Issues in Kindergarten

I think you got a brand new teacher... I wouldn't worry.

If you continue to hear from her, you might want to ask for a sit-down meeting where she can describe his behavior to you.

I have a friend with two, active, normal boys. One of her son's teachers kept calling her about his behavior, until the mom finally said "Isn't this what you are there to handle? Seriously?" They stopped calling so much.

My daughter had some issues half way through the year in K4. No matter what the reasons are, you have to enforce the rules for him to learn to behave. Let him know you have eyes in the class. You will ask the teacher every day how he was acting and if it isnt' good, X will happen. Follow through! My daughter shaped right up with the reminder about the need to respect the class.

BUT, just my opinion, I do think full day kindergarten is too long for the amount of material being taught, and now that she is in K5, I'm homeschooling just so she can learn more in a shorter day and continue musics lessons etc. I still enforce behavior, but yes, I would think full day would be hard to behave. But if she was in full day kindergarten, I would work to support her to behave, not just wait to see if it resolves itself.

Mmm, not being quiet at naptime and wanting to move around the classroom and not listening right away sound like normal beginnning kindergarten behaviors to me. I used to be a special ed teacher and I have observed many kindergarteners in their classrooms and I can tell you that your son sounds completely typical. The teacher should be giving the kids a good 4-5 weeks to get into the routine and learn "school rules." Sounds like she wants a perfect classroom full of perfect little children.

I agree with T.O. Sounds normal to me for the first week of Kindergarten.

I suggest that because this is her first year teaching, the teacher is over doing the keeping parents informed aspect of teaching. I suggest that you relax, wait and see what happens in a month or two when your son and the teacher will be used to a routine.

Sounds normal and so does the teacher. She is letting you know his behaviors. You do want to know don't you?.. Especially if no other children or very few other children are behaving this way..

Parents tend to take things personally instead of just taking the info as info..

Your son will take a little while to get into this schedule and these expectations. Just talk about the expected behaviors with your son. Remind him it is good manners and classroom rules to be quiet during nap time. He needs to stay on his mat or at his desk.. whatever the rules are during this time..

Just work with him and remember, this is about your son and his transition. It is not saying you are not a good parent.

It's normal. Preschool is good prep for K, but it I don't think it truly, fully prepares them for a full day of school, with 2-3 times as many kids & more rules, expectations, etc. to follow.

My normally pretty well behaved, social DD had a hard first month of K. She kicked a kid out of aggravation, and cried many times during drop off and during the school day. She seemed very overwhelmed & I felt awful. Now that she's in her 6th week of school, she's doing awesome, with no issues at all.

I know it's hard to know that your child is having difficulties. I struggled with changing DD back to a half day, as well. Everyone said to give it time, to work out the kinks, and guess what? They were right.

Well in my experience (and what I hear from most everyone) is that it took my son about a month or so to get used to things when he started Kindergarten. I would keep working with your teacher...communicating over email or phone...to figure out solutions. And keep talking to your son about proper behavior. You can start a reward system for him for holding it together in the afternoons perhaps. But my guess is this is just something that takes some time. It is a big change...full day school is totally exhausting and their little bodies have to get used to it. Many boys are just extra wiggly and really have a hard time...it is totally normal according to the teacher we had! My son's kindergarten teacher had a class of mostly boys that year and most of them were extra active/wiggly. She said it was the hardest start to a year she has ever had. It drove her nuts until she came up with a reward system. If you were good, listened and were not disruptive you got one gummy bear at the end of the day. This worked like a charm with our son bc boy he was excited to get a gummy bear. Maybe other moms will have other ideas for you :)

It is a big transition and it will probably resolve itself when he gets used to the routine, etc.

I don't understand why the fact that he has a new teacher has anything to do with it. I am sure he has a great teacher. The teacher is communicating with you.... aren't you glad you have a teacher that will take the time to communicate with you? Talk to her face to face, volunteer in the classroom.

Maybe she runs a more structured classroom than the preschool and it takes some time for everyone to adjust.

It all sounds normal to me except for the comment regarding "new teacher". Some people automatically assume a "new teacher" has the palgue or something. Give her the benefit of the doubt, don't judge her based on it being her first year and be glad she communicates with you!

My son is in Kindergarten.
It takes... TIME to adjust to Kinder.
Kinder is more structured and there are lots more expectations.... and a curriculum.
And kids.... are tired already, or get tired, and hungry and over-stimulated too.
All of that, affects a kid.
Normal stuff.
Not only with your son.

Going to Kinder, everyday now, and all day... is hard "work" for a young child. They get, by the end of the day... just OVER tired. And need a nap when they come home, if you can get him to nap.
If like my son, my son actually gets more HYPER and boisterous when he is tired. AND he will actually tell me he is tired and wants to nap.

On days my son does not wake up well in the morning or is tired, I tell his Teacher. Just as a head's up. She always appreciates that. It does not happen often... but I just let her know.

Because most of your son's issues, occurs in the afternoon.... I would assume he is just TIRED, already, by then.
AND if he did not eat lunch, or if he did not have a good lunch... well an empty stomach... would make any kid or adult... just NOT themselves, by afternoon. That is a LONG time to go, on an empty stomach, since breakfast time until the end of the school day.
Low-blood sugar, really affects a kid's attention spans/moods/behavior.
I volunteer at my kid's school. MANY kids, do not eat lunch. Because... they don't like what is served or they don't like their home-lunch. Thus they do not eat... even if, hungry. So then that means, their empty stomach, WILL affect them... in school, later, and by afternoon.
I see that all the time, kids not eating lunch or barely.
Then by the end of the day, they have nil patience or ability, to stay on task and concentrate.
So, just a thought. Because, that is a factor too.

