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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Too Smart for Kindergarten?
Preschool/daycare teacher 06:34 AM 04-05-2013
I have a child in my care who will be going to a different school district than any other child I've had in my care yet. She just had her Kindergarten registration this week, and in any other school the children are required to take an entrance test, showing they know everything required for Kindergarten entrance. This school is very top notch academically and expect a lot of the children, so I was expecting a very detailed, difficult test showing that she is completely 100% ready for school. Turns out they didn't give a test at all. In fact, they gave a letter to each family, telling what they will learn in Kindergarten. Every last thing in that list is stuff that children learn in preschool. This girl in my care who will be going to that school is way beyond those concepts. They will "be learning their numbers and to rote count..." She recognizes numbers up to 20, and rote counts to 100, counts by 10's to 100. Knows every one of her letters and which is uppercase and which is lowercase, knows all their sounds, etc. It also mentioned learning their basic colors... seriously?! Most children learn their colors by age 2 or 2 1/2! Learning left to right progression.... this is covered in a child's very first couple months in preschool (around age 3). There's several other things on the list, and every bit of it is usually what a child learns around age 3 or 4. This girl can do simple addition and subtraction already, tells time to the hour, knows the names of each coin, her address, phone number (with area code), birthday (month/day/year), and so much more.
She is going to be SOOO bored in Kindergarten. She's one who has to be challenged with new things or becomes bored, sulky, and "gets creative" in a not so good way. She is very very smart about academic things and things in life. And when she's not challenged, she becomes lazy and doesn't try to do a good job. She gets bored with it and just gets sloppy. I'm afraid that if she spends all of Kindergarten learning what she has known for a couple years at the least, she will get used to not having to try and then when school does become a little harder, she'll be so used to having it easy and being lazy with it, that she won't care to try anymore. She'll be so used to knowing everything already.
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Preschool/daycare teacher 06:36 AM 04-05-2013
oh, but my whole point with all that was what would you advise for her? I almost want to encourage her parents to try skipping Kindergarten, but I don't know if that that would be the best route to go. What is your input?
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canadiancare 06:47 AM 04-05-2013
My oldest was 3 years 8 months when he started school. We sent him to a French school so he wouldn't be bored in English (French is our second language) our other son is a February baby so he started older. They skipped him into first grade after one year of kindergarten ( we usually do a junior and senior here) .

Parents will need to be on top of what her needs are and ask the right questions.
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Blackcat31 06:49 AM 04-05-2013
Originally Posted by Preschool/daycare teacher:
oh, but my whole point with all that was what would you advise for her? I almost want to encourage her parents to try skipping Kindergarten, but I don't know if that that would be the best route to go. What is your input?
IMHO, school is about so much more than academics.

My DD was an October baby and was also waaaaay more prepared for school than most her classmates. I thought for sure she too would be bored stiff.

Academic intelligence isn't the only way to measure whether a child is ready for school or not. There is the social and emotional aspect too and that can't really be taught.

If this DCG has been with you for any length of time, going off to Kindy prepared academically...that is great but you won't be able to measure her social intelligence or emotional intelligence until she is actually in a classroom with her peers and not in an environment she is used to being in.

My DD stayed with the class she was suppose to be in and always did above average on most everything they did, and although everyone thought she would end up skipping a grade, she ended up showing us that the social maturity aspect counted for a lot more than we had anticipated.
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NeedaVaca 06:54 AM 04-05-2013
I felt this way when my DD started Kindergarten, I was like really? You are teaching kids the ABC's, colors and shapes my DD has known for years? Well, they have to because there are always plenty of kids that don't know any of this stuff! Sad right?

My DD still had a blast and loved Kindergarten. I don't think skipping a grade is always the best thing, it DOES really depend on the child but my concern is will she even out by 2nd or 3rd grade and be age appropriate for these grades once she gets there? if so, skipping the grade could make it harder for her when she gets to those grades, keeping up with the kids that are older and more mature. I guess I'm just thinking more long term vs Kindergarten.
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Lavender 07:21 AM 04-05-2013
My youngest already knew everything in Kindy but he wasn't bored. He learned other skills that weren't necessarily academic. In first grade now he is doing multiplication at home and reads at such a high level we have to send in the books he reads each day as his teacher doesn't have advanced enough ones in her classroom. He still loves going everyday and benefits in more ways than just academics.
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LK5kids 07:28 AM 04-05-2013
When I taught kindergarten I had kids who were advanced at times. One child could read at a 3 rd grade level when I tested him, he understood and could multiply, etc. teachers know how to tweak things and give more challenging work. He told me once he could understand multiplication when he was 3 and wondered how he was able to do that.

