Anonymous
Post 08/24/2015 20:41     Subject: One thing to know about kindergarten
My kid learned a ton in a title 8 dcps last year, including how to read well, speak and understand spanish, math including basic alegbra, etc. it is a very academic school, and i have sime misgivings about that even though she has been in full day day are since 5 mos. A lot of worksheets and homework. But she had good teachers (after we switched early in the yr). Im watching closely to make sure she enjoys first grade, otherwise I'll be in favor of moving (and private by middle school). Seems like kindergarten varies widely even in our school system.
Anonymous
Post 08/24/2015 20:08     Subject: One thing to know about kindergarten
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:

I think many of us know that, and we know that there are social benefits to K. That being said, yes it is frustrating to think that my kid who not only knew the alphabet by age 2, reads at a first grade level, and has been in childcare his whole life and therefore knows the basics of circle time, etc... has to essentially put up and shut up for large portions of his day for at least the first quarter of the school year. Yes I know it, but doesn't mean I have to like the fact that large parts of his time will be review rather than gaining knowledge.

According to our school the K teachers send home a weekly or bi-weekly update newsletter so I won't have to rely on him to tell me.


I guarantee that even your kindergartener, who knew the alphabet by age 2, reads at a first-grade level, and knows the basics of circle time etc., will learn plenty in kindergarten.


Like what, specifically? My DD said she loved K because she never had to do any real "work" it was all just fun and games. And yes, she was reading and writing before she got there. Her numbers weren't up to 100 yet, and she did learn some math, I concede that, but otherwise, no a lot happened for her in academic terms. In social terms she had already had 3 years of preschool so socially she was already in full swing.

When she went into a private school for 1st grade they realized very quickly that she was too advanced for the class and they put her into 2nd grade where she finally hit her stride academically.

Unfortunately you can't just trot out that everyone learns something unless you have a full account of everyone's experience. And not everyone learns much in K, indeed for many its a total fucking waste of time.
Anonymous
Post 08/24/2015 20:00     Subject: Re:One thing to know about kindergarten
Anonymous wrote:Aren't there pull outs for the more advanced kids? I assume it takes a little while for the teachers to determine who needs to be pulled out, but once they do, are the pull-outs helpful for kids who can already read, do simple math, etc.?


Not in our school anymore...it used to be this way. May still be available in Title I and Focus schools, and some of the smaller/under-populated schools.
Anonymous
Post 08/24/2015 18:59     Subject: Re:One thing to know about kindergarten
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
I think many of us know that, and we know that there are social benefits to K. That being said, yes it is frustrating to think that my kid who not only knew the alphabet by age 2, reads at a first grade level, and has been in childcare his whole life and therefore knows the basics of circle time, etc... has to essentially put up and shut up for large portions of his day for at least the first quarter of the school year. Yes I know it, but doesn't mean I have to like the fact that large parts of his time will be review rather than gaining knowledge.


For your child's sake I hope you are trolling here. What precisely is the detriment to your child having to "review" letters, numbers, basic math and reading, at the ripe old age of 5yo? Is this holding back his application to Harvard?


I'm not trolling, TBH. And I expect fully to get slammed as you and the next poster already have. Thing is, I don't think it's unreasonable to want my child to learn. Whether he ends up at Harvard or the local community college, my point is that one of the huge challenges of public school is that the teacher does need to bring all kids to the same baseline which means unfortunately that some kids have to simply tread water while they wait for classmates to catch up. In other words, some kids are learning while some are simply waiting.

Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised and he'll be challenged, but other threads over the years have indicated that I shouldn't expect that. I'm not sure why it's unreasonable to hope that your child will be learning.


It's not unreasonable to want your child to be learning. It's unreasonable to think you are superior to the entire public educational system and your child's teacher and that your child is not learning unless he or she is doing exactly what you, whose vast expertise and work experience is almost surely not in the area of early child development, should determine what your child is learning and how and with whom and when and in what order, etc ad infinitum.

Unless of course you want to home school.

