This is the post I meant to write when I wrote about my little boy growing up. Now that I’ve had a moment to sigh and reflect and then to record all the dates for the 2010-11 school year in my calendar, I’m feeling a little more onboard with the whole “going to kindergarten” thing.
Our elementary school is just around the corner from our house. I love the idea of walking to school. I sure have loved walking (or biking or sledding) Andrew to Monona Grove Nursery School, which is just across the street from his elementary school. It feels so neighborly and sweet to be right close by.
The Frank Allis school houses (in apparently very crowded conditions) two separate schools. The first is the normal Allis Elementary School. There’s a nice little write-up about that school on their website. Looks like it’s been a school for 92 years! The second is a dual language charter school called Nuestro Mundo (click here for more info on their program).
On Monday night, I hurried through the falling light to attend an informational session on Nuestro Mundo. As I crossed the street toward the school, I stopped for a moment to snap the photo above on my phone. I’ve never been in this school before, and it struck me that after I walked through the doors, it would never be “new” again. At some point, it will probably be so homey and familiar that I won’t even remember what it felt like when this building was new and foreign and a little bit scary.
The informational session was held in a third grade classroom, and the room was packed. It seemed to be about half English speakers and half Spanish speakers. The teacher who led the session addressed the room in Spanish and was then translated by another teacher. Questions were answered in both languages. Apparently, for future meetings (and PTO meetings and things like that) the presentations are done in Spanish, and English speakers wear a headset where they can hear simultaneous translations so the meetings go a little faster.
Nuestro Mundo is a charter school, and they enroll about 50% Spanish speaking kids and 50% English speaking kids. (See here for an article written about the school by my friend Samara.) In kindergarten, the instruction is 90% in Spanish, and it shifts about 10% a year until by third grade, instruction is half English, half Spanish. Children are taught literacy first in Spanish and then, after they are proficient readers, in English.
There is a lottery for enrollment in the school, and it sounds like about half of the students who want to get in actually make it. So in a way, I don’t want to get too caught up in wanting this program, because who knows if we’ll get in.
Here are some of my thoughts as I approach the idea of picking the right school for Andrew:
- I want Andrew to love school. I’d like him to be happy at school, to connect to his teacher, to smile with his classmates, to feel comfortable and confident and secure. I’d like him to skip on his way to school. And even if he never will tell me one little bit about his day, I’d like to know in my heart that it was a good one, full of nice friends, compassionate teachers, and fun activities.
- Wherever her goes, I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes my young boy a little while to warm up. Andrew seems to be an observer by nature. I notice that in group settings, he often waits on the sidelines and checks things out until he feels comfortable enough to jump in. That said, he has a great time in his own little sidelines, and he’s usually very content to play games or read or do art on his own until he’s ready to engage with others. At least in preschool, Andrew seems to be a kid who plays well with everyone but who doesn’t have a couple special friends. Whenever I ask him about his friends, he’ll rattle off the names of several kids, and if I try to suss out who he most enjoys spending time with, he smiles and throws up his hands, “I like all my friends at school, Mom!”
- Academically, I think that Andrew is pretty advanced right now. Due to his focused, cognitive nature, he’s been fascinated with letters and reading for the last year. If he’s in the mood, he can now read almost any picture book he picks up. I love it when he reads to Sylvia! His writing is somewhat legible, and he really enjoys writing “journals” and books. At the suggestion of his preschool teacher, I’ve made a little dictionary for him with all the words that he’s asked me to spell for him. It’s one of his favorite possessions. Andrew is also really interested in numbers and math, and he often asks me to quiz him with “a tricky one” about addition or subtraction. He loves telling the temperature, and we’ve been having fun this winter with negative numbers:)
Because of all this, I think that the academic content of a traditional kindergarten will be much less important than the social and enrichment aspects of going to school. In the dual immersion language program, it looks like kids score lower on academic achievement testing for several years (actually until 6th grade at which point they score better than traditional classrooms). I’m guessing that this is because the kids are working on language skills in addition to everything else. If Andrew goes to the dual immersion language program, his early literacy and math skills might not lag as much as they do for kids since he’s starting out with many early skills, and that makes me feel a little better, because to tell the truth, I have a bit of a hard time signing up for a program that could from some perspectives leave Andrew at an academic disadvantage. - The things that I love, love, love about Nuestro Mundo is that it could give Andrew something that Bryan and I can’t give him…fluency in a second language. Even more than that, though, the school is designed to help students become global citizens. I love the idea of Andrew gaining a multicultural education (actually, this is true in either school). I love the idea of a school where he learns at such an early age about how to dive in and learn a new language, a new culture.
