Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School 2nd/3rd Grade 2011-2012

I'm updating to say that things are going pretty well. The new school is not perfect (what is?) but I am very pleased with the project-based focus and the exciting field trips and guest speakers. She is definitely being challenged in writing, and stimulated, at least, in most other subjects. (Not sure about reading--interestingly, it doesn't seem to be being taught much, with the main activity being silent reading at their level.) She will be allowed to advance to 3rd-grade math soon, after completing the 2nd grade curriculum in half a year. She could do more, but this year is revealing to me that I did mean what I said last year when she was spinning her wheels--I don't need her to be taught at her exact level in everything. A modicum of challenge and excitement is enough for me. Before, we had zippo. I'd like to see a few papers coming home with something other than 100%s, but really, it's an improvement for darn sure. She also has access to some great after-school clubs that are really enjoyable.

(And now, because I have to worry about something, I am suddenly getting pretty concerned about DS, who seemed more on the MG side and also a LOT more on the easygoing side than his sister, until fairly recently. All of a sudden things are looking more...well...urgent. If he tests in, he can also attend this school, but not till 2nd grade.)

That's great, st pauli girl and ultramarina.

We were set up with a brief meeting with the district math consultant, at the suggestion of the principal. When we showed up, it turned into a full-blown TAT meeting (we felt slightly blindsided). The math consultant, who apparently recommended two months of math-fact drills to start off the year in our Title I district, had not been provided with details about our son; he said he meets children like him "all the time", that they are our country's future engineers, and that what they need most is a solid foundation, including knowledge of how to add up numbers in different ways at the second-grade level (a la Everyday Math). We mentioned that the new teacher had said she planned to assess his proper instructional level, and asked for confirmation-- which she began to give, only to have the principal break in and say that the discussion shouldn't be about levels, but about providing a broad, deep foundation. :| We said, for the umpteenth time, that we would be fine with anything that provided him with an appropriate challenge, and which didn't artificially restrict his progression to new math concepts as he was ready.

We met afterwards with the teacher, and got a good feeling. She is either on the same page as us, or is giving us a newer, tastier flavor of the party line designed to keep us quiet. She said our son has fit in well already in her class, and that she hopes to be able to challenge him (she said he was talking about i the other day, which forced her to go look up what he was talking about).

She told us, which we hadn't known before, that our son was without pencil and paper not only for most of the first MAP testing session, but also the second one-- so he mostly did the math in his head to achieve a score that should prove conclusively to the school that he should really be in much higher-grade classroom for math, and that he's so far beyond their second-grade curriculum that he has really plumbed the depths already. She asked permission to have him retake the math MAP in February, which we gave.

DS fairly suddenly began having headaches and extreme light sensitivity, and it turned out that his vision was suddenly, rapidly worsening. One pair of bifocals later, and he's back to reading more than ever.

I have to say, I don't miss Everyday Math. I don't even know what curriculum DD is doing now (I think it's just some standard state math thing), but it's just more straight-ahead and less gimmicky and "spirally" and lalaland.

Also, I meant to add that one of my favorite things about the new (gifted) school is that there are kids who are better than DD at some stuff. There is one girl in her class who is a math whiz, and a couple of boys who are awesome at chess, and so on. I appreciate that she has kids in her class whom she admires for their skills and smarts (she verbalizes this). She realizes the world is a bigger pond now--a good thing, believe me.

One reason we applied to DYS was to get a bigger pond effect. Unfortunately there aren't any DYS kids anywhere near his age near us. I will have to look into the other options (message boards, etc.) but I don't think it's the same as learning or playing with kids first-hand. We do have a few kids locally that DS enjoys playing with, but they're not really on his wavelength, and I do think that he unfortunately feels superior to them.

From what I've read about Everyday Math, it needs well-trained, perceptive teachers to be implemented well. It apparently has some decent thought behind it, and I actually think the spiral nature works well for some things-- for example, multiplication and division are introduced in first grade, then revisited later. On the other hand I think that the whole thing is based upon an idea that children don't learn abstractly at all and generally need things dumbed down for them early on, which is a mistake in my opinion. As an example, multiplication and division are taught in first grade with a cutesy machine concept -- arguably good because it may predispose them to understand the concept of a function, but IMHO bad because it's more straightforward to simply conceive of multiplication and division directly and exercise visual-spatial skills (Cuisenaire rods and other manipulatives work this way, and seem to work well to develop good number sense).

We've been afterschooling out of desperation, using Singapore Math, Life of Fred, and other odds and ends. I would be very uncomfortable with Everyday Math if it were DS's only curriculum, but as it is my main frustration with the school is the fact that the instructional level is too low. I'd be happy enough if he were exposed to fifth grade EDM concepts similar to what he's getting at home, as reinforcement in a new way isn't a bad thing and he plows through the math at home pretty quickly. (Best would have been to agree to our plan to do partial homeschooling, with him doing his sent-in math written work during the school day, and I may still have to force them to accept that if the new teacher doesn't work well.)

To my knowledge DD has never done any math with manipulatives, which I think stinks. I think that's a big advantage of Montessori--I love how they use those materials.

Yes, I remember that multiplication machine thing. Enh.

Do you have a chess club in your area (well, does he play?) Seems to be a great place to find very bright kids.

That's a good idea, thanks. He plays, and it looks like there's a chapter of the NH chess club in the next town over.

DS's teacher decided to give him the winter MAP test yesterday on the in-class computer. With pencil and paper, he got a much improved score over the fall-- if they were just going on the numbers, he'd be at least pulled out to fifth for math, where he'd probably still feel a bit past most of the material (though we've been studying at home only desultorily, and not for a couple of weeks). Instead, he is in the highest second-grade math group, where they've been studying topics including addition and subtraction with carrying/borrowing, writing numbers in expanded form, etc. He hates it, though he does his best to fit in.

I am underwhelmed by the results of the skip, especially considering the time we've put in on advocacy to get it and what we've been told along the way. I am thinking of invoking a new NH law that lets a parent object to anything taught to their child, just because I'm so ticked off at this point. All the grand plans have turned out to result in delegating everything to the teacher, and using enrichment suitable for bright or MG children while studying material at grade level. They just don't get it.

As of today, dd8 has been placed in the gifted program. She was very excited this morning. She has also joined the gifted reading group. I am hoping we get more for math. Right now the pullout is once a week whereas last year it was 2-3 times a week.

I think our principal was a bit surprised to hear that all the second grade gifted kids parents went to our districts open enrollment fair last week to seek out other opportunities. From what another mom told me.. it lit a fire under his ass to do something to keep these kids at his school. He can't really afford to lose the test scores. That being said, at east one of these kids possibly two, will be at the magnet school next year. We are also looking at private schools.

Yippee! Great news F and J's Mom! What a relief.
Grinity