But please, go ahead, keep proving the OP's point. Whining that the curriculum is insufficient and the great unwashed masses in his public school classroom are dragging him down even before your kid starts K - you're definitely going to smug insufferable parent of the year.
Anonymous
Post 08/24/2015 18:56     Subject: One thing to know about kindergarten
You underestimate one thing, and that is the diversity of the children in terms of abilities.

Some can barely hold a crayon or draw a circle, let alone identify which letter is A, while others are writing sentences and reading chapter books.

The gaps are huge and the challenge to the teachers, is huge.
Anonymous
Post 08/24/2015 18:52     Subject: Re:One thing to know about kindergarten
Aren't there pull outs for the more advanced kids? I assume it takes a little while for the teachers to determine who needs to be pulled out, but once they do, are the pull-outs helpful for kids who can already read, do simple math, etc.?
Anonymous
Post 08/24/2015 13:30     Subject: Re:One thing to know about kindergarten
Anonymous wrote:
I think many of us know that, and we know that there are social benefits to K. That being said, yes it is frustrating to think that my kid who not only knew the alphabet by age 2, reads at a first grade level, and has been in childcare his whole life and therefore knows the basics of circle time, etc... has to essentially put up and shut up for large portions of his day for at least the first quarter of the school year. Yes I know it, but doesn't mean I have to like the fact that large parts of his time will be review rather than gaining knowledge.


For your child's sake I hope you are trolling here. What precisely is the detriment to your child having to "review" letters, numbers, basic math and reading, at the ripe old age of 5yo? Is this holding back his application to Harvard?


I'm not trolling, TBH. And I expect fully to get slammed as you and the next poster already have. Thing is, I don't think it's unreasonable to want my child to learn. Whether he ends up at Harvard or the local community college, my point is that one of the huge challenges of public school is that the teacher does need to bring all kids to the same baseline which means unfortunately that some kids have to simply tread water while they wait for classmates to catch up. In other words, some kids are learning while some are simply waiting.

Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised and he'll be challenged, but other threads over the years have indicated that I shouldn't expect that. I'm not sure why it's unreasonable to hope that your child will be learning.
Anonymous
Post 08/24/2015 13:28     Subject: Re:One thing to know about kindergarten
Anonymous wrote:
I think many of us know that, and we know that there are social benefits to K. That being said, yes it is frustrating to think that my kid who not only knew the alphabet by age 2, reads at a first grade level, and has been in childcare his whole life and therefore knows the basics of circle time, etc... has to essentially put up and shut up for large portions of his day for at least the first quarter of the school year. Yes I know it, but doesn't mean I have to like the fact that large parts of his time will be review rather than gaining knowledge.


For your child's sake I hope you are trolling here. What precisely is the detriment to your child having to "review" letters, numbers, basic math and reading, at the ripe old age of 5yo? Is this holding back his application to Harvard?

NP here whose kid is not even in K yet . I would consider it a detriment over letting the kid play and actually enjoy learning. But my potential problem with the public school system is too much academics, not too little.
Anonymous
Post 08/24/2015 13:26     Subject: One thing to know about kindergarten
Anonymous wrote:

I think many of us know that, and we know that there are social benefits to K. That being said, yes it is frustrating to think that my kid who not only knew the alphabet by age 2, reads at a first grade level, and has been in childcare his whole life and therefore knows the basics of circle time, etc... has to essentially put up and shut up for large portions of his day for at least the first quarter of the school year. Yes I know it, but doesn't mean I have to like the fact that large parts of his time will be review rather than gaining knowledge.

According to our school the K teachers send home a weekly or bi-weekly update newsletter so I won't have to rely on him to tell me.


I guarantee that even your kindergartener, who knew the alphabet by age 2, reads at a first-grade level, and knows the basics of circle time etc., will learn plenty in kindergarten.
Anonymous
Post 08/24/2015 13:14     Subject: Re:One thing to know about kindergarten
I think many of us know that, and we know that there are social benefits to K. That being said, yes it is frustrating to think that my kid who not only knew the alphabet by age 2, reads at a first grade level, and has been in childcare his whole life and therefore knows the basics of circle time, etc... has to essentially put up and shut up for large portions of his day for at least the first quarter of the school year. Yes I know it, but doesn't mean I have to like the fact that large parts of his time will be review rather than gaining knowledge.