Before I had kids, I remember thinking that I really wanted to expose them to a wide variety of people and cultures and situations. I had hoped to spend time in parts of town or in parts of the world that are very different from ours so that we could, together, build familiarity with that which initially feels foreign. We haven’t really done this at all, and so maybe this is a great way to start! - A couple weeks ago, I read an article in my alumni magazine, The Carleton Voice about Carleton’s growing international program. I thought the lesson applied strongly to our kindergarten choice:
About three years ago, stormy weather stranded Carleton President Robert Oden Jr. in the Detroit airport. Although his 37-hour delay was both regrettable and forgettable, he came across a magazine article that wasn’t. On the subject of global leadership, the writer had interviewed more than 20 leaders in business, industry, the arts, and government from around the world.
“When they were asked how future leaders should be educated, their answers were remarkably similar,” recalls President Oden. “Almost all of them said something like: ‘Become fluent in at least two, preferably three languages—and spend as much time as you possibly can with people from other countries.’ ” A number of the leaders went on to describe the importance of developing the knowledge, understanding, and skills required to effectively communicate and negotiate with people from anywhere in the world.”
Fine! I thought, I’ll be brave! I’ll sign Andrew up for a program in which he’ll be jumping into 90% Spanish. The teachers seem terrific, and they’ll help him along. Andrew seems to talk in gibberish half the time, and he eats up the Spanish words that I share with him, so picking up a new language should come pretty easy to him.
Ahh, I don’t know. I find myself really leaning toward Nuestro Mundo, but I’m wondering…what are your thoughts?
FYI, here’s the school data profile for the Frank Allis Elementary School and here’s the school data profile on Nuestro Mundo.
I think you’ve gotten at the heart of the matter when you say that the social and enrichment aspects of elementary school are key. In my opinion, the various rankings and test scores and whatnot for each school in the MMSD are pretty similar – and not at all a good reflection of the school itself. I have friends who obsess about getting their kids into the “right” class with the “best” teacher – and occasionally I feel like a Bad Parent because I just don’t give a hoot – but my kids and their kids seem to be on the same academic trajectory.
As I often say to Shara when she complains about having to memorize historical facts or do a series of algebraic equations (“When am I ever going to use this in real life?”), it isn’t the content that is important, as it is the learning skills, the stick-to-it-iveness, and the understanding of certain general concepts that one gains. What kids whose parents are as smart and involved in their lives as you and Bryan learn in school is much less the academic and much more the group dynamic and the “who am I”.
Of all the things you’ve written about this kindergarten decision, the most compelling is that you have a local school you can walk to and be involved with.
Hi Karen,
So what I’m hearing is that I can go ahead and be a less-involved parent and my kids will probably do just fine. That they’re mostly going to be learning about who they are and developing some learning skills. And since both schools we’re talking about are a few blocks away, and since both encourage parent involvement, it’s all OK:)
Wow, I can’t believe Andrew is starting kindergarten in the fall, I remember holding him when he was less than a week old!
I have very fond memories of going to school at Frank Allis.I was one of the first classes to plant the gardens in the front and on the left side of the school, and remember having a lot of fun working on that with my class.While I can’t say anything on Nuestro Mundo, I can tell you that no matter where Andrew goes to school, he will enjoy learning new things and making new friends!
