Reply to Exceptions to the Prek3 Sept 30 cut off date?

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Reply to "Exceptions to the Prek3 Sept 30 cut off date?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My kid has a late October birthday. We were told there are no exceptions. It ended up being the right grade for her, and she actually liked being one of the oldest. In early school, she was often a “helper” for the teacher for the younger kids.

Btw, there will be many “borderline” kids like your daughter in preqchool. There were at least 6 or so kids with October and November birthdays in her preschool class, and they kept them all together so that there was an older pre-k 3 class and a younger pre-k class. So everyone was with the right group, developmentally. She will not stand out. [/quote]

I wonder if this is a typical practice across schools? Seems like a great idea.[/quote]

I don't think it sounds like a great idea because there is actually a lot of data on the benefits for preschool age kids of being in a mixed age range classroom. It's part of the reason Montessori education is so popular for this age group. Kids benefit greatly from both being able to see older kids performing tasks they are still learning, and in being able to demonstrate tasks for younger kids. Peer-to-peer learning is one of the best ways for young children to learn classroom behaviors. So by separating the oldest and youngest kids, you may actually stunt development in both sets by depriving them of opportunities to both learn from and teach to each other.

A number of DCPS schools actually have at least one combined PK3/PK4 classroom (in a regular DCPS, not Montessori) and there are good pedagogical reasons for doing it this way.[/quote]

Right but will they still like it when she's the oldest of the combined group in PK4?[/quote]

My kid might be the oldest in her preschool— by a week or two. There are lots of kids born in October, November, and December. The true oldest is not going to stand out that much. I’m not sure she even knows she’s the oldest given that there are so many other kids born within weeks of her. [/quote]

And I’ll add that my kid is not necessarily the biggest, or smartest, or more mature just because she is 3 week older than another kid! Kids are all sizes, with all kinds of abilities, in the 3-5 age range. They also do joint activities with the younger class frequently, which is good for mixing up the ages. We’ve been really happy with DCPS preschool, even if we had to wait another year to start! [/quote]

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