School-Aged Children
ArcticFox
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Kindergarten registration & info session
ArcticFox
member
I know all schools are different, but I thought I'd ask--
We have a kindergarten info session next week. It says we will see the classrooms, meet the teachers, and obviously we can ask questions etc. It's hard to find a sitter, and it's 7pm, so kind of close to bedtime - should we just send 1 parent, or bring the kids, or find a sitter?
Also at the kindergarten registration session, it says I don't need to bring my DD. I'm not sure what the registration session does - just handing in the paperwork? My DD's bday is in March and so with registration being this early, dental & medical checkups might be after the registration session. I assume they are just kind of getting a head count of students?
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Re: Kindergarten registration & info session
Mostly, yes, they are trying to get a head count so they can start planning for next school year. Usually you can turn in all registration paperwork that doesn't include the medical info as early as you want (once they start registration), and they'll take the medical info later (as long as it's before school starts).
If you can't get a sitter, I would just have 1 parent go and fill the other parent in when you get home. A tired, cracky child at a boring info session, would probably not go well. Plus, the schools in our area prefer you don't bring the kid(s).
If you're really unsure about things, you can always call the school administration and ask them. They should be happy to help and probably get a lot of the same questions from other parents too.
I would not bring children. I think having only one parent would be ok.
In our school, they have a meeting (assembly-style) and you get to see all of the teachers, go to the classrooms, and then they hand you the 200 million forms you need to fill out. Make sure you have the pedi and dentist info on your smartphone! They want you to take the least amount of paperwork home with you so they can start the process of registering your kid (although you might have to take some papers home, get forms notarized, etc.).
Probably closer to the start of school your dd/ds will have an orientation session with the teacher they are assigned and the kids in their classroom.
We send 1 parent to KG orientation and the other stays home with kids.
They will cover what you need for registration at the orientation probably. It has more to do with proof of residency than health forms, though. We didn't need those until we started school. You could start school without them, but they'd hound you for them.
Just give them whatever dental/medical records you have now, even if your child hasn't had her 5 y/o well checkup yet. In my kids' school district, they can't officially register your child until they have medical forms. You want to get that taken care of so you are on the mailing list for all future information.
In my household, since I'm a teacher by profession, I handle all of the school-related stuff, including going to back-to-school night, open house, and conferences. DH stays home with the kids if these events are in the evening.
I have noticed that plenty of people show up at these things with kids, but events like the kindergarten registration session are really not meant for the kids. Especially since this is your oldest kid and, therefore, your first real contact with the school, just go solo. If your DH really wants to be there, get a sitter, especially if you are new to the school, and you don't really know whether people normally bend the rules and bring kids along to stuff like this.
My DD is in Kindergarten right now so I can tell you how registration was for us back in January.
Info night was an hour long and it consisted of the Principal and K teachers introducing themselves and giving us the very basic information of when school begins/ends, an example of a typical day (lunch, recess, etc.), how many spots they had for K (we have three K classes, only 22 kids in each class), etc. They handed out the registration packet which included everything regarding proving you lived in the district, medical exam/dental exam requirements, immunization requirements, the school's website, lunch program, and what I considered to be extremely helpful "is your child ready" packet. This packet described all the things kids should be able to do BEFORE coming to Kindy (bathroom/hygeine, shoes & coat on/off, recognizing their name, sitting still 20+ min, following directions, counting to 10, knowing ABCs, communicating needs/asking for help, etc. etc.). They briefly discussed the actual registration period (times/dates to turn in the paperwork they handed out) and the assessment interviews that would be done to determine whether your child was ready or not. It was just a lot of information to take home, read through, fill out, and bring back during the registration period. I'm glad we had a sitter so DH and I could both go and listen as it's easy to forget so much information; however, if he had recorded it on his phone and played it back for me, it would've been just fine for him to go alone.
The actual registration period was from 9am-3pm for three days so, you could come by the school's office and drop off your paperwork during that time. We brought in all the required paperwork, immunization record, birth certificte, proof of residency, etc. and dropped it off. Copies where made and originals were returned to us and we signed up for the assessment/interview date/time. It took all of 20 minutes. I took Emily with me as did everyone else, it was no big deal at all.
The assessment/interview was at the school with all three K teachers. They introduced themselves to us (DH and I and Emily went together) and then, took Emily with them alone, leaving us to wait in the lobby. It was 45min long. They had art supplies out for her to use anyway she wanted while they asked her very simple questions like her name, her age, what she liked to eat. They had her remove her shoes and put them back on, cut something (to see if she could use scissors), pick her name from a list, ask her to identify some ABCs and numbers, read her a story and asked some questions. Very basic Kindy skills. This was also to assess her personality (shy or outgoing) as they like to balance the classrooms as evenly as possible, gender-wise and personality-wise. Emily said it was really fun and after it was over the teachers told us she did extremely well with "xyz" and were looking forward to seeing her in August. No clue what they would have said if they didn't feel she was ready but I'm sure they would've said something.
As August grew closer, we began getting emails, mainly regarding what would be the first day of school, the school calendar (minimum days, holidays, etc.), and upcoming social activities & fundraisers.
The Friday/Saturday before the first day of school was the Ice Cream Social at school where all Kindy students came to play on the playground, meet the Teachers and Principal and see which Teacher they had been assigned to as the Class lists were posted on the doors.
In our district, you have until the 21st day of school to hold your child's spot so if you register him/her in January and by August don't feel he/she is ready you can withdraw. So much growth happens mentally, emotionally, socially with kids 4-6yrs I encourage everyone to go through with the registration process and then just wait to see how your child is doing as the school year approaches.
Hope this helps!
eclaire 9.10.06 diggy 6.2.11