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    Joined: Jun 2011
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    sydness Offline OP
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    Hi all! Recently my daughter 9, 4th grade was identified as gifted. There were 6 other 4th graders identified as well. 4th Grade has about 135 students. I have had meetings with teachers and vice principal about doing 5th grade math this year instead of 4th Grade. The answer is always no. At the gifted meeting, the principal let us know that there are many options for our kids. One of them being grade or subject acceloration.

    So, I was wondering if I'm being too picky. Rather than moving up a grade in Math, the teacher is 'enriching' the curriculum in the classroom for students who show mastery on the unit pre-test. The students are still required to complete the same homework as everyone else daily. DD has been given challenge homework as well.

    She does it all easily. Her grade for the first trimester was a 97 in Math. Her lowest grades were 93's in Reading and Phys Ed.

    So, for the first unit that she received enrichment for, she was given a paper that said "You have been selected by the **town name** survey company to conduct a survey of 50, 4th grade students. She was then to graph the results as a pie graph and find the mode, range, mean, median, and that stuff. She also had to come up with questions her classmates could answer about the data.

    So, she really liked this and it seemed like a good way to keep her busy and happy and not have to re-learn stuff she already knew. 3 other kids in her class were also doing this enrichment activity.

    So, my dd took it out at home, and because she was having trouble color coading the pie graph and her penmanship just wasn't coming out in the professional way she wanted it to, she used Photoshop to draw the graph and type the information. She handed in her rough draft and her printed copy the next day.

    She was disappointed that the reports 'just went in the porfolio' and that there wasn't really a 'survey comittee'.

    At conferences, the Math Teacher said she was concerned that DD thought she HAD to do these enrichment activities at home.I assured her that she just liked to make things nice and pollished.


    The second enrichment project, (for the Decimals Unit) was to create a game that her classmates can play to learn decimals better. She came up with the game in class, and started to make it. She wrote the directions and got it approved by the teacher. As she was working, she 'messed up'...She is making 'decimal chess' and while she was creating the chess board, she colored a wrong square in black and was given whiteout. She took it out at home to work on it and made another mistake and was concerned because we didn't have any white out. Her paper was a huge gross mess.

    She asked if she could make her chess board on Photoshop...of course I let her.

    She laminated it with tape and taped it to a heavier piece of paper (that the teacher had given her)...She made test pieces out of paper to try the game out with Daddy and threw the pieces away when she was done. She wanted something heavier for the pieces.

    Okay, Okay, I know very very long story. The next day the Math Teacher told her that she was not to work on enrichent projects at home.

    I emailed her and told her that DD WANTED to do it at home and that I didn't help her. I was thrilled that she was so excited about the project.

    So, no she can't work on these at home.

    She waited a half an hour while the teacher was working with students, and then was able to ask what the teacher had in mind for making her game pieces. She spent the rest of class cutting them out of cardboard.

    I feel totally ungreatful, because I know that the teacher is trying to differentiate and make the curriculum more stimulating for some of the kids who don't need all the review. BUT my daughter really isn't a 'hands on learner' and she certainly doesn't need to do hand on enrichment on something she already understands.

    I was willing to overlook the fact that my daughter was being asked to teach the class...because she was engaged and happy with the work. Now, I feel like she is being discouraged from doing her best. I am just so thrilled she is interested in doing her best!

    In reading the same day, she and another boy finished the book the whole class was reading for Giuded Reading. The higher readers have harder questions about what they read. The book is a 4th Grade leveled book and my daughter has been found by this same teacher to be reading and comprehending at a highschool/college level. When these two kids were done, they were told to ask each other questions about the book for that class.

    I just feel like there could be so much more. I requested a meeting with the vice principal to talk about making a plan for DD's curriculum and the VP told me somthing about it being important for children to develop soft skills. Also, that kids should be doing too much work at home. It is not good for them. They need balance. It is hard for the teachers to monitor progress when the kids do classwork at home. (She is also not allowed to do homework in school.)

    She met with DD and asked her some questions. Do you like 4th Grade? Yes.

    If you could make your school schedule what would it be? 2 hours of Math, I would read a book, have recess, do some Science and the some more Math.

    What do you do in your free time? Ballet

    Do you like homework? Yes.

    What books do you like to read? I dunno, Harry Potter? But I already read that. (She read it in second grade.)

    What subject do you like the most? Math and Science..

    Okay...so, am I being too aggressive?

    She is in Math Olympiads after school once a week and it stretches her. She is in Ballet as much as we can bring her and she always wants more. This is a kid who is fast! She eats fast, she talks fast. I can't even take a picture of her and her sister with waiting for her to quickly change into 3 outfits and change the room around to be just right. And then her poses are forced and weird, but you get my point. She gives things her ALL when she is into them. If she can't give them her all, she quits.

    I just think maybe she doesn't fit, and it's not the school's fault. Maybe their good enough, just isn't her good enough.

    What in the world can I do?

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    Originally Posted by sydness
    The second enrichment project, (for the Decimals Unit) was to create a game that her classmates can play to learn decimals better. She came up with the game in class, and started to make it. She wrote the directions and got it approved by the teacher. As she was working, she 'messed up'...She is making 'decimal chess' and while she was creating the chess board, she colored a wrong square in black and was given whiteout. She took it out at home to work on it and made another mistake and was concerned because we didn't have any white out. Her paper was a huge gross mess.

    She asked if she could make her chess board on Photoshop...of course I let her.

    She laminated it with tape and taped it to a heavier piece of paper (that the teacher had given her)...She made test pieces out of paper to try the game out with Daddy and threw the pieces away when she was done. She wanted something heavier for the pieces.

