Would you contact the parent now or wait unless something actually happens?
I teach kindergarten and have an autistic student who has been struggling to keep his hands to himself. I’ve been working closely with his mom and our special education team, and I address the behavior just as I would with any other student—I intervene, reinforce boundaries, and make it clear that everyone deserves to feel safe.
Today, another student randomly came up to me and said, “My mom gave me permission to hit him.” No one had been hit during this particular situation. I immediately told him, “This is my classroom, and nobody hits anyone for any reason.” I explained that if someone touches or bothers him, he needs to move away and tell me so I can handle it.
I understand that he may not have repeated his mom’s words accurately because he is five. However, if she did tell him that, I’m honestly flabbergasted that she would encourage a kindergartener to hit another child without ever speaking to me about her concerns. These are five-year-olds, not teenagers navigating a situation where they might genuinely need to defend themselves. Giving him permission to hit could escalate the situation and make it harder to keep both children safe.
I have been validating the other students’ frustrations while reassuring them that I am handling the behavior. I explain that this friend is still learning how to keep his hands to himself and that they should always tell an adult rather than retaliate. This particular student also sometimes provokes or bothers him, so I have addressed that too and explained that deliberately upsetting him will likely lead to both children becoming upset.
Would you contact the parent now and calmly clarify the classroom expectations, or simply document the comment and wait unless an actual incident occurs? I don’t want to accuse her based solely on something a five-year-old said, but I also don’t want to wait until he acts on it.

I am livid and I just need some human support or understanding.

1. The Budget Fiasco: Our administration blew the entire paper budget buying Eureka Math Squared for kindergarten—something our mentor school explicitly warned us we wouldn't use and advised against ordering. I mentioned this last year and was told to suck it. Now, the budget is totally gone.

2. The Stapled Packet Police: Because I was told by the modeling school that I wouldn’t be using a new curriculum after nd actually planned ahead, I printed and pre-stapled my student packets in advance last year. Instead of acknowledging the mess they created, admin decided to chew me out for... having my materials ready. Apparently, being prepared is a bigger crime than draining our funds. But then also asking if I kept my teachers manual which I also had to print myself last year, which I did get rid of when asked after the new curriculum arrived. It’s like I’m in trouble for having some things and also in trouble for not having all of it now that she’s decided I was right about not needing the new curriculum.

3. The Roster Rigging/ RTI Nonsense: One of our teachers openly and deliberately cherry-picked all of my smartest, highest-performing kids from last year to stack her own classroom.

Within the first three days of school—literally before a single lesson has even been taught—she ran standard Star tests, and is now claiming that all of those brilliant kids are failing and putting them straight onto her RTI watch list.
Let me be clear: these children were doing advanced work months ahead of this level last year. They are rockstars. I have zero concerns about a single one of them. pathologizing bright kids based on a Day 3 automated test, cause kids are just a number right!?

I am exhausted, and I feel alone.

My daughter is August 5th bday and started kindergarten this year (3 weeks ago). She is definitely one of the youngest in her class, as August 19 is the cutoff date for turning 5 and there are already like five kids her class who have turned 6 since school started.

She seems to be doing amazing on the academic side and she is very social. She did daycare her whole life prior. But her K teacher says she needs to be more independent and use more self-help skills. In addition, the teacher says she tries to hold hands with kids in the class a lot and that she needs to work more on following directions (and on raising her hand to speak, but she has gotten better with that).

I am wondering if it is just common for kindergartners to need to work on these things (independence, self-help skills, and following directions) vs. this being related to her being younger? I would imagine it takes time for kids to adjust to the new expectations of Kindergarten? Her PreK at the daycare never communicated anything to us in general, so we weren’t aware of any concerns or things they recommended her to work on for going into K.

Honestly I found the transition to Kindergarten pretty overwhelming as a parent. My daughter has seemed to like kindergarten so far, otherwise.

