Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Grades, when doing 2 grades of math at once?

My DS9 in 3rd grade is taking 3rd & 4th Grade math. We get our grades on their website as they are posted and then a report card each quarter. So far, we only have one grade for Math, which I think is for 3rd grade math work. I am getting graded papers at home for both. Right now I don't know what the grade is so far for 4th grade Math. I could just average his papers and figure it out.

How is it usually handled when a student does 2 grades at the same time?

I'm mostly concerned he feels challenged but I think it is nice to know where he stands with his grades.

I agree with Dottie - what is the rationale for doing 3rd and 4th grade math together?

Regarding his grades, I'm sure you could ask the school how he is going to be graded and how it will be noted on his report card. In my view, grades don't matter at all until high school. A grade is a letter on a piece of paper, and may or may not reflect what my kid actually learned.

I agree it's a little strange. This is all new for our school. DS in 3rd Grade is skipping some of the 3rd and 4th Grade Math work and will have both done by the end of the year. Next year he will do 5th Grade Math.

I'm really hoping at some point we can take it out of their hands and do an online course or self paced course. I'm not sure they get what he can do yet. I don't get why they are having him do some things. Yesterday he brought home a paper with 4 thermometers to color in the degree indicated. I think he got this in K. "deep breath - baby steps - baby steps"

My DS is doing two years of math at once- 1st grade in class and 2nd grade for homework. The rationale is that the teacher doesn't have the time/energy/ability/knowledge (depending on who you ask) to teach the 2nd grade stuff to him in class. He can't go up to 2nd grade for math because it happens during his differentiated reading group, which we love. In class he does his 1st grade worksheet then has a challenge bucket with puzzles, sudoku and other stuff to work on.

His report card is completely standards based with a standard listed and then a 1, 2 or 3- one being just beginning the standard 3 being completed. He won't get a "report card" for any of the 2nd grade math and we've basically determined he has already earned 3's for all of the 1st grade standards.

thank you for this tip. What would documented mean? Would it just be a note on letterhead signed by the prinipal or teacher stated he completed X grade work and each quarter grades? And then it becomes a part of his perminent file and I keep for records.

My son is doing two grades of math at once as well. He is
in a 1st grade gifted class working on accelerated 2nd grade curriculum for math and reading. However, in computer lab, he is doing the 4th grade math program in Pearson's SuccessMaker Enterprise individualized curriculum software. So while he is learning multiple digit multiplication through the SuccessMaker tutorials, he is doing two digit subtaction in class and for homework. His teacher, who affectionately calls my son her "math whiz", said that his math classwork is just review for him. However, I'm concerned that he is spending more time in school reviewing math than learning math. I'm considering asking the teacher to assign homework to match his SuccessMaker 4th grade math instead of his 2nd grade math. Do you find it helpful to have more advanced math for homework?

By the way, I am considering applying for the Davidson Young Scholar program. My son scored a 160 on the WIAT-II Mathematics Composite, as well as a 145 FSIQ and 146 NVIQ on the SB-V. However, the application process seems a bit daunting and I'm concerned his scores may be too borderline for acceptance. I would appreciate any advice.

Welcome CCmom,
Do the application - babysteps! It took me 6 months and I wasn't unusual. Remember the shape of the bell curve? - most of the YSP kids are right on that borderline!

As for the homework - can he skip it all together? Since he is 'practing' in class and in computer lab? Just a though!

Is your son the regular age for 1st grade? I was thinking that his teacher sounds nice, but perhaps he'd fit better with the 2nd graders doing 3rd grade curriculum with Math pull out?

Enjoy -
Grinity

Those are acceptable scores, so I'd definitely say to apply! Aside from the time to fill out the application, what have you got to lose?

Do it!

I don't know if this applies or not, but last year my daughter did math, reading, writing, and some extras in third grade when she was officially a second grader. She was the first student in the district to be subject accelerated, and at the end of the first semester the report card technology just hadn't caught up to the situation. In our school's case, the core subjects were electronically linked to the grade the child was officially listed in, so they couldn't just put in the particular math/reading/writing topics she was covering in 3rd grade. They somehow fixed this problem for the third grading period, but I know it took a lot of wrangling from the district's computer experts and months of time. In the meantime, I communicated often with the principal and her teachers to make sure they understood that I wanted to record it -- if not in the computer then at least in her school file on paper. And in the end, the paper version is exactly what we ended up with. Or, I should say, what the school district ended up with -- I never actually received a copy! But, they assure me, the ammended report card does exist!