Last Week of School

I can't believe MJ has almost finished kindergarten. Her last day is Thursday. And it will be the last day I have to drive her, because next year she will be able to take the bus both to and from school. Yeah! I find it hard to believe, though, that she will be in first grade next year.

In the NYT this weekend, there was a big article about the age that kids are starting kindergarten. In affluent areas especially, more parents over time have been holding their kids back so that they are entering kindergarten when they are turning 7. In some areas, a full quarter of children have been held back a year. This trend has cleverly been labeled the greying of kindergarten. The author of the article cited quite a bit of research about how important relative standing is in a class. It made me wonder if we made a mistake putting MJ in kindergarten early. She has a fall birthday, and we felt like she was ready for K. Due to a district provision, there is a window where early fall birthdays can be considered for early admission. She was tested by the school pyschologist, and she felt that there was no question about it: MJ could go to K and do just fine. She has done well this year, and I am really pleased with her school experience. I wonder, though, what the benefits of keeping her back a year may have been. She would have certainly been reading quite well by the time she started K and would have been at the top of her class. And being in a Spanish immersion program, she probably wouldn't have gotten bored. I don't know. I think it was a good decision for her. We have exactly the same situation with T who has a September birthday.

Today, the three kindergarten classes put on a dance show. They each have been practicing a latin flavored dance, and then presented it today. MJ's class did El Baile Gorila. . The music had a modern feel to it, and there were great gorilla type grunts thoughout. The kids did a great job. They dance in boy-girl partners, and MJ was very into it. I especially loved the clapping over the head. MJ wasn't great with the shimmy shoulders. It was so fun to see what they've been learning. I love the cultural side of the immersion school. They had cute costumes for the kids. The girls had a simple bright pink skirt that they wore over black leotards and then these fancy pink sleeves that they pulled up on their shoulders. They had to wear buns and had a silver bow in their hair. It started at 1:15, and was completely over by 1:27. Unfortunately, AJ got there after MJ's class was done. Fortunately, they repeated the entire program because there were quite a few parents who came in late.