Your child is capable and bright and you want to make sure she is properly placed in school. This decision has many levels to consider- social. emotional, physical, and academic. She may excel academically, but not mature to be with children who are one to two years older. Consult with the administrator or school counselor at your child's school and bring examples of her work. Let me know why you feel first grade is a more appropriate placement and find out the criteria for promotion.

Hello!

As a mom of two kids who recently completed Kindergarten, I'd advise against having your daughter skip it - even if she's academically ready to do so.

Academics are an important part of kindergarten but what's much more important is what kindergartners learn about how to be successful in school.  Kindergarten teachers place a lot of emphasis on learning the routine of school, learning how to be responsible for yourself, how to be a good citizen in the classroom, how to develop good homework routines, how to find and make friends, and how to "pace yourself" though a full school day (going to the restroom at the right time, surviving without a nap, etc.)   It's a lot more rigorous than even the most academic of preschools. (Maybe you've read the book "All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten"?  There's a lot of truth to that!)  

The kindergarten class on the first day of school is a whole different world than the kindergarten class on the last day of school.  When students arrive at first grade, their teachers expect that they've got those skills down pat.  If your daughter went right from a preschool environment to a first grade environment, I think it would be a huge shock for her.  And, you'd be setting her up to be much younger than the rest of her class for the rest of her school career.  Even if she's very mature now, it will eventually catch up with her and she'll likely end up really struggling at some point because she's just not developmentally ready to be where she is.

It's much better for her to feel "ahead" of her peers than "behind" them.  I'd send her to kindergarten and early in the school year start talking to her teacher about your concerns.  I'm sure her teacher will be able to find ways to keep your daughter academically challenged while she's also developing those most important kindergarten skills.  If she's really light years ahead of the other kids they can always have her skip first grade and go right to second, but I definitely wouldn't have her skip kindergarten.

Just my two cents!

Kat