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We are meeting with the principal and DS5's teacher today to discuss his proposed part-time switch to grade 1 for reading and writing instruction. This was his teacher's idea--we did not initiate it, but at her request, we emailed various school staff supporting the idea. We do think it is a good idea. The teacher says she thinks the principal will okay it, but is not positive. She is not sure why the principal wanted to meet with us in person to discuss. She has shown the principal some testing results from DS (I am not sure what the tests were, but not IQ--probably some kind of state reading tests).

I really do not know the principal, as the school is large and there has not been any reason for us to deal with her before. So I have no idea what I am walking into. For reference, as I have discussed before, the school houses a general education population that is very low-income (about 80% of the school--DS is in gen ed because he is in K) and a gifted magnet that starts in gr 2, which is higher-income and very different in many other ways (DD9 is in the magnet).

DS5 is doing okay in K with a great deal of personalized help from his teacher, who is amazing. I think she is worn out by trying to meet him where he is and would like to have him be instructed elsewhere for part of the day, in part so she can better help her other students. He is a child who will emotionally shut down if school does not meet his needs, so emotionally, challenge is important. Last year in preschool we had daily tears and resistance to school due to boredom. I plan to emphasize this if things go south. Any other tips? Our past efforts to advocate for our child (DD, at another school) were spectacularly unsuccessful, so I'm nervous. However, we did not have a teacher in our corner as we do now.
Posted By: geofizz Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/04/13 03:27 PM
Start by expressing gratitude. Gratitude for the great lengths the kindergarten teacher has gone to serve his needs, and gratitude for his time to meet with you to discuss options, and the flexibility everyone at the school has shown to meet your family's needs. Express your understanding for the role of a teacher serving so many different needs in one classroom.

This sort of thing goes a long way, particularly since it is genuine.

Go in with questions: Ex: Here's a writing sample done on his own -- where would this place him relative to the first graders he'd be joining? What would be the plans going forward into next year if this is the arrangement, specifically, how will his needs be met in a 1st grade classroom next year after spending half a year in this arrangement?
Posted By: Dbat Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/04/13 03:28 PM
That sounds very promising--good luck!! I bet you were going to do this anyway, but I would talk up the teacher as much as possible and also offer to help in any way possible. Maybe even try to get some teacher cheerleading in at the beginning! I hope the principal just wants to make sure you're on board with it, and I hope it works out!
Posted By: indigo Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/04/13 03:37 PM
Originally Posted by Dbat
... talk up the teacher as much as possible and also offer to help in any way possible.
Yes, possibly even bring a list of DS' recent books read to support the test results which the teacher has shared. (At or after the meeting do try to find out what the test results were and obtain a copy for your records.)

Originally Posted by Dbat
... I hope the principal just wants to make sure you're on board with it, and I hope it works out!
This may also be an opportunity to meet the other teacher, set goals, and craft a plan for next steps... such as meeting in two weeks time to discuss the "fit".

Wishing all the best for you in the meeting and for your DS in the learning environment they hope to create for him! smile
Posted By: 22B Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/04/13 03:37 PM
Originally Posted by Dbat
I hope the principal just wants to make sure you're on board with it, and I hope it works out!

Sometimes principal's are scared that the acceleration will not work out (the student can't handle the higher level) and that then the parent will blame the school.
Posted By: geofizz Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/04/13 03:41 PM
Originally Posted by 22B
Originally Posted by Dbat
I hope the principal just wants to make sure you're on board with it, and I hope it works out!

Sometimes principal's are scared that the acceleration will not work out (the student can't handle the higher level) and that then the parent will blame the school.

If this is the concern, one option is to lay out a transition plan. We had something like that when DS did something similar in K. We had a document that laid out how he would know when to go, how the new teacher would keep in touch with us, how homework would get moved around the building, and who he would sit with for the first 3 weeks. We also had written in there a date by which we'd agree on his placement the following year.
Posted By: ultramarina Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/04/13 03:43 PM
Good point that it may be to make sure we are on board. I know the teacher approached the principal before we sent the emails, so it may be that the principal is not sure we are really into this, or, alternately, she just wants to get a sense of us as people.

I definitely plan to talk up the teacher (100% genuine!)