Thanks for your reply, Emma:) I’m so glad you enjoyed Frank Allis. The kids and I love to walk to the school to see how the gardens are doing. That’s such a cool project! I appreciate your encouraging words. I’ll bet my little guy will indeed love whatever school he ends up attending.
This is a very interesting and difficult decision, Althea & Bryan. Althea, I often think about how your mom was involved with your school and sussed out which teachers she wanted you to have each year. Even though we were in the same schools before high school, you and I never had the same teachers. Mine were not the nurturing teachers that Margot chose. It’s something I’ve promised myself that I’ll do for Evie: be very involved in making sure her education is in a caring welcoming environment. Would you feel comfortable in Nuestro Mundo and be welcomed there as a parent and volunteer? How large are the class sizes in the different programs?
Kate Arnold and I were just talking about DeForest yesterday and our tune has changed a bit even from 1-2 years ago. We are now remembering and valuing more the social and confidence-building experiences we had and feeling less concern over being disadvantaged by the subpar academics.
I also want to give Evie that multi-cultural experience and global citizenship that I value in my own family members so much. I’ve been referred to the book, The Bilingual Edge (but haven’t read it). I hear one of the messages is that long-term benefits of bilingual kids outweigh any slow start, so parents should speak a second language with their kids even if the parents don’t hardly know the language themselves. Feeling inspired, we (Evie and I) speak Spanish together in the mornings for a few hours until Evie says, “No saying that, mommy!” or until I, myself, get tired and want to say more complicated things without thinking so hard:) I’m wondering what she’ll think when we go to Mexico next month. It will be interesting to hear her thoughts on the Spanish around us then!
Good luck with this decision. Thanks for sharing and letting me learn from you!
Thanks for your reply, Heather! It’s cool that you’ve been speaking Spanish to Evie. I can imagine her saying, “No saying that, Mommy!” cute:)
You said that you think about how my mom sussed out which teachers she wanted me to have each year. That got me thinking…”Did she?” The only year I remember her potentially requesting a teacher was in 6th grade. She didn’t like the idea of kids jumping all the way from a single teacher to four teachers in four different classrooms, so I think she may have requested that I get one of the two-teacher teams.
In fact, as I recall (siblings, if you’re reading this, am I right?), Mom didn’t do a lot of teacher-management. I recall that she didn’t like the idea of choosing a teacher based on another parent’s experiences because different people and their situations are so different. Mom didn’t step in much to facilitate the teacher relationships. With me and Michael, she also wasn’t able to volunteer in the classroom, and she wasn’t ever in the PTA. She did, however, always have good, personal relationships with my teachers. I think she always made a real effort to get to know them. When Michael had a really bad third grade teacher, she considered pulling him out to home school him, but she decided that working through those tough experiences might actually be a good thing, so she left him in. In that case, however, she did make sure that Maretta and Joe didn’t get that same teacher.
And maybe with Maretta and Joe she did request some teachers because she was at that time so familiar with the schools and the teachers. I’m not sure.
Already with preschool, I had suggestions from parents to sign Andrew up with one set of teachers, but I decided not to try to direct his school experiences too much. It’s just so hard to know that just because someone loved or didn’t love their teachers that my kids would have the same experience.
Anyway, thanks again for sharing your thoughts. I think Nuestro Mundo seems to really encourage parent involvement/volunteering, and the teacher I met seems like just a really caring, lovely woman. Classroom size between the two schools is pretty similar.
Decisions, decisions. Or not! Figuring out one’s parenting philosophy seems to be an ever evolving task:)
Nuestro Mundo sounds like a really cool program. I know Andrew will get a lot out of school, regardless of what kindergarten he goes to next year. The most important thing for any child is to have a family at home that cares about a child’s needs and helps in the learning process. My mom has taught a lot of kids who were not fortunate enough to have interested parents at home and that really created stumbling blocks for the kids’ education.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/214989/page/1
Althea, I check in on “your family’ about once a week, I have never posted a comment. I frequently hear your Mom, in your writings. Checking in feels like I am giving your Mom a hug. I just wanted to add my two cents about teachers and school. I was President of the PTO and very active at school, as well as serving for three years on the school board. I move my children to Edgewood for high school. I wish I would have sent them to a private school for their entire school career.
