Pre-K Assessment

[blandino]

One of my DCG will be starting Pre-K at a private school next year. Her mom scheduled her "entrance assessment" for next week. Does anyone have any familiarity with what one entails ?

I'm just positive she will pass with flying colors, but I am just very curious.

At (almost) 4, she has all color/letter/number recognition, basic addition & subtraction skills, can sign 20 +\- signs, can writer
her name, etc. hopefully they aren't expecting more than that from a almost 4 year old.

[Crystal]

She's fine

[mamac]

My ds started kindergarten this year and the assessment test only took about 5 minutes. They asked a few questions about colors, numbers, and letters. They had him draw a picture of something (don't remember what) and they asked if he could stand on one foot. They also just asked him a few questions about himself I guess to see how his speech was.

I think your dkg is ahead of the game for kindergarten, let alone Pre-k!

[blandino]

My ds started kindergarten this year and the assessment test only took about 5 minutes. They asked a few questions about colors, numbers, and letters. They had him draw a picture of something (don't remember what) and they asked if he could stand on one foot. They also just asked him a few questions about himself I guess to see how his speech was.

I think your dkg is ahead of the game for kindergarten, let alone Pre-k!

Thanks I guess I feel like this is an assessment of me, as well as her. She is very bright, and I have worked hard getting her ready - but I keep fearing there is some area that I have just completely forgot to pay attention to. Luckily DCM is one of my BFF, so she will share the results (if she gets them).

I am just always curious how they are doing, from an unbiased source. Today, I was asking her about rhyming (an area I read could be on the evaluation) and I said what rhymes with "cat" and she did the sign for "cat". haha - she may not know her rhyming words - but I think the kid is doing more than okay. happy face

Maybe it's horrible, but an actual test from an unbiased source would actually give a tangible number to all my hard work (I have 3 going to school this year) ?!? Even though I know how much they have learned, and how ahead they are - I kind of want a tangible sign (that's probably a horrible thing to say). But I feel like sometimes in this job, there are very few tangible rewards/milestones/accomplishments.

[cheerfuldom]

I bet it is more about being around her and seeing her maturity level. can she remain calm? can she follow a basic instruction and answer a basic question? that sort of thing. are there any red flags for special needs kids? an experienced assessor can see many of those red flags pretty quick. i seriously doubt there will be much in the way of testing, academically that is.

[preschoolteacher]

Sounds like she'll do great. I agree that it sounds like she would rock an entrance exam to kindergarten, let alone pre-K.

Remember that those exams won't do her knowledge justice, though! There is no way a brief assessment can capture everything she knows and can do.

Not every skill a child possesses can come out in an exam conducted in an unfamiliar place by unfamiliar people.

[Willow]

When my kids had their assessments social/emotional, cognitive and physical development was evaluated.

The evaluators said they'd prefer to see a child who was on track socially/emotionally because then they'd be capable of learning in a classroom. Next was physical development, did they have self help skills and that sort of thing and last on the list of importance was cognitive abilities. It's far easier for a teacher to teach letters, numbers, shapes and colors to a child who can sit and listen respectfully, than for them to have to try to teach the rest of the class those skills while managing a child who was out of control behaviorally.

Hearing and vision were also checked.

[LittleD]

Does anybody have a paper checklist they would like to share? I found a few last year, but nothing I could print out. Tried to make my own but it didn't turn out that well.

[Blackcat31]

Does anybody have a paper checklist they would like to share? I found a few last year, but nothing I could print out. Tried to make my own but it didn't turn out that well.

http://www.leapfrog.com/en/leapfrog_parents/kindergarten/learning_for_life/article__ready_or.html

This site offers a pretty simple printable pdf checklist.

There are lots out there and you might also want to check and see if your school district has one available on their site so you know what the schools in your area are looking for.

[Blackcat31]

Here's another one that is pretty lengthy but still a good one.

http://www.preschoollearningcenter.org/images/upload/developmental_checklist.pdf

[LittleD]

Thanks! I'll check into those later!