[glory30]

hi every one

My DD started school this year she will turn 5 by the end of this march, the first couple of days are good at school, and on the third day she was a bit crancky and asked me to stay back,so on the fourth day i asked the teacher about how she is going and we had a long discussion and said that my daughter is extremely shy and she doent open up quickly,

we speak two languages at home one being our mother tongue and the other english so she had a bit of difficulty in talking she can express her needs but she is not chirpy and spun stories. she knows all the alphabets numbers upto 20 shapes , confuses with days of a week but says atleat 4-5 of them,and i asked teacher if at all its possible for me to stay with her to help her and i thought she needs that extra push,the teacher said that she is not following instruction, looking at the windows and she is not attentive this all happened after she attended school barely for 4 days and suggested it would be good if she had done ELC/kinder


exacltly following wednesday the teacher gave me a call and showed how she didnt write her name where as other kids did and when asked to pair up the two pictures that is the labell ball and the picture ball she cldnt do it and the other kids did it.and even after helping her with a marking those with the same colour she cldnt paste them in the corresponing order and how she didnt go on the dotted lines to write 1 and how she coloured all the pictures when asked to colour only things that are single how her colouring skill are poor that she coloured them all and the other kids book she showed me the kid coloured her ball with 3 colours and it was all neat with out any thing coming out, and suggested that it would be better if she does teh ELC,

i said its ok i put her in ELC and changed her accordingly but i felt the whole scenario was some thing fishy, and i feel bad for myself not giving her enough time to settle in

is my thinking right or does my child really need help and i am not able to accepy the reality please pour in your thoughts

[Regular Show]

I dont think its unusual to not be able to spell her name in reception. Many of the kids in my DD class couldnt write their name properly.

[~maryanne~]

I think the teacher has not given her enough time to settle in and has judged her ability too quickly. Is she the correct age for FYOS in your state or were you sending her early? If sent early, fine, put her in ELC. If sent on time she should be given a chance to settle in and learn.

ETA: Lots of kids in FYOS can't write their name, colour in one colour and colour outside the lines.

This post has been edited by ~maryanne~: 18/02/2013, 05:33 PM

[Kay1]

I don't think its really possible to say from the examples you have given.

But the teacher has nothing to gain from telling you that your daughter would benefit from another year of preschool so I would take her professional opinion on board. Kids do learn a lot about taking instruction, paying attention to the teacher etc in preschool type programs. It will also (hopefully) help enormously with her language and confidence.

To me it sounds like you have done the right thing. Hopefully with another year she will be better able to enjoy starting school.

[glory30]

hi rawr thaks for the reply she doesnt know the days of week in our language

[Kay1]

In terms of her age I am of the view that you send them as early as possible UNLESS there are reasons not to. In your DD's case I would say there are a few reasons not to (language, confidence etc). Obviously there are huge benefits to being bilingual but at the moment she may well just need that extra year. good luck OP.

[nlman]

From the limited information you have given here, I would probably agree with the teacher's assessment. Your daughter sounds to be struggling with many of the skills and language that would be mastered in a preschool. With a birthday in later March, I would be sending her to preschool for a year and sending her to Kindergarten next year.

[TillyTake2]

What state are you in?

In nsw she would be very young for her year plus having English not as her primary language & having never attended preschool I think the teacher may be right. I think a year of preschool & then starting kindy slightly older might be the best approach.

With language at home does she get consistency (eg English from one parent & mother tongue from the other?) or do both parents speak English as their non primary language?

[AvadaKedavra]

It sounds as if your child is both socially and 'academically' behind the children in her class, who I imagine are all older than her if she is not yet 5. I don't know what state you are in, but usually parents spend some time thinking about whether or not to send their kids to school if they have birthdays between December and April, and many kids in this age range are recommended to do another year of kinder by their kinder teachers.

If your daughter has never done kinder/ELC/preschool and you have sent her straight to school at the early end of the spectrum, then I don't think the teacher is bein unreasonable to suggest that you should ascend her to kinder first.

It doesn't mean she is 'behind', it perhaps just means she hasn't yet ha a chance to learn skills that would make her better able to cope with school. And trying to teach those skills at school is likely to be way more stressful for her than sending her to a preschool program for a year. I would take your teachers advice seriously.

[lisles]

Hi OP,

The fact that English isn't her first language might explain some difficulty understanding instructions, which could be why she isn't completing tasks according to directions. She may understand quite well in a different setting, but with a lot of noise and activity in the classroom it is harder.

If she can't trace along dotted lines or colour within the lines yet her fine motor skills may still be developing. She would be one of the youngest in her class - another year will make a big difference. The combination of being younger and not being confident speaking English may leave her struggling. It would be a shame to see her lose confidence in her ability as a learner when neither of these things have any reflection on her intelligence.

Giving her a year in ELC will give her time to develop a bit more and improve her English before she has to deal with formal learning in the classroom. I don't think you have anything to lose by taking the teacher's suggestion, and potentially a lot to gain.