European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 7, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Daily Magazine by Dave Walczak education writers in year old Hector Lopez rattled five Beans inside a paper cup than tossed Thorn Natlo Iho floor per instructions from his Leacher at the american elementary school in a Schallenburg. Wisl Germany. Ii you have live purple Beans said Juanita Stevenson Pul your hand up Hector How Many do you have "  then pus your hand  by most academic first Grade standards. Hector s male lesson would t rate As difficult but a Lector in t in a typical first Grade classroom. Eccl or is a transitional hrs grader one of dozens of 6-Ye, in department of defense dependent schools who spend their school Day preparing Tor rather than trying to master first Grade skills Mora than 23 Clemens ashes within he detail men of defense dependents schools system have Al Lossl one transitional first Tado classroom. Is s an attempt to solve a perennial problem said Kent Flossier Early childhood coordinator for Germany Region schools. Everyone wants Tho child to perform at a presic Lilied Luvurt. Regardless of where that child is Alac Orlain time Barbara Clark Iho school system s Early childhood coordinator supports the Hansi tonal concept. Ii gives these children More opportunities to experience before i hey re Pul into a More academic environment she said. "1 Don t think there is anyone who would disagree Wilh doing  certainly not Jim i Mley the a Schaffenburg Elemen Lafy principal watched As growing numbers of first graders fell behind academically failures thai hand  at Iho school fir wx1 stuff tells could All but predict. Failures that one year reached nearly 33 percent. The parents wan cd whom in first Grade. We were pretty sure that they were not ready Lor first Grade so wha we did was to rec scr mailing them until the end of first Grade. They won i Hough a year of failure Halley s decision to Institute a pre first program was influenced by other actors. When you remain kids in Kinde Garlon you re on tenuous Legal ground we accept kids right off Tho Street and Pul them in first Grade. So it s kind of hard to keep a kid in kindergarten jus because we be had him in school. And if a child has needs you re probably not going to meet those needs in a Hall Day   elementary employs a group approach in evaluating children As candidates for transitional enrolment. Kindergarten teachers refer potential transitional youngsters to the school s child study committee based primarily on observation. A child does t know How to work in a group has trouble listening and attending to a task i la refer them said a Schaffenburg kindergarten teacher Juanita Walker. Halley Calls in parents once he agrees with the committee that a child should be placed in the transitional class usually the parents consent. The main group of the people buy into it said Maribeth Clarke who chairs the committee. Ii we be done our Homework and done it Well we Don t have a problem. There Are More benefits than there Are negative aspects. Maybe a third of them will say Well. I did t think he was Loo mature. I was just kind of wailing to see what you All thought " parents of transitional first graders Are Given a Booklet explaining i he program. The school emphasizes that Tho transitional placement docs incl mean that i he child has failed kindergarten. They re nol being  Halley said. They re being promoted into a two year first Grade  Stevenson in her second year As a transitional first Grade teacher said that last year s class of 27 All successfully entered Lisl Grade. She leaches 18 youngsters now. Aller starting with 20 earlier in the school year. Allol the child Jilin Are Tow in terms of language skills. They re not ready to get into Reading. They needs spa of by oat Ejidio dodos teacher Juanita Stevenson with her transitional Era Grade class in a Schaffenburg. West Germany. To get the sounds together in order for them to read  Wright the school s speech language Palho Loisl said language skills Aie critical far first graders. Before you do academics you have to have a grasp of language verb lenses that something will happen in he Lulu re pluralization. If they first graders Don t understand language then the predictions for Success in first Grade Are not  she and other educators generally agree that Success for first graders often has Little to do with intelligence. Most of them Don t have learning difficulties Stevenson said. They just need time children Are natural learners Rossier said. They re limited Only by the environment thai they re in. It All they re watching is television or if they re always alone then their experiences Wilt be  a Schallenburg added a second transitional class this school year enabling the two teachers to spend More Lime with youngsters. Having 15 or 16 children in a class like this is plenty said Stevenson. They All need a great Deal of individual encouragement. They need to feel Good about themselves Halley reluctantly allowed last year s transitional class enrolment to reach 27. You can t say this program is full up so you to wait around " he said kids can t wait around. If we have kids that need a program i la Pul the kid in Hal program and do what we  the smaller class size this year came Al the expense of other first Grade teachers who instruct As Many As 30 youngsters in the school Lor grades one through eight. Bui Stevenson said the other first Grade teachers were willing to make the adjustment. Some of the other first Grade teachers had children who had such behaviour problems. They Wei having to spend so much time Wilh Thorn that it was taking away from Iho other  a change in academic emphasis has accompanied the smaller transitional enrolment. The children no longer spend much time Wilh paper and Pencil tasks making the transitional school Day Akin to an All Day kindergarten. I Felt we were trying things too  Stevenson said. It children Are going to need extra time to learn something in should be in a kindergarten soiling " tuesday june 7, 1988 the stars and stripes Page 13