what is kindergarten like these days?

[Anonymous]

We're trying to understand what modern American kindergarten is like (all I remember from my early 70s k-garten is the sandbox & the horse pasture next door). Can anyone please comment on some basics:

1) What do kids actually do all day in kindergarten, and does this differ greatly from public to private (or along some other axis you'd care to stipulate)?

2) Are there other compelling reasons to choose public or private (specifically with respect to kindergarten)?

3) Do we really need to worry about getting ready for K when looking at pre-K (seems pretty uptight, if you ask me)?

Any thoughts appreciated!!

[Anonymous]

First, kids now learn to read in Kindergarten, both public and private. That has become the standard year to start reading. Its a task that takes up lots of time. Also, most schools will start math basics. Not so much adding and subtracting but more concepts through games and tasks, counting to 100, counting by 2s, naming shapes, etc... Also, a good school will use other mediums to introduce/expand upon reading and math concepts as well as geography (studying a specific country) and science (i.e., leaf journals).

My kids are both in private school. Academically I am not certain that they will be any more prepared for the upper grades than if they were in a good, solid, public but, there are other things that I know will better prepare them and meet their needs. For instance, both are very artistic and very musical (both play instruments at home) and incredibly athletic and I wanted them to go to a school with all the resources to feed these interests/talents. Truly good arts, music, and athletic programs are rarely in the public schools any more. For instance, my 2nd grader will go to a separate, well-stocked, airy, studio for art with trained art teachers who only teach art, same for music, same for PE, AND they get lots of free time on age-appropriate play equipment at other times during the day. My child entering Pre-K will also have all of these benefits. PK child has a gym only for smaller kids, different from the huge gym the 2nd grader goes to (same school). There are libraries for different ages in the school as well. I could go on but you can discover all of this by visiting your local public and area privates. Good luck! Its fun and rewarding to particiapte in the education of your kids.

[Anonymous]

My son was in Kindergarten last year and he had about 4 or 5 different classes a day, plus nap, lunch, and recess.
He got graded on math, writing/reading, computer science, regular science, art, gym, foreign language (he took Korean last year and will take Spanish this year), and social studies. He had about 15 to 20 minutes homework every night and by the second quarter they were taking math quizzes. They even participated in standardize tests.

I don't know what the difference in education is between private and public - all I know is the the test scores for my neighborhood elementary school were disgraceful, so we knew when we moved here that our children would be attending private school. I wanted a school with a strong parental network and with dedicated teachers that provided an academic and personal growth learning environment for my son. My son needs that personal encouragement and I was able to find a school that suit his personality.

To answer your last queston, you do need to consider where you child will be going to kindergarten when you start looking for pre-k. I have seen posts about feeder prek..k..whatever..and I am not talking about that. I am talking about making sure your child truely has an advantage when they enter kindergarten. Even in a private school, children are going to enter kindergarten at different learning levels and it just makes it easier on yourself and your child if they were prepared enough to at least be traveling in the middle of the pack.
Academically, my son's pre-k provided him with a good starting point - he knew how to read and was doing basic addition. However his private school had a preschool that he did not attend and those kids where reading entire books when they got to kindergarten - so while my son could read - The ball is red. Most of the other kids that matriculated from the preschool..could already read that sentences plus about 10 more. LOL!

I also realized once my son got to kindergarten that his daycare/preschool program was a little relaxed on their daily routine. Once my son got to kindergarten he really struggled with the routine part of a real school environment. He was used a much more "free-style" type of day and the first few months of the kindergarten "schedule" were a struggle for him.

[Anonymous]

I think you are able to look at the curriculum (at least for Montgomery County schools) somewhere online. I would agree with everything the PP said as far as reading and math concepts. I would imagine they also start writing - for example my mom taught classes at a magnet school and she expected her kindergarten kids to write the name at the top of all their papers - especially by the end of the first half of the year. There are also skills like being able to cut with scissors and some other things that are less obvious. If you are looking at public schools, the one thing several people have told me is that in kindergarten the kids start at all different levels and at the end of the day they all have to be at a certain level - so in a way you shouldn't stress yourself out too much about Pre-K other than focusing on where you think your child will be the happiest. These days, most of the preschools are going to have lots of artwork (where do I put all the artwork and I'll be honest I keep nothing with glitter!), teach the alphabet, teach writing, teach responsibility (kids have various jobs like setting the table for lunch and things they have to remember like show and share or once a week "homework" in the Pre-K room), have playtime and time for them to ride bicycles (believe it or not, the child development checklist/parent teacher conference including evaluated this skill), using scissors (yes, I'm working at home with my youngest on her scissor skills) etc. Some even have computer time (almost fell of my chair when my not even two year old knew the word computer from seeing it in the Pre-K room) and they offer enhancement classes/options like ballet or karate and/or include foreign languages. It definitely isn't your mother's Pre-K or Kindergarten anymore. I was hot stuff in kindergarten because I knew my alphabet - these days I think kids cover that in the 3 year old classroom of daycare.

