K orientation was a big let down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a K teacher and your thread title made me worried you came to our orientation yesterday. At ours, we do a quick meet-and-greet with parents and then all the K teachers take the kids to two classrooms while the parents have paperwork and then an info session with admin and one K teacher. With the kids, the other K teachers have centers set up at tables (puzzles, playdoh, coloring, name writing), one teacher does snack table, and then we have two teacher-led activities at tables: planting a pumpkin seed and making a pumpkin construction picture.

When every kid has rotated through every center, we read a story and/or sing songs from YouTube, depending on how much time was oft. We have about 100 incoming Ks, so we had 3 sessions in 2 days. From start to finish, it was about 2 hours. And yes, neighbor, this is at a public school.

I'm sorry yours was underwhelming. Was there a parent feedback opportunity? I'm sure if orientation didn't meet your expectations, the teachers and admin would like to know so that they can improve it for future years.

This is what ours was like, only clearly a different school because the activities were different. It wasn't 2 hours, though. It was more like a total of 45 mins. I thought it was very well-run, and the teachers were extremely welcoming and friendly. The let-down was that my son behaved so bizarrely for the first ten minutes (crying, pulling on my leg) that the guidance counselor came over to talk to me about how he behaves at home, ha ha.....

I think it may depend on which neighborhood you live in, but since our school has many many many ESOL students and many of the families struggle financially, I think the real point of orientation is just getting kids registered. Yes, it's nice for the kids themselves to get a little taste of what the teachers and building will be like, but the bottom line is that kids need to get started in school and the school uses this as an opportunity to provide parents with as much information as possible at once. If they weren't concerned about enrollment and wanted to instead make a fun day for the incoming kindergarteners, they'd do orientation during the first week of teacher inservice in August so that they didn't have to cancel real kindergarten for 2 or 3 days during the school year (a real inconvenience to parents in the community). I teach high school in MCPS, and that's when we do freshmen orientation. It is purely an opportunity for incoming freshmen to get the lay of the land. There is no other purpose whatsoever, so there is no need to cancel real classes for it.

In short, if you and your husband both took off half days from work to attend your daughter's K orientation, you are exactly the opposite sort of parents for whom the process was intended.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, that sounds terrible. Ours was much better! The kids did a series of activities in the classroom (like a scavenger hunt where they had to locate the cubbies, flag, bathroom, etc.) while the teacher talked to the parents about kindergarten. It wasn't necessarily the classroom or teacher the kids were really going to be assigned to, although in our case it turned out to be the one.

Although - that was in the fall right before school started. There was a kindergarten meeting in the spring that was more perfunctory - the kids went off with some teachers while the parents sat in the library, filled out forms, watched a short video and heard from the principal, etc. They seemed to do aquick assessment of the kids while they were away from us.

Why does anyone think it is a good idea to separate 5 year olds from their parents in a place where most of the kids have never visited??? I'm a principal and they did this before I arrived. I shut that down right away. Parents visit classrooms WITH their child so it is a positive experience.

As for the "assessment" I pay teachers to make home visits in August. A child can change a lot between spring and early fall. And besides, there's not much real information you're going to get in a large group setting.

Principal Dear,

What's wrong with separating the kids from their parents? If a child is THAT attached to his/her parents at 5, which is rare, I'll add, then the child hasn't had much exposure.

And who has time to make 75 home visits? We have three K classes at my children's school - sometimes 4, depending upon enrollment obviously. I have no idea from where your pot of gold comes, but that's quite a bit of money to dish out and an inconvenience for teachers. Furthermore, if this IS the case, I would hope that these "visits" would be done in pairs, as not all children come from happy, stable homes.

Ours started off with some paperwork. As someone in the field, it's much more efficient to take the paperwork THEN instead of hounding parents those first few weeks. Furthermore, in some highly impacted schools with quite a bit of transience, keeping track of enrollment is much more difficult.

We then took a tour with our children and later completed paperwork with the guidance counselor, nurse and ESOL teacher while the kids were on their own classroom tour. I hardly think that separating them from their parents for 30 minutes is abuse.

Dear God, woman! Get over yourself.

[Anonymous]

They call this kindergarten registration at our school. The 3 K teacher take turns in the cafeteria during the day (they have the assistant sub for them). You come in, get name tags, meet a lot of people as you rotate through the stations (paperwork with the nurse, secretary, counselor, etc). As you rotate and check/fill out more paperwork, you child goes to the table with the K teacher for a screening. I didn't see what they did but I assume it was letter sounds, sight words, etc. On the way out, you meet the assistant principal. That's it. They meet their teacher and see their classroom the week before school starts at the Back to School Picnic. You learn about the K curriculum one night a week after school starts at Back to School Night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I forget how behind some schools are. Starting in kindergarten seems insanely late. By then our kids have been oriented at the school for two years and are generally fully fluent in another language. DC Charter parent.

[Anonymous]

Our school had 7 K classes and K orientation lasts 3 days. No school for current k students those days.

