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[quote=Anonymous]Yes, I went to the orientation yesterday. We met the teachers, aides, and the school nurse, and the children did activities that seemed designed to assess their skills in a very low pressure way.  The K teachers seemed very kind and attuned to the students (so young, though!), and answered our questions in a way that put at ease.  We talked specifically about differentiated instruction, particularly in math and reading, and how they accommodate children who are working at lower or higher levels.  It sounds as if kids come to the K with a wide level of abilities, and one of the teachers mentioned that she has several students reading at a second or third grade level. She also mentioned that they sometime go up a level in math concepts instruction, but I don't know whether or how they go beyond that if the child is working at more more advanced levels.

Sounds like class sizes are relatively small for MoCo, but not as small as I would have thought given the school's Title I status and the large proportion of English Language Learners. I was told the max per class is 19 children.  Each classroom is staffed with one teacher, plus instructional aides who rotate between the classrooms.  There is also a special ed teacher and two ESOL teachers who do plug-in and pull-out programs for kids who need those services.

The K classroom we saw was bright and cheerful and seemed to be well-equipped (but what do I know, all I remember from K is paste and acrylic paint). It had a small library, art supplies, games, two computers, children's art and writing projects on the walls.  I have to say that K is not what I remember it to be; even considering how close it is to the end of the year, many of these children are writing much better than I would have guessed.

The orientation group was so diverse as to be almost comical, it reminded me of a Gap ad. So this was a nice plus, especially since we are a multiethnic family. As I said, though, there are many English Language Learners, and so I wonder what impact, if any, that has on on how the rest of the kids at the school are served.

There is no question that the test scores are weak compared to the rest of the cluster, but I don't think they are terrible. Reading and math proficiency seems to hover in the low to mid-80s for third graders. Given our visit, I think the bottom line is that we would feel fairly comfortable sending her here, if she gets in through early entrance (and does not get into any of the language immersion pgms, to which we have also applied!)

Hope that helps! If anyone else has had a child go through the school, would love your thoughts![/quote]

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