For some reason I have this voice in my head from my mother that keeps telling me "kindergarten and first grade are not meant for little boys". Being a very good daughter, I ALWAYS listened to my mother and knew that whatever she said must be true! I thought about this quite a bit when I was in high school working with kindergartners and first graders. I noticed that the boys did have quite a bit more energy and were not as able to sit still for very long. It seemed like they just wanted to play, do their own thing and not be bothered much by this whole school thing.
I think I am leaning towards agreeing with my mother (oh no!). I do not think we should be grouping students according to their age. I like the idea of all students moving freely about the school in the classes that best suit their needs. I also like the idea of students starting school when they are ready, and not when the state thinks they are old enough.
So, who does belong in kindergarten and first grade? Will our school system ever change to fit their needs?
This is not new thinking. In fact, there is law that states children do not have to be entered into school at such a young age. I believe in order to 'not' have to make up a few early years of in-school learning, a child must be enrolled by the 3rd grade, without penalty. I'm guessing however most folks put their kids in school because that is just what you do. Besides, I'm also guessing that since many parents think of school as child care, they can't wait for their children to start. As for your point however, I'm not certain that it's an issue of gender. As we have seen, it might boil down to the creativity of working with the classroom space in order to address the needs of those children that need to "move" about. I don't foresee a district or system changing to fit the needs. Looks like you'll have to take on this challenge and task with an activist approach to your own classroom environment.
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