My daughter is one of the youngest in her grade.  She is in 1st grade and won't be 6 until the end of October.  Last year, during Kindergarten round up, the Principal strongly suggested that we put her in early 5's instead of kindergarten.  I refused because she had already been in Parents as Teachers, 3 year-old preschool and 4 year-old preschool (which was taught at the school by one of the Kindergarten teachers).  The teacher from 4 year-old preschool said that she was more than ready to go to school the next year.

Well, being new to the area, I had no idea about the teachers.  My daughter was placed in the least favorite teacher's classroom.  the only feedback I really got from my daughter was that he teacher "yells a lot" (not a good sign).  This teacher basically told me from day one, without even testing my child, that she would have to be held back.  The last conference of the year, she sent me a note saying that we needed to meet to "talk about next year", so I made the meeting time.  The day before this meeting, the teacher called and said that she finally tested my daughter, and she was shocked because she tested way higher than she expected.  I felt like saying "just think how well she would have done if you wouldn't have written her off in the beginning"?

So, now she is in first grade.  We went to orientation and she is the youngest and smallest child in her class.  The little boys love her (great).  Anyway, her teacher said that my daughter is "quiet" (wish that were true at home) and they were going to test her and see what she could do.  At first I thought "great, another year of this".  But, to my pleasant surprise, I was sent home a report on her "literature" skills.  She had scored a perfect 100%.  The next week I received a letter asking permission to enter her in their Literature program, which is for the kids who scored the best.  Yay!  And, my daughter is so excited because she gets *more* work than the other kids (guess she hasn't figured that one out yet) and she gets different books and goes to the library more.

It makes me happy that they didn't write her off this year.  My daughter has always loved stories and books and has been trying so hard to learn how to read and spell.  She has memorized about 50+ books that she has, and has a membership to our city library.  Hopefully this one step will keep her ahead in the game and will keep future teachers from letting her fall in the gaps.