How to prepare children for kindergarten evaluation?

Question

My 5 yr old will start KG this fall.We got a letter from school inviting him for an 'evaluation/screening".i would like to know what that means and of similar experiences from other parents.

Answer 1

Your school system is inviting your to have your child's current development and knowledge evaluated before going to his first class.   All that means is that they will have an informal conversation about a range of topics and assess whether or not your child is ready for school and what information that they expect him to know that he already knows.  The five year old had a similar evaluation from the staff at his preschool.  They provided his parents with a list of the facts and skills he should know before entering kindergarten and what he does  already know so that we can take the time to make sure that he is ready for school.  We were told to give a copy of the report to the school in the fall so that he can placed in the class that will benefit him the most.

Answer 2

Talk to your child not using "baby talk".  Involve your child in cooking, reading, etc.  Give them responsibility for picking up their toys, clothes and helping you when possible.  Make it fun and give a lot of praise.  He/She needd to be able to dress him/herself and take care of his/her tolietry needs.  The rest will fall into place if  your child is developmentally ready to learn.  Learning take a level of maturity and responsibility.  Help your child with that this summer and you'll be surprised how well he/she will adjust.

Answer 3

The questions are basic here is what your kid will be asked-

They ask you child to count and say the abc's

Their first and last name

Their birthday

Their address

Their phone #

How to write numbers

How to write letters

Following directions- over, under, on top, beneath, next to

Patterns

Drawing and recognizing shapes- circles, squares, triangles

Answer 4

In our public school system, the evaluation is more along the lines of things such as:

  1. knowing their FULL name and parents' names

  2. shapes and colors

  3. rhyming words

  4. copying a set of blocks that the instructor builds

  5. identification of upper/lower case letters

  6. number recognition and counting of objects

  7. beginning/ending sounds of words

Honestly, I would not worry about it. Just let your little one go and see what happens. Too many parents put so much pressure on these 5 year old babies and it is too much stress for them and they will burn out if pushed too much!

Answer 5

If he is enrolled in preschool, he'll be prepared - they know exactly what they will need to know.

Answer 6

The topics listed by the other answerers is consistent to what I am doing in the past.  You'd be surprised how many parents believe that the school will teach them EVERYTHING, including potty training.   We give out a Readiness for Kindergarten check list so that parents are informed of what their child should work on between now and August.  This is also a way for children who obviously have other issues - learning English, need occupational therapy, etc- to be referred for these services.  

They also want to balance the kids based on gender, socioeconomic status (free/reduced/paid lunch) and race.  This is an easy way for the staff to informally guess at this information without staying in the kid's permanent file.

Answer 7

Were I am from the child rotates to different centers and the teachers evaluate:

Draw a self portrait and write name (to check fine motor skills &  very telling of child's  development how child draws self )

A mini circle time/listen to a story( to evaluate how child reacts to groups setting & able to answer questions about story & trasitions to activities)

Open Center (can child share, communicate w/peers. speech problems, group dynamics)