My son's Teacher says, it can take at least a couple of months, for a kid to adjust to it all.
It is a whole lifestyle change, for the child. Even if they went to Preschool, prior. Kinder, is very different.

And besides, NO kid, is still as a statue.
The Teacher, should know that.

Hi, J.:
Talk to his teacher face to face.
This will help resolve the issues.
Good luck.
D.

Have a face to face with the teacher. Don't hold it against her that she is new-they all have to start somewhere and some of the best, most enthusiastic teachers are those that are new. She wants to help you son, she is communicating with you. Whether this will work itself out or not, he needs to obey the rules now.Talk with your son each morning about the expectations during his school day- nap time, center time, lunch time, etc. Let him know that the teacher tells you what is going on at school. Do something fun with him when you pick him up from school if he had a better day. Keep the lines of communication open with the teacher. If it is happening in the afternoons, he may be getting tired and reving himself up because of it. Maybe he does need more sleep at night?

My daughter had the same issues. After a few times of getting in trouble, we met with the teacher. Things have improved greatly, but it did take a few weeks. We are at the 6 week mark now, and she is doing much better.
Something else that helped, I moved her bedtime up 30 minutes.

Give it some time and things should work out. It is a big transition going
from 1/2 day to full day. They get tired, awnry, and it is just hard for them
As time goes on he will adjust. The fact that it happens in the afternoon
tells me that the whole day is the problem. They all adjust eventually.
I would have a meeting with your sons teacher just so you both know you
are on the same page.

I think this is normal. My daughter started kinder this year also, but she is older (turns 6 in December). I have volunteered in her classroom a few times already and those kids are crazy! Her teacher said it generally gets better by around Christmas time. My daughter's class has a number of younger kids (summer b-days or kids that just barely made the cutoff) and the teacher said it just takes time for them to mature a little bit and learn the rules. I would give it a little time. The teacher is probably just being a little more strict during the first few weeks to make sure she gets control of the classroom early. Everyone will settle in soon enough. I would definitely try to get some more specific info from her or talk to her face to face so that you can understand how to help explain the rules better to your son. Also, I find that volunteering in the classroom helps you become better aquainted with the teacher and then you can observe exactly what's going on. Good luck!

hmm. Go in and talk to the teacher about it. Be helpful and accepting, not challenging of her assessments and see if you can form an alliance to work together on this. Some comments I have are:
1. Her emailing you instead of a phone call seems a little impersonal.
2. Nap time??? My kids school has absolutely no nap time for kindergarten.

Oh and also, I have moved my kids bedtime up to 7:30 from 8 pm. They both just started all day school (pre-K and K) and are exhausted!

I'm having the same issues with my 5 yr old. He has way more energy than the rest of the kids. Teacher says hes fine all day until lunch time. 2nd half of the day he's a differant kid. I think that he is just not used to sitting still for 8 hours a day. 4 hours is pretty good for him! Going to lunch and then recess gets him all riled up and playful and mom and dad aren't there to settle him down. Teacher doesn't seem to know how. The teacher sends behavior marks daily, good or bad. It seems like my boy is getting to her. She's young and inexperienced and she takes things as disrespectful that are not meant to be. Her comments frequently mention that he didn't do something the 1st time asked and that he laughed at her. Well....he is smiling and laughing all the time. He's the happiest kid you ever met and always thinks people are playing with him. You do have to tell him in a more stern tone for him to know you mean business. Even when he's in trouble, he smiles until he realizes you are really serious. I'm thinking he is just overstimulated after lunch or maybe what he's eating is amping him up. I'm curious to see what other moms think.

That sounds like totally normal behavior to me, and the situations seem like typical things the teacher should have strategies for. Does she have classroom experience with his age group? Maybe he's not ready for a full long day of high-expectations kindergarten, or maybe she's not a good fit for him as a teacher.
If he likes it and wants to go, I think I would be positive and encouraging to him, and lightly remind him at night that it's kind to all the kids for him to be quiet at rest time, and that part of getting to do all the fun things in the centers is that all the kids also have to follow instructions and listen to the teacher when she speaks, etc. Hopefully, the teacher is also being kind and sweet. :)

Perhaps you can ask the counselor to observe him and see if they can find a reason for the behavior change. It could just be that the teacher has no experience and doesn't really have the right expectations.

You might want to chalk some of it up to an overwhelmed new teacher. When my granddaughter was in kindergarten I got a lot of grief from the teacher regarding her behavior - like your son disruptive. We constantly talked about it at home and after giving her time to adjust, I started punishing her when I got a bad report. Then, I went on the field trip with the class. All day long, no matter which student was having a problem, it was always my granddaughter's name he was calling out. I would say, excuse me, but she's right here. That's so and so. And he would say oh, yeah. I came to realize that it wasn't her causing all the problems, but for some reason hers was the name that always came to his mind. Do the best you can, and perhaps try to monitor a class or two, but DON'T just rely on what the teachers say. They are people too (even though they hate to admit it) and they have bad days and place blame not always where it should go. They do not have devine inspiration and are not always right. I think you should monitor the class - you might be surprised at what you learn!

She sounds like a first time teacher who really shouldn't be teaching Kindergarten just yet...and your son sounds normal....he's EXCITED!!! It's change! it's "big boy" stuff!!! :)

So you can handle it a few ways.....

1. Give your son rewards for doing well in school.
2. Ask the teacher to do a behavior chart for him to bring home daily so he can see his progress...

Our Kindergarten does NOT do naps...wow!! They said NO MORE after 5...

So maybe it's a combination of things and she's just not the right teacher for your son...that happens...personalities don't always match...happens!! I would encourage my son to do well in school and give rewards for good behavior! :)

If you don't work outside the home, maybe you can drop by the school and peek in the classroom or volunteer...