Another update on DD5:
The Grade 4 reading homework didn't last long, maybe about a week, before the teacher jumped it up to Grade 5. It is definitely challenging for DD! (Sometimes I even have to look twice at some of the words on the reading sheet--like "aquanaut," "contralto," etc.)
Last week the teacher showed me exactly how she does the reading homework so I can help with it when I volunteer. Every child in the class has differentiated reading homework. They each get a page at their level to take home and practice reading, then bring it back the next day and she (or a parent volunteer) sits with them one at a time and listens to them read their page. If they struggle with the words, they take the same page home again for more practice. If they read it fluently, they get a new page(the next lesson in that level). After every fifth lessons, they get a "challenge" page which is another five lessons further ahead. If they can do the challenge page, they start from that new point with the lessons.
I think it's a great system. Much better than the whole class reading the same thing at the same time. This teacher does several different levels of in-class reading groups, too.
With the reading pages, out of 17 kids in the class there were a couple kids reading at K level, the majority at Grade 1, one or two kids at Grade 2... and then there's DD5, a year younger than everyone else, reading Grade 5 lessons. I am thankful for how the teacher has things set up, so DD can do this. It's wonderful to see her actually learning something. And because every child is doing something slightly different, nobody makes a big deal about her working so far ahead.
The day I watched the kids doing their reading homework, after DD read her page and then skipped away, I looked at the teacher and said, "Can you imagine her sitting through a year of traditional first grade level reading?" She said, "No, I really can't!" She also said she's never had a child start first grade reading at this level. So, I do feel that this teacher gets it, and is trying to do whatever she can, within the system, to accommodate DD. We have conferences in a week; I can't wait.
