frustrated with kinder's school

[nikkikoly]

Right now I am so frustrated with my dd's school. I feel that they are more concerned with keeping their "excellent" rating rather than helping the children. Personally, I feel that the expectations for kindergarten are way too high. For instance, I just got my daughter's first progress report. I was told she needs extra help outside of the classroom on writing numbers and letters. Apparently, she is not writing her letters the way the school teaches them. I forgot the name of the penmanship they use, but it is one of the more difficult ones and is not mainstream. Also, with the numbers, she writes 1-10 correctly, but not the higher ones. She just started kindergarten in August! Already they expect her to be writing more than she does. They also told me that she needs to work on letter recognition and sound. The thing is, she is in speech therapy for a speech delay. Also, they did a Dibels test in the beginning of the year without my knowledge. Apparently she failed it. The reason? I was first told it was because the person who gave the test was unable to understand her. Then it was that even if the person could not understand her, she should have known how to say those sounds! Personally, I feel that the school is doing nothing to help her, but just set up standards that she is not ready to meet. Any ideas? I would homeschool her, but she likes her friends at school and my husband and his family are opposed to me homeschooling. I am frustrated at this point and wonder what other parents think. Thanks!

[LuckyMommaToo]

Sorry, momma, I can feel how frustrated you are. K definitely has standards, and those sound about where my son's class is now. Is there a possibility of you volunteering in the classroom once a week? That has really helped me see where all the kids are, skillwise, and also has helped me learn how the teacher works, so I can echo some of those things at home.

I would definitely set up (another?) meeting with the teacher to figure out what needs to happen next. Personally, it would be really important to me that my kid be at or near expectations, and I would want to work with the teacher to try and ensure that that happens. That said, it doesn't sound like your heart is really in it. Perhaps you need to start your homeschooling push?

best of luck in whatever path you choose.
-e

p.s. The kindergarten teachers warned us in April that K is "the new first grade," so I went into it with that mindset.

[Subhuti]

What your daughter's K garden is doing sounds like my daughter's as well. But I didn't take it as something negative. All the kids whose print is slightly "irregular" get extra tutoring by the writing specialist. I see that as a plus, not a bad thing. My daughter didn't really know about small letters, so she's gotten/getting tutoring ...

I wouldn't worry about the evaluations. Kids arrive in such different experience levels, it'll all even out. Not everyone can be on top, I figure, at school. Some are more middle of the packers. My daughter, because we didn't emphasize academics at all, has some catching up to do. It's fine, it means school is really interesting to her.

Liz

[lindberg99]

What they are doing sounds about like my son's class too. DS said that the kids who still don't recognize their letters are having to go work with the intervention specialist. Now I'm getting this info from a 5 yo so I'm not sure what the real deal is, but that seems like too much. Kids used to learn their letters in kindergarten, now they are getting interventions if they don't know them. I guess we can thank Bush and NCLB for a lot of this!

So I can concur with you that it seems crazy but if you want to keep your child in public school, I guess you just need to find a way to deal with it.

I don't know what a DIBELS test is, but it seems to be common that they give kids these tests without informing the parents what they are. I never knew our district did some kind of kindergarten literacy test until I went to a "state of the schools" address by the superintendant and my son is my 3rd child in the school system.

Is your daughter in speech therapy at the school or privately? If she is getting it at school, does she have an IEP? If so, maybe you could meet with whoever about the issues with writing, etc?

Oh, for home schooling, do you think your DH would agree to a trial homeschool period? Maybe pull her out after Christmas and homeschool the second "semester"? She could always go back the next fall.

[karne]

I want to echo trying to be in the classroom as well. I don't know if this is a possibility for you, but it really gives you a sense of what's going on, where the kids are both interms of academics, as well as socially, and it will familiarize you with the curriculum. I think that it's really hard to feel on the outside of a system your child is deeply involved in.

[eepster]

Are they marking her as not knowing things she is familiar with simply b/c she pronounces them poorly and doesn't write in a particular style? Or does she actually not know the relation ship between certain letters and there sound and have difficulty understanding writing place value?

