Fyi-from a k teacher....

ilovelife · May 2013

I just wanted to give my .02 on the whole "meeting the cutoff" post. I'm teaching 27 very young kindergarten students, as in they barely made the cutoff. Compared to the other k classes, mine is much more immature. It's almost like teaching a complete different grade at times because they are emotionally, socially, and intellectually immature!

Some examples-simple tasks such as working in groups: they can only handle it for ~20 mins tops before wrecking havoc

they are completely exhausted by the end of the school day

1/3 is still not on grade reading level

After seeing first hand how students who barely make the cutoff perform in school, I'll be making dd wait another year (she was born the day before our cutoff date).

JulesDiane · May 2013

Putting them all in the same class sure doesn't help.

cmumama · May 2013

I do agree that some kids are put into kindergarten before they are ready, but I agree that putting them all in one class wasn't a great idea. They learn from older kids. My DS1 is in a preschool class where they pretty much all need speech, OT or PT. I'm trying to get him in a "typically developing peer" preschool in the Fall in addition to the current class he is in. Yes, he will be behind the others in that class, but he will learn from them.

Flamingemu · May 2013

My grandmother was a K teacher for 35 years. She has had kids who just made the cutoff that were excellent students and some that were not ready. OP, I think making a general comment sucks. If you noticed, most of the women in that post said depending on their child at that time. Do any of us know right now what we are going to do in 4 or 5 years, no.

I am fired up today so that probably came off bitchier than I intended.

linzeek44 · May 2013

I have mixed feelings about "red-shirting" kindergarteners. I do feel like parents should decide, based on their individual child and their individual readiness.

And it is really unfortunate that you have a whole class of young kids without older peer role models. It's hard to teach the same grade and have a whole different level of kids than the year before.

On the other hand, I think one of the bigger issues is that kindergarten activities are no longer developmentally appropriate for the majority of 5 year olds. (By that, I am using NAEYC's definition and guidelines of DAP.) Most people (including myself) would say that group work for more than 20 minutes isn't appropriate for early 5 year olds. Of course, this isn't an issue of individual teachers or school districts; it's bigger than that including a societal shift to earlier testing and less play-based learning.

I also think it depends on what your kid would be doing in the extra year before K. For kids who would be in high-quality PreK programs or at home doing enriching activities and having social opportunities, red shirting for developmental reasons is probably a plus. For children who aren't having those experiences, another year might not actually benefit, as it's another year of falling behind and/or not being diagnosed if there are bigger developmental issues there.

Unknown · May 2013

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AKB090609 · May 2013

linzeek44:
I have mixed feelings about "red-shirting" kindergarteners. I do feel like parents should decide, based on their individual child and their individual readiness.
And it is really unfortunate that you have a whole class of young kids without older peer role models. It's hard to teach the same grade and have a whole different level of kids than the year before.
On the other hand, I think one of the bigger issues is that kindergarten activities are no longer developmentally appropriate for the majority of 5 year olds. (By that, I am using NAEYC's definition and guidelines of DAP.) Most people (including myself) would say that group work for more than 20 minutes isn't appropriate for early 5 year olds. Of course, this isn't an issue of individual teachers or school districts; it's bigger than that including a societal shift to earlier testing and less play-based learning.
I also think it depends on what your kid would be doing in the extra year before K. For kids who would be in high-quality PreK programs or at home doing enriching activities and having social opportunities, red shirting for developmental reasons is probably a plus. For children who aren't having those experiences, another year might not actually benefit, as it's another year of falling behind and/or not being diagnosed if there are bigger developmental issues there.

I love you! Thank you for providing such intelligent and accurate responses.

linzeek44 · May 2013

AKB090609:
I love you! Thank you for providing such intelligent and accurate responses.

Hyaline · May 2013

cheeseandrice:
sorrynotsorry you can't handle 27 5-year olds. I dunno. I think your post is condescending and whiny.
No, not all kids should be pushed early, and I think that's fine if you choose that for your child. But some kids are completely fine to go 'early'.
I think it's crap that you ended up with a classroom of 27 young 5s, but that doesn't mean all just-turned-5 YOs can't handle kindergarten.
and, duh, they're immature. They're five years old.

Five year olds need to grow up and get with it, yo.

I tend to think this is more about individual kids than it is an arbitrary age. The cutoffs are there for a guideline, IMO--not the be-all and end-all. If your child isn't ready, don't send them. Talk to other parents, to the school, make an informed choice. I think the OP does make a fair case for parents being ok with doing that.

Related--1/3 of kids not "reading at grade level?" FFS, they're in kindergarten. Let's not panic over that just yet. If it's still problematic in a couple years, fine, but I have a feeling most kids catch up. Are we seriously busting out the yardstick to make sure our kindergartners are measuring up? They're in kindergarten, not cram school.

amandad715 · May 2013

I teach 4th grade and I can say that my group this year last week could not handle 20 minutes of group work. They also couldnt handle it that same legnth of time group work time at the beginnng of the year. I had to do some SERIOUS adjustments in my teachng to accomodate this class of kids.

Each class of kiddos is different and this class was my worst one ever, and I have taught the same grade level for 11 years. I ended up changing and modifying MY teaching style to meet their needs bc they challenged everything that I had ever done successfully. We ended the year being able to work on tasks in partners MAAAAAYBEEE 3 kids depending on the activity p, but never more than 3 or all h3ll would break lose and I would get frustrated.

melody921 · May 2013

JulesDiane:
Putting them all in the same class sure doesn't help.

No kidding. And as someone who was very young for the grade (as was my brother), I think overgeneralizations about kids' immaturity are kind of ridiculous. My 3-year-old son is more mature than a lot of 4-year-olds we know. It all depends on the kid.

JessicaxLynn87 · May 2013

Hyaline:
cheeseandrice:
sorrynotsorry you can't handle 27 5-year olds. I dunno. I think your post is condescending and whiny.
No, not all kids should be pushed early, and I think that's fine if you choose that for your child. But some kids are completely fine to go 'early'.
I think it's crap that you ended up with a classroom of 27 young 5s, but that doesn't mean all just-turned-5 YOs can't handle kindergarten.
and, duh, they're immature. They're five years old.
Five year olds need to grow up and get with it, yo.
I tend to think this is more about individual kids than it is an arbitrary age. The cutoffs are there for a guideline, IMO--not the be-all and end-all. If your child isn't ready, don't send them. Talk to other parents, to the school, make an informed choice. I think the OP does make a fair case for parents being ok with doing that.
Related--1/3 of kids not "reading at grade level?" FFS, they're in kindergarten. Let's not panic over that just yet. If it's still problematic in a couple years, fine, but I have a feeling most kids catch up. Are we seriously busting out the yardstick to make sure our kindergartners are measuring up? They're in kindergarten, not cram school.

I teach Kinder. We do find it alarming when a child is not reading in grade level. It is concerning because they may only continue to fall behind as they enter first grade. As for my school, we have very high expectations compared to other schools around us. Kinder is not what it used to be. It is basically the new first grade.

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