I just found your post and I realized you wrote it a long time ago. As a Kindergarten teacher here in Virginia, I would like to see cut off dates move back to May 1. That way all children would be 5 and a few months before arriving at my door. Things have certainly changed since I began teaching Kindergarten back in the late 70's, but one thing hasn't changed the children are still 5!! We just ask so MUCH from them and because of this I do wish that they were older when they arrived at my door. Being able to read when entering Kindergarten is not as impressive to the Kindergarten teacher as it is to the parents. We try to impress upon the parents that we are educating the whole child and the ability to read is one very small piece of a very large pie. Just because a child can read doesn't mean that he/she can follow oral directions, wait their turn, stay on task, be nice to others, put on their own clothing, zip their own clothing, be responsible with school supplies, etc. etc. Parents should look at the emotional skills needed for Kindergarten as well as the traditional curriculum skills needed. You might check out the blog I wrote on that very topic at http://kindergartenteacherclaire.wordpress.com/2009/08/06/
I completely agree! Just think what it would be like to have a class where they were all the same age within 12 months!!! NE is seriously looking at moving it back to Aug. 1 which will be a major improvement BUT there still will be some redshirted June and July babies making it a 14 month gap. The tighter we close that the better we could serve them!!! I will check out your blog.
Speaking of cut-off dates... It was in our paper last year about classes having kids with 3 3/4 yr olds, 4 yr olds, 5 yr olds and a couple of 6 yr olds! Thats right - all those ages in ONE big full day Pre-K class!
That is very European. When my now 24 year old daughter went to German preschool when we lived in Germany, she was in a class that had 3,4,5,6 year olds. It worked! The children stayed in the same room with the same teacher the entire time and when the 6 year olds left to go to 1st grade, another crew of 3 year olds arrived, and then the cycle repeated itself...Now keep in mind that this was NOT an academic program as German children do not even hold a pencil or think about letters/sounds/numbers until first grade. The preschool program was all about songs, puppets, theater etc and it definitely works over in Germany.
I was suprised at how much DS learned last year in Pre-K here in Ireland. The kids were writing, doing basic math and basic reading. It was primarily sight words and 3 word sentences. But I didn't think reading would be introduced until this year.
