What a Kindergartener Needs To Know

You know, I remember taking naps in Kindergarten. Things have changed drastically in what I wistfully call a short period of time. I have 3 young girls, the oldest of which entered public school this year. After two years of preschool and a keen mind, I was surprised to find that the teachers wanted her to be put into the "extended" day program. This program is currently only available in our area as a pilot program. It is kept to a small class of only those children the school feels would "benefit the most" from the extra help.

When I heard from the Assistant Principal the fourth day of school, I really thought she was offering to put my child in a gifted program. She already had a grasp of counting to at least 20, knew the alphabet, all her colors and shapes, could write her name, recognize most of the letters by sight and recognized some of the numbers by sight. I was unexpectedly thrown into an emotional place I had heard of, but had yet to have the pleasure of experiencing. How could they be talking about my child? If I put her into this program, would she be stigmatized throughout her elementary school career?

The best source of information on your particular public school system starts with the school system itself. Contact them and ask for the information on what they will be expected to be familiar with and know at the start of the school year. Most schools will have a publication with this information and some even have it on their websites. Whatever they expect, spend some time during the summer making a game out of the learning experience. The Dollar Store has flashcards you can buy for numbers, letters, shapes and colors. They will almost undoubtedly be expected to know how to follow the rules as well. This is where the preschool experience comes in the handiest.

Hopefully the information will put some of you at ease who are about to embark on the public school journey or are experiencing something similar with their child. We decided that it could only benefit our daughter even though we did not believe that she was really behind in any way. I could go into all the reasons why, but they will only sound exactly like what they are - a parent who loves their child and believes that she is capable of anything. Besides, she is now scoring above grade average in most of the areas they assess at her age.

I do still have the fear that her first grade teacher may be aware of her participation in the program and this will color his or her judgement in some way. Teachers are human too and assessments are somewhat subjective at this stage. Whatever will be, will be at this point. Her confidence has certainly come a long way. I am not sorry that she has been part of the program. Only time will tell if it was the right decision. But, that's really the challenging part of parenting, isn't it? Plant the seeds and see what grows.