primary to lower elementary -- what's expected?

[musikat]

My just-turned-six year old is in his third year of primary and will be moving up to lower elementary next year. His teacher seems "concerned" about his preparedness (he transferred from a different Montessori this year, so it's her only year with him).

From what I see, he reads well for his age. Still not for "fun" but he can read fairly complex words like "imagination" without stumbling and level one books on his own or with very minimal help. He can add and subtract simple numbers by counting on his hands and some without. His writing is so-so, still mostly phonetic and without punctuation.

Does this sound like where he should be at this time? Compared to public K, he seems ahead, but his teacher has more than once expressed some concern. Any thoughts?

[mightymoo]

You are right from the things you mentioned he sounds ahead.

But I would just schedule a conference with her and ask her to elaborate specifically on why she feels he's not ready? If she's expressed concerns, you should get much more detail and shouldn't be wondering what he's lacking or what her concerns are.

It could always be a social maturity issue. My mother was a kindergarten teacher and she said she would have kids tested for early entrance to kindergarten who were very bright and yes doing all the academic things they needed to enter kindergarten, but socially were not ready. (I don't know the specifics, I just remember her telling me this)

[Lingmom]

All of those academic things sound very appropriate for a 6 year old. What did the teacher say about her reasons for being concerned?

[nkm1968]

Sometimes it can be a non-academic reason; dd1 stayed in the Casa until age 71/2 because she was still a "first plane" kid--I think meaning still mostly working alone, still in the "absorbent mind" phase, still expanding her social skills repetoire and doing a lot of practical life (but like crotcheting, not bean pouring). I think in Montessori elementary, the kids do a lot of group-work, a lot of research, and they extrapolate from the "great lessons" as opposed to in the Casa, getting individual lessons and then choosing that material until it is mastered.

Also, "coming full cycle", or taking an extra year from the usual 3 years in the Casa, 3 years in lower el, 3 years in upper el, in my experience as a parent as well as a board member, has only been beneficial to the children involved. IF it is for the right reasons, and with the full support of parents as well as the faculty at school....