Pre-K Corner: Gifted & Talented test is "just like homework"
On the eve of my four-year-old daughter’s date with the gifted & talented examiner, we sat down together with the Department of Education's sample test, a stack of papers I’d printed out the week...
View ArticlePre-K Corner: Pledging allegiance to the pledge
When I was in elementary school, I kicked off each day in the classroom by facing the flag, right hand over heart, and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. So did my husband, who was (and still is) a...
View ArticlePre-K Corner: Scrambling for spots
Now is the time of year when parents of 3 and 4-year-olds fill out applications, take deep breaths, and then…wait. The pre-K application period begins today, Monday March 7, but placement letters...
View ArticleLiving with a learning disability
The other day, I was on the phone with my daughters’ pediatrician. I had called with concerns about my 6-year-old, Night Owl, who has learning disabilities and motor delays, and in her most reassuring...
View ArticlePre-K Corner: Moving on after a PTA theft
By now, you may have heard about the case of the missing PTA dollars at PS 29 (if you haven’t, you can read about it here and here). For a school that relies on parent fundraising to offset harsh...
View ArticlePre-K Corner: The G&T results are in...but will we go?
As the last glorious day of Spring Break washed over us in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden–a happy mess of pink petals and muddy feet–an e-mail slid silently into my in-box. At home that evening, I saw it:...
View ArticlePre-K corner: Lessons from a playground fire
The morning of Mothers’ Day, word spread quickly through the neighborhood: a blaze had been set sometime overnight on the playground of PS 29. Outside, a clump of parents and children pressed against...
View ArticlePre-K Corner: Summer, don't sabotage our sleep!
The end of the school year is in sight, and the lingering light is already messing with my kids' bedtimes, even before the joyous anarchy of vacation has set in. These past few bright evenings, I’ve...
View ArticlePre-K Corner: Too young for kindergarten?
New York City public schools’ age cutoff has never made much sense to me. In the rest of the country (and at most NYC private schools) children must turn five by the fall, or even summer, to enter...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pre-K Corner: The year ends with ups, downs, & challenges ahead
Ed note: After two years of blogging from the pre-K and kindergarten corners of her school in Brooklyn, Claiborne Milde will also be "stepping up" and moving on to different endeavors. Here's her...
View Article
