Monday starts the school year for DS7.5 who will be in 3rd (and DD5.5 in K). We find out who he has, his Target (ALP) teacher as well as a possible math acceleration.

DD 7 starts second grade on the 24th and ds starts kinder on the 29th


added... dd is accelerated to third for math (+1) and ds will be accelerated to first and possibly second for math (+1 or +2).

I'm pretty new here, I have 3 kids DS 6 will start in a 2nd/3rd multi age class on Monday. DS 4 is in preschool and DD 1 will be home with me.

I'm a bit nervous for DS 6 as he was in K last year, so this is a grade acceleration for him. This will likely be the first time that schoolwork requires him to put in some real effort. I am not sure how he will deal with that. As he was in a K/1 last year, he does know a couple of his classmates, but I'm also a little concerned for him socially as he is very shy. We shall see....

DS7.5 starts 3rd with a math acceleration to 4th at the beginning of September. I'm hopeful it's going to be a good year!

I never finished my post. LOL... I've been MIA from here too long I think. We find out all this tomorrow for both DC. I'm not as nervous for DS7.5, as he will be in with his same peers from last year. He will have a harder teacher, but I welcome this.

I am nervous for DD though. She is not tested, and she is not where DS was at her age. But she surprises us here and there with what she does know/grasp. But that's another story for another thread...

DD8 8 is starting 3rd grade in an accelerated program (so it will really be 4th grade across the board) She was mostly As and Bs last year, honor roll twice. We had a bumpy year with her being sick often then we found out it was a dairy issue. Then we had to address her processing and motor incoordination issues, getting a 504 in place for this year... so hoping this year goes smoother not that we have been dealing with so many of her problems. I also learned a lot about her learning style and needs last year.

Her new teacher uses yoga balls in the classroom for the kids to sit on (i love that as DD was contantly falling off the chairs last year) and I am hopeful that she will be in tune with DD. fingers crossed!

DS6 will start 2nd grade in a 1st/2nd multi-age class in a couple of weeks. Over the summer, he's become good friends with some of the 3rd and 4th graders in the class above him, and he just recently stated that he wished he could skip a grade to be closer to them. I've never heard anything like this come out of his mouth before (and he has no idea he's already essentially skipped a grade by starting a year early), so I was pretty shocked. His school has always done a great job of meeting his academic needs regardless of what "grade" he's in (he received 4th grade language arts curriculum in 1st), so I've never seen a need for another skip, but now that he's raised the issue for social reasons, I'm beginning to wonder if it won't be necessary again at some point, even within this school. Promises to be an interesting year.

DD8 will start 3rd grade in a mixed 2nd/3rd grade class in a few weeks. Her teacher is great at differentiation, so it should be a good year. My only concern is that I don't think she'll have any friends in her class.

DS7 starts 3rd grade in an accelerated school after Labor Day. This is the first year we have not had to change his school. Yay! He'll be with all the same kids from the 2nd grade he transferred into last winter.

I'd always read on here that sometimes you're lucky to get a couple of good years out of a placement before something needs to be tweaked. I always thought we'd somehow avoid this since the fit after the accommodations seemed to be working so well on so many levels. But then, lo and behold, my DD casually mentioned in May that the math was too easy and she wanted something higher-level. I was NOT expecting it, but looking back, it makes sense, what with the pace of learning issue and all. Luckily, she's switching to a school where the academics are 1/2 to 1 year beyond her previous school! I (and she) could use a little breathing room!

Any thought of addressing the possibility of a skip to 3rd grade with the school?

DS8 will be in 3rd in an accelerated program like AntsyPantsy's DD.

We did not get the teacher we requested but she has allowed us to have a meeting with her next week before school starts. We hope to get everything started on a good note!

DS is very excited for school to start. He said he had "too much vacation" this year. (5 weeks of academic summer camps were insufficient of course!)

Ds8 will start 3rd grade on the 22nd. We should find out on Tuesday (16th) what class he is in - as of a couple of days ago, the teachers still didn't have their classlists This is worrying, as he is accelerated to 4th in math - the past 2 years his teachers have arranged their schedules so that they did math at the same time, so he didn't miss out on anything else. We'll see what happens ! One of the 3rd grade teachers has her daughter starting at my daycare next week, so it should be interesting if he winds up being in her class

I hate working. I am so ready to see how DS7.5's day went. DD too!

Apparently day 1 was a complete success. He loves his teacher. They did so much work his day went by quickly (his words). And he cannot wait to start Target next week.

Yay.

Now to keep my fingers crossed he is challenged enough.

We don't start until next Wednesday. BUT (and a big but), they are doing the reading testing this week (yippee not wasting class time) and her teacher confirmed dd7 will get math accelerated to third !!!!!!

LOL - I always take the first day of school off, so I can be there as soon as he walks out the door at school, and hear all about it. On a normal day, he gets in just as the daycare kiddos are getting up from their nap, so not much time to talk !

Glad he had a great day and was kept busy - a great start

Hi all!

I really enjoyed being part of this thread last year.

DD7 will start 2nd in a private gifted school. The school prides itself on all kids working at least one academic year ahead (and it does seem to be true when compared to public schools in our area). She is also young for her grade (early summer birthday). But I still feel nervous every fall about whether she will be academically challenged enough.

Last year proved to be a big year of social growth (with some emotional bumps and bruises that went along with it). Who knows what this year will bring!

Hope everyone's year gets off to a successful start!

Well we "met" his 3rd grade teacher at Open House this evening - and it is indeed the mom of my newest daycare girl :)This should prove interesting ! He also met his 4th grade math teacher, who will be his first male teacher The two teachers will be getting together with the principal to discuss their schedules and figuring out how to co-ordinate them to ds doesn't miss anything. It sounds like the biggest conflict would be 3rd grade reading - which we all agreed he could manage to miss without any ill effects So - school starts next week - yeah !

we meet the teachers tomorrow. DD found out a friend will be in the same class so she is excited about that.

I have to talk to the teacher about her pencil grips, I want to make sure she always has one to use and that they don't vanish! Anyone ever use the Grotto Grips? Best one we've found for DD but at 3/$10 they are pricier than most and I have to order them online.

We may be doing a last minute switch to the gifted magnet school in our district. I just discovered that their new principal "gets it" and the 3rd grade class will have 10 gifted kids mixed with proficient and high-achieving students. When we took a tour there last year, we found a 2nd/3rd grade combo class with an overwhelmed teacher who had the full spectrum of kids including a handful of gifted kids and even some ESL students.

Given the fact that DD's current school's principal refuses to cluster gifted kids in order to ensure that every teacher has the same mix of students, it seems like a no-brainer. At least it will increase DD's odds of finding some peers, and who knows, maybe the more competitive environment will inspire her to engage her brain at school.

Update: Today (8/23) we decided to move DD to the new school that is more gifted-friendly. I confirmed that nothing is changing at her beloved home school. I sure hate to take her away from what is familiar but this is for the best for now.

DD is starting her first year at a gifted magnet school next week. The materials we have gotten from the school so far make me very optimistic.

So glad to catch up with everyone and to hear good beginning stories from you early bird folks!

Open house is this Friday. DS7 is supposed to be in grade 3 math, but there's a new integrated curriculum. Worried about what that will mean for the accelerated kids. He's still reading/writing about 2 yrs ahead.

Biggest issue is still the fact that he doesn't actually complete schoolwork. I swear that child can turn thin air into something more interesting than the work he's supposed to do. School is supposed to place him with someone who will work with us to solve this issue, so fingers are crossed at the moment.

Let me start by saying... school hasn't started yet.. tomorrow is dd7 first day. We were told in the spring and confirmed (so I thought) last week, that she would be accelerated to 3rd grade math. Tonight at meet the teacher night, I was told by the principal it won't be happening as they do not have a plan in place to make this happen. I am not a happy camper. He said they will differentiate in the classroom. They tried this last year with a small group.. where they did enrichment and then after spring break they were moved to second grade math. Of that group 3 kids were to move to third grade math. grrrrrrrrrrr

I have a meeting with the principal on Thursday morning (while my k-er is taking the ISEL test. He is also supposed to be accelerated in math based off spring MAP testing he was at a mid 1st grade level at that point.

ok, day 2 and so far so good. DD8's teacher has prior experience teaching special ed (last 10+ teaching gifted, before that was Sp.Ed.) and there are other sensory/processing issue kids in the class. She asked if i could get her a copy of the OT's report. The school already has it since she has a 504, should I get the school to give her a copy or just informally give her a copy myself?

f&j's mom - How frustrating! I hope it get straightened out. I can't believe they just pulled the rug out from under you like that. gggrrrrr indeed!