Quote
Ex: Here's a writing sample done on his own -- where would this place him relative to the first graders he'd be joining? What would be the plans going forward into next year if this is the arrangement, specifically, how will his needs be met in a 1st grade classroom next year after spending half a year in this arrangement?

He has a writing journal he works on in the classroom. Hopefully his teacher will bring this, or has shown it to the principal; she told me she has shown it to a lot of people. I'm certainly concerned about your second question. His teacher suggested that he should be skipped, but that this is not politically possible. We are not currently really in favor of this, so don't plan to bring it up, but it's probably a good idea to diplomatically bring forward the issue of next year.
Posted By: ultramarina Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/04/13 03:47 PM
Quote
We had a document that laid out how he would know when to go, how the new teacher would keep in touch with us, how homework would get moved around the building, and who he would sit with for the first 3 weeks. We also had written in there a date by which we'd agree on his placement the following year.

Great ideas! Thank you!
Posted By: ultramarina Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/04/13 06:40 PM
Well, it went well. It seemed clear that it was Option A-- the principal wasn't sure if we knew the plan or were on board. He will start in the grade 1 classroom MOnday and spend 2 hours a day there to start. The principal brought up grade 1 on her own and said she was hoping for a 1/2 split as they have often had, but if that did not work out they would plan to send him to grade 2 for some of the day, like this year. She did specifically say they did not endorse skipping "in this school" due to the presence of the magnet. I am letting that lie for now since we are unsure about this ourselves (although his teacher's words on this echo in my mind).
Posted By: Zen Scanner Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/04/13 07:09 PM
Complicated to some degree. I believe we are in doppleganger schools: partial gifted magnet in a primarily title 1 school. I don't know that the school ever skipped before as the TD director actually had to research the option before suggesting it as the best option for our DS when the HG program requirements ended up being too well-rounded for him. I like that you are also experiencing flexible but cautious administration. We had heard echoes of "no skips," but with attentive and sincere staff common sense can win out.

Posted By: geofizz Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/04/13 07:28 PM
Well, that sounds like a good start! The need for a skip will hopefully become more clear towards the end of the year as student numbers come in for a 1/2 split as well has his performance in the 1st grade room. Here's to smooth sailing for the transition!
Posted By: ultramarina Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/04/13 07:41 PM
Yes, ZS: doppelganger schools. It's an interesting combo.

One bummer is that it was confirmed for me what I already suspected: the PT math GT teacher they used to have at the school for the grade 1 gifted-ID kids is gone. I'm trying not to worry about math for now. Math seems to be handled in a more individualized fashion (less group instruction). Or it could be that his reading is just more obvious, or that switching him for reading AND math would just seem like "Why not a full skip???"
Posted By: mecreature Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/05/13 02:15 PM
Our DS in 1st was pulled into 2nd for math and reading. In 2nd he went to 4th for math and reading and 3rd to 5th.
In 4th we were out of curriculum for this school.
We were pressed to skip to middle school. We were not on board with a full skip.
We tutored with AoPS Pre algebra. No Magnet in our situation.
The School district basically washed there hands if we didn't skip.
We opted for a Private middle school for 5th thru 8th

As you can imagine I could write a book about it but kept it brief.

Sounds like you have a good thing going.

I will add, when we started 1st grade we told the school he was bright and we already had him tested SB5 the previous summer. On the other hand we wanted them to observe him and place him where they though he should be. They were wonderful working with us.
Posted By: ultramarina Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/06/13 01:31 PM
Update: first day didn't go so well. A couple of kids told him to "go back to kindergarten" and there were some other unkind comments. It sounds like this teacher may not be as strong on classroom management as his great K teacher. He is nervous about returning.

I sent a nice email to both teachers giving them a heads-up. Poor button. Hopefully it will be a small bump in the road.
Posted By: chris1234 Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/06/13 01:40 PM
Hm, that's too bad, hope it works out. Sounded like this split arrangement wasn't so uncommon in the school that it would come as a shock to the other students.
Makes one wonder if the teacher prepared the other students, or even let slip some lack of enthusiasm on his/her own part. Have you met this new teacher? Maybe some further connection there will help with them keeping a better eye on things for this initial adjustment period.
Posted By: ultramarina Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/06/13 02:09 PM
They do have K/1 and 1/2 classes at times, but this is a straight 1 class. I don't know if any of these kids were in a K/1 split last year; if they were, they were the K kids, of course.