The first part, is I would like you to read the newsweek article about children titled “Even Babies Discrimnate”. I found this article interesting, and have witnessed many of the comments first hand at school. I know nothing about the political leanings of Newsweek, I just ran across this article in a doctor’s office, and it stuck with me. I asked: Aare we doing all this for not???
My second comment is that I found it frustrating as a parent that my children were sometimes used as “role models” for another childs bad behavior. For instance, Laurie did not contribute in class, so they placed her next to someone that talked all the time. There were 26 or 27 students in that third grade class, 11 identified as special needs. What happened? Good idea, the teacher thought that the other little girl would talk less and Laurie would talk more. However, Laurie talked even less (if that was possible) and the other student talked more. I volunteered in this classroom. I saw a teacher over worked and underpaid. I would like you to really pay attention to class size. Windsor, class size was by the building. This means in kindergarten, they have 18 to 1 teacher. In third grade 26 to 1 teacher. Laurie and Marretta were in this “bubble” that moved through the school system. Kindergarten, First and Second Grades had four teachers, then suddenly the same number of kids had three teachers. I had a petition for parents to sign at a music program that year, requesting that in fourth grade the students go back to four teachers. It worked and the next year this class had four teachers, and fifth grade, too. I truly believe class size is paramont to every child sucess. I also believe that test scores are meaningless. Andrew is bright, has caring parents and will suceed where ever you place him. However, you want to give him the best opportunities you possible can. My husband would say: “you want their bucket of life skills to be overflowing, not just full.” Madison has great private schools, including Country Day School, Edgewood, and St Dennis, etc. Maybe along with your other research this option should also be explored?
I think your Mom requested teachers. I say that, because I requested teachers, and I took her advice.
Hi Linda,
Thanks so much for replying. It’s neat to know that you keep up with the Babler kids.
I read the Newsweek article…thanks for sharing that. And I appreciate hearing about your experiences with your kids and some of the issues you ran into. Sounds like Edgewood was a good fit.
As we head into the world of schooling, there seems like there’s going to be lots of issues and decisions!
Thanks again for the comments, and take care:)
~Althea
Just for counterpoint, perhaps …
I went to a private school for K-2 and I’m not sure it’s a better option than public schools. It may well depend on the private school being considered and the public school system it is being compared against. I’d like to note that I was placed in private school kindergarten at age 4 because I received free tuition as a teacher’s kid and that made it cheaper than daycare for my family. Teachers in private schools (at least the two my mother taught at) are paid far worse than teachers in public school, although the class sizes are indeed smaller. They are frequently expected to donate their free time and resources just as teachers are in public schools.
My mother placed me in public school in 3rd grade because she had worked with the 3rd grade teacher at the private school I attended and did not like the way she handled her classes. Also, I think she wanted to transition me to a school with more diversity and perhaps more options.
The curriculum at private school was no more advanced than the curriculum I encountered at public school. I was already reading when I started school and remember sitting at my desk when I finished my work, not doing much (specifically in a private school second grade), until I figured out that I could hollow out crayons with my pencil to make canoes. I LOVED making crayon canoes. I’m surprised I got away with that because it was fairly messy and I made a lot of crayon canoes.
So I kind of want to yell “Don’t let Andrew resort to making crayon canoes!”, but that sounds silly. I hope that both private and public school education has changed in the 30 years that have passed since I was in kindergarten.
But wow, a challenge and engagement. That would be good!
Hi Lisa,
Your note about the crayon canoes made me laugh and laugh. I really hope that wherever he attends school that Andrew’s teachers have the ability and the inclanation to give Andrew and warm, loving, intellectually stimulating place to learn and grow. I hate the idea of him being bored or “at sea” or disconnected. Seems like so much of it depends on the teacher, the number of kids they have, the needs and behavior of the other kids, and the resources they all have to work with. Fingers crossed that his first year is a good one!