school. I teach in a Title One school and we teach letters and sounds until Thanksgiving or so. Most kids (even ones who have been to our pre-k) don't know them all at the beginning of the year. This is obviously a very different demographic than many schools people from DCUMs send their kids to. What school is she going to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No need to hold her back from your description. I think it depends on the school. I teach in a Title One school and we teach letters and sounds until Thanksgiving or so. Most kids (even ones who have been to our pre-k) don't know them all at the beginning of the year. This is obviously a very different demographic than many schools people from DCUMs send their kids to. What school is she going to?

I'm not local to DC right now. But I would say she's going to a fairly good elementary school. Our neighborhood is a mix of lower middle class - upper middle class so I would suspect there are kids like her that have been to very good preschools and also some that have no been to a preschool/pre-K at all.

[Anonymous]

I don't want to derail this conversation, but what happens on the other end of the spectrum. My daughter starts kindergarten in the fall. She has been reading Bob books for months now, and gradually moving onto harder books. She can also do basic addition pretty consistently (subtraction less consistently.) I'm sure she could happily sit quiet and learn letter sounds, but do most schools also pull out some kids that are further along?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. My daughter is 4.5 and we are leaning towards starting her in kindergarten this fall (turns 5 late July). She knows all letters and numbers 1-10, can write her name and all letters and numbers 1-10, knows a few sight words, knows all letter sounds.

She's very social and has no issue being separated from me (she goes to all day preschool). The only thing she struggles with a bit is her reaction when things don't go her way. Crying is a natural response for her but it is SO MUCH better than 3-6 months ago, so expecting even more improvement. She loves to learn and her teacher says she's very engaged.

Based off of the feedback above I think she's ok... I'd just heard about some kids reading before kindergarten and got kind of worried. Though, if we held her till 6, I have no doubt she'd be reading before she entered kindergarten. But then she may be frustrated if they're working on things like sounding out letters?

Struggling with this decision of sending a young 5 to kindergarten a bit if you can't tell...

I’m the PP with the August boy and could have written your post word for word!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. My daughter is 4.5 and we are leaning towards starting her in kindergarten this fall (turns 5 late July). She knows all letters and numbers 1-10, can write her name and all letters and numbers 1-10, knows a few sight words, knows all letter sounds.

She's very social and has no issue being separated from me (she goes to all day preschool). The only thing she struggles with a bit is her reaction when things don't go her way. Crying is a natural response for her but it is SO MUCH better than 3-6 months ago, so expecting even more improvement. She loves to learn and her teacher says she's very engaged.

Based off of the feedback above I think she's ok... I'd just heard about some kids reading before kindergarten and got kind of worried. Though, if we held her till 6, I have no doubt she'd be reading before she entered kindergarten. But then she may be frustrated if they're working on things like sounding out letters?

Struggling with this decision of sending a young 5 to kindergarten a bit if you can't tell...

I’m the PP with the August boy and could have written your post word for word!

You sent him and he's doing well?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't want to derail this conversation, but what happens on the other end of the spectrum. My daughter starts kindergarten in the fall. She has been reading Bob books for months now, and gradually moving onto harder books. She can also do basic addition pretty consistently (subtraction less consistently.) I'm sure she could happily sit quiet and learn letter sounds, but do most schools also pull out some kids that are further along?

Ask. At our ES your daughter would be on the upper end of the class but not entirely alone. From what I heard from a neighbor whose kid was in that situation, at our school there's not much other than being in the most advanced reading group for kindergarten differentiation. Neighbor wasn't super enthused, and all the principal offered was skipping to first grade (!).

That said, differentiation does seem to improve in first. Or at least it did for us (I'm the PP with the one kid who was ahead and the other who was maybe slightly behind or just at the minimum).

[Anonymous]

DS is a late August birthday (turns 5 the day before school starts!) and we are also struggling with this decision. He knows all his letters and numbers beyond 20, but struggles to come close to writing his name, sit still, pay attention, follow directions, etc. Academically I think he would do ok, but socially and maturity-speaking, it could be a disaster

We are really torn b/c I'm against the idea of redshirting in general, yet I don't think my child is ready.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The social emotional stuff is so much more important. It’s easy to teach a calm kid his letters but if a reader is screaming because his favorite center is over, the whole class gets derailed.

This issue we experienced is that they didn't teach letters or letter sounds in kindergarten. In writing workshop, unit 1, starting on the first day of kindergarten, was for the kids to write a personal narrative. In reading workshop, the kids were expected to sit and read independently to themselves unless it was their turn with the teacher. In both cases, the kids were expected come in knowing their letters and be starting to sound out words. In my experience, a kid who is lost and can't complete the tasks is more likely to act out.

I'm not saying emotional stuff isn't very important, but letters and letter sounds are also helpful for readiness.

+1. Our DCPS starts pullouts for Kers who don't know letters/numbers on day 1. Obviously, that means the kids will be taught & learn them if they don't know them, but there is a definite expectation that they already do and the curriculum starts from there.

I don't know, but I strongly suspect DC Pre-K makes a difference in DCPS schools. Our Pre-k 3 kid went from a private preschool with a very good reputation to a meh charter and she went from knowing some of her letters, not writing any, and still skipping a number or two counting to 20 to knowing all of her letter sounds, writing her 8 letter name, and being able to add using her fingers, etc. before Christmas. Developmentally appropriate or not, her school is really focusing on reading, writing, and math skills and I'm certain she'll be much further ahead by kindergarten than the Maryland kids who stayed at our private preschool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The social emotional stuff is so much more important. It’s easy to teach a calm kid his letters but if a reader is screaming because his favorite center is over, the whole class gets derailed.

