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My daughter just turned 5 two weeks before school started. She was in pre-school a year before starting kindergarten with no issues. We started receiving notes home her 2nd week of school. About one a week informing us she was not listening and having to be told more than once. I received her progress report and everything was great except her listening skills needed improvement. A week later I had a routine meeting with the teacher she raved about how well she was doing in reading comprehension and math. Also informed me that my daughter was the youngest child in her class and all the other kids are 6 or about to be 6. She can tell that my daughter is as she put it a "newly" five year old and that she needs to remind her self when speaking to her. She was very appreciative that when she sends notes home that the following day my daughter will apologize and explain why she is apologizing. Now four weeks later I receive her report card and it shows that she needs improvement in listening, practicing self control, motor skills, and handwriting. I immediately contacted the school and they have set a meeting with the teacher, assistant principal, and myself. I just don't understand how she could have been doing so well academically and now all of a sudden with no warning in 4 weeks her motor skills and handwriting has tanked. She has homework M-T about an hours worth and I work with her and her handwriting is getting better if anything. I am just not sure if the academic portion was marked because of her behavior and why wouldn't the teacher have contacted me. Also along with the report card she sent a 1 page letter home and some of the stuff in it did not make sense to me. Like my daughter is eager to make friends but very immature and is having a difficult time. I know she has lots of friends many who were in pre-k with her. Also she states that she is eager to participate in comprehension lessons but has not attend enough but has perfect attendance.
The maturity thing is real, my daughter was an older Kindergartner (5 -3/4 yr @ start) and there is a huge difference between her listening/comprehension vs. a new 5.. not always but most of the time. Out of 23 kids in her KG last year about 4 of the younger ones were held back another year.
I think you should be open minded and be prepared to listen(not argue) with the school, it might be in your best interest to think about holding her back for her development.
Also I think 1hour of homework in KG is insane for a new 5 year old. We go to a 10/10 school here in Denver and have about 30min in 1st grade.
Make an in person meeting, stay calm and listen to what they have to say without defensiveness. Also, if you can, volunteer in the classroom a day or two just to observe all the kids in action, even if you can only do it once. Both experiences might change your perspective just a bit.
Be patient and listen to the teachers. From the kindergarten to the primary school is big phase for little ones. And it also possible that she is with all the bunch of 6yrs and she might have hard time at school. Talk to her calmly and try to get what bothers her. My daughter went through the same. She was bit slow learner. But she score very good at school.
My daughter just turned 5 two weeks before school started. She was in pre-school a year before starting kindergarten with no issues. We started receiving notes home her 2nd week of school. About one a week informing us she was not listening and having to be told more than once. I received her progress report and everything was great except her listening skills needed improvement. A week later I had a routine meeting with the teacher she raved about how well she was doing in reading comprehension and math. Also informed me that my daughter was the youngest child in her class and all the other kids are 6 or about to be 6. She can tell that my daughter is as she put it a "newly" five year old and that she needs to remind her self when speaking to her. She was very appreciative that when she sends notes home that the following day my daughter will apologize and explain why she is apologizing. Now four weeks later I receive her report card and it shows that she needs improvement in listening, practicing self control, motor skills, and handwriting. I immediately contacted the school and they have set a meeting with the teacher, assistant principal, and myself. I just don't understand how she could have been doing so well academically and now all of a sudden with no warning in 4 weeks her motor skills and handwriting has tanked. She has homework M-T about an hours worth and I work with her and her handwriting is getting better if anything. I am just not sure if the academic portion was marked because of her behavior and why wouldn't the teacher have contacted me. Also along with the report card she sent a 1 page letter home and some of the stuff in it did not make sense to me. Like my daughter is eager to make friends but very immature and is having a difficult time. I know she has lots of friends many who were in pre-k with her. Also she states that she is eager to participate in comprehension lessons but has not attend enough but has perfect attendance.
Your daughter is too young for kindergarten, IMO. I'd put her back in preschool for now and let her start Kindergarten next year.
My daughter just turned 5 two weeks before school started. She was in pre-school a year before starting kindergarten with no issues. We started receiving notes home her 2nd week of school. About one a week informing us she was not listening and having to be told more than once. I received her progress report and everything was great except her listening skills needed improvement. A week later I had a routine meeting with the teacher she raved about how well she was doing in reading comprehension and math. Also informed me that my daughter was the youngest child in her class and all the other kids are 6 or about to be 6. She can tell that my daughter is as she put it a "newly" five year old and that she needs to remind her self when speaking to her. She was very appreciative that when she sends notes home that the following day my daughter will apologize and explain why she is apologizing.
Now four weeks later I receive her report card and it shows that she needs improvement in listening, practicing self control, motor skills, and handwriting. I immediately contacted the school and they have set a meeting with the teacher, assistant principal, and myself. I just don't understand how she could have been doing so well academically and now all of a sudden with no warning in 4 weeks her motor skills and handwriting has tanked. She has homework M-T about an hours worth and I work with her and her handwriting is getting better if anything. I am just not sure if the academic portion was marked because of her behavior and why wouldn't the teacher have contacted me. Also along with the report card she sent a 1 page letter home and some of the stuff in it did not make sense to me. Like my daughter is eager to make friends but very immature and is having a difficult time. I know she has lots of friends many who were in pre-k with her. Also she states that she is eager to participate in comprehension lessons but has not attend enough but has perfect attendance.
I'd only like to suggest that "needs improvement" means just that - she needs to improve. That's not a bad thing for the first quarter. I'm not sure why you wouldn't just go to the normal parent-teacher conference and talk to the teacher. No reason to drag the assistant Principal into a special meeting. My kids all had some sort of ah-ha moment in Kindergarten/first grade when they made an academic leap. My guess is that just hasn't happened with your daughter yet. This is not a big deal.
As for the comprehension lesson attend means attending to the story and lesson not attendance as in being physically there. She may be too young for school.
I believe that children should start school around 7 or 8 years old! School has gotten too hard! It's ridiculous I read somewhere that some Kindergartners even had tests! What happened to nap time?
The entire purpose of the progress report is to show where improvement is needed, so I wouldn't freak out. "Needs improvement" is fine...as long as there is something set up between you and the teacher to address how that improvement is going to be supported, both in school and at home.
Gross motor skills and handwriting (which is a fine motor skill) aren't academic areas, actually, and neither are the behavioral concerns that have come up, such as ability to attend, so those shouldn't really be reported on in the academic section of a progress report, but it really just depends on how the reports are set up and organized. At any rate, I would discuss with the teacher what steps are being taken to assist any issues in these areas that are coming up...typically occupational therapists address gross and fine motor skill deficits if it's determined that she is behind where she should be, developmentally, in these areas. It's possible that she's NOT, in fact, behind where she should be, developmentally, but is right on target given her age...just behind where other, older students are.
To respond to the previous poster, few kindergartens implement naptime. There are even children who have outgrown naps by preschool time, and do not sleep during naptime.
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