A kid's perspective on K5 screening.

This is the first year that our local elementary school has done any kindergarten screening. Personally, I think that it's probably a good thing - it is obvious that the incoming class ranges from kids who have been in a somewhat structured environment for quite a while to those leaving their moms for the first time.

The screening took place in the kindergarten room, 18 children at a time. There were probably at least nine adults there - all of the kindergarten teachers, the reading specialist, the school psychologist and a few other adults whose credentials I didn't catch. It was explained to the parents that the kids would be reading a story together and then doing some activities and crafts that followed up on the story.

It was pretty obvious to the parents that this was an opportunity to see how the kids would deal with the separation as well as a chance to evaluate their reading readiness, story retention, and other academic skills.

After it was over, I asked Little J what he thought about the whole experience. He expressed some concern that the room didn't have quite as many toys as he was used to. Then he thought for a minute and said, "I'm not sure how smart the kindergarten teacher is either."

That surprised me, as he's never made a comment like that before, so I asked him what made him say that. He replied, "Well, she kept asking me questions about the story like who was in it and what they did. And we had just finished the story and she had to have been paying attention 'cause she was the one who read it!" He shook his head in disbelief that anyone could have had so many questions about what he deemed a pretty basic story.

I wish his teacher luck this year!!