Kindergarten Screening, what do they do? UPDATE post #24

[WeLoveLilo05]

I'm sure it varies by school, but I would expect she will have a 504 even if she is placed in a peanut free room. Certainly at some point during the day, she will be leaving that room and it's best to have a school wide plan for dealing with students with severe allergies, etc.

Yes, it is only 1/2 day K in this district (with my luck they are changing it on me unknowingly lol then I would cry lol) so she won't be going to a lunch room, snack time will be in the classroom, but she will be leaving the room for music, gym, etc.
and I know that the school itself is not nut free b/c I saw om their lunch menu that the sub. lunch is PBnJ.

 

[mjkacmom]

No, I am hoping I get to meet with the nurse at the screening. If I request a peanut free room do you think they will provide it, or will I have to get a 504 plan?

I believe all of my children have had kids with peanut allergies in their classes, and we don't have peanut free classes, just a peanut free table for lunch (which my ds7 sits at, because he is convinced he is allergic to peanuts, since he can't even stand them smell of them. ). We are still allowed to bring in homemade treats, but they ask that they don't contain peanuts (I always send in Betty Crocker cupcakes, and let the teacher know the mixes are made in peanut-free factories).

 

[Bunnyfeather]

And, you know, being ahead academically won't necessarily get a warm reception from the teacher. My daughter was a ridiculously early reader, and was very enthusiastic about starting junior kindergarten. She went galloping into the room clutching an Easy Reader version of the Swiss Family Robinson, and started chattering to the teacher. The teacher didn't respond to her. Instead she looked at us and said, "Well, I can tell right now this one's going to be trouble!"

Wow, I would have been seeing red! Sure, a bright, engaged and eager youngster is such a horrible burden for a teacher to handle. Don't the parents know to totally squash their little spirits before they are 5 so she won't have to deal with such nonsense?

 

[WeLoveLilo05]

Well we went today.
At first DD was a little shy, the principal said hi to her and kinda shyed away, hiding behind her Dad. The school psychologist came, took her for about 15 minutes. They came back and said "She doesn't have a shy bone in her body" and said she did fine, likes to talk, and she got homework due the first day of school.
I asked DD what they did and she said she had to draw shapes, they asked her colors on the block, her name, birthday, showed her pictures and she had to identify the objects I guess. And she had to stand on one foot for 10 seconds
So she is excited for school in Sept...thank GOD!
The secretary was a little snotty though

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Glad it was mostly positive.

I wasn't involved in ours, but at the end of the year we put all our kids into classes for the following year. (Class A, B, C, etc.) With the established students, we look at scores, interventions, behaviors ,etc. The idea is to have a good mix of high and low, and to also make sure that all the behavior kids aren't put in the same class. With the kindergartners, they gave them a level between 1 and 4 based on the tests. They also had pictures of all the kids and put post its on them with comments based on other information provided by the parents or observed.

They then used this to put the kids into classes. Again, making sure there is a good mix of high and low kids. There is no "punishment" for being on the lower end.

 

[iwrbnd]

I work kindergarten screening in our town. Here is what we check...

counting, colors, numbers, letters, sorting, matching, patterns, more/less/equal, name, address, phone, town, coloring, writing name using upper/lower case letters, tying shoes, skipping, catch ball, hopping...I'm sure there's more but that's all I can think of right now. Don't worry, they don't have to know any of it for kindergarten admission. It just helps the school be prepared for your child's needs and to make the classrooms equal.

 

[MnMomtoboys]

Well we went today.
At first DD was a little shy, the principal said hi to her and kinda shyed away, hiding behind her Dad. The school psychologist came, took her for about 15 minutes. They came back and said "She doesn't have a shy bone in her body" and said she did fine, likes to talk, and she got homework due the first day of school.
I asked DD what they did and she said she had to draw shapes, they asked her colors on the block, her name, birthday, showed her pictures and she had to identify the objects I guess. And she had to stand on one foot for 10 seconds
So she is excited for school in Sept...thank GOD!
The secretary was a little snotty though

I'm glad she did well. Don't worry about the secretary. They have to deal with so much, she might of been having a hard time with something.

 

[java]

The secretary was a little snotty though

Are you going to our school?? We have some major attitude in the front office.

I'm glad it went so well!

 

[redsunfish]

So it's been about 25 years since this happened Wow, I'm getting old!

I had a screening for a private preschool that my mom wanted me to get into but I was too smart for that. I knew preschool meant no more being at home with my mom so when they asked me to say my ABCs I couldn't (even though I could read at this point) and when they asked me to skip I fell on the floor. Needless to say they told my mom I wasn't ready for pre-school.

In the car on the way home my mom was crying because I didn't get in and I said 'guess I blew it huh mom?' LOL

Yeah, my mom put me in a public preschool where they didn't have any entrance screening. Guess I didn't get out of that one!

