[dac_cincy]

I am posting this question for a friend.

there are 2 weeks left to the school year where we live. Today, the kindergarten teacher called to let her know that her son is in danger of failing kindergarten. My friend was not aware that there was still an issue.

her son does have a speech issue- but has been recieving help. The teacher indicated that ehr son has to know 25 words by sight in the next weeks or he will fail. The teacher tested him today and he "recognized" 8 of them.

When son came home, he immediately reeled off at least 12 words.

So my friend is concerned that this is a behavior issue- not a learning issue- although she recognizes that the speech issue may be playing into this also.

Do you have any thoughts or advice I can share with her?

Love and hugs to everyone.

[Mama2Kylie]

I have no advice...but I just dont think it's right that they waited until 2 weeks before the year is over to tell the parents he's having problems. Thats a bummer...I hope they can get things worked out....

[DDAmasa]

25 words by sight or he fails kindergarten? I'm shocked by that. The kindergartens in my area do not require children to learn to recognize words to pass. The alphabet and practice in writing letters and numbers are taught with maybe a few basic words. But it's impossible to "fail" kindergarten here. (And the school system here is excellent btw). The teacher and parents just need to agree on the child's emotional and deveopmental readiness for 1st grade and it's always the parents final call. Sounds like that school is pushing 5 year olds pretty hard. But in any event, this is not something the parents should be finding out two weeks before year end. They should have been told of the requirement back in September and been told long before if he were struggling.

[avoel]

We live in Kansas and my 6 year old just finished kindergarten today. She knows about 15 sight words consistantly (and several more that she knows and forgets) but there was no requirement for her to know a certain number to graduate. In fact, the kindergarten "skills" seemed very basic to me...know all letters on sight, recognize and write numbers to 30 etc. At the end of the year they were sounding out short books, writing sentences etc but none of that was required...my daughter never mastered writing in her journal---math seems to be more her "thing".

I would be doing some serious questioning to anyone who would make a child repeat an entire year of kindergarten simply because he couldn't recognize 25 sight words. At least here, that is a large part of what first grade is, learning all those lists of sight words. He will have plenty of time to do it then! The teacher can send the lists home over the summer so he can practice too...that is what my DD's teacher did.

[SKL]

I would check into the law regarding whether they can flunk a KG child without the parents' buy-in. In my state, that would not be legal (in public school).

I would also question whether the teacher should be the one flunking, since she waited so late to get the parents involved in shoring up the child's weak area.

I do not question that children can read 25 words at the end of KG if their teacher appropriately builds up to it throughout the year. Indeed, this child may be able to pull it off yet. However, the teacher's negligence should not be allowed to affect this child's future. If the parents feel he will be ready for 1st grade in the fall, that's where he should be. It seems that a talk with the principal, at a minimum, is in order.

[becky]

Your friend should immediately request a meeting with the principal and the teacher. There is absolutely NO WAY she should just be learning this with only 2 weeks to go. Also, there is no way that just one indicator would be the reason a child would 'fail'.

There may be many things going on...such as maturity, overall readiness for 1st grade, etc.

But the bottom line is that the parent should have been informed of the 'issues' months ago.

I have taught Kindergarten for years and I have only once 'held back' a child. I knew by October that she was probably not going to be able to go to first grade as she was so immature that she couldn't learn anything...she spent most of her day under her table crying!!

I conferenced with the parents throughout the year and prepared them for the entire 2nd half of the year that their daughter would likely need to repeat Kindergarten.

I cannot imagine any principal would stand behind a teacher who has not given parents the appropriate notice of 'issues' with their child.

What your friend really needs to be considering is whether her son is ready for first grade. Did he learn all he needed to learn in Kindergarten to be successful in first grade. Sight word recognition isn't the most important skill learned in Kindergarten. Learning letters and sounds is the most important skill. If he can consistently and easily 'sound out' words then he is OK academically. But it sounds like he may have some behavioral and maturity issues...and those are often only resolved with giving the child more time before moving him.

I wish her luck and I highly encourage her to set up the conference immediately!

[DPline]

I second Becky in encouraging your friend to set up a conference with the principal immediately.

Our kindergarten sight word list is 20 words. And they are also expected to be able to write basic sentences, read a few short books, and do basic addition and subtraction at the end of kindergarten. So the academic expectation doesn't surprise me. But I am shocked that your friend is only finding out about this problem now.

Good luck to her!