This teacher was handpicked by his K teacher for this and she assured us she was absolutely the best choice. I have not met her, though.
Posted By: blackcat Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/06/13 02:50 PM
DD did a full grade acceleration from K to 1 in late Nov. of the school year and luckily it went Ok. I don't think the 1st grade teacher told her class that DD was coming from K. She also talked with them extensively about DD coming and what they could do to make her feel welcome. She assigned two "helpers" to DD. The K kids seemed to have a harder time with it. They were upset about her leaving and couldn't understand why she got to leave and they didn't. They all claimed they were "advanced". I don't think the K teacher handled it quite as well. Usually there is an adjustment period and things might be rough for a few days. Hopefully it will improve for him.

Posted By: madeinuk Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/06/13 02:56 PM
From what I have read, the earlier a skip happens the better. Good luck to you all!
Posted By: indigo Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/06/13 03:26 PM
Originally Posted by ultramarina
Update: first day didn't go so well. A couple of kids told him to "go back to kindergarten" and there were some other unkind comments. It sounds like this teacher may not be as strong on classroom management as his great K teacher. He is nervous about returning.

I sent a nice email to both teachers giving them a heads-up. Poor button. Hopefully it will be a small bump in the road.
BTDT. It hurts. Hugs to kiddo. Some accelerated kiddos/families and the teachers/admins who supported acceleration have experienced complaints from other kids/parents/families which in some cases may actually influence a school to reverse its decision. A reassuring presence to stave that off, these links from a well-respected gifted education teacher may help shore up the position for kiddo's academic advancement and accelerated placement... they may present talking points for yourself, the teachers, and admin in addressing other parents, and/or creating policy. For kiddo, the ideas may help instill a sense of belonging and a sense of doing something great to help blaze a trail which may benefit other kids who may need to follow a similar educational path.

Tamara Fisher, blogging for Education Week on Aug 24 2013 discusses that 'Same' and 'Equal' Are Not Congruent Terms http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/unwrapping_the_gifted/2013/08/same_and_equal_are_not_congrue.html

Tamara Fisher, blogging for Education Week on March 24 2013 discusses Ten Ways Gifted Education Has Helped Me http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/un...ways_gifted_education_has_helped_me.html

Tamara Fisher, blogging for Education Week on Sep 30 2012 discusses What it Really Boils Down To
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/unwrapping_the_gifted/2012/09/what_it_really_boils_down_to.html

Tamara Fisher, blogging for Education Week on Sep 12 2012 discusses The Right Fit
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/unwrapping_the_gifted/2012/09/the_right_fit.html

Tamara Fisher, blogging for Education Week on July 21 2008 discusses that GT is NOT...
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/unwrapping_the_gifted/2008/07/that_mythological_place_of_is.html

I highly recommend Tamara Fisher's blog archives. The above articles may also be an effective counter-point to Jay Mathews' recent opinion piece, "Why geniuses don't need gifted education".

Here's hoping today and each day going forward is a better one for your kiddo in his accelerated placement!

Posted By: Sweetie Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/06/13 05:37 PM
Nobody was prepared for DS's skip this year...we got a phone call one night talked it over and he started the next morning in the new class. The receiving teachers really didn't have time to react positively or negatively and the receiving class just took him in. He already knew some of them.


I have no idea how the sending teachers reacted. The sending kids were sad but I am sure over it by now.
Posted By: indigo Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/06/13 06:09 PM
Originally Posted by Sweetie
... got a phone call one night talked it over and he started the next morning in the new class.
It is so nice to hear stories like this. smile It will be a great day when each child can receive the support they need to keep learning, and it is all taken in stride and treated like no big deal!
Posted By: puffin Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/06/13 07:17 PM
So if they got a blind kid it would be OK to tell them to "go back to blind school"? The problem is something the teacher needs to deal with though confidence to say I belong here would help.
Posted By: ultramarina Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/07/13 03:50 AM
My email to the new teacher got a very good response. She will assign him a very nice child as a buddy and rearrange seating so he is at a table of very kind and gentle children. She also wanted me to tell him in no uncertain terms to tell her if he heard more remarks like that. He was worried about "tattling" and thus said nothing--probably socially savvy, but later it ate at him. She said he did beautifully with the work.
Posted By: aquinas Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/07/13 06:46 AM
Yes, definitely keep on top of the language the other children use. My first skip was done 6 weeks into the school year and I received similarly threatening comments. I internalized the stress instead of sharing it with my parents, feeling that I'd done something wrong to be targeted. That was porbably my first brush with imposter syndrome, and it was painful.

