FCPS Kindergarten Kickoff

[Anonymous]

If you attended Kindergarten kickoff in the past would you please describe what the event is? I had thought it was more on an information session but based on the packet I received from the school it looks like it's a group registration time. TIA

[Anonymous]

ok, say what? I keep looking for info on the local schools' websites, and can't find a darn thing.

[Anonymous]

I think this varies by school quite a bit. Call your local school and ask.

[Anonymous]

This varies by school. I have two kid in FCPS elementary schools and one starting in the fall. We don't have an event called Kindergarten Kickoff. We have a registration - one offered on a Monday afternoon and another offered on a weeknight - and separately, we have a Kindergarten Orientation. The orientation is on a Mon. afternoon. Parents listen to a talk by the principal while the kids are split up and go into the different K rooms and do a little craft and listen to a story. These things are happening in April and May at our school. My son received his registration packet in the mail yesterday after my older kids sent home a questionnaire re: whether we have kids entering K next year.

[Anonymous]

OP: I think ours if probably like yours. It is a group registration session, but while individual parents are meeting with registrars, the rest of the parents are listening to the principal and vice principals talk about the school. In ours, the kids are divided up to go with each of the kindergarten teachers and they go to a kindergarten classroom. They don't explicitly tell you they are assessing their skills/readiness, but I think that's what they are doing b/c they read "A Very Hungry Caterpillar" and then had the kids cut circles of different color construction paper, then they glued it on another piece of constrution paper to make a caterpillar. I just thought it was cute when my first child did it, but then I started to think that they were seeing if the child could listen, cut, identify colors, follow directions, etc. I know another school where the kindergarteners get to go for a practice bus ride and they have a separate time of meeting each child where they are very upfront about assessing them. So, it does vary.

I am going to the kindergarten round-up (i.e. cattle call) rather than making an individual appointment just b/c my child will get to see the kindergarten room and meet a teacher and feel like a big boy.

They don't give out much useful info., but it is just a step you have to go through to start kindy.

[Anonymous]

Ooops... I meant "ours IS probably like yours..."

[Anonymous]

since I have no clue what school district we're going to wind up in, I don't even think I'm going to be able to participate in this kind of thing. unless my daughter gets into one of the lottery schools. too many moving targets

How late can I register her to start the school year on time? I'm going to probably have to wait until the last minute.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for the information. I am definitely going to call the school and find out what they plan.

[Anonymous]

To the poster who asked how late you can register....

The answer is that if you show up on the first day of school, they will take your child. However, it will be very stressful and disruptive to your child and the school. You can call anytime during the summer to make an appointment to register. The school wants you to register as soon as possible (like this spring) because it gives them a better idea of how many kids they are going to have and how many teachers they need to hire or assign to kindergarten. By waiting to the last minute, it puts pressure on the school to adjust resources.... but if you don't know where you'll be then there's nothing you can do but call as soon as you land in the correct school district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the poster who asked how late you can register....

The answer is that if you show up on the first day of school, they will take your child. However, it will be very stressful and disruptive to your child and the school. You can call anytime during the summer to make an appointment to register. The school wants you to register as soon as possible (like this spring) because it gives them a better idea of how many kids they are going to have and how many teachers they need to hire or assign to kindergarten. By waiting to the last minute, it puts pressure on the school to adjust resources.... but if you don't know where you'll be then there's nothing you can do but call as soon as you land in the correct school district.

right, I understand that. I HATE to be so undecided. My husband still hasn't given me a final decision on staying in NoVA or moving cross country. We have to sell our TH, and of course what we make on the sale determines how much money we can put down on the NEXT house. (Thank goodness we are NOT underwater, but we also aren't going to walk away with a HUGE profit) If we stay here, we have to decide how LONG we will stay. If it is less than 5ish years, we're going to rent. And then there is the half-day vs. full-day K mess (which may or may not be a factor, but of course those decisions are completely out of our hands and not yet made)...AND whether or not we get into one of the lottery schools we applied to. I am really just trying to stay semi-sane right now.