Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School Kindergarten 2009-2010

Well, I asked Wolf if he would be happier if he had harder work and he ASKED for harder work. I knew some of what he was doing was easy for him, but I was following the curriculum track and using the easy stuff for him to practice writing. So today I tested through about 12 weeks of spelling words and he got more than 2/3 of them right. I'm just taking the ones he missed and making those into lists for a couple of weeks. I'm going to skip even more repetitive phonics pages and only give him a couple practice questions for each math concept. Also his teacher has added Logic (grade 2/3) to supplement the math.

I just never thought a 5 year old would ASK for harder work!!!

mom2twoboys and JJsMom - sounds like things are going really great!

JamieB - it would definitely make me wonder as well if there was a correlation between bad behavior and lack of challenge. Definitely BTDT.

Wyldkat - Sounds like your DS likes challenges - that's great!

Well, we've all made it through September. Here's to hoping that things go well for everyone in October!

(By the way, thanks for the good thoughts for my son - he's finally feeling better.)

Jamie B: It would make me wonder, too, ... the correlation between behavior and him being challenged. Does he have any "free" time in school, such as a center where the kids get to choose what to do? Maybe, if there is such a thing, you could leave something challenging for him in his backpack and then he'd have something to look forward to, even on the days his teacher isn't giving him the work he needs. Of course, ideally, teacher would, but ... sigh ... we all know THAT doesn't happen all the time.

Wolf: That's great that he knows himself enough to ask for harder work. That'll definitely serve him well!

As for my guy, he's supposed to move to his reading group starting Monday. It'll still be with one of the K teachers, but they are supposed to be meeting the kids in the group at their level. Fingers crossed it goes well. Unfortunately, our school won't even consider starting math acceleration till the second half of the school year. So, I'm just giving him the correct math work at home.

Way to NOT be a victim! Go Mom22b!

Seems like stuff like this is too obvious to point out, but, I would point it out anyway - not defensively, but as a pointed question. Good luck!
Grinity

My son's gifted teacher has been writing me about how he gets "tired of sitting" and can't focus during his 90 minute enrichment each week. This is what they did in his last class. Now while it might not look big my child has never, ever liked to color and it's like a chore for him. This is the kind of thing they do every week and I can see why he doesn't want to sit there and color a huge sheet of paper. Last year the teacher he had did logic puzzles and games with them and had no problems.

This is from Thursday:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/jba8280/Picture.jpg

Did the teacher write the words and he had to copy them? How odd. I think the appropriate response to the gifted teacher is something like, "I know it seems odd since most kids his age love to color, but DS really responds better to work that doesn't involve crayons. Maybe his gifted teacher from last year has some suggestions of what she did with him last year as those seemed to alleviate any behavior issues you're experiencing?"

It's always amazing to me how little teachers communicate year to year as kids move from one person to the next.

Yes, the teacher wrote them and he traced them. He has gifted again on Thursday so I guess I'll write her a note. From what I've seen I think she does the same enrichment class for all of the gifted kids that she services in a week so I doubt that she'd change it just for him.

His teacher was just a fill in last year because the real teacher was out sick. I think that she works in another district.

I just started back to work outside the home, so I haven't had much time to visit here. I hope everything is going well for everyone.

I have some pretty decent news. DH and I went to our very 1st parent-teacher conference tonight. I'll give a few highlights.

1. The DT (Dear Teacher, because I really like her) said that she would notify the librarian of DS5's reading level (he's been bringing home some super easy books) and she will also pick out some of her own chapter books to send home. Turns out she used to teach 4th grade, so I think she'll send some pretty good books.

2. The DT said there is a girl in the class who seems to be an intellectual peer to our DS. I happened to be volunteering once and heard her read, and she's definitely a very advanced reader. The gifted coordinator (GC) from the 3-5 school is going to come to our k-2 a couple times a week to work with them.

3. Since the GC won't be able to be there every day, we mentioned the EPGY open enrollment to her. She thought it sounded great, and is going to check into logistics. If it works out, DS5 would be able to do online EPGY while the class is learning basic math/reading.

I know I'm forgetting some things, but those are the highlights. I'm happy. Did I mention I really like DT?

That sounds really good! So the GC is going to work with them in reading?

What is EPGY?