If I can offer one piece of advice, it's to guarantee your son that he'll be supported if he comes to you with tons of affirming language and clear messaging that he is where he belongs. smile Definitely praise the information sharing. It sounds like the grade 1 teacher didn't fully think out his immersion strategy.
Posted By: ultramarina Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/09/13 05:49 PM
Quote
clear messaging that he is where he belongs.

Thanks for this--it is so obvious to me that he can make it in 1st that I had forgotten to emphasize it with DS, but he did need it to be emphasized, as it turns out.
Posted By: ultramarina Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/11/13 02:08 PM
Update: Going much better socially--DS reports that his buddy is nice and no one has said anything else unkind. BUT. OMG. Yesterday he brought home a TWELVE-PAGE packet of homework. Due Friday.

Seriously???

We did four pages yesterday, and he was actively complaining. The work is easy for him in terms of reading and understanding, but there's a lot of handwriting practice ("Write these words five times"), which he is still relatively slow at.

If it's going to be like this all the time (maybe this is an assessment packet? please??), we may have to reconsider. frown Is this at all typical for first grade?? 4 pages of reading/writing homework a night? DD's first grade was nothing like this, but she was at an odd charter school.
Posted By: DeeDee Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/11/13 02:18 PM
Originally Posted by ultramarina
TWELVE-PAGE packet of homework. Due Friday.

Definitely out of the norm here. You might ask other parents what their experiences are.

We are also seeing that with teachers under more and more pressure from testing mandates, workload is increasing in lower grades these days.

DeeDee
Posted By: Sweetie Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/11/13 03:09 PM
We had the packet thing...home on Monday back on Friday in first grade...not 12 pages long.

You might ask the teacher, seeing as he is not used to that workload, if he could try getting packet on Friday instead to give you a few additional days to spread it out. You could agree for him to just get a head start on the tasks like writing the words and hold off on tasks until the week that he hasn't been introduced to (maybe a math concept.)

I know that kids with accommodations or kids in the beginnings of RTI stages were sometimes given extra days on the packets.

As he gets more comfortable with the work load you could try moving it back to Monday like the other kids. Consider asking for 3 or 4 weeks to transition and then see if he can manage the Monday.

I personally liked the packet system because some days he had plenty of time to work and other days he did nothing and whenever he was bored I always said pull out your packet. If he had to ride along to some activity for big brother? Bring your packet! (I kept a pencil box in the car with scissors, colored pencils, pencils, glue, and anything else he needed in the car).

It also taught him how to skip around, plan, manage his time, and we actually got him using a calendar. And sometimes he even had to wake up a bit early on a Friday morning to finish up and he HATES that with a passion so it only happened once or twice.
Posted By: indigo Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/11/13 03:22 PM
Originally Posted by ultramarina
... Is this at all typical for first grade?? 4 pages of reading/writing homework a night? ...
Unfortunately, that actually sounds light for some teachers/schools/districts. In preparing to advocate, here are some thoughts and possible talking points regarding content, and scheduling.

Content
Part of creating a society which accepts one-size-fits-all standardization is to overwhelm with more quantity and less quality. Some have noticed more food providing less nutrition, more news with less information, more schooling with fewer new challenging concepts. Libraries may tout more offerings but the collection may be entirely digital becoming much easier to censor and to track reading times for each reader. Transparency may shrink at various levels of government while personal privacy is sacrificed to data collection. Content is being removed in many aspects of our lives, substituted with fluff, filler, repetition, and tracking. The effect is disempowering people.

There are counter movements focused on content over quantity in many areas, including nutritionally (pockets of emphasis on home gardening, organic foods, farmer markets, whole foods, gluten-free cookbooks), news (getting news from Non-USA media sources), healthcare (alternative/natural/herbal), and education (charter schools, homeschooling, alternative schools, and advocacy).

Some possible talking points regarding advocacy based on content may include: how the assignment supports the student learning objectives, the level of repetition needed if the student has mastered the particular objective, and the grading of the assignment.