The orientation is really fun though, After paperwork the kids have a small snack, look around a K classroom and then rotate through stations with the various teachers to do activities. During the stations the parents are seated in the same room but not with the kids. I think they use this a rough screening so they end up with a mix of abilities and personalities in the classes (along with the obvious race/gender mix). At the end the kids get to ride the bus around the block. We are past all that now, but both my kids loved it and were really excited about school afterwards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, that sounds terrible. Ours was much better! The kids did a series of activities in the classroom (like a scavenger hunt where they had to locate the cubbies, flag, bathroom, etc.) while the teacher talked to the parents about kindergarten. It wasn't necessarily the classroom or teacher the kids were really going to be assigned to, although in our case it turned out to be the one.

Although - that was in the fall right before school started. There was a kindergarten meeting in the spring that was more perfunctory - the kids went off with some teachers while the parents sat in the library, filled out forms, watched a short video and heard from the principal, etc. They seemed to do aquick assessment of the kids while they were away from us.

Why does anyone think it is a good idea to separate 5 year olds from their parents in a place where most of the kids have never visited??? I'm a principal and they did this before I arrived. I shut that down right away. Parents visit classrooms WITH their child so it is a positive experience.

As for the "assessment" I pay teachers to make home visits in August. A child can change a lot between spring and early fall. And besides, there's not much real information you're going to get in a large group setting.

Principal Dear,

What's wrong with separating the kids from their parents? If a child is THAT attached to his/her parents at 5, which is rare, I'll add, then the child hasn't had much exposure.

And who has time to make 75 home visits? We have three K classes at my children's school - sometimes 4, depending upon enrollment obviously. I have no idea from where your pot of gold comes, but that's quite a bit of money to dish out and an inconvenience for teachers. Furthermore, if this IS the case, I would hope that these "visits" would be done in pairs, as not all children come from happy, stable homes.

Ours started off with some paperwork. As someone in the field, it's much more efficient to take the paperwork THEN instead of hounding parents those first few weeks. Furthermore, in some highly impacted schools with quite a bit of transience, keeping track of enrollment is much more difficult.

We then took a tour with our children and later completed paperwork with the guidance counselor, nurse and ESOL teacher while the kids were on their own classroom tour. I hardly think that separating them from their parents for 30 minutes is abuse.

Dear God, woman! Get over yourself.

Fair Poster--
Our first goal with kindergarten orientation is to build relationships and show that school is positive, caring place. Some kids struggle with separating from their parents. It's just where they are at that moment. Like it or not, we will be working with the child, so it's important that we start off on the right foot. And we gain very little from separating children from their parents, so why do it? We can give the parents the information they need, everyone can visit classrooms with current students, and there are no tears. Students are engaged in learning activities, meaning no babysitting videos. It's a win-win.

As for the home visits, we have 4 classrooms at our school. Believe it or not, teachers look forward to this visit because it helps them build the classes and go into the first day with a leg up on what their students' needs are. They are adamant that we continue this practice. Yes, they do go in pairs with our parent liaison, and they pick which day they go. We divide the grade up by where the students live so that visiting is easier. Each visit takes about 15 minutes. Not every home will get visited because some kids are still registering. As for paying teachers, we are a Title 1 school, so we do have funds for events exactly like this. It is a way to build the home-school relationship.

You have a super day PP, and bless your heart!

--signed,
Dear Principal

[Anonymous]

Which schools explicitly say k orientation is optional? Our (extremely lame) " orientation" was pretty much required. The front office staff was pretty adamant we show up at the appointed time or we would not get to register our child. Obviously they could not stop us from registering if we did not but it was clear they would be really annoyed and we would be causing great trouble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, if I'm understanding this correctly, schools do two orientations. One in the spring and then another in the fall. Why do two if the one in the fall is more useful. Sounds like spring is a waste of time and a burden on current kindergarten parents who have to take off work or arrange for care because the class is closed. This is especially problematic this year given all the snow days.

Not two orientations, one orientation and one back to school night. Both are optional so there is no need to take the day off if you don't feel it is worth it to you. Orientation included your children and BTSN does not. At orientation, you don't know your child's teacher. At BTSN, you know the teacher and you get the information you will need to help you develop expectations about what is being taught and to learn what you can do to help your child be successful. Orientation is just to introduce your child to the idea of school and to be sure you have all of your paperwork in. For most parents, that is not a big deal, but if you have a child with medical problems, the school will help you out knowing what paperwork you need to get in for medication and the like.

But the parents who ARE CURRENTLY in kindergarten have to take time or arrange for care because the kindergarten classes are closed for orientation.

[Anonymous]

"Both are optional so there is no need to take the day off if you don't feel it is worth it to you."

Maybe it is optional but it did not sound so when I did it for DC last year. It sounded like this was the only route to enrolling her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I forget how behind some schools are. Starting in kindergarten seems insanely late. By then our kids have been oriented at the school for two years and are generally fully fluent in another language. DC Charter parent.

The Finns start at age 7. So DC charters must be WAY above them. Oh, wait...