The kids I had were never bored, not saying it is possible that a child could be bored. I had such a varied curriculum, made sure I had free play each day, even though I incorporated literacy practice in these centers, the kids could choose where to play. Even if kids are advanced they love to play! I had lots of hands on math and literacy centers to use after our math workbook and during literacy time. I just upgraded things for more advanced learners.

Another thing they had to learn to write out numbers to 100.

The states I have worked in don't " test" as the philosophy is the school should meet the child's needs if they are the correct age.

There is SO much more to the day than what is on the needs to know list. Proper pencil grasp, working in a big group, going to PE, art, computer, etc., learning to write stories, If she is more advanced she will write more advanced stories! And if she's more advaced she will write the letters in better form. There is learning what a vowel is, that they are in each word, what their isolated sounds are, what blends are, I did lots of science projects that required recording their hypothesis- big word there and I explained that it was okay to get it wrong- that was scientists do and that they are wrong many times before they make a discovery. There is so much to the big school experience.

Kindergarten should be the best year of school. It is just so unique. I added in colors and shapes the first few weeks...it's not like we worked on them the whole year. Kindergarten is fast paced these days...I think every child deserves the experience of kindergarten. It's not all seat work like many first gr. and up classrooms are. At least if it's a good kindergarten experience. It shouldn't just be a mini first grade. And while it may sound like it they are not just a ramped up version of 4K. Kindergarten curriculums are crammed full of learning.

I also found many times things kids learned in preschool got lost because they were learning to read so soon and learning so much other new info that some would forget their birthday or what a triangle was for awhile. It was like the hard drive was full!

Most children who are " advanced" level out with their peers by the later elementary grades. I say skip a grade later.....kindergarten is sooooo much fun!
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Preschool/daycare teacher 09:40 AM 04-05-2013
Originally Posted by LK5kids:
When I taught kindergarten I had kids who were advanced at times. One child could read at a 3 rd grade level when I tested him, he understood and could multiply, etc. teachers know how to tweak things and give more challenging work. He told me once he could understand multiplication when he was 3 and wondered how he was able to do that.

The kids I had were never bored, not saying it is possible that a child could be bored. I had such a varied curriculum, made sure I had free play each day, even though I incorporated literacy practice in these centers, the kids could choose where to play. Even if kids are advanced they love to play! I had lots of hands on math and literacy centers to use after our math workbook and during literacy time. I just upgraded things for more advanced learners.

Another thing they had to learn to write out numbers to 100.

The states I have worked in don't " test" as the philosophy is the school should meet the child's needs if they are the correct age.

There is SO much more to the day than what is on the needs to know list. Proper pencil grasp, working in a big group, going to PE, art, computer, etc., learning to write stories, If she is more advanced she will write more advanced stories! And if she's more advaced she will write the letters in better form. There is learning what a vowel is, that they are in each word, what their isolated sounds are, what blends are, I did lots of science projects that required recording their hypothesis- big word there and I explained that it was okay to get it wrong- that was scientists do and that they are wrong many times before they make a discovery. There is so much to the big school experience.

Kindergarten should be the best year of school. It is just so unique. I added in colors and shapes the first few weeks...it's not like we worked on them the whole year. Kindergarten is fast paced these days...I think every child deserves the experience of kindergarten. It's not all seat work like many first gr. and up classrooms are. At least if it's a good kindergarten experience. It shouldn't just be a mini first grade. And while it may sound like it they are not just a ramped up version of 4K. Kindergarten curriculums are crammed full of learning.

I also found many times things kids learned in preschool got lost because they were learning to read so soon and learning so much other new info that some would forget their birthday or what a triangle was for awhile. It was like the hard drive was full!

Most children who are " advanced" level out with their peers by the later elementary grades. I say skip a grade later.....kindergarten is sooooo much fun!
Thank you soo much for your post. This makes me feel better about it. She has been in daycare since she was 15 months old, and had preschool in that same daycare (with me). She started preschool at age 2, although my cut off age was 2 1/2 (she was ready for more structure and loves to learn). I've found this year that she knows so much already that I was teaching the other preschoolers that she seems to be getting lazy with things. Doesn't want to try to learn new things because, my theory is, that she's gotten used to knowing so much already that she doesn't want to work for it to learn something new. But if Kindergarten teachers can give her more advanced things to do, even while the others are only learning to count, maybe she won't become so bored (hopefully she doesn't become the class clown! She loves to get a laugh and will do it over and over and over and...lol if she so much as gets one little laugh). But as for the social aspect, and playing with others, she could use some help in that area that the world doesn't revolve around her (she's an only child, so her parents devote 100% attention to her alone when they are home with her. Which is good to a certain extent, but when she's in daycare or soon to be school and expects her teacher to devote 100% to her alone, she doesn't know what to do when it isn't possible because little Jane is upset, little bobby is stuck in the bathroom, and lunch needs fixed ). Also, she has a terrible time sitting still during circle time, and staying on topic. So in those aspects, she does need Kindergarten really bad.
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bunnyslippers 10:13 AM 04-05-2013
The socialization piece is so incredibly important for kindergarten! My own DS is in kindergarten now. Upon entering, he had mastered most kindergarten skills. He is incredibly bright. He has, however, really had to work at the social piece of kindergarten. He is a "young" five, one of the youngest in his class. He has had to learn how to handle social pressures and demands, how to be in a classroom and follow the classroom culture, figure out the lunchroom and bus politics, determine who the best peers were for him, etc.

