So we recently got our first grade report ever for our first grader, a DYS, and it came as a complete shock. At the fall parent teacher conference, we were told (when we asked) that he was middle of the range in English - which we thought was terrific, as he doesn't speak English at home and is trilingual (this is an advanced school with IQ cutoff, so we were really quite happy), and his current reading level in English where he is comfortable (meaning, they can decode at higher levels, but read that level fluently and with full understanding) was the last range of 1st grade according to the teachers; and we were told he is exceptional in Math (not a surprise - Math is way too easy at the school for him, he is literally years ahead). The principal recently told us we shouldn't do any math with him at home (which we are ignoring, as he loves math challenges).
Well, the report says that he draws too much to illustrate his ideas, and (essentially) is struggling with English. In Math, it says he thrives in math class, and has benefited from some advanced work. And that he has improved his speed in addition up to ten (up to ten??), but needs to work on understanding the math facts with higher numbers and on subtraction.
We were surprised to see no mention of how he is doing relative to the class or, more generally, what his level is relative to what is expected (there are no grades). And the only details regarding Math are a shock. This is a kid that was doing simple addition up to ten at the age of 2! Also, the Math work he brings home is always correct, and usually complete (except when they do exercises with a partner). The one time he missed a couple of math questions, they were given the opportunity to create their own questions on the back of the sheet (which the teacher did not grade), and he filled the sheet with the same exercise (something simple, along the lines of +0, +1, +2)as required, but using numbers in the hundreds and thousands.
We are not sure how to deal with this. Ignore? We are mostly concerned that with reports like this, it will be hard to get him accepted into other private schools (if and when we move), or will be asked to repeat a grade (he is born after the usual age cut-off).