How I would approach the issue would depend on the answer.

If it is the first one and he knows the stuff but they are nit picking, then I would just be and start looking into home-schooling options. Are there home school groups your DD could make friends with? Could she take some kind of class like dancing to socialize? Etc. IMO your DH's opinion matters, but his families does not.

If it is the second one and she really is struggling with these areas, I would go into the school and ask for tutoring. It isn't really reason able to just complain to you that she is behind with out offering you help.

[sarahr]

Originally Posted by nikkikoly

I was told she needs extra help outside of the classroom on writing numbers and letters. Apparently, she is not writing her letters the way the school teaches them. I forgot the name of the penmanship they use, but it is one of the more difficult ones and is not mainstream.

Just a little bit from my personal experience: when I was learning to write, apparently no one cared how I formed my letters, as long as they were formed. So I figured it out on my own, but the way I chose was very laborious. I really struggled with writing for years until in late elementary school someone actually took the time to show me how to form the letters correctly. It has made a world of difference! So, there really is a "right" way and a "wrong" way to form letters, even if the output itself is the same. I would have loved it if someone had helped me with that when I was first learning to write.

[SoCaliMommy]

Originally Posted by LuckyMommaToo

p.s. The kindergarten teachers warned us in April that K is "the new first grade," so I went into it with that mindset.

If that is true, then in our school district 1st grade is the new 3rd grade

My daughter struggled in K and passed to 1st grade.
We are only 2months into 1st grade and she was graded Reaching Expected Achievement level for " playing well with others" how can they grade a child on playing with other kids
She also had glue taken away from her because she suposedly was eating it she has used glue alot at home and never once tried to eat it.
They even are going to put her in a speech class,yet last year when suggested it to the teacher, i was told the so called speech teacher didn't think she needed it yet 2months into 1st grade and this teacher says she will get put in speech class.

[sapphire_chan]

Go into the school and tell them to stop being : or you will take your dd away from them.

The previous posters have some excellent ideas on what you should actually talk to them about, but you need to go into it with the only acceptable response being to fix the school and you can only do that from a position of being ready to walk out the door with your dd.

They've basically told you that your dd is making the school look bad. How soon, if it hasn't already happened, before they give that message to your dd?

As for you dh and homeschooling, make him find the research that shows that homeschooling is bad. And his cousin's friend's sister's hairdresser's kids being 'unsocial' doesn't count as a valid information source.

[sapphire_chan]

I'm incredibly good at test taking, and I can tell you that it's a useless skill. The way your dd's school is "instructing" students will not prepare them for college or adulthood.

[mommy2maya]

Originally Posted by SoCaliMommy

If that is true, then in our school district 1st grade is the new 3rd grade

My daughter struggled in K and passed to 1st grade.
We are only 2months into 1st grade and she was graded Reaching Expected Achievement level for " playing well with others" how can they grade a child on playing with other kids
She also had glue taken away from her because she suposedly was eating it she has used glue alot at home and never once tried to eat it.
They even are going to put her in a speech class,yet last year when suggested it to the teacher, i was told the so called speech teacher didn't think she needed it yet 2months into 1st grade and this teacher says she will get put in speech class.

For the speech, there are certain ages that speech sounds are age appropriate. If they are in kindy, certain speech deficits are not considered out of the norm, but give it a year, and the same deficit is enough to deem therapy necessary. frustrating, yes, definitely. Of course, there is nothing to stop you from seeking therapy outside of school if you deem it appropriate and the school doesn't. My ds is getting OT outside of school, because he isn't eligible at school.

[mommy2maya]

DIBELS is standard several times a year in our schools, and it is pretty good at identifying where kids are as far as reading. It isn't 'standardized testing' as far as filling in bubbles on a test. It is individual, one on one testing, and basically just reading. It should be fairly stress free.

As for letter formation, our school uses Handwriting without Tears, as does the therapy place my ds goes to for fine motor issues, including terrible letter formation.