If your child entered kindergarten reading more than a grade ahead...

[Anonymous]

were you successful in getting acceleration for your child? Although the reading groups have been formed for about 2 weeks now, my child has not been placed in a reading group. The teacher says he needs to work independently because she cannot accommodate his level right now. He does puzzles and worksheets on his own instead. I'm not too excited for my kid to be amusing himself for 90 minutes a day. Should I request that he be sent to first grade to join the reading group? I haven't approached the principal yet but I'm kind of dumbfounded that he doesn't get instruction on his level, at least not at school. Thanks for any insights you can provide!

[Anonymous]

90 minutes of independent work is inappropriate for a kindergartner. Does he get any individual reading instruction from the teacher- say, short read aloud times with her? Can he partner read with other kids? Does he read alone? Simply putting him with older readers is not necessarily the answer. Focus first on the classroom based activities. If he quietly reads aloud to others,even briefly, he will get more benefit than from sitting an doing worksheets.

[Anonymous]

I would talk to the teacher and ask her if this is her plan for him for the rest of the year. I can understand if it is temporary while she assesses everyone in the class. But if nobody else in the class is at or near his reading level and she does not meet w/ him by himself as his own group, she is not doing her job of teaching him. I would ask what she is planning on doing with him and if she says that he will continue to not be in a group and just do independent work, I would talk to the principal. That would NEVER fly if she did the same thing w/ the 1 kid at the other end of the class who doesn't know any letters or sounds or even their name.

[Anonymous]

Questions for the teacher:

Tell me your instructional goals for this quarter for my child.
Tell me what direct instruction he is getting towards meeting those goals?


Questions for the principal, if the teacher's answers are not satisfactory:

Is it school (district) policy that all children recieve direct instruction in reading every day?
Is it school (district) policy that all children have the same instructional goals?
Do you pretest to determine what needs a child has, and then craft instructional goals for that child?
What other options are there for my child to recieve direct instruction by a certified teacher in reading within the school day? Can he be moved to the first grade classroom for reading? Can he work with the reading specialist?

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks so much posters, this is very helpful.

[Anonymous]

I would start with the teacher and then move on to the principal. Research on the county schools web site what your options are.

My son just got moved to a reading group with another teacher with three other kids today. These kids are all reading well above grade level and the school is testing this out, so can't give you many details yet of how it can work.

I know someone else many years ago who got the school to move her child to first-grade reading. I approached the lead K teacher (not my son's teacher) rather than the principal with that idea first to both gauge reaction and b/c she was my friend's child's teacher. So, I knew she'd been there, done that already. When I mentioned the idea to the principal after she brought up son's reading level, she huffed about how that's not acceptable. I did continually ask everyone, his teacher, the lead K teacher, etc. about whether there were other children at his level as I was concerned he'd be alone. So, by the time they made the decision, I'd made my thoughts clear in a very polite, not in your face kind of a way.

So, be prepared for pushback, but ultimately, you need to get the school to meet your child where he is.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

this happened to us and we went to private school. We found that many schools teach to the lowest and middle spectrum of the class. We feel our child was virtually ignored his K year. He is in first grade and is so much happier..push the teachers, we gave up but you don't have to.

[Anonymous]

This is OP. Today I received a call letting me know that he will be moved to first grade for reading. I was really relieved with this outcome and so glad I didn't have to go up and have a meeting with the principal. Apparently a teacher's recommendation needs to be seconded by the reading specialist. Then the principal decided which 1st grade teacher would take an extra student for 90 minutes a day. Thanks again for the feedback all.

[Anonymous]

Great news - but interesting that they left you outside the process.

[Anonymous]

OP: If you are still checking in, would you mind letting us know which school you attend? My school principal is insisting that they not move my son to a first-grade reading group even though he's now reading chapter books. Would be helpful if I could point them to other schools in our area doing this.

Tx.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP: If you are still checking in, would you mind letting us know which school you attend? My school principal is insisting that they not move my son to a first-grade reading group even though he's now reading chapter books. Would be helpful if I could point them to other schools in our area doing this.

Tx.

OP here. If you provide an email, I'd be glad to give you the info directly.

[Anonymous]

Here you go, OP.

[e-mail]

tx.