Alyssa
July 7th, 2007, 10:12 AM
Does your school district offer a program between kindergarten and 1st grade - usually called Readiness or Transitional 1st? Do you know people who have sent their kids to such a program? Would you use this program if it's available to you?
Our new town has this program...they describe it as this:
TRANSITION PHILOSOPHY
If a child turns 6 before September 30, he or she is required by law to enter school. Ready or not!
The Transition classroom is specifically designed to meet the needs of these children, who are chronologically 6, but developmentally 5 and 5 1/2.
Throughout the year the children are given: the time to grow and develop as nature intended; they are provided a variety of experiences that encourage them to discover who they are, what they are capable of doing, and how they fit in to the world around them; and finally, the children are respected and accepted without condition, for what they can or cannot do. Especially, it is the gift of time.
We're going to send Aidan to this program next year. There are 11 or 12 regular 1st grade classrooms and 3-4 transitional, so it's a good % of the kids who go to this - and mostly boys born after June. (The teacher we met with said last year she had 5 girls out of 15 kids, and that was the most she'd ever had - and 10 of the 15 kids in the room were born after June.)
They did a 5 part assessment - parent evaluation, teacher evaluation, Gessel testing (a developmental assessment) and 2 day classroom immersion. We went and met with the teacher yesterday to learn more about the results and the recommendation that we send Aidan, and it was reassuring (and not surprising) to see that Aidan was up on everything he needs to know, but that they think it would benefit him to have more time to mature and focus on doing the work in a classroom setting. For example, one day of testing he was more interested in what the other kids were doing during work time and another time he just started singing instead of working. :blush: But, he did the task assigned each time...just not as fast. His kindergarten teachers noticed similar patterns, or that he'd race through it to claim that he was first done - and even when he'd get most of the work right, it was sloppier than it should have been.
Anyway, that is our plan for next year. I was worried about the social stigma that might be associated with going, but I figure there are 50 other kids in the program who will go onto regular 1st grade with him and it's not like he already has a lot of friends in town who he'll be seperated from. :) I've also never once heard a story of a parent who sent their child to a program like this and regretted it. In fact, the teacher we met with sent her son to it and she said how grateful she is that she did, esp. with him starting 8th grade this year instead of 9th grade (high school). So that was also reassuring.
Our new town has this program...they describe it as this:
TRANSITION PHILOSOPHY
If a child turns 6 before September 30, he or she is required by law to enter school. Ready or not!
The Transition classroom is specifically designed to meet the needs of these children, who are chronologically 6, but developmentally 5 and 5 1/2.
Throughout the year the children are given: the time to grow and develop as nature intended; they are provided a variety of experiences that encourage them to discover who they are, what they are capable of doing, and how they fit in to the world around them; and finally, the children are respected and accepted without condition, for what they can or cannot do. Especially, it is the gift of time.
We're going to send Aidan to this program next year. There are 11 or 12 regular 1st grade classrooms and 3-4 transitional, so it's a good % of the kids who go to this - and mostly boys born after June. (The teacher we met with said last year she had 5 girls out of 15 kids, and that was the most she'd ever had - and 10 of the 15 kids in the room were born after June.)
They did a 5 part assessment - parent evaluation, teacher evaluation, Gessel testing (a developmental assessment) and 2 day classroom immersion. We went and met with the teacher yesterday to learn more about the results and the recommendation that we send Aidan, and it was reassuring (and not surprising) to see that Aidan was up on everything he needs to know, but that they think it would benefit him to have more time to mature and focus on doing the work in a classroom setting. For example, one day of testing he was more interested in what the other kids were doing during work time and another time he just started singing instead of working. :blush: But, he did the task assigned each time...just not as fast. His kindergarten teachers noticed similar patterns, or that he'd race through it to claim that he was first done - and even when he'd get most of the work right, it was sloppier than it should have been.
Anyway, that is our plan for next year. I was worried about the social stigma that might be associated with going, but I figure there are 50 other kids in the program who will go onto regular 1st grade with him and it's not like he already has a lot of friends in town who he'll be seperated from. :) I've also never once heard a story of a parent who sent their child to a program like this and regretted it. In fact, the teacher we met with sent her son to it and she said how grateful she is that she did, esp. with him starting 8th grade this year instead of 9th grade (high school). So that was also reassuring.