My Daughter's K4 Teacher Said She Should Be Held Back Another Year, Help!

Here, I've never heard of K4, is that preschool?

My daughter is in Kindergarten this year. I know I was told in the beginning of the year by her Kindergarten teacher that children that did not have their alphabet & sounds down by the first marking period (3 months into school) were at risk for failing Kindergarten. For preschool, knowing those things by the end of the year was just being ahead of the game. At the end of preschool my daughter did not know any sounds or all her letter recognition. By the 3rd month in Kindergarten....she did.

Retention does not necessarily improve academic skills. It can, however, remediate some social and maturity delays. Some children are simply "too young" to go to Kindergarten. When children start academic programs before they are developmentally ready, their little brains aren't ready to absorb the info.

If this was the teacher's only reason for suggesting another year in preschool before starting Kindergarten, I would ask for another meeting in a few months to review her progress. I would also ask for:
- specific academic skills that are delayed
- specific social skills that are delayed
- teacher's past experience with retaining a child
- whether or not the teacher is providing your child with differentiated activities to further her skills.
- specific activities that the teacher intends to provide YOU with to work at home (this is a partnership)

Basically you want to establish your child's "baseline level" right now, then you want to know what specific activities are going to happen over three months to address the delays and THEN you will discuss retention IF your child is not progressing.

For what it's worth, learning letters and sounds is more typical of Kindergarten curriculum b/c kids aren't really ready to learn the skills and application until around that age!

Go back to the teacher and pick her brain. Ask more questions about what makes a child ready for the next level, and where she thinks your girl falls short. I don't know if it's proper to ask for a second opinion, but you could sound it out! See if there's a maturity factor (rather than an intellectual factor) in her thinking. Don't be angry - be curious! It is good for you to know all these things. I'm assuming that you wouldn't have to make a decision on this right away.

I would 100% give her an extra year in pre school. This is not "retaining" her. It is giving her an extra year to develop. My son had a summer birthday and I gave him an extra year and it's made all the difference. Children with late birthdays often lag behind for years. (I am a reading specialist and I see it every day.) For us, it was not a big decision and he's highly successful in kindergarten. Giving her an extra year will have a long term positive impact.
One other reason we decided to give him an extra year was also because he could get an extra year of parenting before heading out into the world. We would have been taking a child who had just turned 18 off to college. I have met lots of parents who regretted sending their child but I have never met a mom who regretted that extra year of pre school. Any kindergarten teacher will tell you what a difference it can make.

In addition to what others have said, all good advice....When (not if, but when) you talk with the teacher, find out if the real issue is these "academic" things or your daughter's social readiness for kindergarten. The teacher may be saying "she doesn't know all her letters" because the teacher isn't sure how to say that she sees issues with the classroom behaviors that are essential to kindergarten: Following directions; doing what the whole group is doing; paying attention for a certain minimum time; and, vitally, stopping one activity and moving to another activity as directed, when asked. Your daughter may do these things for you at home, but it can be a whole different world in a preschool or especially a K classroom. Sound out honestly with the teacher whether your daughter has all these kinds of skills in the classroom yet -- not just the letters/numbers/cutting etc. Let me be clear -- I"m not saying this is the case! It's just something to consider. Your child could be very mature and K-ready in the classroom setting. I'm just offering that there are social skills essential to kindergarten that are nothing to do with academic ability, and if the teacher is inexperienced or not a good communicator, she might be masking her fear of expressing her real concerns behind academic benchmarks.

I think she sound fine, and very well balanced. I suggest getting, the Leap Pad movie called " the letter factory" and "the Word factory" and let her watch them once a day. She will pick it up so fast! my kids could read by the time they were 4 just because I put it in the car DVD player and had it on when ever we went anywhere. this drills the letter sounds in their heads. It is a very cute video and I never tire of it either. And just one day, they picked up a simple book and start blending the sounds. There you have it, reading... Ahhh and now I have to take books away at night or they wont sleep!
I wouldn't hold her back. Besides that she will have a whole summer to mature more in the letter area:) just work with her she and will be fine.
Good luck,
E.

Isn't the school year only half over?? Your daughter could 'advance' by leaps and bounds in the next 6 or so months. If the letter recognition is the only issue, maybe you could work on that with your daughter at home?

That said, you *are* pretty biased about your own child (we all are!) and I really think you need to consider that maybe the teacher is right. She does, after all, deal with children your daughter's age ALL the time and would know better than most what is expected of her.

If this was my child I would work with her on the letters at home and ask the teacher for another assessment in 2 or 3 months. And if the teacher STILL thought she wasn't ready for kindergarten, then she wouldn't go.

I would tutor her little on what she is having difficulty with, which really, doesn't sound like much, if she is doing everything great.

Absurd they are holding young children back for this, but then passing illiterate kids in high school.

Tell her teacher that you don't agree. Specifically give her examples (maybe your daughter isn't consistent when she is in school) and compare what she does in school vs. at home. Ask her if she would please reserve making a decision until the end of the year is closer (but glad she gave you the heads up now that it was a possibility so you weren't blindsided later). Then revisit the topic late April/early May to see how things are. If you are still in disagreement, meet w/ the Principle and teacher together. See what happens.

I might be crazy, but maybe the teacher does know what she is talking about. Teaching is, after all, her job. My 4 1/2-year-old can read and read well. Take some extra time to teach you daughter her letters and their sounds. It is not that hard. My almost 2-year-old can identify all of his letters and knows what the sounds are. If she hasn't learned it in school, be proactive and teach her yourself. Just my advice. Good luck!

My son, he is 5 and will be 6 in May started Kindergartten this fall 2010, and his prek teacher said taht he was ready for it. He knew all lettes, sounds, shaped, ect, but he also has to repeat next yera bec they say that he is not mature enough, and not able to follow 3 step instructions yet. I know how you feel it was very hard for me, but the hardest part was explaining it to my son. He goes to a Catholic school, so it is very small, and he will know that he is repeating, bec will have same teachewr again, ect. I just told him taht he was doing so well, and that he is so smart that he has to stay one more year to get better at it, and help the other kids. But I was really upset by it too. I talked to his pediatrician, and my sister who is also a teacher about it, an dthey both said to hold him back, whats one more year, and it' kindergarten. Plus, my son was and is really struggeling to keep up. So I think taht it is the best choice for him. Am just curious if you are in a private or public school system. would get another opinion, from a pediatrician, and also, I had my son assesed at the Sylvan Learning Center, and they agrred. I am getting him extra help this summer through Sylvan to get him ready for next year. You might want to try to something similar, with an outside party such as them Good Luck! I know that that is a crappy thing t o hear!

see if there is a way she could test your child to see if she IS ir IS NOT ready to go to kindergarten.