DS7 starts next Tuesday. There was a mixup in classroom placement, so I had one day of thinking that DS would not be in the same class as his friends (which we've been telling him all summer). But it was a mistake, and so happily he'll be progressing with his classmates. Yay! (One day of panic, all better....)

Just got a message from ds8's 3rd grade teacher - she's trying to figure out how to get him into 4th grade math - the schedules just aren't meshing. The best she can come up with is to have him miss afternoon recess in order to go to math. Don't know how well that will go down with him Though she did also say that he'll be going to 4th grade for reading, during part of her 3rd grade math, which is something new ! I guess we'll have to see how it goes. Wonder how she'd react if we suggested he just moved up to 4th grade full time ?

NCPMom,

A full grade skip sounds like a reasonable request, if he is already going to be there for reading and math. I'd go for it.

I'm glad things turned out happily, but that one day must have aged you 5 years, eh?

Hi everyone.

DS6 loved his first week of second grade. He says the work is easy, but I hope he will be in for a surprise once they get past the review work. He says he gets along with the kids in his class. He did say that a group of girls were saying he was small, but he said they were joking with him. I'm not sure if they were picking on him and maybe he just didn't understand that they were? There is also a girl who is 8 who keeps saying DS isn't smart because he just turned 6. The teacher had talked with her, but this girl really hurts DS's feelings.

Had a great first meeting with DD8's teacher today. They're going to group kids by ability across classrooms for math and reading. All math and reading instruction will take place in the small groups, and each group will be able to progress at its own speed. The math group is starting out below DD's level (and below the level of at least one of the other kids in her group), but it should be able to rapidly move through the review work and into the fun new stuff. DD8 isn't as advanced as DD10 (she's only 1-2 years ahead, rather than 4+), so this should be perfect for her.

That sounds lovely!

Day 4 of school.. I'm getting an ulcer

What happened now?

I think our principal is saying things to me in person and not going to follow through. I recapped our meeting from last week and apparently I must have misunderstood everything he said about dd7 and some of what he said about ds5

I'm sorry! Being stressed about working with the system is what helped led to homeschooling for us. Hope you can work through your early year problems! I think the first few weeks can be super stressful for everyone.

My daughter turned 7 this summer and we're starting homeschool back up next week. She was tested this spring and really showed her colors. She's had a pretty easy ride so far, but she's young for grade and we're still working on writing/spelling here. It's coming strong though and I'm going to push a little harder this year.

She's going to dance 4 hours a week this year after her dance instructors advanced her up with the 8-10 year olds as a newly turned 7. Not sure what to think of that, but hopefully it won't be too much and will be a good challenge for her. I wouldn't consider it if we weren't homeschooling! Violin has been a good challenge for her too and she's racing now in that as well. This kid has attitude though, I have to tread a little more gently than with my first who is pretty much a rules kind of guy.

Have a great year everyone!

DD seems positive about her new gifted school so far and has made a friend whom she seems to adore, which is kind of huge. I don't really have a handle on things yet. Reading seems to be entirely free reading so far (maybe they are evaluating, but DD says not since Day 1). She is excited about science, which was awful at her old school and looks much better here. They seem to put a lot of emphasis on writing, which is good. However, spelling words are much too easy and it sounds like they are going to stick to "We teach one grade level ahead" for math. Time will tell. It looks like she is going to have a lot of homework, which, fortunately, is probably fine.

Frannieandejsmom,

If you are going to have to keep dealing with schools, some advice...start carrying a notepad with you. Jot down whatever the teacher, principal, gifted specialist, etc. says about what will happen for your DCs, and summarize it an a confirmatory e-mail that day. This can really help to get them to hold to what they agreed to, and if they write back clarifying that your understanding was in error, it at least lets you know early on if it is not going to come to pass.

Worst-case scenario, there's always homeschooling...

Well, I guess I misunderstood - he won't go to 4th during 3rd math, she's going to have him do an extra reading/blogging activity during part of 3rd grade math. Ds says he doesn't mind missing afternoon recess, so starting next week will go to 4th for math, and we'll see how it goes. He also got his first set of spelling words this week, he has to look up the definitions and write a sentence using each word; and they also have to do other activities using their spelling words, which count towards their grades. I'm SO excited - this is the first year they actually have grades - I guess it's the little things that make me happy

So far, so good. DD8 likes her class and her teacher, and came home yesterday looking forward to going back today.

DD10, not so much. Hopefully that will change as we get a little further into the year and figure out the appropriate strategy for her.

Much later than most of the board kids, DS7 started his school term today. He'd been anxious about it, as he's newly in the big-kids part of the school ["I'm going to be terrible at everything!" - err, no] but the day seems to have gone well, apart from his having managed to lose his diary already. Meeting with his new maths and science teacher on Friday; wish us luck. Her email read rather stiffly, but DS had a lesson with her today, and she had something appropriate for him to do, and he liked her and it; I'm assuming (trying hard to assume!) that it's just that people who don't conduct their entire lives through email the way DH and I do often write stiff emails (particularly, perhaps, to the scarier parents ;-)

ETA: the headmaster found his diary for him, and we bumped into the maths/science teacher who in person seems lovely. All's well with the world :-)

Had to laugh about your son losing his diary--DD is starting week 3 of school and has already left her backpack at school, left her coat on the bus, and lost her bus tag. Oy.

She is doing beautifully on her assignments. A little too beautifully, perhaps. I know it's early, but I'm concerned that the level of expectations, while higher than at her previous school, may still be too low. They're still testing and figuring the kids out, though.

She has joined the science club and is super psyched about that. She is also learning chess for the first time (yes, at school!) and is REALLY into it. I don't know if she'll have a knack for it or not, but the complexity and difficulty are really lighting her mind on fire and it's lovely to see.

DS7 had his first day of 3rd grade today, and I think things went well. The first thing he said was that he and another student think that the new teacher is crazy because she's making the kids use planners. (I rather like the planners - it means that we'll finally get to know what the kid is doing in school. He's not one to talk about school. Last year I got the info from his friends...) He brought home some "getting to know you" type writing, and I was shocked by how neat it was, and it filled a whole page! DS has had notoriously poor handwriting, and we were going to work on it over the summer... well, you know how these things go. It got worked on a couple of times. So I was very pleasantly surprised.

RE: losing planners and forgetting backpacks at school... is this NORMAL? I mean, do all kids do this? Are PG kids more prone? I ask because I'm now wondering if what I've been certain is some kind of LD issue may simply be normal 7 y/o boy behavior. He cannot seem to keep more than one to-do in his mind at a time, and sometimes even that is too much. He is always losing and misplacing things. If he puts something down outside, we may never find it again, as he has no clue at all if he even took it outside! Seriously, ladies... I've been ready to have him evaluated over this issue. He's an only child and I'm no expert with children, so if this is normal, please do tell!

Mom2MrQ,

You might want to look at the books

"Smart But Scattered"

and

"Late, Lost, and Unprepared"

for help in taking a closer look at your DCs executive functioning and deciding whether further evaluation is in order. Regardless of whether or not you find that executive functioning is more than a relative weakness for your child, you will find some detailed strategies to help you identify where the breakdown is occurring, and help support and develop executive functioning, which is at least as important as IQ for eventual personal success.

I don't know, but I do know that at least one other child in DS's class of 15 lost her diary on the first day just as he did. It's certainly normal to a degree... really hard to quantify the degree, though.

In DD's case I think we may have been taking care of too many of these things for her and reminding her too much. We are working on transitioning to making her more independent. However, my husband and I both tend to be forgetful, something we cope with by using reminder systems such as calendars that beep at us and cell phone alarms. I am also trying to think of more supports of that nature for DD. Yesterday I wrote "get raincoat" on the back of her hand and she did get it back from the bus driver.

DD8 had her first day of 3rd grade at the new, more gifted-friendly public school. It was agony watching her standing alone against a pillar, her sullen face staring at the ground as her new classmates hugged and greeted each other, when she could have been at her old familiar home school hugging and greeting her old friends.

She seemed better by the end of the day. She mentioned that some of her fellow students had "hard" books on their desks, and when I told her she should bring a book to read between testing, she picked out the heavy science encyclopedia that she has hardly touched. A positive sign! But then last night she already said she wanted to go back to her home school...

These decisions are like giving vaccinations. You know it's probably going to do them good in the long run, but you also know it is going to hurt.

I think some of it is normal 7 year old behavior and some of it is giftie behavior or some of it could be slow/lack of develelopment of executive functioning skills. My DS7 has lost (although they were found) 2 water bottles, forgotten to turn a few things in and has forgotten his homework folder.

