Early Kindergarten Testing - what to tell DD

ElopeToHawaii

My daughter misses the kindergarten cut-off date by 4 weeks.  If you child's birthday falls within 6 weeks of the cut-off you can ask to have them tested for early admittance.  We are doing this with DD, although we have not yet made up our mind if we'd send her early.  We just want to have options.  We aren't going to tell DD that she's getting tested for K, so what should we tell her?

lovely40

If it were me, I would just give her a vague idea about what it's about but not make a big deal about it. "You might be in this class or you might be in this class we just need to figure out which is the best fit for you right now." With a shrug. Doesn't matter either way kind of thing.

KathrynMD

I would just say a lady wants to talk to you and ask you some questions.

jlw2505

I would tell her something along the lines of what the testing is for - kindergarten readiness, that its a standard thing.  Find out what they do at the testing and talk her through it.  Where I live, all kids go through a test sometime between when they are age 3 and when they start school and I was able to tell my kids what to expect and they both did great.  Good luck with your decision.  We held my older DD back from starting as she was just not ready in many ways and it has been the best decision we made but I remember how hard it was to make that decision.  Think it through carefully and remember to not just look at the academic side of things - the social side is huge both now and when the kids hit the teens years and go off to college.  I know that someone has to be the youngest and the oldest so really think about your child in many ways when making the decision.

Temp6313048411121614

I would tell her that it's no big deal but they just want to know how much she knows but that she doesn't have to worry about it, there's no right or wrong.  We'll be doing this with DS1 in mid-April.  We'll be homschooling (at least that's the plan right now) and either way he won't start K until 2013 but I want to know what his academic strengths/weaknesses are based on what the school expects.

QtGinaJ

My daughters preschool told the kids that they were just playing games.  Most of the kids thought it was fun

howleyshell

QtGinaJ:

My daughters preschool told the kids that they were just playing games.  Most of the kids thought it was fun

This.

Our kindy does this for every kid coming in so they know what they're working with and can group kids according to strengths.

We told him it was a chance to meet a new teacher at his school and they would be chatting a bit and playing some games.  I told him he would get to answer some questions, look at some new stuff and get to know her a little bit.

All the kids seemed to enjoy the experience. 

ElopeToHawaii

Thanks everyone!  We wound up telling DD she was going to a kind of doctor to test her learning.  Kindergarten testing is not common in our area, none of her friends at daycare are doing it, and we had to go to a special facility for the test.  She was taken back to a testing room without me - I almost cried watching her walk down the hall.  They need to do kindergarten readiness testing for parents! 

She said she wrote her name and letters, read a book (although she can't read), told her what her full name was, her brother's name, etc.  She got a sticker at the end and was so excited.

Oh, and I told her we were going to Dunkin Donuts in the morning for breakfast and she pretty much forgot about everything else!