    This sounds like arts and crafts, which are worth activities, but she will not learn new math from an activity like this. Could she simply work ahead in a curriculum such as Singapore Math or program such as EPGY?


    "To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle." - George Orwell
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    sydness Offline OP
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    I have asked over and over again and the teacher is very against having children go ahead. She likes them to go deaper..not further. hmmm

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    Sounds like busy work to keep the kids out of the teacher's hair, IMO.

    I wish I had advice. My son pretty much gets straight 100's in math and isn't allowed to work ahead, and is required to do the same worksheets as the rest of the class.


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    Wow - how frustrating for you and your child! I second the busy work theory.

    If it is a brick wall at school, have you found ways to enrich at home? My son has started playing with Scratch, a kid-friendly programming tool developed by MIT. It allows for some fun exploration of initial programming concepts with quite a few options to expand on the software with the child's on images, etc.

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    Originally Posted by sydness
    I have asked over and over again and the teacher is very against having children go ahead. She likes them to go deaper..not further. hmmm

    That's her problem. My two boys primarily learn new math at home, through curricula such as Singapore Math and EPGY and participation in the Math Olympiad. Our efforts to get acceleration or meaningful differentiation have been unsuccessful. Having two independent math tracks, with the school one being slower than the one at home, is not ideal, but
    replacing the home track with meaningless activities designated "enrichment" is even worse.



    "To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle." - George Orwell
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    Honestly, I would actually be thrilled if my son had these kinds of math enrichment projects rather than having to sit around waiting for everyone else to figure out something he either already knew or figured out in two seconds. I have been trying to get enrichment for him, have been told he is receiving it, but I have seen no evidence.

    Is it the assignments that are the problem or the teacher's insistence that she can't work on it at home? It sounds like your dd is happy and engaged in the projects, she just needs to be given the freedom to do it her way.

    I do actually think that creating a game is learning if done right, but perhaps the teacher isn't quite following the goal. The "challenge" is designing the game, the strategy, the rules, etc., not constructing the board and the pieces. Designing games is a great opportunity to show creativity, logic, and mastery of the concept. But it sounds like it was not put into practice properly.

    So, I don't think it is busy work, and it sounds like the teacher is really trying, she just doesn't quite get the purpose.

    Maybe you could ask the GT teacher/coordinator to talk to her? And I would ask why she can't work on the project at home? I don't see any valid reason why she shouldn't be able to if she wants to.

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    sydness Offline OP
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    Scratch sounds fun. I'll look into it. Thanks. I planned the meeting with the vp for Tuesday and it is the first time my DH will be attending a meeting. I guess I am at a loss for WHAT exactly I am asking for. I try not to be insulting. I have asked twice for a book list of books that are at my DD's reading level, Lexile 1210, from the Reading Teacher. She is required to read a book for 20 minutes a day at her Lexile Level, but there aren't many books at that level that a 9 year old can relate to. The Reading Teacher has come up with nothing. She just keeps saying that DD has already read a lot of books and she is in a weird phase right now. How can I be respectful of the teachers when they can even suggest a book! There are thousonds!

    I might ask for independent sudies. Where she studies by herself in the Library, with access to a computer and presents her findings to the Gifted Coordinator or VP every 2 or 3 weeks. That sounds like something she might like.

    Another weird thing is that the school works hard to make all kids feel like they fit in. So they don't do 'pull outs' with the gifted kids. BUT in the classroom, the same two kids keep getting enrichment and the boy who gets enrichment with DD keeps calling her and him "smart farts"...not sure how my DD feels about this. UGH! HEEELLLLP!

    I am seriously considering homeschooling at this point. My DD LOVES the school atmosphere though. But I have heard her talking to some kids from school on the phone and she seems to 'talk down' to them. Like, she was playing 'Math Playground' last night and wanted the girl to click on 'Grand Prix' but DD pronounced it 'Grand Pree' and then turned to me and whispered that she said that so the girl would know what she was talking about. I have no idea if this girl know how to pronouce 'prix' but my DD assumed she didn't. This isn't healthy. She is developing this poor image of her classmates. She is always gentle and kind, but I don't want her assume that others don't understand basic things. This could create a very bad personality!

    So, I ask myself, if I homeschool her, I will be taking her away from the social environment that she thrives on and loves, but there really aren't intelectual peers anyway, so why not? Oh so many questions.

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    sydness Offline OP
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    LNEsMom, That's kinda what I was thinking. She liked the project. She just needs freedom and time to do it her way. I think she was getting that freedom and time at home. I am very willing to accept the fact that she isn't moving ahead in Math as long as she is happy and thriving. These assignments are inspiring her to create, think and produce. I know a lot of people have teachers who won't even do that, and I am greatful for that.

    My problem is that once my DD gets going, and she wants to do it at home, why are they squashing that? I also am offended that the VP thinks that my DD needs balance...She is soooo balanced and teachers have been commenting on her ability to balance school work with her social life so elegantly.

    I think also, what is the teacher going to give her to do when she finishes her game and the Unit hasn't been finished yet?

    Another think about the game....To make a good game, don't you have to test it periodically? Before you make the nice pieces and laminate?

    My DD wanted to test play it with Daddy, so she could understand her game better and adjust the rules if need be. She said there was nobody to test it with at school, so she did it at home. Aren't these the 'soft skills' the VP is referring to? Isn't she displaying soft skills when she prepares for the next day's Math session the night before? I'm so confused...

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    I am installing scratch right now...maybe something to do over vacation? smile

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