My DS attends a HG school and when I emailed the teacher about his homework folder she said not to worry she had a lot of folders left behind and that she was starting to remember why she went to packets once a week last year with her gifted kids. I am not too worried at this point as I do see that he is improving on this as he gets older. And with some procedures in place, he seems to do better. This year is much better in terms of him getting up and remembering all that needs to get done before he goes to school. Before school started we put a post it on the computer and he knows that if he does not remember he can go there and look - he maybe used it two days and has been pretty good since.

I have wanted to read Smart But Scattered for some time and it is on my list to buy as I think it might have really good tips for us. I am really organized, but somehow, I have trouble teaching him to be organized too - I just take care of it. So, like the OP, I am trying really hard to let him do it on his own.

As a small aside....
I once read that you should tell your children

"remember your lunchbox" rather than "don't forget your lunchbox"

or even better "you will remember your lunchbox"

Something about how our brain remembers and executes negative statements..

Feeling a bit gloomy today--after some discussion with DD, it appears the whole class is reading Magic Treehouse for reading and that there is no sign of reading groups. Maybe she has this wrong, but she usually has it right. DD read a vast number of MTH books in reading LAST year in first grade at a nongifted school and they were really too easy for her then. (She is now at a gifted magnet.) We are finishing up week 3 of school, so it's still early, but not THAT early.

Math is also looking way too easy.

I'm hoping this is still because they are working out placement.

Tonight is curriculum night for us. I'm not sure where to start... sons kinder class or daughters second grade class. Both will be quite the challenge as neither are being challenged. I regularly give ds my dd's second grade math homework and other then sometimes writing the number backwards (I swear today he wrote ALL of it that way because the work was boring).

DD's class has not been broken into reading groups from what she says. I find that interesting because they did the reading assessments before school even started.

3 weeks in and I'm already very tired and frustrated. Wish I could homeschool.

It does seem to take them a very long time to sort the reading groups, doesn't it? I guess I shouldn't give up hope. It seems to me that it would be completely bizarro not to have them at a GT school...

I just feel like my kid has so little instruction time already. (One of the shortest school days in the nation and one day a week is early release.) Get on with it, folks!

My son's third grade is still doing money for the third week now! Some of the kids thought a quarter was worth 15 cents. My son can add simple fractions, etc. I'm kind of like, can we pick the pace up a bit?

Oh good, I do feel better now. I'm going to have to track down the recommended book. I also like the idea of positive instead of negative reminders.

Thanks to all of you!

My son's math homework is still coloring even and odd numbers different colors. Oh, and their math facts are 0+x and 1+x. Big time stuff here

Has she read the non fiction companion books? My DS loved those because they were less story more fact. Maybe rading those would keep her more interested in the MTH books in class?

I tell my son- this is why the USA ranks almost dead last among most countries for math test scores!! No reading groups yet either but I did see that my son was reading Harry Potter for his free time. At least that is something.
I hope that didn't sound snotty- I don't object to review. OK, let's spend an hour reviewing odd/even numbers or what is a quarter, but 3 weeks??? Oh well...

Thank you, I really like that.

DD started 2nd grade yesterday. (trying to say 2nd grade instead of grade 2, where everyone looks confused) and the reading groups seem to be OK. She took a book from a box that is about a year ahead, in their scale, but it seems like a Magic Tree house type. Ramona the Brave. But she usually takes from non fiction. The math is better than what is posted, but we do CTY so I don't worry so much about the math. Dd usually likes the nonfiction books in the boxes. And gets her reading books when they do the weekly trip to the library.

Positive reminders are great.

Yeah, that's pretty crazy. I think there's an over-emphasis on money and telling time anyway a lot of the time in grades 2 and 3. I can see that it might work for a lot of children to develop some basic calculation skills in a minor way, but that's about it. It's really a life skill that shoehorned into math curricula IMHO. I guess it's "applied math" of a sort, but not the sort that I care about.

DS came home with the seventh Harry Potter book on Wednesday, his school's library day. Which would have been fine, except that when I picked him up from day care, he took it out of his bookbag with relish to show me, pretty obviously getting off on the chunkiness of it. I think it was a form of bragging to do it in front of the other children and the day care workers. :| In any event I'm glad they're not restricting his choices of library books the way they did last year.

Funny you should mention this--DD said she's done with the MTH book they're all reading so is reading this now. It does look like it's a bit harder.

And yes, they are doing odd and even and money too. Again, I hope it's review, but I don't know.

She does seem to be getting some great on-level writing instruction (she is an advanced writer and the teacher does seem to be meeting her where she is there) and has a research project to plan that she is excited about. But the meat and potatoes isn't impressing me so far.

In my more anxious moments I feel like we threw her 3yo brother under the bus for nothing. (DS lost his spot at DD's charter when we moved her; the magnet doesn't start till gr 2 and the zoned school is not an option, so we are going to be scrambling. DS has become quite a bit more difficult and is appearing more gifted seemingly by the day. His preschool has a different crop of younger kids this year--most of his buddies are in K now--and he is frustrated there after loving it up till this time. I thought he was my easy kid who would do fine most anywhere, and now I think I was wrong.)

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the planner. DS9 started getting one in 3rd grade. like yours, he would never tell me anything. It's the only way I can keep track of anything that's going on. My favorite was the math quiz that he had today. In planner: Study for math quiz. Me: You have a math quiz? Him: Sure. Me: Are you going to study. Him: No. Etc. ... of course, he gets them all right every time. I don't know why I worry about actual STUDYING! ;-)

We're two weeks in and DS7 is doing great. We had a scare last week b/c the county moved to a new "integrated" curriculum and are no longer separating into different classrooms for math like they'd been doing. Lots of talk about how math is simply "part" of the other lessons. "There's no set time for math, etc., etc.) New curriculum has some pluses, but this is not it.

Thankfully, at back to school night, principal said that after looking at the needs of the kids (we're at the GT school), she's decided the school needs to continue the math switch. Hurrah! So, looks like all will be well after all. I'm hoping the math switch will start next week.

In the meantime, DS likes his teacher and seems happier than he ever has been about going to school. And teacher says he's even completing his work (still slow, but I'll take it!) Another staffer at the school pulled me aside at back to school night and told me really nice things about how quick he is to learn things and how well he's doing socially. All nice to hear ;-)

I wish I had the patience (and time) to home school. 3 weeks in at it hasn't been good

I noticed today that kids in grades 2-6 are eligible for CTY testing. DS6 started 2nd grade this fall, so I'm considering signing up. Is anyone else in this group giving this thought?

I did it with DS10 last year (4th grade) he did very well (high honors on both parts) I wasn't thinking of doing it with DD8 because of her 2E'ness. She can't perform fast enough on a timed math test, just won't happen. First 2 skills tests they did in math she got her extra time (that's on her 504) and got 99% and 98%. On the 3rd test she wasn't given the extra time, didn't complete the test and got a 58%. Every question she completed was correct (none were skipped). So, I don't think a timed test would work out. There is no real reason to do it in our case anyway, it was fun for DS because he loves tests and does well. Maybe I'll think about it next year for DD when she is in 4th grade.

AntsyPants,
If there is a 504 in place and/or you have a psych report with a diagnosis and suggested accommodations that include extra time, you should be able to have your 2-E child test with extra time. It usually takes 2 or 3 months to get accommodations through,so you'll want to get the ball rolling soon if the timed nature of the testing is the only obstacle.

What is the CTY process and what are the advantages of testing for it? It gives you access to online learning, I think, but anything else?

I am reevaluating DD right now and feeling a little flummoxed. It is apparent from conversations with her teacher and what I am seeing from school that the gifted magnet may not be adequate either. It does look like this is a better fit than her previous school, and I think she is going to have more friends here. But we may need more.

So dd7 had library day yesterday. She came home with a Biscuit book and a level 1 Fancy Nancy. Whats wrong with this picture? She is reading on a late third early fourth grade level (in guided reading)!

Ds8's current library book is a Geronmo Stilton book - his new favorite reading material. Though his teacher has him reading The Lightening Thief during part of 3rd grade math, and at home he's reading a Horrible History about London (nice and gory, he's loving reading about the Tower of LOndon and the grisly executions there

Were those her book choices for fun or for class? I don't mind DD8 reading whatever she wants in that situation because i know the books she reads at night and in class are the right level. If DD wanted to read the whole Captain Underpants series again or revisit Junie B Jones it would be fine with me as long as it fosters her love of reading. Just be sure you help DD select appropriate late 3rd-early 4th grade level books for her to read too.

I got the reading bug from MAD magazines and comic books. Later fell in love with Shakespeare.

In our old school (a private gifted school) the teachers would tell parents to encourage any reading even below level reading for fun down time. They worked on comprehension and above grade level books in class. Also, I do agree that reading at the right comprehension level is important. We always used the 5-finger rule with DD. You open a book to a random page and while reading it count the words you don't know. If it's more than 5 you may not be ready for it. I think the librarian in that school taught us that.