[kandesmurphy]

I agree that the school should not be allowed to keep a child back if that parents have heard nothing of this before.
But sometimes staying back in Kindergarten can be very beneficial for a child that is just not ready for First Grade. That said , the parents should be part of the process to decide this and it should have started months ago.

[MamaS]

Spiderman's Kdgn requirements were to:
1. Sight read a minimum of 75 out of 100 words. (He scored 95)
2. Recite and write numbers 1-100
3. Write with correct spelling and punctuation short sentences that are dictated. (Example: I play with my cat. Who is that boy?)
4. Take and pass reading comprehension tests on a minimum of 8 books at 80% accuracy. (The testing is done on computer. Books are checked out of the library.)
5. Write the entire alphabet (upper and lower case) in cursive.

There were 16 children in his class. One was sent back to K-4 the first semester. Three will be repeating K-5 next year. Twelve "graduated" to first grade.

Before you refuse to allow retention, why not talk to the first grade teachers? Ask them what they expect an entering first grader to be able to do.

[AdoptAmiga]

Certainly something wrong w/ the 2 week lead time. Schools/teachers are often aware of any possible "held back" issues no later than Christmas time and have many strategies and conferences going forward. The decision to hold a child back is made between the parent, teacher and principal usually by April. In my experience, schools do not want to hold a child back unless it's absolutely necessary.

[cborsa7]

I think the best advice to give would be to contact the school and set a meeting to discuss what the issues are. It is hard to give advice without all the particulars and it sounds from your post that there has been ongoing challenges this year.

You don't mention if this is a private school. This would be something very common for a private school to set goals that need to be reached for completion. Our private school kindergarten starts with cursive writing for example and also has a level of requirement to reach before completion of the class in order to meet 1st grade.

I must have missed something in the post. You don't say that this is the first your friend learned of any issue. You said, "she wasn't aware there was still an issue", so I can't comment on the fact that this is 2 weeks before the end of school without jumping to conclusions. Although, you would hope the school didn't wait until the end of a year to inform them of any issue.

I would get additional opinions before I held my child back, maybe consult with the 1st grade teacher as well when I scheduled my meeting. I believe I would also weigh the advice of the speech therapists as well. If this is an issue that is truly "new" to your friend at the end of a school year and your friend has been engaged and proactive in her child's education I would consider changing schools.

Good luck to her!

[lmvsmom]

Originally Posted by becky

Your friend should immediately request a meeting with the principal and the teacher. There is absolutely NO WAY she should just be learning this with only 2 weeks to go.

Ditto! I'm furious for you!

[dac_cincy]

Thanks for all the wonderful replies. you guys the best.

It is public school- not a private school.
There were conferences in the fall- through Christmas- after that, nothing was discussed with my friend since then. So she assume all was well academicially.

She, herself, is consdering holding him back due to some emtional/maturity issues- but the failing kindergarten talk from the teacher this week threw her for a loop as she was unaware that there were academic issues.

I will pass your thoughts and advice to her. Many thanks

Love to you all- have a wonderful weekend.

[angelkisses0102]

While it is odd that they waited until two weeks before school let out...I would not rule out repeating Kindy.

My DS is in a high functioning special needs Kindy class this year....and is still expected to perform to the same standards as the typically developing kids. He is expected to know about 75 of the 100 sight words...he tells time on the hour and half hour...he has to read calendar dates...today, tomorrow and yesterday...he needs to be able to count by 2's, 5's and 10's...he can count out three random coins from a cup of pennies, nickels, and dimes, he is expected to write out a number sentence and solve it...that is read to him (like Johnny has four red cars and Joey has five blue cars...how many cars are there together...or 4 + 5 = 9)...recognize random number through 100 and be able to count to 100...etc. Oh and read of course.

Even though my DS is capable of doing all of the above...we are still having him repeat Kindy next year since he is a very young, still 5 year old boy. Plus we know how hard first and then second grade is as our DD is completing second grade this year. (She is doing multiplication tables, writing cursive, etc...)

Kindy is not what it used to be...and if your friend feels this is a behavior issue...than the gift of repeating Kindy may be needed. I so wish we had either not started our (gifted) DD in Kindy less than two weeks after her 5th birthday or we had held her back in Kindy. Even though we are finally seeing her 'catch up' with her peers...Kindy and first grade we tough...and we were not dealing with academic issues...just social and emotional struggles.

Good luck...definitely talk to the school...but also have your friend keep an open mind.

[JoshGuat]

Homeschool-you will see that child take off