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Palmer School

Berkeley Parents Network > Reviews > K-12 Schools > Palmer School


March 2005

I hard that Palmer School is a reputable private K-8 school in Walnut Creek. Does anyone have experience about Palmer 's Junior Kindergarten and Kindergarten programs? When I visited Palmer School recently, I noticed that the teacher was ''teaching'' the 4, 5 year old about body parts and math on the blackboard. Is it too ''academic''? I will appreciate any opinions. ''headache'' Mom


My son was in the JK program at Palmer last year and is in the kindergarten this year. He loves it there. I didn't think JK was overly academic. They spent a lot of time playing games outside and singing songs everywhere they went. The academic part was doing a letter a week which they learned how to write and make the sound. They learned counting to 100 and patterns. The teacher my son had was wonderful (very loving and positive) - but last year was the only time they've had enough kids to have two JK classes so you most likely wouldn't get her. I thought the art was a bit weak - not encouraging creativity so much as teaching specific skills.

Kindergarten is a lot different - it is much more academic. I like that they divide the kids into 4 different math and reading groups depending on ability. My son is starting to read, add and subtract but he is one of the oldest kids in his class and in the top group in both math & reading. Other kids are still working on letters and counting to 100. Just depends on what they are ready for. My son has about 15 minutes of homework a night (M-Th)for reading and about once a month he has a math packet that he can do over time. My impression is that some of the other reading/math groups have less homework. We had always planned on sending my son to public school in first grade, but are rethinking it now because he loves going to school and doing the homework. Happy Parent


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Last updated: Oct 28, 2005
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