Lastly, I have noticed that in the younger grades (K-3) in our old school (going by my experiences with DS10 who was the super early reader/very high reading level) they would read higher level books, do some vocab and move on. At our new school they do easier books (1-2 yrs above grade level) in class but do more in-depth studies. So, while DS did The Egypt Game in his 3rd grade reading class(a 6th gr level book) I am not too concerned when I saw it on a suggested list for his 5th grade. I know that if they do that book in class they will be learning study habits, active reading techniques, doing reports & presentations and more. So, it's not so much the book itself but what they do with it and I keep that all in mind with DD8 in 3rd grade.

Thanks, good to know. I have an OT report with diagnosis. I suppose if we wanted to go for the testing I could have the school psych & guidance counselor help me out. She doesn't like math much or testing and she is in a great gifted program so I don't really see any point in putting her through it. DS10 loved it though.

DS6, in second this year, is supposed to have enrichment/differentiation in math and language arts. In TAT (Teacher Assistance Team) meetings last year, it was planned to have criteria for the differentiation in place by the end of the year, but it wound up not happening, with the new teacher entrusted with developing the differentiation plan for this year.

This year's teacher has no GT experience, so we've been a little worried, especially since she delayed getting back to us initially and after that did not have time to meet for a while. Our DYS family advocate sent a letter offering help to the teacher, the principal and my son's guidance counselor, but the teacher has not followed up yet to contact the advocate. (This was all understandable, as here the teachers don't come back from break until just before class starts. In addition the teacher has been busy with her own initial assessments. Here these things take a number of weeks to finish, and she may also be waiting for the results of the initial MAP tests.)

Last night was curriculum night. Unfortunately, I couldn't attend due to lack of child care support, but my wife went. Some highlights from her report:

1. The teacher "gets" him, and says she's never taught anyone like him, so she wants to make sure she does right by him. She says she has some other advanced children, but that DS6 is far different from them. She believes he has a photographic memory (I don't think he has a full one, at least), and said that he only needs to be shown something once to learn it (this is also something I take with a grain of salt, and chalk it up in large part to him not being shown anything yet in class that he doesn't already know; he certainly learns quickly, but not always instantly).

2. The new vice principal is a former GT coordinator for an entire school district (in California; in our New Hampshire school district there is no GT program), and has asked to be present at our next meeting with the teacher to discuss differentiation options.

3. DS6 been placed in the highest reading group, but it's not enough for him, according to the teacher (true). The second grade math is also a waste of DS's time, according to the teacher (yep). According to her, even third grade math would likely not be enough (probably true conceptually, though at least he'd get some calculation practice out of it).

4. The teacher is not sending home math homework until the math differentiation gets resolved. She is worried about losing DS6, since she says that she already sees him spacing out when he gets bored.

5. DS6 gets 100% on spelling pretests, but then can also get 100% on challenge word lists with no study. She's suggesting that instead of spelling, she give him vocabulary and grammar work. This will probably be the very first differentiation he gets.

6. The teacher's hesitant to recommend pull-outs for anything, even math, because she would like DS6 to stay with his peer group as much as possible, and he would stick out like an even sorer thumb in third grade (his current classroom already has some kids two years older, and he's on the young side at six with a July birthday, and is not on the large side for his age). This makes me wonder what sort of full-contact math they're practicing in higher grades. But for better or worse, there is apparently a fair bit of resistance to subject pull-outs at our school.

7. The teacher never looked at his IQ and achievement test report, because she wanted to form her own opinions of him first. My wife mentioned that the report has some potentially useful recommendations, and the teacher says she's ready to read it and will do so. The teacher also said she is ready to ask our DYS family consultant for advice.

I continue to like this teacher, and hope for the best. For now, DS6 is academically bored though enjoying the social aspects of school. MAP testing is next week, then we will have the meeting with the teacher and VP, then in October have a follow-up scheduled with the TAT team.

Sounds hopeful, Iucounu. Liking the teacher is hugely important, I think.

Progress here: we had a good meeting with DS7's new maths and science teacher. (The "high powered maths lady" (mentor?) doesn't seem to be materialising, so far, but as we never had a clear idea of what that would involve anyway, no worries; I'm going to take their attempt at that as another sign of flexibility, and not worry if every such attempt doesn't come off.) She seems to have sensible ideas, although she was clearly only just starting to get to know DS. She was worried about gaps :-( and apparently DS is currently doing an exam paper that they normally give to 13yos, on a syllabus he finished at the end of the last school year but one. He describes it as "easy" but then also says he got stuck on a problem involving a pie chart - argh, it shouldn't be possible for anything of that nature to trip him up! Still, I can't imagine he's going to do badly enough on that to undo the resolve to give him appropriate things to do, and if he has forgotten certain things and they want him to revisit them, it's probably sensible - I just hope they will watch for the difference between "this kid never understood these concepts" (definitely false at this level) and "this kid made arithmetic slips" (bound to be true, requires no action) and "this kid has forgotten a concept here" (could be true, though I doubt it would be anything major, revisiting would be reasonable). I think they will. This teacher also seems happy to select appropriate problems for him to do in class (and seems to be doing fine so far) so I don't have to do this any more. We're doing a bit of calculus at home from time to time, and they know that at school, but there doesn't seem to be any reason for it to interact with what they do there. They're keen to get him more involved in working with others in the class, and it'll be interesting to see how that goes. Could be good; so far, the activity he reports was a game based around place value, where he really doesn't need any reinforcement, but apparently it was fun and I'm not actually against his doing things just for fun in maths classes occasionally. Fingers crossed he's going to be entered into his first timed maths competition this term - there seems to be some resistance somewhere in the system to him doing that, and I'm not clear on where it's coming from and whether it's an actual objection or just "we don't normally do this" inertia, but it sounds as though it may work. It would actually be quite good for him to encounter the concept of other people being better at maths than he is yet :-) and working with a time limit would be an interesting challenge for him, I think.

Other aspects of school also seem to be going pretty well - his anxiety has abated now that he's actually started, and he seems to be getting into the routine and being interested across the board. I'm hoping for a good year.

I am having a rough time with our teacher this year. She doesn't seem to respond to emails. Second grade math thus far is just as bad as first grade math:( . She told dd that she was in a reading group with a couple of other kids because she couldn't have a reading group of 1. This reading group is at the level she was last January and reading the same books as back then.

Well, DD's math homework yesterday was the first math assignment she has EVER had to think hard about. So that was pretty exciting. Rather predictably, she panicked a little and freaked out when I wouldn't tell her exactly how to do it (she had the computation skills but had never seen anything like it before...it was sort of "puzzler" type of math, from an enrichment program). But she got through it and figured it out herself and was proud. Yay! The first useful piece of homework she's had in her whole life.

However, I am still feeling gloomy about the reading issue.

LOL - my ds8 sounds like yours - he has a June birthday, so is pretty young for his grade (3rd) - and he IS the smallest kid in his grade. However, he has managed to survive that full contact math in the next grade up for the past couple of years - must be the padding and helmet we make him wear when he goes to math

I think we have the same child. Crazy.

The spacing out has become a problem for us too with DS6. On spelling practice tests he completely misses writing whole words because he is bored. I am happy with the school we chose, but I am realizing that there is no perfect solution when it comes to a PG kid and school.

Arrrgh! Got a call from DS8s teacher yesterday. He is not doing his work and then lying about it. I guess he told the teacher he had turned it in, when he hadn't, then told her that it was in his desk and finally pulled it out of the recycling bin. She says she recognizes he is smart and wants to accelerate him, but she needs to see he can do the work first. She is planning on sending home a behavior contract today, but we are also supposed to find out if he is going to be put in above grade level math for this year. I am afraid she won't recommend him based upon his performance (or lack thereof) this year. If he doesn't get the above grade level math I think it will just aggravate the situation.

We had a similar experience this year. It was almost exciting for me to feel that DS7 might actually have some challenges!

MAP scores are in and we now have differentiation! I spent about an hour with dd7's teacher. She is in a multigrade school so its a 1/2 class. I LOVED it last year as a first grader and have been iffy so far this year being the older grade. Each class has a partner class and they split for reading and math.

A small group will be starting on third grade math next week. They are starting with multiplication tables. The will also get a pull out at least once a week probably 2 or 3 times a week with logic problem and thinking skills practice. This will occur during the math block. They will work at a pace that works for the group (there are 4 possibly 5 kids).

Keeping fingers crossed!

Frannieandejsmom,

That's great news!

