Jill Schlies, Pre-Kindergarten teacher at St. Peter's Preschool works individually with (L) Kori Dues and (R) Grace Fleming on writing their first names.
March begins the registration process for most Hamilton County kindergarten programs. The decision to send your child with or without a late summer birthday, I’m sure has already crossed your mind. At least it has in mine. I have a daughter, Grace, who will turn 5 on July 26 – pretty close to that September 1st cut-off for Carmel kindergarten programs.
I have spent countless hours talking to friends, family and educators to help me make, what feels like, the biggest decision in my daughter’s life. Writing this story has helped me and will hopefully help you too.
My search for answers to kindergarten readiness started at Grace’s preschool, St. Peters. Lori Jannsen, the Preschool Director, who has taught every level of preschool, was so kind in offering some great information. “Children who struggle socially, who are less mature or not as confident (usually those with late summer birthdays) might need more time to grow and develop,” said Jannsen. “St. Peter’s is a developmentally focused preschool and we look at each child individually to see where they are. We also believe that parents play a huge part in making that decision.” Jannsen went on to say that building on skills such as being able to stand in line, participate in group activities and asking for help will help them academically. “Developmental and social skills take time to achieve. Academics can always be learned.”
Jill Schlies is a preschool teacher (Grace’s teacher) at St. Peters with over 20 years experience in education says there is a lot you can do at home to help prepare your child for kindergarten. “Read with your child every day, attend library or other educational classes or activities, have them zip or button their own clothes, create art projects, construct with play dough, organize play dates with other children.” Schlies explains that the more experiences you give your child the better they are at developing not only their fine motor skills, but also development in general.
A child’s birth date is not necessarily a factor to making a decision to go to kindergarten Schlies continues to say, “They have to be mature enough to handle the social situations in kindergarten and be developmentally ready, regardless of how old or young they are.”
I continued my quest for answers by asking my good friend and fellow atCarmel writer, Jenny Alderman. She is not a stranger to making this decision. Last year she went through the exact same thing with her son Casey, whose fifth birthday is in late July as well. “We had to make a decision that was right for us,” explained Alderman. “We decided to go ahead and send Casey, and so far so good, he’s doing great.”
On the opposite end, Carmel residents Matt and Michelle Schmid waited to send their daughter, Kendall, whose birthday is in June. “Academically she was ready, but she was lacking the maturity and wasn’t ready socially,” said Michelle. “She just needed another year to grow.”
Carmel Elementary School kindergarten teacher, Sarah Langhammer with students (clockwise) Simeon Bright, Anna "banana" Hoffman, Kyle Schug, Sean Reeves and Audry Kunce during a group activity.
I ended my journey by talking with Sarah Langhammer, a kindergarten teacher at Carmel Elementary School about the kindergarten program and what is expected from the incoming students in August. “There is no right or wrong answer on whether or not to send your child to kindergarten,” explains Langhammer. “The parents know their children the best and pre-school teachers have good input as well.” Langhammer says it is helpful for children to know a few things before they enter kindergarten. “Most kindergarteners come to the program able to write their first name. Additional skills that are common in many beginning kindergarteners are: identify letters by name (both upper and lower case), identify letter sounds and recognize numbers 1-10,” says Langhammer. She also said these expectations, if not yet mastered, shouldn’t be a deciding factor whether or not to send your child.
By the way, my mom told me I had to pass the “lolly pop” test before I went into kindergarten (this was in 1979), and one of the items on the test was to be able to tie your shoes. According to Langhammer, “The majority of my students don’t know how to tie their shoes at the beginning of the year and it is not a requirement for entering kindergarten. This is something they have to learn at home, along with buttoning coats and zipping up zippers.” Whew! That was a close one. Grace hasn’t mastered tying her shoes yet.
As the first semester of Miss Langhammer’s kindergarten class comes to an end, the first report card goes out. I will highlight the categories and some examples of what kindergarteners are evaluated on after the first semester:
Social Development- Displays self confidence, shows enthusiasm for learning, and participates in group discussions and activities.
Reading- Can add a sound to a word to make a new word, can count the number of syllables in a word, and can produce rhyming words.
Writing- Writes upper and lower case letters correctly, writes the sounds heard in a word, and uses simple sentences.
Math- Can count 20 or more objects, can count 1-100 orally, can name the days of the week and months of the year.
“The report card content is a good resource to give an idea of what the kindergarteners are assessed on at this point in the year,” says Langhammer. “Obviously not all the standards are mastered at this point; many skills are still in the developing stage in January. Our goal is to have these skills mastered by the end of May.” You can visit Langhammer’s classroom website at http://myccs.ccs.k12.in.us/teachers/slangham/ to get the entirety of the report card contents and other valuable information.
Social development and maturity levels should also be considered when sending your child to kindergarten. Langhammer says one important skill is whether or not your child can sit still for 15 minutes or longer. And again, she says this is not a mandatory skill to have. According to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, “The traditional signs of readiness to start kindergarten are that a child can follow one to three step instructions, behave well in the classroom, and can get along well with peers.” Some other signs include sharing, paying attention, use of a pencil and paint brushes and curiosity of trying new activities.
Though St. Peter’s is primarily a developmental preschool, they also teach the academic piece as well. “We make sure the kids learn how to write their name and know their letters and numbers,” explains Jannsen. “We do our best to make sure our pre-k program is ready to take the big leap into kindergarten.”
Several studies compiled by Leslie Barden Smith, author of Kindergarten Readiness, have shown that “by third grade there is no measurable academic advantage to delayed entry … and children who entered school relatively young did not appear to be disadvantaged academically in the long-run.”
To find out more about St. Peters Preschool or for enrollment information visit their website at www.stpeterscarmel.org/psphilosophy or if you just need some advice on kindergarten readiness.
Kindergarten registration is on March 17 from 9-12 and 1-3 at the school your child will attend. There is also an evening Kindergarten registration available on March 17 from 6-7:30 p.m. at College Wood Elementary and Forest Dale Elementary. You can also visit Carmel Clay School’s website at http://www1.ccs.k12.in.us/district/kindergarten.
