Here is what the teachers described to us. First, the kids were asked to draw their "hopes and dreams for kindergarten." All the other kids drew lovely, colorful pictures that had captions like "make friends" or "have fun" on them. My son's first attempt was two or three black lines on a piece of paper. The teachers pulled him aside during a rest period to work with him one on one and said they saw that he was "brilliant." He drew a machine and told them his detailed plans for a salt harvester that he intends to build this year. It included a description of the components and the various uses of the machine. He didn't write this out (he hates to draw and write) but the teachers wrote his words under his picture. They posted the pieces outside the classroom and said all the teachers and staff had come by to comment on my son's piece because it was so unusual. The teachers acknowledged that my son is bright and creative but weren't sure how to encourage him to produce work with the group.
The teachers told us about another experience with a similar project. The kids walked around their new school, finding shapes. Then they came back and drew the shapes they saw. The other kids all covered their paper with lots of nice, neat little shapes. My son drew a green scribble. I asked him about this and he said he wanted to draw a shape nobody else was doing and he tried to create a "really complex, unusual four-sided shape and I messed it up so I scribbled it out." I explained that the object wasn't to draw something nobody else had thought of, but rather to show that he knows his shapes and can reproduce them. He didn't realize this. My husband finds this funny and said he was the same as a child.
I also think he doesn't understand exactly what the expectations are.
This is all sounds really familiar (as in eerily). I think you are on track about his not understanding the expectations. He is thinking of these assignments in terms of his own thought processes and preferences.
It might be helpful to ask teachers to "check for understanding," but in a little more complex way: they should ask him explicitly to state what the assignment is (in his mind), not just ask "do you understand?" or if he understands the concepts being taught.
He's making a lot of mental leaps between instruction and product. He needs help understanding the purpose of the assignment, and probably very direct instruction.
It's good this is happening now, and that teachers are recognizing it (and his giftedness), because it sounds like they are open to your ideas and suggestions.
The "hopes and dreams" type assignments are really difficult for kids who don't speak that language. I love that he hopes and dreams to build a salt harvester
but that is most likely not the sort of thing the teacher has in mind... it sounds like "what the teacher has in mind" is not your DS' default mode.
Basically, the teacher probably needs to turn her paradigm upside down for your DS--the areas where more typical students need extra help (academic areas) will be easy for your DS, and the things that more typical students intuit (social expectations, doing "fun" introspective type assignments), will require more support.