Unfortunately, the reality isn't quite so good. From what DD has said, it seems like the kids who are below grade level are in small groups. All the kids who are at or above grade level seem to be in one big group. For the past few weeks, they've been working on single and double digit addition. Not surprisingly, DD is rather bored, so we've been working at home. Hopefully once all the assessments are done, they'll be able to let the kids who are ready move ahead.

Well, things seem...okay? Reading is meh, though they are starting a lot of individualized stuff on the computer. I got back her reading assessment today (state mandated) which has very little useful info but does report that her "probability of reading success" is 99%. Ha! Guess we had to leave that last 1% in there juuuust in case.

She has really enjoyed this special research project they've been doing and we continue to get one math homework a week that truly challenges her. Today it made her cry because she was freaked that she didn't know how to do it right away. This sounds horrible, but I was vaguely thrilled--not that she was crying, but that she was being pushed outside her ding-ding-ding-everything-is-easy zone. She figured it out eventually and was triumphant.

She is still loving chess and science.

She did get a first progress report recently and it's straight As across the board. I guess that's good--I mean, it would be weird to be disappointed in that. Right?

Pessimist alert: Call me weird then, but disappointed is how I felt when our DS was getting all the highest scores on his reports at our last school. I think our kids need to get a couple "needs work" or "almost there" type reports, so we know that they have something to learn. How can you learn how to learn if you already know the materials?

As for 3rd grade for our DS7, I think things are going well so far (he's at a school for HG kids). It seems like they're getting down to business this year. There's a lot more writing, and the spelling words are crazy hard (requiring studying, which we're still trying to figure out how to do best). The teacher sends home everything they do in class, which is great fun. DS is writing a lot of funny stories, and they get to do really cool activities (like comparisons of Egyptian and Chinese math systems). And DS has only forgotten his lunchbox once this year (compared to nearly every day last year). Yeah! I still don't think I'll ever have a kid who looks forward to school, but I think he likes it OK.

An interesting tidbit: They took the MAP tests again, and I told DS that his scores went up a bit since the spring, which was great since we didn't really do anything academic all summer. He said that he hoped his scores were still the highest in the class. He knew that his scores were the highest last year before we moved him to the HG school; we told him to show him that he needed something more challenging. I didn't really think he cared about that, but apparently he does. I told him that it was unlikely that he still had the highest scores in every subject at the new school, where he's the youngest kid, even among the grade skippers, and that it's great that he's in a group of kids that are learning near the same levels. It was interesting to me that he wanted to have the top scores.

I do feel just slightly... don't know...meh about the straight Es. Her teacher is seeming excessively wowed by her. I know there are worse problems to have, but I am tired of excessive wow syndrome and thought we would be getting away from it here. Her IQ is supposedly 133, putting her only 3 points over the cutoff for this gifted school. I know she is extremely motivated and that it helps, a lot, but.

Just looked up that wcpm thing--yeah, wow, that is fast for a second-grader. I wonder how she would do with it on a text more at the 5th-6th grade level, which is about where she chooses to read for pleasure. I'm sure the 190 was a second-grade text.

I think the IQ score is missing something.

I think the score is probably a slight understimate, but not crazy low. I wish she had taken a longer test or an achievement test. The school seems to only be working about a grade ahead, which isn't enough for DD--I wouldn't expect it to be enough for MOST kids over 130. I'm hoping there will continue to be curriculum adjustments.

I think I mentioned that ds8 was reading the "Lightening Thief" in class (while the other kids do math). His teacher also got a copy, and is reading along with him so she can come up with work for him to go alongside it. She e-mailed yesterday to tell me that they took turns reading out loud to each other for the first time - and had a laugh at some of the name pronunciations they were coming up with. She also said that she didn't think she'd enjoy the book - not her thing - but she liked it. Glad to hear she's getting a kick out of working with ds

Hi! I'm a newbie here, tiptoeing in.

My DD7 is in second grade. She is currently in a gifted pull-out program one day a week, which is an enrichment program for all the kids in the district who tested in the top 2.5-3% on the district's giftedness assessment tests. She is bused to another school for the program.

That is all that the district offers for 2nd grade. In 3rd grade, she will have the option of attending a full-time program that accelerates the normal grade-level curriculum.

So far, DD loves 2nd grade -- both in her regular classroom and in her gifted pull-out class. Even when the class assignments are not challenging enough, DD is generally able to modify them to work for her (by writing or reading more than the minimum required, for example).

Welcome!

I'm SOOOOOOOOOOO very excited to report that I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad we decided to keep DC at their current school instead of going to the charter (remember that decision - it's been so long, and I have been ghost due to work).

Anyway, long story short, DC's school is a Title I school. This year they opted to take the funds and add a math lab, add additional staff and teachers (to reduce classroom size) AND to ensure that at least two teachers at every grade are gifted certified!! DS7.5 & DD5.5 BOTH have a gifted certified teacher! The school already clustered the kids (which I love for DS).

Anywho, I just thought I'd update. DS7.5 is still loving 3rd grade and his ALP pullout. And DD5.5 (6 on the 11th) is AMAZING us in K. She has seriously gone from not reading/writing to wow!!! Maybe she really is on the scale herself.

In what town/city do you live; I'm so envious of your offerings!

Awesome JJsmom.. I wish we were as successful. We have had nothing but broken promises for dd7 (2nd) and ds 5.5 (kinder).

conferences are tomorrow... I don't even know where to begin

edited to add.. we are probably going to have a sleep study done on dd. She is waking after about 2 hours of sleep.. well not really waking. It is like a deer in the headlight wake up. She has been falling asleep on the bus ride to school. The pediatrician says it could very well be stress related but wants to rule out sleep apnea. I don't know if I should bring up the stress levels of her classroom.

hello all, haven't checked in in forever. Hope the school years are going well for all of your kiddos. How did the conferences go frannieandejsmom? DS7 is doing well this year. He is in 3rd and goes to 5th for math. Still not the best fit but it's working okay for now. He also does a computer program that is more his level for math but will be ending soon as it only goes to 8th grade for math. He is getting +2 acceleration for ELA and spelling (not including his grade skip) so that has been okay, still not challenging but better than 3rd grade stuff. It's hard because school only goes up to 5th grade so we need to figure some things out for next year. So far though, we are quite happy with the things they have done. Like I didn't know they were giving him some 5th grade ELA stuff until I saw it on the bottom of the paper. His teacher realized he needed harder stuff and gave it to him. I hope this continues : ) We don't have our conference for another month or so, so we will see.

conferences went ok. Frannie is receiving enrichment in math, reading and language arts. As of right now, she will not be tested for the gifted program this year.. however we are going to appeal. Its not like out Gert program is anything big though.. its 1 hour a week of pull out.

MAP scores came back and were not what we expected. The new norms lowered her percentiles quite a bit even from last year. My ds5 (kinder) math MAP was only a few points behind hers!

We decided to wait on the sleep study. We are going to have her talk to the school psychologist first and see if she can get dd to open up a bit. I am pretty sure its school related stress.

I'm in Cobb County, GA...

So sorry to hear.

DD8 is going to start getting differentiated math after state testing is done. Yay!

We have conferences next week, so maybe we'll learn more. From the stuff that comes home, it seems like DS7's class is doing a lot of interesting, challenging, and fun stuff, but DS still asks why he has to go to school. He's not a fan. But we as parents are happy with the school. Anybody have any ideas about discovering if DS's complaints about not liking school are just puffery? I know he'd prefer to stay home every day, but other than that I can't figure out if he's just trying to mess with me or if something's not quite right. (As background, he has never liked school. He no longer complains that it's boring, but he still doesn't like to go.)

Starting today, ds8 (3rd grade) will be going to his 4th grade math class for their "lit circle". I guess they all read the same book and discuss. His 3rd grade teacher told me about it yesterday (her little girl comes to my daycare, so I get to see her everyday). This will be during 3rd grade math, so he won't miss out on anything - hope it all goes well

I never liked to go either. DS10 didn't want to go at 6 and doesn't want to go at 10. Things are better than they were but ew still have the conversation about once a week. He wants to be a mathematician though and he knows he is probably in school for the long haul.

If he says he doesn't like to go it could be social, he may not like the teacher, etc. DS is so much happier now that he's got it going on socially and has found kids that are not just fun and nice but are academic peers to him. That was a BIG deal. Have you probed into those areas? Sometimes it's not the academics. DS doesn't like the long day and the home work. If we could do 3 days on, 3 days off, shorter days and no homework then he'd be thrilled! lol

If it's not making his life miserable and he is going to school without making your life miserable I wouldn't worry too much. I would gently probe to see what's going on. Have a meeting with the teacher to find out what he does at free times, who he eats lunch with, are they making them square dance in PE? etc...