Glad your DD did well! (but not all would be lost if she hadn't )

 

[Familyof4lovesDW]

I asked DD5 what she did at the screening this is what she told me.

skipped, asked her birthday, phone number, they did not ask her address, vision test, drew a person, walked on a straight line, asked a question and had to point to the picture of the correct one (one about a dog and had to point with the boy who had the most balloons), bounce a ball, had to count to ten (she said that was as high as they made her count) asked her if she knew words that rhymed.

We do not go in when they do the screening, we wait in the hall. We will not get the results for a few weeks. They are mailed to you. She got nursery rhyme books to practice reading, which made her very happy.

There was only one AM class at our school last year, so the teacher just eneded up with whoever requested AM. I am not sure how balanced the skill level is.

I saw a PP mentioned tying shoes? They are not even in school yet and they expect them to know how to tie?? Most children I know in Kin. do not know how to tie. Maybe because most shoes in their size do not tie?

 

[Magpie]

I saw a PP mentioned tying shoes? They are not even in school yet and they expect them to know how to tie?? Most children I know in Kin. do not know how to tie. Maybe because most shoes in their size do not tie?

I think teachers prefer that children can manage their clothes by themselves, as it makes getting them out to recess much easier, especially in the winter. In our children's kindy class some of the children couldn't tie their own shoes and the teacher requested that they be sent in velcro shoes.

So including shoe tying in the screening would give the teacher some idea how difficult dressing for the outdoors is likely to be.

(My son is 12 and looking at his shoes you wouldn't think he knew how to tie his laces either!)

 

[Kirby]

Back when my children entered kindergarten (in the 90's) there was no screening before school started. Classes were randomly assigned, each teacher got what she got. We had both half day and full day classes. The full days were set aside for children with special needs, at risk, etc. Now we have all full day kindergarten for everyone.

I worked at my children's school, mainly with kindergarten. A couple of weeks into the school year, each child in kindergarten was taken aside (by me mostly) and tested for a variety of things, recognizing the alphabet, saying the alphabet, recognizing numbers and counting to 20, hopping, skipping, recognizing a pattern and copying one. Those are what I can remember. It was to see what a child could do and see what they needed to learn. It also helped to detect if they might have a learning disability or if they needed advanced studies. Then in the springtime, I gave the children the test again to see how they improved.

 

[Uuaww]

I don't remember much of kindergarten except failing colors horribly... Was my only "-" on my card :-(

 

[WeLoveLilo05]

I think teachers prefer that children can manage their clothes by themselves, as it makes getting them out to recess much easier, especially in the winter. In our children's kindy class some of the children couldn't tie their own shoes and the teacher requested that they be sent in velcro shoes.

So including shoe tying in the screening would give the teacher some idea how difficult dressing for the outdoors is likely to be.

(My son is 12 and looking at his shoes you wouldn't think he knew how to tie his laces either!)

I haven't put a shoe on DD with laces in...wow, I couldn't tell you when.
In the summer its her crocs, winter her uggs, and then she has velcro sneakers that she wears a handful of times throughout the year.
And on all the forms/questionnaire's I had to fill out they asked if she could tie.

 

[camlace]

I saw a PP mentioned tying shoes? They are not even in school yet and they expect them to know how to tie?? Most children I know in Kin. do not know how to tie. Maybe because most shoes in their size do not tie?

Umm, of course they sell shoes that tie for small children. My daughter has had tie sneakers since she was an infant. And now at the age of 4 she can tie her shoes with ease. My sister who is a 1st grade teacher was thrilled, she said in today's age of velcro most of her 6-7 yos still cannot tie their shoes. A kindergartener should most definitely have the fine motor skills to tie their sneakers if they are given the tools to practice

 

[Familyof4lovesDW]

DS could only name one kid in his class that could tie. Maybe he is the only one that wears tie shoes? He said other kids just ask the teacher. Sorry, between the sketchers, sandals, dress shoes and crocs I have not noticed many that tie. I was not asked either year if they could tie or not. He said they do not practice it at school. I was thinking about getting one of those books that helps you learn how to tie (it has what looks like a shoe on the front). My shoes do not tie either lol.

 

[WeLoveLilo05]

DS could only name one kid in his class that could tie. Maybe he is the only one that wears tie shoes? He said other kids just ask the teacher. Sorry, between the sketchers, sandals, dress shoes and crocs I have not noticed many that tie. I was not asked either year if they could tie or not. He said they do not practice it at school. I was thinking about getting one of those books that helps you learn how to tie (it has what looks like a shoe on the front). My shoes do not tie either lol.

haha, seriously, I am not worried about the tie thing AT ALL. He'll get it, I just finished up student teaching in K (didn't do the screening process, but did assessments for the 1st and 2nd marking period) and that was part of their assessment, and only 2 kids in the class knew how to tie their shoes. So, myself and those 2 kids tied everyone elses shoes hahahaha, they were shoe captains.
My shoes (dress shoes, crocs, flip clops, uggs, boots) don't tie either, my sneakers do, but I only wear them when I go for my run.