What do I tell the kindergarten teacher about my kid's academics?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing. You let them get to know each other and figure each other out.

Why are you doing Khan academy with a preschooler?

For fun. Dad’s a mathematician and does more interesting stuff with her, but she likes Khan Academy and I don’t have the pedagogical chops to do what he does.

just say she has been doing a lot of math and reading with her father a mathematician.

Grandma is the retired teacher here and for our first kid we said nothing. He was so bored in K and they weren't prepared plus the school year kicks off on all cylinders. The other 2 kids we gave a heads up that kids like doing older son's unfinished old workbooks and practicing with dad. Teacher was able to supplement and ask other math teachers she knew what to do for her.

More feedback is always welcome to a teacher, just keep it short or tell teacher what to watch out for.

Say nothing and your kid will get even less attention. That I promise you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are some really bitter people here who just want to put down a parent.

No, there will not be other kids like her, if she truly is as described.

I've had two kids go through kindergarten and there literally was not another kid who could read fluently and independently until second grade. My oldest was reading at third grade level (yes, and comprehending, independently, for hours) and also several grades ahead in maths by age 4 - self taught. Whatever DCUM likes to say it's simply not true that there are tons of kids like that in every class. Every teacher he ever had told me that they had never taught a child like him. Most kids are just starting to read - slowly - in k and are barely beginning in first grade. A kid who can independently read and understand Harry Potter at just turned six, for example is way out of the norm.

This was several years ago now, but now that my younger child is also past those early grades and has learned on the same timeline as her classmates it has become clearer to me how completely different my oldest was from all the other kids in his class.

OP, yes, you should mention it to the teacher, if, for example your child is quiet and it won't quickly become clear. Otherwise she'll work it out.

I have no clue where you are but in my child's K there were 4-5 children in each grade who were reading and doing math three or more years ahead. DD was among them. These kids were not the outliers. There was one more child, a boy, who really was an outlier, just obviously caught on to everything really quickly and who thought in a more advanced way. All of them were in pull-outs together which is how I know about the kids. By 2nd and 3rd grade those kids, including mine, were no longer so exceptional. They were still great students,in the higher reading groups and the advanced track for math, but they weren't stand outs.

I was like you in K, OP, but I learned to keep my mouth shut when I volunteered once and met the outlier boy. In being at the school so long over the years I have also gotten to know a lot of the teachers and they really do make fun of the parents who think their children are so special.

[Anonymous]

Parent of teens here. OP, you say nothing. Not one word. You let the teacher come to his or her own assessment.

Don't be the parent who loudly verbally vomits all over the kindergarten teacher about her child's strengths and weaknesses at the open house. There's always That Parent who corners the grade school teacher and takes up ALL her time and attention so nobody else can even introduce themselves.

Save your insights for the one-on-one school conference in October.