Scheduling
Regarding the 12-page packet, has the teacher/school shared an estimate of how many minutes of homework are deemed appropriate per day? Have they shared an estimate of how many minutes the 12-page packet may take to complete, on average? NEA offers a Research Spotlight on Homework, which suggests an average of 10-20 minutes per grade level. Some teachers/schools have re-interpreted that as 10-20 minutes per grade level in each subject.

Doing the math... a 12-page packet, if distributed on Monday and due on Friday... allows 4 evenings for completion on the student's own schedule. Completed at a rate of 3 pages per night, spending about 4 to seven minutes on each page would be within the 10-20 minute guideline. At 4 pages per night, this would be about 2-1/2 to 5 minutes per page.

Some have found that distributing a homework packet with several days for completion is best practices (as compared with assigning homework due the next day) because it offers the relative advantages of allowing flexibility, encouraging time management, increasing a sense of personal ownership and accomplishment for one's own education, raising the likelihood that a parent may see/review the homework, and does not penalize students who have an activity on a particular evening which may make a due-next-day homework assignment overly burdensome.

Some possible talking points regarding advocacy based on scheduling may include: how many average minutes of homework per night the teacher/school deems appropriate, the average amount of time it takes a student to complete the packet.

Good luck with this!
Posted By: ultramarina Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/11/13 04:31 PM
I don't mind the packet system in and of itself--as has been pointed out, it has some advantages. The length seems excessive. It includes a free writing assignment ("Write about these people and what they do"), a free drawing assignment (he took quite a while on this), a lot of handwriting practice, reading comp questions, capitalization work, a crossword, work on recognizing the parts of a book...I could go on. The 4 pages he did yesterday took him at least half an hour because he is trying to improve his handwriting, at my behest. (It's one thing he does need to work on.) I don't know if I should just let the handwriting go so he can work faster. It's not terrible by any means. Probably on the slightly low side of average for a first grade boy.

Quote
You might ask the teacher, seeing as he is not used to that workload, if he could try getting packet on Friday instead to give you a few additional days to spread it out. You could agree for him to just get a head start on the tasks like writing the words and hold off on tasks until the week that he hasn't been introduced to (maybe a math concept.)

I am going to see if this continues to be the norm and then I may ask for that. I worry that asking for accommodations may be seen as "He can't handle first grade." frown

As for math, this isn't even the math. He gets separate, challenging math HW (from an enrichment book) from his K teacher. I like the math HW and feel he needs it, since he is not getting much math worth his while in class--but it will add to the workload. frown
Posted By: puffin Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/11/13 06:45 PM
Ds6 is just finishing y2 (first grade). He gets a single sheet of homework on Monday to be returned Friday but if we don't have time we just write a note on it saying so. He used to have readers but at the moment he just gets books from the library for reading.

OK we are ina different country but i doubt the kids are much different.
Posted By: blackcat Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/11/13 07:46 PM
Originally Posted by ultramarina
Update: Going much better socially--DS reports that his buddy is nice and no one has said anything else unkind. BUT. OMG. Yesterday he brought home a TWELVE-PAGE packet of homework. Due Friday.

Seriously???

We did four pages yesterday, and he was actively complaining. The work is easy for him in terms of reading and understanding, but there's a lot of handwriting practice ("Write these words five times"), which he is still relatively slow at.

If it's going to be like this all the time (maybe this is an assessment packet? please??), we may have to reconsider. frown Is this at all typical for first grade?? 4 pages of reading/writing homework a night? DD's first grade was nothing like this, but she was at an odd charter school.

DS is in first grade and was getting 1 page of math (1 side of 1 sheet) on M-Th. Other than that, he gets nothing written but he is supposed to read books of his choice 20 min. per day. He has a spelling test each week but never looks at the words or studies for it.

DD got one reading worksheet per week in first grade, in addition to the one sheet of math (different teacher). Even in second grade she hardly got anything. Two sides of math instead of one. Now in third she gets the same amount of math, but also has a 4 page spelling packet each week.

