First day of K - the whole family is nervous!

[ThoughtfulMama]

DS starts his first day of private school K tomorrow. He is nervous about not having a routine yet and not having friends.

I am nervously hoping he finds a geeky friend, the teachers realize what a sharp little mind they've got and find at least some stuff to meet him at his level, that he doesn't feel singled out, that he is happy!

 

Now to organize our home enrichment and make sure we are keeping him stimulated and interested in learning even if parts of school are boring and repetitive.

[debi21]

I hope it goes well for your son.

 

We're in the same boat with my 5 yo starting at a charter on Thursday. Definitely also hoping for a geeky friend. At least I know they've prescreened reading and numbers and put him in the top class of 4 achievement sorted classes. Now wondering where he falls in the class and if they will give me a reading level. Although I wish mine was concerned about the lack of routine - that's a family wide weakness. I was planning on doing some after schooling but have signed him up for a bunch of art and music and "building" and nature study extracurricular classes at a hs coop that I hope will be fun and enriching in the afternoons along with soccer and gymnastics so I need to scale back my expectations. Will aim to squeeze a little math in and that's it.

 

Good luck to all the other nervous families out there too...

[SeaConquest]

Another nervous Kindy mother here! We aren't starting until the Tuesday after Labor Day, but we're meeting with my son's Educational Facilitator at the charter tomorrow to go over everything. He will be taking 3 days of fun classes/week with the charter (stuff like Lego, Gardening, Music, Art, etc.) and homeschooling another 3 days with me. I hope everyone has a great year!

[ThoughtfulMama]

His first day went well, so some of his nervousness is alleviated. Now mine begins! I'm also interested to see if where/how they place him in reading. I'm not expecting there to be other kids in his class reading at middle school level, but he's also happy reading pretty much anything. I might need to figure out some creative ways to work on the daily "homework" of practicing sight.words - maybe transitioning to spelling or writing sentences with the words instead of just flash carding them.

 

I hope his teachers found his explanation about the workings of the Smartboard endearing rather than annoying. And I hope they have some techniques for reining in his enthusiasm without squashing it.

[bakpak]

My DD5 is starting her K year at her Montessori school on Monday. I'm mostly concerned about them meeting her where she is and encouraging and challenging her. She has a new teacher who I think will be a better fit this year. By the end of the year last year I just let her bring in her own books every day - I'm going to ask that they provide books at her level this year in addition to what we bring in. Surely that can't be a ridiculous request.

 

Okay, and it would be nice if I felt like she were learning new things, and not just social ones! I know they're starting German this year, so at least there's that...

 

I'm also really concerned about her nap, or rather lack of one permitted during her school hours. I've moved her nap from 12:30 to after 2pm, but boy she's been in tears every day just before nap time. I'm going to see if they'll let me pick her up at 2:30 instead of 3pm so I can run her home for a nap (2+ hour nap). This will definitely play havoc with my work schedule, but I'm a determined mama and I have a tolerant boss. My smart, talented girl is just a wreck without her long afternoon nap!

 

Good luck to all the K'ers out there!

[Arcadia]

I'm not expecting there to be other kids in his class reading at middle school level, but he's also happy reading pretty much anything. I might need to figure out some creative ways to work on the daily "homework" of practicing sight.words - maybe transitioning to spelling or writing sentences with the words instead of just flash carding them.

For reading in public school K, my older was put with a 3rd grade teacher when it is reading buddies time. His teacher allow him to skip the sight words homework since he could read the Frys 1000 words at school start. For the 1hr library reading time in school he was allowed any book in the library.

 

If you mean your own enrichment, my kids made up their own sentences verbally from the sight words and spelling list. Physically writing was a pain.

[Arcadia]

My smart, talented girl is just a wreck without her long afternoon nap!

The public school kindergarten classes have a nap corner for kids that are just exhausted. Is something like that feasible at her school?

 

I'm envious that her school has German for kindergarten :)

[boscopup]

If your child can read the sight words, you don't need to do that part of the "homework". Why do flashcards for something he already knows?

 

When my son was in private school K, we ignored the readers and sight word practice lists. He passed them all at the beginning of the year, so we clearly didn't need to work on them any further.

 

My son really enjoyed K, though he never found a geeky friend (he did have one in the class already, but that kid latched on to some other kids that went to his church). It didn't really bother my son. He did play with other kids, but didn't have a "best friend" type situation going on. Now that other geeky kid is homeschooled and goes to our church, so my son is closer to him again. :D

[bakpak]

The public school kindergarten classes have a nap corner for kids that are just exhausted. Is something like that feasible at her school?

 

I'm envious that her school has German for kindergarten :)

 

Yeah, no nap time for K'ers at her school. A quick nap (30 min) wouldn't cut it anyway...just makes her more cranky. We had open house yesterday and the teacher ok'd my picking her up at 2:30, despite that K'ers usually have responsibilities to help clean up the classroom then. I'm sure they will sort it out. My DD is quite happy that she'll get to go home and nap...no complaints about missing any fun or having to leave early when the other kids don't.

 

I wish it were Spanish or French, but I'm glad there's a language. I'd rather it solidify what we're already working on at home, but why not throw in another language? :hat: And one I know nothing about!! :)

 

I cornered the teacher yesterday at open house and she implied she would keep my DD busier this year so she'd have less time for reading. I pointed out my DD often needs to escape the other kids and decompress with some quiet reading in a corner by herself and most of her casual reading is 3-4th grade material. I got the impression that she'd prefer DD not bring in outside books, but I'm sure DD will be hauling books in anyway. And I certainly won't stop her ;)

 

So her head teacher already brought in more advance grammar and spelling materials from the lower elementary classroom for DD & another older K'er who's very bright. So yay!!

 

[ThoughtfulMama]

Oh, I'm not planning on doing sight words "homework", but parents are required to sign off on 10 minutes a night of reading together and working on words.  If I have to sign something, then I have to work on something with him.  It's not a problem, but I know I'll likely have to modify the class assignments to make him think.  And he is such a "rules" kid that I can't fudge it ;)

In other news, I LOVE his teacher.  Even after half a week, she "gets" him.  She even called me at home after school to ask about his anxiety triggers, and she is figuring out what makes him tick. 

[kiwik]

I honestly can't imagine any teacher allowing a kid to nap during school time. When we were 5 in the 1970's we got a 10 minute rest after much but they haven't done that for 30 years at least. My son who had occasional naps at 4 was considered distinctly odd.

[ThoughtfulMama]

A little update, kindergarten is awesome!  His classroom is dynamic and interesting.  They get lots of recess and playtime (3 scheduled 15-minute recess times and a 45 minute PE everyday).  He plays with different kids everyday, both boys and girls, and is very happy.

Academically, his handwriting has improved amazingly in the last 2 months.  And as far as reading goes, after the initial testing they sent him home with the first 6 weeks of K curriculum homework to do in a week.  It took us about 20 minutes to complete even with me trying to stretch it out.  The next week they apparently decided it wasn't useful to just accelerate him though the K work and sent 3rd grade reading (with with K level "work").  This reading was still easy for him, but much more engaging.  I couldn't ask for better or more responsive teachers!

And he's taught himself to read music from the posters and wall paintings in the music room.  He's loving his Spanish and Chinese classes.  So, yes, the math and some of the other stuff is very basic for him, but he is so engaged in everything else and learning so much, that he doesn't have time to be bored.

 

Our "homeschooling" right now is just my daily struggle to keep enough books around before he devours them, some bedtime math and trivia games at dinner, and lots of family science experiments.