I think that the kindergarten year is crucial for future development. My own mother skipped first grade - straight to second from kindergarten. She was a social disaster, and still talks about the social anxiety and pressure she felt from being as smart but so much younger than the other kids in her class.

She will be just fine!
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Jewels 10:31 AM 04-05-2013
My son is in half day kindergarten, He reads and comprehends at a 3rd grade level, way advanced in math, He is NEVER bored, in kindergarten they have such a wide range of students, students that don't know any letters/numbers, to students who know plenty, hard job being a kindergarten teacher, They work with all kids making sure they are learning at their level, my son works with the Gifted and talented teacher on mondays, his teachers always has him doing some different things, but while also making sure he still participates with everyone else, he loves the circle time, he also loves helping out the other kids where he can, he even reads to other kids during free play, helps them with their math activities if they aren't understanding and they are working together, he loves the helping part, and he honestly loves being ahead I think it makes him feel "special" I just have always made sure he understands never to like rub it in, and let him know he doesn't get to answer every question, he has to be respectful of the other kids who still need to learn, I personally teach most of my daycare kids to read before kindy, so all my kinders go to school and work with the gifted and talented teachers, but I never wanted my son to skip a grade, for the very very important social and emotional reasons I want him with the kids his own age.
Kindergarten is fun, not boring.
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LK5kids 11:39 AM 04-05-2013
One other important aspect is a lot of bright kids might meet lots of the academic levels for the next grade but can they socialize with an older group easily?

Also, they will be faced with alcohol, possibly drugs and sexual decisions a whole year earlier once entering middle school/ high school. It is so much better to be a little older when faced with those decisions.
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cheerfuldom 12:37 PM 04-05-2013
we had the same situation with my 5 year old and held her back because we dont want her graduating high school at 17. I would rather her be with younger kids, age wise and maturity level, then be constantly trying to adjust to older kids. plus entering college as a 17 year old is a pain in the behind, or at least it was for my husband and several other relatives. we are looking at the big picture here. she is doing well at school and we just challenge her in the summers or at home with supplemental work.
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AmyKidsCo 01:05 PM 04-05-2013
I would not advise skipping Kingergarten, because of social issues.

Our now-21 yr old was born on September 1, which was the cut-off in MI. We had a choice of sending her to school as the youngest girl in her class, or sending her next year as the oldest girl. Since she was really interested in school and seemed ready, we sent her. She did OK academically and socially until about 7th grade, when the age difference became obvious. When her classmates started getting interested in clothes, hair, make-up and boys she was still totally uninterested in those things, just like the girls in 6th grade. She didn't "catch up" socially to the girls in her class until high school. She also struggled academically from late elementary grades through high school - it's not that she got bad grades, but I think she had to work harder for her grades than she would've had to if we'd kept her home another year.

Just my 2c...
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ABCDaycareMN 01:17 PM 04-05-2013
My son is in kindy this year and was well ahead of everyone as well. He went to 2 years of preschool prior to starting kindly. He would be lost in 1st grade with out kindy. They teach many other things other than what they say.
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Sunchimes 05:40 PM 04-05-2013
I think it involves more than just what she knows too. My granddaughter went to a private pre-k at 4, and then to public kindergarten. After a couple of weeks in kindy, the teachers suggested moving her to first grade. They put her in first grade for awhile (2 or 3 weeks, the best I can recall) to test her socially, then decided she was ready. So, she was in first grade 3 months before she turned 5. I was against it but they decided to allow it. She did really well and was in the IB program in high school. She had the option to graduate at 16 but they talked her out of it by saying she wasn't going off to college until she was 18. She choose to stay for her senior year. She is finishing her sophomore year at George Mason in International Marketing, is tri-lingual, and has been on the dean's list every semester. She never went through the social problems mentioned--partly because she is so outgoing and partly because she was so involved in academics and sports that she didn't have time for much. It worked for her, but it so easily could have gone wrong. If she had been mine, I wouldn't have let her skip, and I think she still would have done fine in kindy.
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rmc20021 06:47 AM 04-06-2013
My grandson is extremely intelligent when he began kindergarden. My daughter worked with him from the time he was born and he knew EVERYTHING a kindergardener should know upon starting school.