Thanks Antsy-Pants. DS complains much less now that he's at a school for HG kids, and his classmates are a great group. He has a couple kids he likes to play with at recess, and he does like going to the afterschool classes (chess/science). This year's teacher is tougher than last year's, but DS complained about school last year too- and that was the most fun teacher imaginable.

If asked, he says school is a waste of his time (translated to "I would rather be playing Minecraft"), and that he'd like to skip more grades if possible. I think it's just the way it will be for him. He has hardly any homework beyond reading 30 minutes a day and studying his spelling (which are extremely hard words commonly misspelled by adults - first time DS has had to study anything!)

I would also like to have 3 days on, 3 days off, and shorter days for my work!

Thanks for letting me vent, anyway.

If DS had his way it would be Minecraft 24/7!

Well, my DS5's poison/crack of choice is Angry Birds, which I restricted pretty heavily. Until I had to keep 3 kids 7 and under busy on a 16 hours transcontinental trip. His limit on the way out was 3 hours. He barely played 2 hours on the way back. And there has been a bit less whining about the game since then.

So... Maybe not?

We had conferences this evening for ds8 - first time with letter grades, so kind of cool. His 4th grade math teacher popped in - says ds is grouped with the highest of his 4th grade kids, and doing great. They do stuff in 3 week rotations - he says ds is challenged when they start, but by the beginning of the 2nd week has it mastered. He's extremely well behaved, no problems whatsoever.
His 3rd grade teacher was also full of praise - she is doing her best to challenge him. His only behavior problem is "blurting" - which has been his only problem in all grades so far. We talked about ds maybe learning Latin/Greek, and is open to me sending a book in with him if I can find something suitable. Any ideas ?

Wish I had ideas for you st. pauli girl about the school thing with your DS. Working in schools though I see a lot of kids that have fun all day and enjoy themselves and then their parents tell us that the kids give them a hard time about going and don't want to come. It's a little confusing sometimes. Maybe the day just seems too long and he is just in that mindset of saying he doesn't like school. Lots of kids say it. Our DS7 is definitely in the minority as he has never complained about school, never said he doesn't want to go, and never said it is boring. He actually rarely says anything is boring which is odd to me....but he occasionally will tactfully say things like "I think that's a little too easy for me." But hearing about your DS's school, it sounds awesome! sounds like you have found the right school...but it's still a school. : ) I hope for your sake he gets tired of the complaining because that has to be hard for you when you know it's a good school and think things are going well. Good luck! How did conferences go?? Mine isn't until next week! My daughters is this Wednesday for pre-k though.

Minor update: DS is essentially receiving no math instruction at all for the first half of the year. :| A follow-up meeting is scheduled for December 1st. In the meantime the school is getting input from the middle school math department head (I don't know why, because I don't think he's ready for middle school math, i.e. sixth grade here) and school district math consultant, and I'm to investigate several online math programs with DS6 to hopefully pick one.

The new assistant principal's original plan at the last meeting was to have DS learn the same concepts as the rest of his second-grade class, but in more depth-- yes, (re)learning about adding single- and double-digit numbers but in more depth, perhaps either doing the equivalent of a book report on the subject, or creating problems for the rest of the class. The assistant principal said that DS6 needs to stay at the same level as his grade peers (too late by at least a couple of years) because otherwise, there'd be a problem when he needs more than fifth grade math, but the school can't provide it. I shot the idea down repeatedly in the meeting; I finally asked whether with that investigatory approach and no other instruction DS6 would be expected to show increased math understanding at the end of the year via higher scores on the MAP test (the local assessment tool of choice), stay where he was, or perhaps backslide a bit.

I'm not happy. Doing in-class work alone on the computer isn't the same as being taught by a good math teacher, and will serve to alienate him at least as much as another skip or a math pull-out would. I have half a mind to just tell my son to do what he wants during math time at school, and teach him after school. This year was supposed to cure the need for that, though. I really can't believe that the solution so far has been to continue to plan to make plans, while he spends a half year learning no math at school.

I'm sorry to hear about the math, locounu. It sounds like a meeting we had with our DS's local school before we transferred him to the HG school. Except they were telling us that he wasn't ready for higher math because his writing wasn't good enough. Ugh. We did finally get that school to agree to let DS test out of the units and then go to the GT teacher for new material, but we didn't stick around long enough to see if it would work. That must be so frustrating for you and your DS. When our DS was in kindy and not getting enough, we did join EPGY and DS did that at home after school, which worked OK. If you're willing and able to teach your DS, it might not be a bad plan versus getting absolutely nothing new at school.

shellymos, thanks for the support! I guess a lot does have to do with personality and individual kids. Lately I've been getting more of "I wish I never went to this school. If I had to take a test again to get in, I would purposely get all the answers wrong so I wouldn't qualify." We know it's a great fit though, and he's doing great. And the conference went well. DS is doing great academically, and the teacher said she has seen no issues with him being a grade skipper (except that it might take more practice to get up to some of the other kids in writing). I am really happy with DS's school. I hope your conferences go well too.

Thanks, st pauli girl. At one point last year we dealt with something similar. IIRC at one point DS-then-5's occasional 2-reversals were used as evidence that he was in an appropriate placement for math.

I hoped that this year would resolve all our issues for at least a couple of years going forward, and the plan from last year was supposed to have been implemented by the start of this year; instead we will have gotten solved math-wise until at least half the year is gone, if then.

We've had a lot of struggles this year, and now the teacher seems to have become a bit of an obstacle, but is less open about it than last year's teacher. Last year's teacher was open about her beliefs about what was best for DS6, and acted accordingly. This year's teacher ignores attempts at contact via email. She cut short DS's MAP test for reading, and didn't provide him with paper for the first part of the math test (he still tested quite well, though he was stuck trying to do long division and multi-digit multiplication in his head). We've seen a steady stream of things like this.

I wish we had access to a gifted school. One gifted charter was proposed to the NH DOE, but somehow during the approval process morphed into an open-enrollment school with only 52 slots, opening in 2012. I will probably apply, but I'm not holding my breath for that to be the solution either.

We got DD's report card from her GT magnet today--straight Es--and met with her teacher. Talked mostly about emotional and social stuff in the conference. DD is clearly doing very well academically and having no trouble with the curriculum. I'm a little mixed about some aspects of the school still (miainly math and reading--hmm), but pleased with the the meatiness of the science, writing, and SS material, and with the independent projects they do.

lucouno, I hope you get some answers and they come up with a better plan for your DS soon!! I am sure that is quite frustrating! the more indepth adding and subtracting is quite annoying to you I am sure. I am all for enrichment and horizontal learning as well...but more when you are at the right level not several years behind. I am not sure why it is taking them that long to come up with a plan for him. Waiting until December 1st? That's just crazy!

Our DS7 is in 3rd and they have him go to 5th for math (because the school only goes up to 5th grade). In the class he also does a computer program and is finishing up 7th grade on that program. I go back and forth about what is best because while I would rather him be in a class with kids, I also realize that his pace is faster than one grade a year. So I am not sure if that is the answer either. Last year in 2nd he went to a 4th grade class but they told me he completed 5th grade that year too so I am confused about the repetition. He is doing fine in 5th grade now, but it's annoying because he isn't learning anything really. I guess we will see what they say at his conference coming up next week. Regarding online programs our DS7 enjoys khan academy...but it's not really a curriculum. We also did EPGY and that was good too.

Good luck to you!

Sounds great! Yay for DD! I hear you about the focus being emotional and social....that is typically what comes up at our conferences too. Thankfully this has been getting better but it is still the one area in which there is room for growth.

shellymos, that sounds like a dream arrangement compared to ours. It doesn't make much sense for your son to sit in a fifth grade class if he's not doing the normal fifth grade work, but at least he has the in-class computer program to stretch himself a bit more (what is it, btw? we have to evaluate a few this month).

What you say about the faster pace seems to be the hardest thing for some of the administrators to understand. It does unfortunately impose a set of tradeoffs in normal schooling situations, that can only be resolved perfectly by appropriately-paced instruction with similarly fast-paced learners at a similar knowledge level in each subject. I can only dream about some of the gifted schools I've read about with high entry requirements.

I agree about Khan Academy. We use it for learning about astronomy, etc. and I know it has some math, but it's not the best "spine", as they say.

I totally agree and am very thankful for our school's willingness to think outside the box and allow him to even have a full grade skip and go 2 more grades up for math. Plus they give him 5th grade ELA and spelling in his 3rd grade class. Still below his level but a great start! I really can't complain and he is not complaining at all. They have a math program they use with kids called successmaker through Pearsons. I think they use it with all the kids, but DS seems to use it more. He is almost at 8th grade level though and it only goes up to 8th so not sure what to do after that. We will be discussing it at our conference hopefully!

