Big Vern

Hiya

Can anyone give me a quick overview of the US school system??

My daughter will be just five when we get out there in April, and she's already been at school here in the UK for a year.

At what age do children in the US start?? What exactly is Kindergarten? Is it the equivalent of the 'Reception' year here in the UK, i.e. the year of teaching before Year 1 proper??

Any advice would be most appreciated....

geordiegirl2

Hi, the American system is a year behind ours so your daughter will go into kindergarten i think which is like our nursery system.Do you know many American schools require children to have the Hep B immunisation which is not part of the uk programme?:

ms_bhon

I believe I started kindergarten when I was 5 and then 1st grade when I was 6. (mind you, this was in 1970!)

Kindergarten took place at the primary/elementary school, only it was either in the morning or afternoon. We had games, art classes and had story time, but it wasn't until the first grade that we were taught to read. Nowadays, however, I believe kids are taught to read in kindergarten, or maybe even pre-school which takes place when a kid is 4.

I reccommend you locate the homepage of the school system of where you plan to move and email them with your inquiry.

Ahh... thinking about it, its seems like just yesterday... (not really

Durhams

Here in Chicago, the kids can go into whichever year you want them to go into.

We were given the choice when we came. But opted to put them in the correct grade for their ages, as they both have birthdays in June .

At 5 they start Kindergarten but that is only for half days, and some kids are almost 6 by the time the start kindergarten, as they have birthdays sept time.the dates run from Sept - Aug as they do in the UK.

Durhams

And yes they did have to have Hepititis B shots before they were allowed to register. Also Varicella, (Chicken Pox) vaccine, unless you could prove that they had already had the viurs.

yorkshirelass

Hi!

My oldest son is now in 2nd grade and my youngest will be starting kindergarten in August of this year. Your child has to have turned 5 as of the start of the official school year. My youngest just makes the cut off by a matter of a couple of weeks.

In my experience with the school district that my children are zoned for, a child entering kindergarten is expected to basically know the following besides the usual shapes, colours, being able to sit still and listen in a class setting, etc: recognize all lower and upper case letters of the alphabet, can sound out the basic alphabet phonograms, how to write their name, recognize and write up to #100, know their phone number, address. I was and still am pleasantly surprised with the public education system where I am. My only real critisicm was at the amount of colouring that the children do in kindergarten. I was told it all had to do with developing hand-eye coordination and patience tha would help the student become a neat writer. Waste of time I thought at the time, but now I have to say that my son has extremely neat handwriting for his age compared to friends' sons who are in private schooling where they didn't get to do any colouring. My 2nd grader is a gifted student and I find his teachers constantly challenge him and I am amazed at what he is learning.

You should contact the school where your daughter will be going as kindergarten roundups are any day now. You will learn much more information on that day aobut what your school district expects your child to know. Also, if she is more advanced they will look at moving her up a grade. We had that choice, but decided not to pursue it as my son was born in the June so is already one of the younger students and did not want to push him into situations with even older students if you know what I mean.

Great website is http://www.greatschools.net/

CaliforniaBride

Great website, thanks for the link.

kazzuk

My daughter was 5 when we moved over last year. She goes to a private school here in Florida. After just 3 months they moved her from Kindergarten to 1st grade because she had already done the same work in school in the UK. She absolutely loves school. She has become VERY confident and has an American accent after just 9 months. I find that she is constantly challenged. She has homework every night. Her spelling test this week included words such as equivalent, Abraham Lincoln and enough!!!

I think so much depends on where you live, as to the education that your child will get. We chose Sarasota because we felt it offered the best schooling for our children. If you contact your county education department, they will send you a book of all the schools in the county and this will give you results of SATs etc.

Good Luck

monster

The cut off-dates for the school year are state/city dependent. Here the school year starts in August, but you only have to be 5 before the 1st of December to start kindergarten.

British children already in the school system are usually allowed to go up a grade so they continue at a similar level. Sometimes children with birthdays near the cut off point are allowed to move up/down -these decisions are normally made school by school, child by child.