What do I tell the kindergarten teacher about my kid's academics?
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Anonymous
Spot on. It sounds like DH is helping her develop a passion for math and see beauty in numbers that most people miss. You should probably stay out of it and play to your strengths. |
Anonymous
High quality picture books are often more complex than chapter books designed for young readers. |
Anonymous
I agree, but to answer the OP's question, she still should do nothing. If she tells the teacher about how advanced her daughter is, the teacher will just roll her eyes and assume that OP is just like all of the other parents of above average kids who think their kids are geniuses. Even if the teacher figures out that OP's kid is well beyond the norm, the teacher is going to be more concerned with helping the lower performing children gain basic literacy and math skills than she will be with enriching the very top kids. If your school district uses some sort of adaptive academic testing like MAP tests or iready, then the teacher should get a decent idea of how high performing your kid is. Even then, I would just push for low maintenance accommodations, like letting your child bring books from home to read. |
Anonymous
I sort of agree. But a good teacher will have both whole-group activities that work for every kid as well as small-group differentiation. My kid was reading above grade level entering K. She was in a reading group with the two other most advanced readers. The teacher focused on comprehension skills--analysis, prediction, explanation, etc.--where other groups focused on decoding. And in the whole group, the teacher did activities that didn't depend on reading level at all--discussing the parts of a book, the elements of a story, the difference between fiction and non-fiction, etc. And the books available in the classroom included picture books at all levels, lots of non-fiction, levels readers at various levels, and chapter books, and kids were permitted to bring books from home, too. Don't assume that your advanced child will just be left to stagnate. |
Anonymous
| As a former K teacher (now teaching upper elementary), I couldn’t get past your first sentence without a big eye-roll. Take a seat and let Larla do what the rest of her kindergarten class is doing, when they’re doing it. Do not burden the teacher with your nonsense. |
Anonymous
10:05 PP here, and thanks for proving my point! 
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Anonymous
| Also keep in mind for the reading (and math to some extent), that being able to decode and follow a story line is not the same as full comprehension. The school is going to be looking for things that you aren't necessarily looking for when they assess her reading (and math) skills, and will be pushing her in ways that you may not know how to (unless you/your husband are teachers). My son in 3rd grade was reading Lord of the Rings - I know that he can read it, and follow the story, but he's not getting out of it what I would expect an older child with more advanced reading comprehension to get out of it. That's ok - he can re-read it in a few years and get more out of it. Just don't get upset if the school says that your DD is at say, a 2nd or 3rd grade reading/math level when you expect higher. |
Anonymous
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I have an outlier kid. It’s normal to worry about this stuff and, as this thread illustrates, it is very awkward to discuss. In addition to not saying anything to the teacher right away, don’t mention it to other parents.
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froggymom
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| Your child will be assessed and the teacher should make appropriate accommodations for her/him. If you are not satisfied with those accommodations then speak to the teacher in a polite way. You are allowed to have input with your child. |
Anonymous
This is good advice about not talking to the other parents about how smart you think your kid is, either. |
Anonymous
| I have a similar child in a later grade. The teacher will figure it out whether or not you say anything. It's pretty obvious during routine assessments if a child is capable of reading chapter books. However, it's not clear that having this information will help because a teacher still has to teach the class at a general kindergarten level. The best you can hope for is that your DD and the other readers in the class have the opportunity to read on their own. I don't think Kindergarten will be boring because there is so much to learn that is non-academic (i.e. how to behave at a new school, how to work in groups, routines, etc). Later grades may pose a bigger problem for boredom. |
Anonymous
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Please keep in mind that there are many different kinds of learning for your child to do. Sure, academics are important. Any teacher worth his/her salt will know how to identify and support kids who are ready to extend. They are not going to get to winter break and then send you an email about how DC has learned to read.
But kindergarten is also about learning to learn: work habits, paying attention to directions the first time, keeping track of your materials, regulating yourself throughout the day, transitioning through different spaces and tasks. And most importantly, it's about the social aspects of group education and growing up: making and keeping friends, getting to know new people, working with those who have a different style than you, conflict resolution, independent problem-solving, appropriate humor (and timing of same), and generally getting with the program. Learning these soft skills takes as much time and energy as learning the academic ones. This is why kindergarteners are never bored -- unless their parents tell them they should be. |
Anonymous
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As others have said, don't say anything.
But I wouldn't be too worried, either. For my advanced kid, K and 1st were great. Partly because there is such a wide range of abilities, most assignments are flexible and easily adaptable. There was a ton of hands-on and open-ended work. For example, one of her first "assignments" was to "write or draw about summer vacation" Some kids drew a picture. Some wrote a sentence or two. She (and a few others) wrote a paragraph with a drawing. Her reading group didn't really stretch her as far as book difficulty, but they did a lot of "what do you think will happen" and "compare to your life" kind of discussions that helped her be a much better/more thoughtful reader. The pure math was easy, but there were also a bunch of card games and strategy games that they played as a class. 2nd grade, on the other hand... ick. My impression is that they basically stop the curriculum and make sure all the kids are caught up. That was the rough year. |
Anonymous
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Schools don’t really have the bandwidth to “meet the child where they are” despite the fact that they act like they do. IF (and this is a big IF) a teacher does any differentiation, she will take a handful of the brighter kids and have them all do the same (but different from the class) assignment.
It’s not like she is going to figure out everything your daughter knows and just pick up from there. |
Anonymous
| I was in a similar situation with my son who is now in 2nd grade. He was at a very advanced in reading and math going into K and had a very intense interest in science. He’s now in a school for gifted children, however at K age he still needed to be with his peers and learn social skills (still does actually). Let the teacher know what they do at home and your child’s interests. However, I would shy away from showing any outside test scores or assessments at this age. They are not always compatible. |