We had conferences earlier this week, and DD8 is doing well in math. She's enjoying her weekly GT pullout and wishes it was every day. She's also reading above grade level. Her writing isn't so good, but we're working on it.

(Sorry for being incommunicado for a while. I like this site and get a lot of valuable info here; it's just been one emergency after another lately. I'm worried that I may now have to look elsewhere when I wish to purchase handbags, SPAM, or MBT shoes, but there are still plenty of pluses that keep me coming back.)

We had another TAT meeting. Nobody had spoken to the district math consultant yet. A suggestion was made to give DS more breadth of knowledge by doing projects, perhaps having him do reports, etc.; it was more of the same, and it didn't seem like any progress had been made. We'd reviewed four online programs at the suggestion of the team, including EPGY and ALEKS, and presented our findings, but the principal said that they would prefer to use something called Odyssey Math. I afterward checked this out, and it seems to present info in an overly cutesy way. Though it is claimed to be able to be used as a primary resource, I wouldn't feel comfortable using it that way for several reasons, not least of which is that DS seems to really like having some sort of textbook to flip through. A follow-up meeting was scheduled for a month later.

We've now followed up and requested either a math pull-out to fourth (even this would not be ideal IMHO because they use a somewhat poor curriculum here and we're in a Title I district, but it'd be better than what's happening now, which is fourth-grade worksheets at home and in math class), or that we be allowed to partially homeschool/afterschool, and send written work in to be done during math class to minimize time spent at home on this. He's shown the ability to go quickly through Singapore Math lessons with very good retention, and this would solve the pacing problem, so hopefully this scheme will work and be acceptable to everyone. If they don't go for either of these options, we may have to escalate to the superintendent and beyond, with the idea of being able to pick a school elsewhere in the state. We feel like we've been very patient, but we can't let things go on forever.

Another option is to consider homeschooling. DS already learns science out of interest at home, and essentially self-develops in reading and writing, so I'm pretty much unconcerned with those areas (and to the school's credit, they've done their best with language arts differentiation). I'm really loath to homeschool and lose the social aspects of school just to properly teach math, though. We may be more likely to just give up on advocating with the school, and afterschool math a bit more rigorously, though we're loath to do that too due to infringement on family time.

Social time at school in the elementary grades is pretty much limited to recess and lunch. Homeschool group park days, field trips, and community-based extracurricular sports and clubs can provide social opportunities. Depending on what the laws are like where you live, your child might even be allowed to continue with school "specials" (intramural sports, music, drama, clubs, etc.) while homeschooling.

It sounds like you are currently at least two-thirds of the way to homeschooling full-time - your child is self-developing in reading and language arts, and you are accelerating at home in science and math already. If you look at the amount of time and resources you are using trying to compensate for a poor academic fit with enrichment and instruction at home, and trying to convince the school to meet your child's needs, you are probably already expending more energy than it would take if you were actually just homeschooling and arranging afterschool and weekend playdates to help your son maintain contact with his friends.

One of the best things about homeschooling for our family is that it is just plain easier than trying to fight constantly to ensure that the education being provided is even close to appropriate, and if it becomes clear that our son needs more challenge, or a different instructional program, we can change it right away.

[/pro-homeschooling rant]

YES! Sometimes this is the main thing that keeps us home schooling!

We're considering home schooling, but it'd make things tough financially.

Update: he's to be moved to another second grade room that has several children who sound possibly MG, for whom the teacher is doing real differentiation. He will theoretically get work at his level and interaction with the teacher, though I'm unclear of what lessons he'll get or from what curriculum. Computer learning will happen via Odyssey Math and Khan Academy as well. They refused a skip to fourth most likely based on maturity concerns or their no-double-acceleration rule, but didn't say in the letter (his MAP scores and ability levels show that 4-5th is appropriate right now, and he's been doing 4th worksheets in school and for homework).

Our offer of partial homeschooling was rejected without any real discussion. This is a Title I district for math, and I think they're worried about how it might look.

The move to a teacher who does real differentiation, along with some other GT kids, sounds like an improvement. It must be very frustrating for your kiddo (and you too). That's too bad that they wouldn't even discuss the partial homeschooling. But with a new teacher, maybe there is new hope for at least some appropriate learning?

ETA - I haven't updated in awhile. I feel sort of guilty, because things are going really well for DS7 in 3rd at the HG school. The teacher is great at giving the kids challenging and fun materials. DS still complains about school, and wishes that it was never invented, but he has made many friends and I know he likes being with them at school. (I now understand that my DS will always complain about school unless it involved unlimited access to his choice of computer games.)

I'm updating to say that things are going pretty well. The new school is not perfect (what is?) but I am very pleased with the project-based focus and the exciting field trips and guest speakers. She is definitely being challenged in writing, and stimulated, at least, in most other subjects. (Not sure about reading--interestingly, it doesn't seem to be being taught much, with the main activity being silent reading at their level.) She will be allowed to advance to 3rd-grade math soon, after completing the 2nd grade curriculum in half a year. She could do more, but this year is revealing to me that I did mean what I said last year when she was spinning her wheels--I don't need her to be taught at her exact level in everything. A modicum of challenge and excitement is enough for me. Before, we had zippo. I'd like to see a few papers coming home with something other than 100%s, but really, it's an improvement for darn sure. She also has access to some great after-school clubs that are really enjoyable.

(And now, because I have to worry about something, I am suddenly getting pretty concerned about DS, who seemed more on the MG side and also a LOT more on the easygoing side than his sister, until fairly recently. All of a sudden things are looking more...well...urgent. If he tests in, he can also attend this school, but not till 2nd grade.)

That's great, st pauli girl and ultramarina.

We were set up with a brief meeting with the district math consultant, at the suggestion of the principal. When we showed up, it turned into a full-blown TAT meeting (we felt slightly blindsided). The math consultant, who apparently recommended two months of math-fact drills to start off the year in our Title I district, had not been provided with details about our son; he said he meets children like him "all the time", that they are our country's future engineers, and that what they need most is a solid foundation, including knowledge of how to add up numbers in different ways at the second-grade level (a la Everyday Math). We mentioned that the new teacher had said she planned to assess his proper instructional level, and asked for confirmation-- which she began to give, only to have the principal break in and say that the discussion shouldn't be about levels, but about providing a broad, deep foundation. :| We said, for the umpteenth time, that we would be fine with anything that provided him with an appropriate challenge, and which didn't artificially restrict his progression to new math concepts as he was ready.

We met afterwards with the teacher, and got a good feeling. She is either on the same page as us, or is giving us a newer, tastier flavor of the party line designed to keep us quiet. She said our son has fit in well already in her class, and that she hopes to be able to challenge him (she said he was talking about i the other day, which forced her to go look up what he was talking about).

She told us, which we hadn't known before, that our son was without pencil and paper not only for most of the first MAP testing session, but also the second one-- so he mostly did the math in his head to achieve a score that should prove conclusively to the school that he should really be in much higher-grade classroom for math, and that he's so far beyond their second-grade curriculum that he has really plumbed the depths already. She asked permission to have him retake the math MAP in February, which we gave.

DS fairly suddenly began having headaches and extreme light sensitivity, and it turned out that his vision was suddenly, rapidly worsening. One pair of bifocals later, and he's back to reading more than ever.

I have to say, I don't miss Everyday Math. I don't even know what curriculum DD is doing now (I think it's just some standard state math thing), but it's just more straight-ahead and less gimmicky and "spirally" and lalaland.

Also, I meant to add that one of my favorite things about the new (gifted) school is that there are kids who are better than DD at some stuff. There is one girl in her class who is a math whiz, and a couple of boys who are awesome at chess, and so on. I appreciate that she has kids in her class whom she admires for their skills and smarts (she verbalizes this). She realizes the world is a bigger pond now--a good thing, believe me.

One reason we applied to DYS was to get a bigger pond effect. Unfortunately there aren't any DYS kids anywhere near his age near us. I will have to look into the other options (message boards, etc.) but I don't think it's the same as learning or playing with kids first-hand. We do have a few kids locally that DS enjoys playing with, but they're not really on his wavelength, and I do think that he unfortunately feels superior to them.

From what I've read about Everyday Math, it needs well-trained, perceptive teachers to be implemented well. It apparently has some decent thought behind it, and I actually think the spiral nature works well for some things-- for example, multiplication and division are introduced in first grade, then revisited later. On the other hand I think that the whole thing is based upon an idea that children don't learn abstractly at all and generally need things dumbed down for them early on, which is a mistake in my opinion. As an example, multiplication and division are taught in first grade with a cutesy machine concept -- arguably good because it may predispose them to understand the concept of a function, but IMHO bad because it's more straightforward to simply conceive of multiplication and division directly and exercise visual-spatial skills (Cuisenaire rods and other manipulatives work this way, and seem to work well to develop good number sense).