As far as public versus private - I think everyone is focusing on the extras you get in private school like foreign languages, art, and music, and hopefully a smaller teacher/student ratio. For us, private school would be a financial stretch and our public schools have a reputation for being one of the best in the country (I remind myself as I see the property tax bill), so if my kids had some need that wasn't being met in public schools - either so advanced there was nothing for them or they really needed that smaller environment setting so they wouldn't get lost and struggle - then I would look at private schools. Other than that, while not ideal in terms of scheduling and trying not to have a ton of activities on the weekend - I feel we would do better going with public school and paying extra for enrichment activities like music lessons,foreign language and travel.

[Anonymous]

As my son's teacher put it, kindergarten is the new first grade. Kids learned to read and were introduced to basic math concepts. Work was adjusted for different kids' development levels. There was group work and solo work, with groups being a decent balance of kids who were maybe a little behind the curve, ahead of the curve, and in the middle, so that they could practice the social aspect of helping each other and asking for help, and learning how to work solo and with each other in a classroom setting, which is new for lots of them. Despite the focus on academics that used to wait until first grade, kindergarten still seemed to be a blast. The kids played a lot and did all kinds of fun projects.

My son was in public kindergarten in PG county, BTW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First, kids now learn to read in Kindergarten, both public and private. That has become the standard year to start reading. Its a task that takes up lots of time. Also, most schools will start math basics. Not so much adding and subtracting but more concepts through games and tasks, counting to 100, counting by 2s, naming shapes, etc... Also, a good school will use other mediums to introduce/expand upon reading and math concepts as well as geography (studying a specific country) and science (i.e., leaf journals).

My kids are both in private school. Academically I am not certain that they will be any more prepared for the upper grades than if they were in a good, solid, public but, there are other things that I know will better prepare them and meet their needs. For instance, both are very artistic and very musical (both play instruments at home) and incredibly athletic and I wanted them to go to a school with all the resources to feed these interests/talents. Truly good arts, music, and athletic programs are rarely in the public schools any more. For instance, my 2nd grader will go to a separate, well-stocked, airy, studio for art with trained art teachers who only teach art, same for music, same for PE, AND they get lots of free time on age-appropriate play equipment at other times during the day. My child entering Pre-K will also have all of these benefits. PK child has a gym only for smaller kids, different from the huge gym the 2nd grader goes to (same school). There are libraries for different ages in the school as well. I could go on but you can discover all of this by visiting your local public and area privates. Good luck! Its fun and rewarding to particiapte in the education of your kids.

Can I ask where your children go to school? I think I want to apply (for myself, not my child).

[Anonymous]

Not all schools are so academically pushy with five year olds (and those that are pushy in K often encourage parents to redshirt --see epic thread, below, for *that* discussion), although I agree that there is probably more academic emphasis now than there was when you were in K. (When I was in K, we wrote on slates and wore pinafores.)

Anyway, IME, Montgomery County and Fairfax County tend to stress academic achievement from the get-go; Arlington schools tend to let children develop at the appropriate pace for them. That's not true of all Arlington schools -- Arlington Traditional is Round Peg Central, for example -- but it's the trend.

[Anonymous]

What does 'round peg central' mean?

Not all public elem schools in the same district are alike. For instance, my child's elem school has a well stocked arts room, music room, etc. In fact the arts are emphasized and something to be proud of. Ask to go on a tour of a prospective school and ask pointed questions of the person as to what is offered.

[Anonymous]

They want round pegs going into round holes, and if your child is a square peg, s/he will be rounded, posthaste.

[Anonymous]

More public schools are offering foreign languages to kids from kindergarten up as well these days. Our son's going to be attending immersion school in Arlington but even a number of the regular public schools are offering Spanish 3 times a week. Arlington also has art and music programs in the schools

It definitely is a new world out there...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More public schools are offering foreign languages to kids from kindergarten up as well these days. Our son's going to be attending immersion school in Arlington but even a number of the regular public schools are offering Spanish 3 times a week. Arlington also has art and music programs in the schools

It definitely is a new world out there...

Not in Montgomery County, unless you get into an immersion program by lottery, which is not easy, or do it as an add'l before or afterschool activity.

[Anonymous]

Our regular (non-immersion) MoCo public elementary does have 30-minutes of a foreign language weekly. I have no illusions that my child will learn much in that time, but it does serve as enrichment within the regular day.