Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Ways to challenge DD3

My DD3 goes to a 3-hr preschool 5 days a week. The teacher has a routine that includes discussing different topics like weather, recycling etc..per week, reading to the children, discussing about the content they read, basic math like counting to twenty and so on.
This is also a multi-age classroom with kids 3, 4 and 5 years old. However, all the children get the same instruction through the day. My DD loves books and taught herself to read with some help from her big brother. She can read and reads aloud to me everyday. Sometimes, she carries a book to school so she can read to her teacher and classmates. She was not much into writing earlier, but started to learn writing recently and is making real progress. Her recent obsession is playing with jigsaw puzzles (next to books). She can complete really complicated ones without even looking at the reference picture.
I make sure she is challenged by providing books level up to read, making her practice her writing and supplying her with puzzles that contain more pieces (100 or more). Her big brother DS8 had an early start at reading (when he was 2)and everything else and he is EG . She started a bit late but she is really catching up. I feel she is probably still ahead of her peers. Could she be gifted too? If she is, what can I do to enhance her learning? Her Visual-spatial skills are good, as far as I assess. What other ways can I challenge that part of her brain, other than providing jigsaw puzzles? What kind of support should I request from the teacher?

Thanks for the ideas Portia. Re-enactments, yes all the time. And she is funny, too. She does not help me around the kitchen, but does help me with laundry like sorting, pairing up socks and make bunny ears out of them :-)
She loves her brother's legos as she does not have many of her own. My DS has monthly geo club at school and I involve her when I and DS learn the maps. Physical activity, well, she does her own things ...mostly playing and running around like all little girls do. We are thinking of starting her swimming lessons this summer.
She is very social by nature. She can talk and impress anyone in no time. But I do not find her having many friends at school, at least not close buddies. I am concerned whenever she says she played at school by herself. Should I be? Even when we are at parties or events, she loves to chat up with grownups rather than her aged kids. I have not had this situation with my DS and it bothers me from time to time.

I wouldn't worry too much about having close friends at this age. Most of her age peers are probably not quite there with true interactive play, which is likely why she prefers chatting up adults. If she's not bothered by playing by herself, then I wouldn't be bothered either. (I remember being internally quite upset the first time I heard another child say they didn't want to play with my #1 child, until I saw that it didn't bother #1 at all, who just said, "okay," and happily went off to do something else.)

Thanks aeh. I understand what you are saying. Its like I am wanting her to fit in all the time and yes, it is not right. She does not seem to be upset about playing by herself. May be, I should let it go :-). Sometimes, as a perfectionist, I look for reasons to worry myself, when it comes to kids.

I think that's endemic to being a parent!

Lol..so true aeh !!