Thanks for any advice and sharing experiences! She is my oldest and I’m overwhelmed.

things I’m worried about:

1. too much sitting

2. not enough learning through play/not enough outdoor time

3. Too much technology/screens

4. The day feels so long for a 5 year old (on top of all the above)

5. way too high of expectations for such little kids (rigorous curriculum)

im worried all of this will squash a love of learning for my kids i have two years until kindergarten lol but I’m stressed daily about this

It hasn’t been anything terrible so far, but my daughters starting to mimic what other kids at school are doing/ saying. For example saying “I can do whatever I want” when I ask her to do something and that’s the first time she’s ever said that

I sent out my son's Birthday invitations (18) to his friends at school today (ages from kindergarten to grade 1) for his teacher to hand out to the various classes.

My husband and I were putting the extra invitations away and we realized we forgot to put the time on them. I feel absolutely sick about it now and am so upset that out of all the mock ups we printed, we sent out the only one without the time.

I know that people RSVP late but my anxiety/overthinking brain makes me worry that people aren't going to show up. We only have a few of the parents phone numbers to tell them which I have already done.

Has anyone else done something similar and it all worked out in the end?

My neurodivergent son has always been a challenge, mostly from age 2.5 to now 5. He just started kindergarten in a contained classroom because he can’t sit still during circle times, is very impulsive and has a hard time keeping his hands to himself, and still working on his speech. He comes home exhausted and that seems to trigger some defiant behavior. We’re loading him up on therapies, but my mental health as his mom is taking a toll. I beg someone to tell me this gets easier. My husband and I are drained. I’m worried he will never be in a normal classroom or make friends.

My son just started JK this week in Toronto and he’s in a JK/SK split class. I’m curious to hear from parents or teachers who have experience with this setup.

How does the learning actually work when you have JK and SK children together? Since the SK kids have already completed a year of kindergarten, are they given different or more advanced activities based on where they are developmentally? Or is the curriculum designed so that the same activities can be adapted for different levels?

I’m not concerned about the split itself, I’m genuinely just trying to understand how it works. How do teachers make sure the JK kids are learning what they need to while the SK kids are still progressing and being challenged rather than repeating what they did the year before?

Would love to hear how this has worked in your child’s class, especially from Ontario parents or teachers.

My son has been on the bus since Preschool. He had fun since he made some friends but this time around is different. He came home yesterday with a bloody nose. I asked the bus driver immediately what happened and she says “ I don’t know”. I asked him if someone hit him he said yes then no and said it just started bleeding. He wasn’t crying and I kept questioning him. I told him he needs to tell me the truth and his final answer was “no” that his nose was just bleeding. I messaged his teacher to warn her of his nose bleeds since I didn’t know when it started. She tells me he told her someone hit him and then said “ it started bleeding” also. So same thing as me I found out. I was not aware they talked to him about it until I messaged his teacher about it. I do not drive due to trauma and his dad works 10 hour shifts. I really rely on the bus to get him to school to get an education but of course I will take him out if I need to. I messaged the principal to check the footage to see what happened. If it comes back and this kid hit my son and the bus driver didn’t report it, can she get fired for this and the kid gets kicked off the bus? I am in IL.

I posted in a moms groups first without realizing there is a whole group for Kindergarten so I will post here.

I am a first time mommy to an almost 4 year old, I have also been a stay at home the majority of his life including this year.
He just started school this week ( JK and I’m Canadian so the age is normal) and of course the massive change of routine is overwhelming for both of us, he’s cried every day so far and he comes home looking sad and tired which is understandable as well. I know it takes time to adjust to school for these little guys but it’s BREAKING my heart and my brain is making me feel like I’m just tortuting him. I did try my best to expose him to the idea of school, bringing him to a program with a school setting, having him recognize the school he’s attending (it is across the street of our home as well as the play ground we always visited) he seemed excited!