For your child's sake I hope you are trolling here. What precisely is the detriment to your child having to "review" letters, numbers, basic math and reading, at the ripe old age of 5yo? Is this holding back his application to Harvard?
Anonymous
Post 08/24/2015 12:52     Subject: One thing to know about kindergarten
Kindergarten: Don't expect much.
Anonymous
Post 08/24/2015 12:35     Subject: Re:One thing to know about kindergarten
People understand this from the teacher's perspective much more than the student's perspective.
Anonymous
Post 08/24/2015 12:14     Subject: One thing to know about kindergarten
Anonymous wrote:Every year parents post about how kindergarten is too easy, their darling showflake is too advanced, it's a waste of time blah blah blah whinecakes.

Just remember in every Kindergarten class you have children with preschool experience and children with no preschool experience. You have a range of children, some who know their letters, some who don't. Some who are starting to read, some who are not.. Some who can count to 10, some who can count to 20, some who can do basic math.

It takes time for a Kindergarten teacher to sort out the different levels of knowledge so he or she can teach that child appropriately. In the mean time they are also getting everyone up to speed on how to "do" school like how to sit on a carpet, line up, raise your hand etc. It's a lot for a kid to learn.

Just because your kid is l reviewing things they already know does not mean that it's a waste of time.

Also, a 5 year old or 6 year old is rarely the most reliable narrators. It might be easiest for them to answer with things they're familiar with ("today we learned how to count!") and not cover all the new things they've learned too.


I think many of us know that, and we know that there are social benefits to K. That being said, yes it is frustrating to think that my kid who not only knew the alphabet by age 2, reads at a first grade level, and has been in childcare his whole life and therefore knows the basics of circle time, etc... has to essentially put up and shut up for large portions of his day for at least the first quarter of the school year. Yes I know it, but doesn't mean I have to like the fact that large parts of his time will be review rather than gaining knowledge.

According to our school the K teachers send home a weekly or bi-weekly update newsletter so I won't have to rely on him to tell me.
Anonymous
Post 08/24/2015 12:14     Subject: One thing to know about kindergarten
Anonymous wrote:Every year parents post about how kindergarten is too easy, their darling showflake is too advanced, it's a waste of time blah blah blah whinecakes.

Just remember in every Kindergarten class you have children with preschool experience and children with no preschool experience. You have a range of children, some who know their letters, some who don't. Some who are starting to read, some who are not.. Some who can count to 10, some who can count to 20, some who can do basic math.

It takes time for a Kindergarten teacher to sort out the different levels of knowledge so he or she can teach that child appropriately. In the mean time they are also getting everyone up to speed on how to "do" school like how to sit on a carpet, line up, raise your hand etc. It's a lot for a kid to learn.

Just because your kid is l reviewing things they already know does not mean that it's a waste of time.

Also, a 5 year old or 6 year old is rarely the most reliable narrators. It might be easiest for them to answer with things they're familiar with ("today we learned how to count!") and not cover all the new things they've learned too.


100% agree!
Anonymous
Post 08/24/2015 11:56     Subject: One thing to know about kindergarten
Every year parents post about how kindergarten is too easy, their darling showflake is too advanced, it's a waste of time blah blah blah whinecakes.

Just remember in every Kindergarten class you have children with preschool experience and children with no preschool experience. You have a range of children, some who know their letters, some who don't. Some who are starting to read, some who are not.. Some who can count to 10, some who can count to 20, some who can do basic math.

It takes time for a Kindergarten teacher to sort out the different levels of knowledge so he or she can teach that child appropriately. In the mean time they are also getting everyone up to speed on how to "do" school like how to sit on a carpet, line up, raise your hand etc. It's a lot for a kid to learn.

Just because your kid is l reviewing things they already know does not mean that it's a waste of time.

Also, a 5 year old or 6 year old is rarely the most reliable narrators. It might be easiest for them to answer with things they're familiar with ("today we learned how to count!") and not cover all the new things they've learned too.