This ??????????

I feel like I see so much evidence of children being socially stunted when it comes to being able to handle conflict.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. My daughter is 4.5 and we are leaning towards starting her in kindergarten this fall (turns 5 late July). She knows all letters and numbers 1-10, can write her name and all letters and numbers 1-10, knows a few sight words, knows all letter sounds.

She's very social and has no issue being separated from me (she goes to all day preschool). The only thing she struggles with a bit is her reaction when things don't go her way. Crying is a natural response for her but it is SO MUCH better than 3-6 months ago, so expecting even more improvement. She loves to learn and her teacher says she's very engaged.

Based off of the feedback above I think she's ok... I'd just heard about some kids reading before kindergarten and got kind of worried. Though, if we held her till 6, I have no doubt she'd be reading before she entered kindergarten. But then she may be frustrated if they're working on things like sounding out letters?

Struggling with this decision of sending a young 5 to kindergarten a bit if you can't tell...

My child is very similar. She's a June baby, and she already knows her letters and numbers and can count but is still somewhat immature when she doesn't get her way (in her case she's a lot more prone to being angry)

I think that the wise thing to do is send her to kindergarten. there will certainly be some kids who are already reading but the majority of kids will just be starting to read and I don't think it necessarily benefits her to keep her in preschool another year. It's also important to remember that where your kid is right now in January is not where your kid will be in September.


A good kindergarten teacher is going to understand that 5 year olds are all over the map in terms of what they're capable of doing you will definitely have some kids who are reading already some kids who are ready to read and done who are still mastering the letter sounds. Depending on the school you will probably have some kids who don't know many letter sound.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. My daughter is 4.5 and we are leaning towards starting her in kindergarten this fall (turns 5 late July). She knows all letters and numbers 1-10, can write her name and all letters and numbers 1-10, knows a few sight words, knows all letter sounds.

She's very social and has no issue being separated from me (she goes to all day preschool). The only thing she struggles with a bit is her reaction when things don't go her way. Crying is a natural response for her but it is SO MUCH better than 3-6 months ago, so expecting even more improvement. She loves to learn and her teacher says she's very engaged.

Based off of the feedback above I think she's ok... I'd just heard about some kids reading before kindergarten and got kind of worried. Though, if we held her till 6, I have no doubt she'd be reading before she entered kindergarten. But then she may be frustrated if they're working on things like sounding out letters?

Struggling with this decision of sending a young 5 to kindergarten a bit if you can't tell...

My daughter was a very young 5 -- she just made the cutoff by less than a week. She was completely fine. Your daughter sounds fine academically and socially. Some kids do read, but IME, most don't, and those that do often aren't all that advanced. There will be a few kids who are reading fluently or nearly fluently, but many will not. If she knows her letters and numbers, can take turns and stand in line and listen to directions and use the bathroom by herself, she's good to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't want to derail this conversation, but what happens on the other end of the spectrum. My daughter starts kindergarten in the fall. She has been reading Bob books for months now, and gradually moving onto harder books. She can also do basic addition pretty consistently (subtraction less consistently.) I'm sure she could happily sit quiet and learn letter sounds, but do most schools also pull out some kids that are further along?

Mine started kindergarten reading at about a second-grade level. The phonics instruction was still useful, and there was enough differentiation that she was still learning something (often in terms of reading comprehension strategies, rather than decoding). She still loved group story time. Math is not just addition -- lots of work with patterns, shapes, etc. And there's so much social/emotional stuff going on that she was definitely not bored. It's a bigger issue now that she's in second and still reading three or four grades ahead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is a late August birthday (turns 5 the day before school starts!) and we are also struggling with this decision. He knows all his letters and numbers beyond 20, but struggles to come close to writing his name, sit still, pay attention, follow directions, etc. Academically I think he would do ok, but socially and maturity-speaking, it could be a disaster

We are really torn b/c I'm against the idea of redshirting in general, yet I don't think my child is ready.

Keep in mind that August birthdays are after the cutoff in about half the states these days. So it honestly hardly strikes me as redshirting to hold back a kid with an August/September birthday as they couldn’t even start school in many areas.

You could do a year of private K and see what happens. Private K usually has smaller class sizes and more individual attention. Then if he’s ready for 1st grade he goes to public 1st, if not he can repeat K at a public school. They just won’t usually let you repeat public K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. My daughter is 4.5 and we are leaning towards starting her in kindergarten this fall (turns 5 late July). She knows all letters and numbers 1-10, can write her name and all letters and numbers 1-10, knows a few sight words, knows all letter sounds.

She's very social and has no issue being separated from me (she goes to all day preschool). The only thing she struggles with a bit is her reaction when things don't go her way. Crying is a natural response for her but it is SO MUCH better than 3-6 months ago, so expecting even more improvement. She loves to learn and her teacher says she's very engaged.

Based off of the feedback above I think she's ok... I'd just heard about some kids reading before kindergarten and got kind of worried. Though, if we held her till 6, I have no doubt she'd be reading before she entered kindergarten. But then she may be frustrated if they're working on things like sounding out letters?

Struggling with this decision of sending a young 5 to kindergarten a bit if you can't tell...

She sounds ready. Starting to sound out words and being ready for Bob books is a great place to be at the beginning of K.