What you describe sounds extremely excessive for first grade. My 6 year old would be rebelling if he had to do all that writing.
Posted By: Sweetie Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/11/13 08:34 PM
I know it might make him be seen as not able to handle it...emphasize that this is temporary during his transition to the new expectations.
Posted By: ultramarina Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/11/13 08:43 PM
Today he brought home two additional sheets of reading/writing ...come on!!
Posted By: MumOfThree Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/12/13 01:02 AM
Ultramarina, I would not use homework for working on handwriting, he's the. Thinking about handwriting AND the actual task. I'd be going for writi the upper and lower alphabet once a day, on dotted thirds paper. Possibly even copying YOUR pre written alphabet at the start. So he doesn't even have to think about the order of the letters and has a guide for spacing etc.
Posted By: MumOfThree Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/12/13 01:02 AM
And that homework is crazy!
Posted By: ultramarina Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/12/13 02:07 AM
Great news! I emailed the teacher and it turns out that she thought I WANTED a ton of homework, or that DS was so into doing work that he would like it, and so gave poor DS this "special" homework packet that no one else got. OMG! I quickly disabused her of this notion and she was totally fine with that and agreed to send home 1 page a day of writing work, which will go along with his 3-4x a week math enrichment work. That is totally fine and manageable.

SO RELIEVED!! And she had nothing but good things to say about DS. In fact, she even said his handwriting was wonderful.

Wow! Communication certainly is important.
Posted By: DeeDee Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/12/13 02:20 AM
Oh, dear, Ultra, I'm glad you sorted that out...

Posted By: MumOfThree Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/12/13 03:00 AM
Whew!
Posted By: ultramarina Re: Meeting with principal today - 12/31/13 06:36 PM
Further update: DS isn't in love with going to 1st. frown It seems to be a lot of repetitive writing practice, which he finds dull, and the reading is still way below his level. He isn't exactly saying that he wants to go back to K, but he says he prefers K. ("It's too easy, but I can color and stuff.") Also, he LOVES his amazing K teacher and seems lukewarm on the 1st teacher. Oy. What now? I think we're going to wait a few more weeks, but I'm worried because things got so bad last year in preschool when school was dull and unsatisfying for him. He is never a behavior problem, but he can fall into a gloom and a funk like nobody's business.

(I'd worry that the writing was too hard, but I don't think so. To me hs handwriting looks just okay, as discussed elsewhere, but the 1st grade teacher thinks his handwriting is amazing. I don't see any real resistance to writing tasks. I would describe him as rather more interested in writing than the average boy his age, but not a nutty little story-scribbler like my DD was at this age.)
Posted By: ultramarina Re: Meeting with principal today - 01/02/14 03:21 AM
Great questions, mon. As a reminder, he is in first for about a third of the day (reading, writing, "morning work"). Two-thirds of his day is still in K.

Quote
How much can you ask for in first grade? Do you feel like you can ask for anything else since the skip? Or do they think you better be happy with all they've done, and would see asking for more as evidence that the skip is unsuccessful because parent and child are unhappy?

I don't know. We did not request the acceleration, exactly--DS's teacher initiated it (her idea, but we okayed it) and when she did not get much movement, she asked us to try, so we also issued a request, which made things happen. It was a fast and easy thing once we sent one email. But I DO definitely worry that asking for anything would be seen as evidence that "it didn't work," which might hurt us next year. We are REALLY hoping for 1/2 split, but I don't know how likely it is. So if not, we would want him to continue to travel to the next grade up part-time.

I have only spoken to his 1st teacher once but from what she said, she absolutely thinks she belongs there academically.

In a way, I wouldn't care if he went back to K. He is not going to learn anything much in K. I have accepted this. That's not so terrible if he is happy and doesn't feel totally frustrated. But his K teacher felt like he was completely wasting his time and could at least pick up writing skills in 1st.

The question as to what he likes about school is a good one. He loves specials. He likes his friends. He likes earning good behavior rewards, which he does in spades (he is a pleaser). I think he likes some of the independent math games? Oh, he likes writing in his independent journal, where he gets to write his own stories.

Above all, I want him not to hate school. frown
Posted By: geofizz Re: Meeting with principal today - 01/02/14 12:46 PM
Ultra, something else to keep in mind is that first grade teachers tend to spend the first quarter of the year teaching the kids to get used to the rthym of the work, including the increased expectations for doing written work. Your son missed that transition.

Have you spoken to the kindergarten teacher? She sounds like someone who has the pulse of your son. I'm wondering if she can help frame the situation for him.
Posted By: ultramarina Re: Meeting with principal today - 01/02/14 07:27 PM
I wish I could see the work he is doing--it would help me know what is bothering him. He doesn't say it's hard, but that it's boring. It may be very repetitive.