He knew everything possible about dinosaurs...could name off every one of them you could possibly show him, knew what they ate, when they lived and could describe them in detail if you just named one.

He also knew about the planets and universe. And could read.

This boy is beyond intelligent for a 5 yo...but even though he had attended a home daycare most of his life, he still was not able to socialize in a larger group so he is in kindergarden this year to prepare him for first grade.

I had thought it would be best for him to skip kindergarden as well since he was so beyond all the academic levels and was afraid he would become bored. But now I see he needed the kidnergarden experience...and not just the socialization, all of it. So I feel his mom made a good choice on her own not to allow him to be moved into first grade.
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rmc20021 06:50 AM 04-06-2013
Oh...and to add something cute and funny from an intelligent 5 yo view (even though he's smart, he's still only 5, well 6 as of December 6th...5 days beyond the cutoff for beginning a child in school when they're 5).

He attended his first day of kindergarden and then thought that was it for kindergarden...one day and then you move on the first grade.
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Preschool/daycare teacher 06:45 PM 04-06-2013
Originally Posted by rmc20021:
Oh...and to add something cute and funny from an intelligent 5 yo view (even though he's smart, he's still only 5, well 6 as of December 6th...5 days beyond the cutoff for beginning a child in school when they're 5).

He attended his first day of kindergarden and then thought that was it for kindergarden...one day and then you move on the first grade.
Haha, that is soo cute! After she registered this week, this little girl told me the next day, "I went to Kindergarten, but I didn't learn anything." And she thinks she is "in Kindergarten" now. I don't think she really knows what it means to be in Kindergarten

Thanks everyone for your input!
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anamikac 11:06 PM 08-27-2017
My son is 3yr old. I have admitted in the most awesomeness school ever
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Leigh 08:45 AM 08-28-2017
Originally Posted by Preschool/daycare teacher:
I have a child in my care who will be going to a different school district than any other child I've had in my care yet. She just had her Kindergarten registration this week, and in any other school the children are required to take an entrance test, showing they know everything required for Kindergarten entrance. This school is very top notch academically and expect a lot of the children, so I was expecting a very detailed, difficult test showing that she is completely 100% ready for school. Turns out they didn't give a test at all. In fact, they gave a letter to each family, telling what they will learn in Kindergarten. Every last thing in that list is stuff that children learn in preschool. This girl in my care who will be going to that school is way beyond those concepts. They will "be learning their numbers and to rote count..." She recognizes numbers up to 20, and rote counts to 100, counts by 10's to 100. Knows every one of her letters and which is uppercase and which is lowercase, knows all their sounds, etc. It also mentioned learning their basic colors... seriously?! Most children learn their colors by age 2 or 2 1/2! Learning left to right progression.... this is covered in a child's very first couple months in preschool (around age 3). There's several other things on the list, and every bit of it is usually what a child learns around age 3 or 4. This girl can do simple addition and subtraction already, tells time to the hour, knows the names of each coin, her address, phone number (with area code), birthday (month/day/year), and so much more.
She is going to be SOOO bored in Kindergarten. She's one who has to be challenged with new things or becomes bored, sulky, and "gets creative" in a not so good way. She is very very smart about academic things and things in life. And when she's not challenged, she becomes lazy and doesn't try to do a good job. She gets bored with it and just gets sloppy. I'm afraid that if she spends all of Kindergarten learning what she has known for a couple years at the least, she will get used to not having to try and then when school does become a little harder, she'll be so used to having it easy and being lazy with it, that she won't care to try anymore. She'll be so used to knowing everything already.
Until standardized testing became more important than developmentally appropriate schooling, this was what Kindergarten was all about. My son hated Pre-K for the first several months. I sent him because he needed time away from me. He complained that they teach him what he already knows and he wants to learn math and biology. I talked to his teacher about it, and she agreed that he was emotionally, intellectually, and academically ahead of his peers, but he was learning critical social skills (I agree, and this is why I kept sending him). What they did was cater to his interests after that conversation, and when kids were working on counting or days of the week with one teacher, the other would work on subtraction with my son or read a book about animals or whatever he was obsessed with that day. They'd discuss the book, and work on reading comprehension. I found that his Pre-K did a very good job of teaching to EACH child as an individual, and they all accomplished what was necessary: Getting ready for Kindergarten. Some kids needed to learn numbers, some needed to learn how to interact with new kids and follow directions.

I would rather send my son to the Kindy that you describe than one that expects him to read by the end of the year (like our school district expects). Kids DON'T need heavy academics in Kindergarten-they are taught because of those tests. I'm guessing that this child may not feel challenged by the curriculum, but will still end up with a meaningful experience. She can learn the big stuff in 1st and 2nd grade-where that stuff belongs.
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