Hi,
I don't post much, but I lurk on a regular basis. I am just after some thoughts on what to do with dd, 5.
DD started school this year in grade one. After a disastrous first term, where her teachers did not support her in adjusting to school and expected her to 'just get it' school like a normal grade one (in a huge class), and refused to give her work at her level because the skip should have been enough. Dd was not coping at all and we made the decision to change schools.
The school we chose is a school with a gifted coordinator and a commitment to differentiating for all kids. They have a good reputation for helping optimally gifted kids and given their resources and the experience we'd had we were really just very grateful to have people to speak to who didn't snigger at the mention of dd's reading level etc.
The only issue was that they couldn't put dd in to the grade one class because the year level was already over capacity. The trade off was a K teacher who is very experienced with gifted kids. This, in many ways, has worked exceptionally well (reletive to what we were experiencing before). DD's behaviour switched over night from daily tantrums to having my happy, funny daughter back. The teacher let her skip readers and choose her own books from the library and so on.
We're now a term in to being at the 'new' school and overall dd is generally so much happier. It was evident she was under a lot of pressure with very little support at the first school. Now we have the complete opposite. She is in the top grouping for everything and finds it all super easy. The teacher gives her some differentiation, but only a little above the top level and not really anything dd couldn't do without thinking. DD tested >99.9% on the SV5 and is racing through a grade three maths work book at home (she grasps the concepts within in minutes and I have no doubt she could do work at a higher level, I am just trying to telescope it rather skip stuff so she doesn't have too many gaps - especially maths facts). She can read literally anything and has a very high level of comprehension.
She has yet to make any 'best' friends at school, which is rare for dd. She usually attaches herself to someone who she becomes somewhat obsessed with. I'm not sure if not doing so is due to increased maturity or no one of real interest (she says she likes 'loads' of people) or, more likely, a combination of both. She had a whole group of very good friends for the term she was in grade one - it was the one positive of the experience.
DD says she is very happy in her class and is adamant she doesn't want to skip grade one next year, which is something we're considering. She's a shy kid who I think is actually really growing in confidence in the K class at this stage - at the moment she's the smart girl who is well liked. But I can see that there might be a point where that starts to tip the other way and she starts to feel isolated when she fails to find any real connections. I am also concerned as we're starting to see her panic when something isn't easy. She's always been perfectionistic, but we've been on top of it by talking about effort and learning from mistakes. But now everything is easy, in the context of academics.
Her teacher, the one who specialises in gifted kids, has been ok about me requesting harder work for dd, but she's reluctant to give her anything other than work in the top work group. She has agreed to do some testing for maths, but we've not had a full conversation about what that would entail yet or what the result of that might be. DD has said that kids get stickers for hard work and says she always works hard but rarely gets a sticker. I suspect she whizzes through things and is overlooked because it's, in a sense, effortless and the teacher doesn't see how much it means to dd.
I guess I am wondering to do. DD is happy enough, she doesn't want to be skipped, she wants harder work in class and says she is happy to do different work to the other kids. The teacher seems to feel dd shouldn't be under too much pressure (which of course I agree with, but she's not under anything at the moment) and I suspect that while the teacher might be very experienced with optimally gifted kids, she may not be with HG kids. I am concerned that long term we're going to see problems without a skip and that perhaps a skip in to grade 2 next year would be the best option.
I have to admit I am a bit tired of advocating at the moment. It seems to have been a continuous process since the start of the year. I think dd is tired of being 'different' and needing special arrangements to be made for her. I think she's reluctant to re-do the skip because she found the initial experience so traumatic. I know I will need to speak to the teacher to get some better accommodations but I am wanting to form an idea of what I want before I do so. What are your thoughts? Do I start to prepare for a skip next year? (we've got half a year to do so, but I figure if that's what we want it's best to start the ball rolling early so everyone can be prepared for it) Or do I let dd have another year at grade level after this one and hope we get a teacher who can really differentiate for her? DD's tester felt she would need at least two skips over the course of her schooling and it is already apparent that a single skip still wont put her at her competency level (for example she 'gets' much of the grade four maths curriculum and once she knows her times tables, which she is currently doing at home, she'd be able to do most of it, and as I mentioned she can read anything and review it verbally - she gets bored of writing, even though she has good hand writing, it's just too slow a process and doesn't keep up with her brain).
Sorry this is so long - I haven't proof read it either as I have to head out the door, so hopefully I've made some sense!
