If your incoming kindergartener reads proficiently, are you letting the teachers know?

[Anonymous]

Is it customary to talk to the teachers about what your child is already doing when they start DCPS?

[Anonymous]

Don't the teachers do their own assessments of incoming students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't the teachers do their own assessments of incoming students?

Last year at our DCPS the teachers did do assessments of incoming students. Our DC was reading 4 grades above level. This fact changed absolutely nothing about DC's schooling. Despite polite requests to the teacher and discussion with the principal about assignment of texts more appropriate to DC's reading level, DC read and did the exact same thing as every other student in the class.

This despite the fact that Rhee is encouraging principals to get their teachers to create "IEPs" for every child which are supposed to be tailored to their skills and needs.

[Anonymous]

I don't think it would hurt to mention it. I did even before the assessment. I even had a rec from his preschool teacher. Although, it didn't carry much weight until he was officially assessed. Mine placed 2 grade levels higher, so they put him in a small, advanced reading group outside of the Kindergarten classroom.

[Anonymous]

Excuse my ignorance, but if your child is reading several grade levels ahead isn't the easy solution lack of tailored assignments to provide more advanced text at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Excuse my ignorance, but if your child is reading several grade levels ahead isn't the easy solution lack of tailored assignments to provide more advanced text at home.

Enrichment outside school doesn't really make up for hours of boredom in school, in my opinion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Excuse my ignorance, but if your child is reading several grade levels ahead isn't the easy solution lack of tailored assignments to provide more advanced text at home.

Enrichment outside school doesn't really make up for hours of boredom in school, in my opinion.

OP here. I was just curious. My child has started reading simple books before age 4 and has been reading 2d grade books from the DC library lately, but she has never been bored in the Reggio-based pre-school she attended, even though they are play based and only 2 other kids were reading by the time they finished. I think that it's because there were many other interesting things to do, like art (which is much harder for her to do) and learning about nature and physical play.

We had drop off today and they were coloring printouts of their names when I left. She was all engrossed in the project and barely waved, which is her attitude toward anything school-like. I don't know how she'll do in a situation where they're actually teaching something she already knows, though. I think she'll need a different book to read while others are learning to read, right?

Fortunately the school is Spanish bilingual immersion so for 1/2 of the day she'll know absolutely nothing right now, while some of the others came in Pre-K and will know some Spanish.

[Anonymous]

for the parents whose kids are reading simple books before age 4...are they just reciting the book that you've read to them, or you can actually go out to a store, purchase a new book/story they've never heard, and can read the story outloud correctly for the first time???
my 3.5 'reads' her books over and over again, but she makes up new stories and actions, or she's just reciting what we've read to her. the only word she knows to read correctly is her name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:for the parents whose kids are reading simple books before age 4...are they just reciting the book that you've read to them, or you can actually go out to a store, purchase a new book/story they've never heard, and can read the story outloud correctly for the first time???
my 3.5 'reads' her books over and over again, but she makes up new stories and actions, or she's just reciting what we've read to her. the only word she knows to read correctly is her name.

My daughter pointed out the car window at signs and read them. She read signs and menus in coffee shops, labels on food items at the grocery store, anything she could get her hands on. Then she would read new books in the library or book store. She was not a big repeater or memorizer. At 3.5, she was reading the very simple books like Care Bears phonics (a gift from her aunt). Closer to four she was reading the newspaper comics, a few more challenging books, and the signs. At 5 and a few months she can read almost any word in the newspaper but cannot comprehend that level of text. She reads and understands the non-fiction nature books at the library that have maybe 150 words per page.

This happened by osmosis. We're not a flash card family. SHe's just always been kind of fixated on the printed word and ignored other things (her drawings are much less sophisticated than her classmates').

From what I understand, reading this early doesn't mean that they'll necessarily achieve more. It's just a matter of what they are doing while the others learn this skill. I'd like her to have some books to read while the others learn this.