Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments How can teachers challenge a more academically adv

My daughter is in second grade. The reading and math work her class is doing is much too easy for her. Academically she would fit better in a fourth grade classroom, though socially she could never handle that. She enjoys the other kids/recess/PE, and never has any behavior issues, but constantly complains about being bored in class and is becoming more and more negative towards school.

I understand that it's hard for a teacher with 20+ kids in class to offer special instruction to just one kid. But I'm hoping for ideas as to how my daughter could learn something in school, while not being too big a burden on the teacher. Does anybody have suggestions which I could make to my daughter's teacher?

Just to be clear I'm not looking for ideas about after-school enrichment, but for ways to use her school time productively.

Thanks!

My son did third grade math while everyone else did second. Teach put five review problems on the smart board. Students worked individually or in pairs while she took five minutes to teach my son his lesson. She taught the class while he did his work. Also the textbook had a computer component to it so he did that too. And the textbook had an extend the lesson challenging workbook page he would do (all on third grade level). If she was circulating helping all the other kids he could ask for clarification if he needed it but he didn’t interrupt the other kids during their instruction.

Funny though third grade teacher couldn’t do the same for fourth grade math. We did something different that year....whole grade skip.

My elementary school there were usually two different reading groups and two different math if needed. Usually it was about 3 kids who needed something different for math. Sometimes they just went up a grade that period for math, sometimes the teacher had two groups. It isn’t rocket science. Get one group going on review or challenging problem, teach other group, go back to first group teach them, circulate. But back in the 70s we weren’t group phobic.

My son is also in 2nd grade. At his school, they have a small group of grade 2 kids that are doing OBOB Jr, so not entering the competition, but they have a parent volunteer come in to meet with them weekly. Also, they get books at their own individualized reading level, so that's good. For math, my son has one advanced partner in math, but I don't think they get different work. I see my son's workbooks, and he just extends himself within what's asked. Like if it's make different combinations up to 7, he'll use multiplication and division to make it more interesting. Truthfully I've given up on math at school and afterschool him.

my son is in 2nd grade, as well. his school does leveled reading groups, and i think he's almost appropriately leveled. if your school does that, i'd suggest talking to the teacher about testing her so that she's at her level. if your school doesn't use that approach, it may be more difficult.

math has been a struggle, though, because their curriculum keeps all the students on the same material. my son's current teacher has been adapting it a bit, similarly to how spaghetti mentioned. she also lets him practice his multiplication facts while the other kids are doing their addition facts.

i will say that it's very dependent on the teacher. this year, while my son isn't learning a lot of new material at school, he is getting to practice skills that he isn't as confident with so he's not so bored or stressed. on the other hand, last year was a nightmare because his teacher was r.i.g.i.d. and didn't like that he didn't fit her methods. every time we met with her to discuss his education, she came back to the same thing: "he needs to learn to conform." :\

good luck!

It would seem that DS6 has a terrific grade 1 math teacher this year.

They apparently work on a lot of story problems where they have to prove their answer and show their work in a variety of ways. They also have to show that they know what a strong answer involves. And the story problems will soon be offered in a variety of ways such that the questions can be differentiated for the range of abilities in the class.

Also, she is presenting many of the activities in an open ended fashion and kids can show their knowledge in any way they want, including using multiplication and division.

So apparently, it's possible to have some differentiation. We certainly have not had that yet for DS8.

And when we asked DS6 how he felt about math, he said he loved it. Mind you, we still supplement a bit at home. But beyond fractions and a bit of basic "solving for X" type work, I'm not sure what to offer. Neither DH nor I are terribly math-oriented. We might need to look for some resources.

The book Teaching Gifted Kids in Today's Classroom actually has some pretty good ideas for how to differentiate.

That said, what you're describing is the reason we homeschooled.

We had 3 difficult years advocating for our DS, but now in grade 1 we have a wonderful co-ordinator (person who takes care of all 'non-average' kids of a grade, with learning or behavioral disorders etc) who really tries to work with us and started this:
- reading: the method has books for new readers and for kids who know all their letters. He started in september with the 2nd semester workbooks for kids who know all their letters. Still way too easy, but independent work AND as soon as he finishes his pages for the day, he has appropriate reading material in his 'reading treasure'. He reads those books and afterwards has to represent them to the teacher by turning them into a comic, building a scene with lego...
- math: he gets challenging homework. In class he has to follow the lesson plan, but there's a group of kids who are stronger in math who get to work independently and he gets to help them with their questions. He's also pulled out of class together with one other child to get more challenging maths problems, one hour every week.
- other subjects: he follows the class projects but gets time to prepare something related to it on his own level. E.g.: they learned about day and night, he had to prepare a presentation about a night animal.
It's not perfect, but this is the first year our DS has been willing to go to school. Together with what we offer at home, it's good enough for us at the moment.

You've received great replies! I'll just add a bit of affirmation for ideas already presented.

Single Subject Acceleration
- subject acceleration - http://giftedissues.davidsongifted..../Re_Subject_Acceleration.html#Post209796
- a child may take the end-of-year test in a subject, in order to determine whether they "test-out" and are ready for the next year's material - http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....e_Placement_Meeting_Help.html#Post189825
- acceleration - http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....ration_Roundup_grade_ski.html#Post248163

Advocacy
When approaching a school to request/suggest any difference in approach to your child's education, the process is called "advocacy." There are some things a parent can learn and do, in preparation, to increase the likelihood of advocating successfully.
- http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....y_Advocacy_as_a_Non_Newt.html#Post183916

Homeschooling
There are many discussion threads on homeschooling. These are just a few:
- http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....otes_Requested_Re_Early_E.html#Post15668
- http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....chronous_Development_in_.html#Post248649