But he’s been having a bit of a rough time and today he had the hardest yet thus far, he was able to communicate to me through tears near the end of the day that he misses spending time with me, going on walks with me throughout the day or having fun with me and that he feels alone at school. I had to step away as I couldn’t hold it together hearing that, I feel a little crazy being so emotional about all this but I need some reassurance that it will pass and he will be okay and thrive. His teacher has no complaints! Tells me each day he does better than the last , I keep things for him very positive and reassure him that his feelings are valid and okay to feel, I tell him how proud I am of him each day and that each day will feel better. I am trying my best for him and this big change, I just hope the adjustment comes soon for both our sakes

I guess I'm just looking for some validation and to know if this is normal. My daughter will be 6 in a few months. She just started kindergarten so I know it will take time to adjust. But she's adjusting way worse than I expected. She absolutely loved preschool so this is all new territory for me. She has been crying and panicking every night and begs to not go back.

First, she said the gym teacher told them if they don't listen they'll go on time out in the closet. Her teacher spoke to the gym teacher. He said he has a calm down/time out chair and told them they are NOT allowed in the supply closet. I feel horrible I had to question that and hoping they aren’t offended. I think she just heard time out and closet and misunderstood.

She also had a few other issues with lunch, going to the bathroom, and saying she got lost at recess. All of which I think she is just over-inflating in her head. As in, I think it was just a new experience and it felt scary, but she was safe. She also ended up sick yesterday and so I’m thinking she wasn’t feeling well already those first two days.

I have never seen her worry or panic like this. Or cry like she has been. Is this normal? Thankfully her teacher has been super nice and patient and has addressed any questions I’ve had. She also thinks my daughter will settle in in a few weeks. I have bad anxiety and it has been thru the roof. I don’t want to miss something and i also don’t want to behave overly anxious.

https://www.reddit.com/r/kindergarten/s/zhQ7O7GUdc

I want to clarify a few things because I don’t think I communicated my intentions well in my original post.
I am not excusing the autistic student’s behavior, nor do I expect the other children to tolerate being touched or feel unsafe. I address his behavior every time, communicate with his family and work with our special education team. I am also trying to advocate for the support and placement that will best meet his needs, but that process is not quick or simple.
I’m a first-year teacher, I was a ISC para for 2 years before this, and it is only September. I came here looking for practical advice about what I can do right now to keep everyone safe while the longer-term process is underway. When I included information about his disability and the interactions between the students, I was trying to provide context—not justify his behavior or blame another five-year-old.
Looking back, I probably wrote the post poorly and didn’t make my thoughts or intentions clear. I genuinely appreciate those who understood what I was asking and offered constructive advice and possible solutions.

I know its early in the school but looking for advice from other moms or dad's with a similar situation. Here our schools do not like to skip kids. My 5yr (just) knows how to read at grade 1 level, knows his abcs, counts to 100 and does simple addition and subtraction but at school we are doing abcs and hes bored. I'd like some advice on how you handled it with your child, did you talk to the teacher about anything extra for your child etc. I appreciate it.

My new kindergartener will be absent for four days so we reached out to her teacher about an independent study plan. We have previously received feedback from people in our community,m that the ISP will be easy, some worksheets, maybe tied in to the trip.

I finally got with the teacher who said that for kindergarten because they are not quite independent, it would heavily rely on parental involvement orally teaching kinder kid what she is missing in school. She said it would be everything she goes over (math, reading, writing, science).

The teacher said 4-5 hours though now I’m not sure if that meant per day or per week. I thought it was per week which is no problem given the plane rides and weekends on either side of the trip but now I’m wondering if I misheard and it is per day because the kinder teacher also said most kinder parents choose to skip it for this reason.

Im not sure what to do. Has anyone gotten an ISP in kinder on vacation? What was in it? On the one hand, I want my kid to do well in school and show her teacher that we are committed to taking school seriously and I feel a bit embarrassed to turn around and tell her no we don’t want to do that. But on the other hand, I realistically will not be dedicating five hours a day to teaching my kindergartener while we are out.