Talking ot the K teacher is a good idea. She has been incredibly responsive. But I feel like I am a burden to her even though she never gives that impression. I know that his move has been helpful to her, in that she doesn't have to worry about what he will do for that block of the day. But I think part of the issue may be that what she gave him was better accommodating his needs, even if she didn't always manage to give it to him. I saw this in the work she was sending home with him for reading (short answer response) vs what is coming home now (handwriting practice, phonics).
Posted By: geofizz Re: Meeting with principal today - 01/02/14 08:07 PM
Well, yes, one on one instructional design will be better suited to a child's needs than one on twenty five.

I suspect that the 1st grade teacher spent 8-10 weeks teaching her first grade class to persist on the work they're doing now. A lot of handwriting learning is repetitive and requires stamina and persistence, and it takes time getting used to the demands.

My son skipped 1st grade. One of the big gaps was that handwriting. When he entered 2nd, he was not automatic on the formation of each letter, which greatly increased the burden of meeting the significantly higher 2nd grade writing demands.

I tend to get a lot of mileage out of starting my conversations with teachers acknowledging how hard it must be to serve the wide span of needs in the teacher's classroom. Stating up front that I recognize how hard it is to serve 25 kids all on different levels buys me a lot of discussion and problem solving time with the teacher. Empathy goes a long ways. Talented kindergarten teachers are very sensitive and talented at making sure kids learn to like school and see it as a place to learn. Have a conversation.
Posted By: ultramarina Re: Meeting with principal today - 01/10/14 05:06 PM
Thought I'd update and say that things are going a bit better. I met with the 1st grade teacher and she is a very interesting person. She acknowledged that there aren't any other kids in the class on DS's level, which creates some problems. However, she is reading some really great books with the class--I can tell she appreciates good kids' books--and she is not making DS do the work that he does not need to do, such as computer time (phonics work that is too easy for him). She also has some really great writing prompts set up that were creative and funny. I could see her thinking through some things to make stuff better for him even as we met, so I think it's good that we talked. On DS's end, I was able to see work from when he started in 1st (just a few weeks ago) and now, and can see quite a bit of progress in handwriting and writing conventions already, which makes me think that he is really benefiting from the move. So, we will continue with it and keep checking in with DS. Further talk with him also revealed that he has a bit of an identity crisis with feeling like he isn't sure where he belongs, and also feeling like sometimes he misses fun things in both classrooms. Both teachers are now aware of this and will work harder to make sure he doesn't miss really cool stuff. The other good news is that the "numbers game" looks good for there to be a 1/2 split for next year. I was also told that he will be placed with other kids IDed as gifted next year and that this is a school priority. Overall, I am impressed with the school's understanding of his needs and desire to work with him. Though he still is not receiving work on his true level, I did not really expect this. They are trying.
Posted By: KADmom Re: Meeting with principal today - 01/10/14 05:19 PM
This is all very good news!
Posted By: Zen Scanner Re: Meeting with principal today - 01/10/14 05:54 PM
Awesome, it's always interesting to see updates with your schooling as our placements (and results) are so similar. Trying is such a strong position to work from.
Posted By: DeeDee Re: Meeting with principal today - 01/10/14 06:45 PM
Ultra, it really sounds very good! So glad you hung in there and figured it out.
Posted By: polarbear Re: Meeting with principal today - 01/10/14 07:04 PM
Great news ultra!!!

polarbear
Posted By: Madoosa Re: Meeting with principal today - 01/10/14 09:39 PM
When they try they are often more open to other "unconventional" possibilities later on - I really hope that this works and grows in appropriateness for your son!
Posted By: DeHe Re: Meeting with principal today - 01/10/14 09:51 PM
Ultra
That's great, both that the school is working to figure things out and that DS is responding well. Try to not to focus so much about learning at his level in all areas. If you are going to keep your kids in school I think some level of acceptance has to happen because even a great situation can't be perfect. And if he gets the cool stuff in both classrooms he will be getting the best out of both situations. And the next years class sounds good too.

DeHe
Posted By: geofizz Re: Meeting with principal today - 01/11/14 03:35 AM
Yay!
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