While it's true someone has to be the youngest, I'm in favor of letting parents decide if their young child has the readiness skills to perform at a level that will set the tone for a positive educational experience.
In my own case, I have twin boys with an August birthday. Both had speech delays and one had other developmental delays. Our district has not only full day kindergarten but all are k/1 classes. The academic standards are rigorous and many of the students just go with the flow but are not fully engaged because they really don't understand, they aren't making connections. (I was the k/1 aide one year) Both of my boys would have been able to perform well academically, but it would have been a stressful year for them otherwise. I don't necessarily agree with the curriculum standards of today's kindergarten and am more in favor of allowing kids to PLAY at the age of 5. My husband and I decided to keep our boys home an extra year and we're impressed with the difference that year made. I am confident they can contribute in much more positive ways to a k/1 class this year while benefiting from exposure to the first grade curriculum. If they maintain a high academic edge over their grade peers we would consider putting them ahead where they should've been in the first place, but my guess is that by second or third grade most of their grade level peers will have caught up. Doesn't this happen alot of the time, anyway? For us it was always an issue of social/emotional readiness not future academic performance and I believe it does make a difference. Now, if my district had the option of a straight kindergarten or half day kindergarten, we might not have kept our boys home an extra year. I have to say, however, that I would not suggest to another parent what decision they ought to make for their own child unless I was asked for input. For years we were told, give the young ones an extra year and now it seems teachers don't like what that process has led to. I'm not the expert and only want to have to make that decision for my own children. OK, that's a cop out! Julianne Brosnan/2/ME [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > In a message dated 8/5/2007 9:01:59 AM Eastern Daylight Time, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > Every child is ready to learn, they just may not be so keen on what > we want to teach them. > > > > And doesn't someone have to be the youngest? > Here is a good article by Lilian Katz. One of my early childhood educational > research heroes. > _http://ceep.crc.uiuc.edu/eecearchive/digests/2000/katzred00.html_ > (http://ceep.crc.uiuc.edu/eecearchive/digests/2000/katzred00.html) > > Nancy Creech > > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
