Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy We have a K game plan - opinions?

Just wanted to share this hoping it might help someone and also hear the opinions from all you experienced parents of gifted kids.

Bit of a background. DS just turned 5 yesterday and was tested this past summer. He tested in the PG range with his WJ-III achievement scores being average age of 9yr 5mo. Early entrance to K this year is what we advocated for. He tested into a private school here and they were very open to working with us to challenge DS.

For the first quarter of school I decided to not push anything. Not even say anything to his teacher, letting her have time to get to know him. A week before the quarterly conference I put together a folder with his test results + full report,work sheets like writing, stories, math. I also included some articles that had been given to me by the testing center.

His teacher had a great attitude right off the bat as I carefully approached her with this information. She said she had been meaning to talk to us at the conference about giving him more difficult work. And for the first time ever I actually heard someone refer to him as "Being on the other side if the special ED spectrum". That was beautiful music to my ears!

At the meeting she offered some ideas that sounded great to us! She said she will pull him out of the class for reading and math 3 days a week and work with him individually. Starting with the 1st grade math book and then moving on to 2nd grade, 3rd grade etc. as she sees that he is already mastering it.

In reading she will pull worksheets and work on comprehension (this was his weakest spot on the WJ-III him being on a 2nd grade level half way through the school year. Partly because of a visual issue that we are addressing)And also encourage his love for writing stories.

During regular school time she will also make things harder for him. Having him multiply what the other kids are adding etc. Grouping him with another student that is pretty fluent in reading working with the 2 of them. I should add there are 12 kids in the class and 2 teachers.

The one thing I love is to see the spark and fire in the teachers eyes! She has her special ED degree and says she is excited to work with a child like him.

So here is where we are at. How does this sound to you?

Sounds fantastic!

Awesome, if it works out as good as it sounds, it may be worth noting that some schools allow a teacher to advance with one of their classes thus becoming their 1st grade teacher, too.

This sounds wonderful! What a great teacher. My only comment is that if the plan works, start getting something in writing so that it continues next year and beyond. The trouble with fabulous teachers is you can't clone them.

We had the good fortune to (eventually) get DS some individual, at-his-level pullouts in kindy, only to have them disappear when the teacher who was pulling him out switched roles and DS's grade skip required a school switch within the district. Oops - we didn't have anything in writing. It was a PIA to convince the next school that DS should not be getting the exact same 2nd grade math he had done in Kindy in pullouts.

I think you are in an especially good situation since the teacher has a special ed background. She will be a wonderful resource in helping to write up an IEP.

The plan sounds fantastic! I would keep an eye on things to make sure she actually follows through with it (I've seen teachers act all enthusiastic at the conferences, then completely ignore the plan afterwards) but it sounds to me like you've found a fantastic teacher, and it should work out well for everyone!