[Anonymous]

It is obvious that Kindergarten Orientation is a misnomer. If they listed it as "Kindergarten Registration", parents would not be upset.

Maybe the schools should suggest that parents fill the application by mail and it should be received by the school at a certain date. If they do not do that they have to come to school for the registration.


Orientation means that the parents and children tour the school. They do some activities together. They see where the classroom, bathrooms and the cafeteria is. They check out the the play ground and the gym.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Both are optional so there is no need to take the day off if you don't feel it is worth it to you."

Maybe it is optional but it did not sound so when I did it for DC last year. It sounded like this was the only route to enrolling her.

That's because it is just easier to do it this way. My school is a Title 1 school and we have a registration too. It is whenever you want to come in and register during office hours after a certain date in the spring. You can come in whenever the office is open to register. Most come in during the summer to register. It is a public school. If you live within that school's boundaries, they cannot stop you from registering whenever you want. In fact, we have students register the first two weeks of school b/c their parents suddenly notice that kids are walking to/from school everyday. They are clueless about when school even starts even though it is posted on multiple signs around the school.

[Anonymous]

we are not at a title i school. in fact the community our school pulls from is probably the opposite. the parents are obsessed with school and the attendance secretary said people start calling the fall of the year before to figure out how to register.
during our k orientation, every single family i saw walk in there had their paperwork in order and it would have saved everyone (including the current k students) a lot of trouble if we had been allowed to mail the forms in!

[Anonymous]

17:52 again. None of the schools I've worked at allow you to mail the forms in. You have to present the documents necessary to establish residency in that school zone in person. That's why they have these kindergarten registration days. But it is not necessary to attend these specific days to register your child for school. It might make it easier for the school to do it all at once but you can go in during office hours and bring those same forms and register then. Even the day before school starts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, that sounds terrible. Ours was much better! The kids did a series of activities in the classroom (like a scavenger hunt where they had to locate the cubbies, flag, bathroom, etc.) while the teacher talked to the parents about kindergarten. It wasn't necessarily the classroom or teacher the kids were really going to be assigned to, although in our case it turned out to be the one.

Although - that was in the fall right before school started. There was a kindergarten meeting in the spring that was more perfunctory - the kids went off with some teachers while the parents sat in the library, filled out forms, watched a short video and heard from the principal, etc. They seemed to do aquick assessment of the kids while they were away from us.

Why does anyone think it is a good idea to separate 5 year olds from their parents in a place where most of the kids have never visited??? I'm a principal and they did this before I arrived. I shut that down right away. Parents visit classrooms WITH their child so it is a positive experience.

As for the "assessment" I pay teachers to make home visits in August. A child can change a lot between spring and early fall. And besides, there's not much real information you're going to get in a large group setting.

Principal Dear,

What's wrong with separating the kids from their parents? If a child is THAT attached to his/her parents at 5, which is rare, I'll add, then the child hasn't had much exposure.

And who has time to make 75 home visits? We have three K classes at my children's school - sometimes 4, depending upon enrollment obviously. I have no idea from where your pot of gold comes, but that's quite a bit of money to dish out and an inconvenience for teachers. Furthermore, if this IS the case, I would hope that these "visits" would be done in pairs, as not all children come from happy, stable homes.

Ours started off with some paperwork. As someone in the field, it's much more efficient to take the paperwork THEN instead of hounding parents those first few weeks. Furthermore, in some highly impacted schools with quite a bit of transience, keeping track of enrollment is much more difficult.

We then took a tour with our children and later completed paperwork with the guidance counselor, nurse and ESOL teacher while the kids were on their own classroom tour. I hardly think that separating them from their parents for 30 minutes is abuse.

Dear God, woman! Get over yourself.

Fair Poster--
Our first goal with kindergarten orientation is to build relationships and show that school is positive, caring place. Some kids struggle with separating from their parents. It's just where they are at that moment. Like it or not, we will be working with the child, so it's important that we start off on the right foot. And we gain very little from separating children from their parents, so why do it? We can give the parents the information they need, everyone can visit classrooms with current students, and there are no tears. Students are engaged in learning activities, meaning no babysitting videos. It's a win-win.

As for the home visits, we have 4 classrooms at our school. Believe it or not, teachers look forward to this visit because it helps them build the classes and go into the first day with a leg up on what their students' needs are. They are adamant that we continue this practice. Yes, they do go in pairs with our parent liaison, and they pick which day they go. We divide the grade up by where the students live so that visiting is easier. Each visit takes about 15 minutes. Not every home will get visited because some kids are still registering. As for paying teachers, we are a Title 1 school, so we do have funds for events exactly like this. It is a way to build the home-school relationship.

You have a super day PP, and bless your heart!

--signed,
Dear Principal

I am with the PP - it's absolutely fine to expect a 5 yr old to go off for a little while with another group of 5 yr olds and a teacher.

FYI - private school admissions, the expectation for children the year before K is they will show up to an admission for K play date and easily separate and go off with an adult they have never met for an hour or so with a group of other children.