Exam for pre school?

Question

My daughter is 4 years old currently having exam in her kindergarten. I did revision with her and I found that she can match the alphabet wih the pictures and small alphabet to capital alphabet. But I think she has a problwm in writing the sequence of alphabet in order. She knows her ABC but she cant when she writes it she just can't follow the sequence. is that normal or is she having some problem. But she writes it for numbers.It will helpful if any kindergarten teacher or mothers to comments.

Answer 1

One thing we all must keep in mind is that all children do not develop the same skills at the same time. However, most children in kindergarten are at least 5 by now. So she is very young! If she can do as much as you are saying she is very much ahead of the game. Keeping her age in mind, you should know that it's not abnormal for a child in Kindergarten (5yr olds, i.e.) to have some difficulty with writing, let alone writing the alphabet in order. If the school your child is attending requires this to get into grade 1, I'd say they are pushing a bit much. Perhaps they feel she is too young to go on to grade 1. She may not be ready socially. Are there other 4 year olds in her class?
Work with your daughter without pressuring her. You don't want to frustrate her at such a young age. Most children will pick up these skills early on in the first grade. Please realize, however, I'm speaking about a 5 year old. ( If by the end of the first quarter of first grade she is still struggling, then you will know there might be a problem.(If she were 5) She may need to be put back into kindergarten . If you push her on, she will appear to be having a learning disability later on when actually it was a developmental difficulty and she really just wasn't ready.

I'm surprised the school hasn't set up a meeting to discuss these options. Is this a private school? Private schools sometimes do not tend to like to deal with learning or developmental problems. They will tend to retain the child or worse push the child on. If she does go on to grade 1the problem then becomes compounded. The child will miss out on the skills she didn't get in the kindergarten. She will then struggle with the new skills as she won't have the foundation from kindergarten. This will go on until the she is then 2 years behind and appears to have a learning disability.

I would ask to have a Child Study meeting with a team of educators from your school. This usually consists of the teacher, principal, nurse and school psychologist. They will review her records and together with you come up with a plan. If her age is not a factor and she is emotionally and socially ready for first grade I would give her a try and move her ahead. I would keep open the option of putting her back early in the first few weeks if it doesn't work out. If you encourage her and show that you support her, she will not be embarrassed by being put back. If anything she will be relieved as the pressure will then be off.

The book listed below is a great resource--
"The First Five Years of Life" (University Paperbacks) (Paperback)
by Arnold Gesell (Author)

Good luck to you:)!