We've been afterschooling out of desperation, using Singapore Math, Life of Fred, and other odds and ends. I would be very uncomfortable with Everyday Math if it were DS's only curriculum, but as it is my main frustration with the school is the fact that the instructional level is too low. I'd be happy enough if he were exposed to fifth grade EDM concepts similar to what he's getting at home, as reinforcement in a new way isn't a bad thing and he plows through the math at home pretty quickly. (Best would have been to agree to our plan to do partial homeschooling, with him doing his sent-in math written work during the school day, and I may still have to force them to accept that if the new teacher doesn't work well.)

To my knowledge DD has never done any math with manipulatives, which I think stinks. I think that's a big advantage of Montessori--I love how they use those materials.

Yes, I remember that multiplication machine thing. Enh.

Do you have a chess club in your area (well, does he play?) Seems to be a great place to find very bright kids.

That's a good idea, thanks. He plays, and it looks like there's a chapter of the NH chess club in the next town over.

DS's teacher decided to give him the winter MAP test yesterday on the in-class computer. With pencil and paper, he got a much improved score over the fall-- if they were just going on the numbers, he'd be at least pulled out to fifth for math, where he'd probably still feel a bit past most of the material (though we've been studying at home only desultorily, and not for a couple of weeks). Instead, he is in the highest second-grade math group, where they've been studying topics including addition and subtraction with carrying/borrowing, writing numbers in expanded form, etc. He hates it, though he does his best to fit in.

I am underwhelmed by the results of the skip, especially considering the time we've put in on advocacy to get it and what we've been told along the way. I am thinking of invoking a new NH law that lets a parent object to anything taught to their child, just because I'm so ticked off at this point. All the grand plans have turned out to result in delegating everything to the teacher, and using enrichment suitable for bright or MG children while studying material at grade level. They just don't get it.

As of today, dd8 has been placed in the gifted program. She was very excited this morning. She has also joined the gifted reading group. I am hoping we get more for math. Right now the pullout is once a week whereas last year it was 2-3 times a week.

I think our principal was a bit surprised to hear that all the second grade gifted kids parents went to our districts open enrollment fair last week to seek out other opportunities. From what another mom told me.. it lit a fire under his ass to do something to keep these kids at his school. He can't really afford to lose the test scores. That being said, at east one of these kids possibly two, will be at the magnet school next year. We are also looking at private schools.

Yippee! Great news F and J's Mom! What a relief.
Grinity

Frannie LOVED her class yesterday! She knows the four boys also in the class. The teacher said she does need a confidence boost. She feels Frannie is more then capable of doing the work that is expected. woohoo

Awesome!

Conferences last night for ds8 - saw his long term sub in 3rd (teacher on maternity leave), and his 4th grade teacher (math and reading). Both full of praises as usual. I love to hear the 4th grade teacher talk about ds - he loves having him in his class, thankfully He said the "head" math person in the school district was visiting the other day, and apparently she just loves to hear ds give his math explanations Next year, they're changing curriculum, so the teacher wasn't sure how that would work with ds going up a grade, but I'm sure we'll figure something out. All in all, things are going great.

So, how did it go, for those whose children recently finished a school year?

This is the first week of the school holidays for DS8 who just finished the fourth year of school, so let's call that 3rd although the terminology here is different. It was a good year, with no major issues.

This year was the first in which he had lots of specialist teachers (his form teacher takes them for English, history and geography, only). That was definitely a plus in many ways. He has his own work in maths, and that went well this year. His maths teacher is great, and the head of maths has also been setting him work and seeing him from time to time. We settled into DS's having a maths folder with him from home which we ensure always has some problem-solving work in it so that if it isn't convenient for his teacher to give him something he can always do something from there. Speed of working has been a problem, but less so later in the year. I think a lot of it is that he goes slowly on boring things, and the level of work they've been giving him to do has gone up a lot through the year. We were a bit concerned at one early point that the HoM seemed to want DS to get as polished at the papers for 13yos as this school's 13yos are, before doing more advanced work, because that really isn't going to happen just yet; but we had a good meeting, and it looks as though we are all on the same page now. Here's hoping this lasts into next year. DS did well in two maths competitions; we'll have to have some discussion about what he enters next year. I think these were, in their different ways, very good for him: one involves writing out clear solutions (no marks for right answer unsupported by explanation) and the other involves a bit of time pressure. Also, the maths competitions are the obvious way into meeting mathematical peers, eventually.

DS has always found writing hard, and this year has been getting some help from the learning development teacher. He's still not as fluent as his peers, but he continues to make good progress, and now says he enjoys writing stories. He still doesn't write much at home unless he must. Must find some way to keep him in practice over the holidays.

Other subjects have been good but not great; he often finds the pace a little slow, I think, but does learn things. The main challenge is writing. Socially he has a good place in his own year, but has experienced some teasing from children further up the school. This has been well dealt with, but it's one of many reasons why we're not asking for acceleration.

Somewhat to my surprise he hasn't minded daily games at school (new this year) and took the compulsory 22km hill walk in his stride - he's unsporty, but he's fit! He continues to play the piano and started 'cello this year; he's no prodigy at either but is making steady progress.

Not well. I've posted before about our issues so I won't discuss them in detail here, but the whole year was essentially wasted in school. For next year the school didn't yet agree to another skip, but did under threat of legal action agree to an unlimited subject pull-out for math, which will probably be insufficient because of the poor math program. All the grand initial promises have turned out to be shams.

The school district capped off the year by posting all the students' private educational and medical information on the web, where it was indexed by Google. :| I was the one to notice this and bring it to the district's attention, which counterintuitively doesn't seem to have endeared us any further to them. Sheesh, some school districts!

K/1st/2nd 2011-12 academic year

I'm new to the forum but thought I'd chime in. I'm figuring out how very lucky we are to have the school my 6-year-old son attends.

It's our local public school. They allowed him to "skip" kindergarten (upon the recommendation of his Pre-K teachers) and attend first grade last year. He was enrolled in first grade and completed the second grade curriculum by the end of the year. They've enrolled him in third grade for 2012-13, and expect him to complete fourth grade by the end of that academic year.

I'm not very excited about my 6-year-old being in third/fourth grade, but his school is small and he's able to interact with kids his own age. Nobody seems to really pay attention to who's in what grade. The kids all just play together at recesses. The academics seem to be working for him at the third grade level for now.

All in all, we're very happy with our son's school. We'll see what next year brings!

Oh lucounu, I'm so sorry. What a horrible year.

We have been very lucky. DS8 had a really wonderful 3rd grade year. His teacher taught a bunch of her own curriculum after they quickly got through the regular (advanced) curriculum. She did a lot of really cool science units. Writing is still a struggle for our DS, but they learned cursive this year and his cursive is much better than his printing. DS has made some really great friends, close to his age and academic level.

There are downsides too. We spend a lot of time in the car - the school is 45 miles away. Also, the program ends after 5th grade so we'll be at a loss then. But for now, we are thrilled that we've had 1.5 years in the same school (a record!) and we still love it.

st pauli girl:

That's so interesting to me that your son's cursive writing was better than his printing. Sadly, the school system in my state doesn't include cursive writing in their mandates anymore. His first grade teacher advised us to start keyboarding with him, which he loves. (BBC Dance Mat Typing for anyone with young ones interested in learning.)

My son (6-years-old) struggles with his handwriting/fine motor skills. Though his teacher says it's exaggerated because of his advanced academic abilities. She says he's within the parameters of "normal" for his age on this front. I wonder if he'd be better at cursive than printing? Hmmm...I'll have to keep this in mind this coming year.

I think a big part of the problem with my kiddo was when he had to lift the pen off the paper - he was all over the place with printing. Much better with cursive, when he doesn't have to lift his pen so much. Still pretty awful, but readable. His teachers have always been good about his handwriting, telling us it was age appropriate and not making a big deal out of it. Well, except at the previous school when they wouldn't let my kiddo go up a grade for math because they decided his handwriting was too poor.

I know a lot of people here who have kiddos with handwriting difficulties have had success with Handwriting Without Tears. They have printing and cursive workbooks.

I agree with you that keyboarding is the way to go. DS8 can type much faster than he writes.

st pauli girl:

Handwriting Without Tears is what my son's preschool used. The program was able to help him put pencil to paper, which was more than I was able to do! I didn't know they had workbooks. I'll have to check that out.

Thanks!

It looks like if you sign up, you can get free worksheets from the site: Handwriting without Tears - online tools

ETA - forgot to say, there are workbooks for each grade, and the special paper with lines is really the key, I think. That info is all at the site listed above.

Thanks, st pauli girl! I will definitely look that up!