Background:
I have a DD6 which I have recently learned was gifted. I am in the process of coming out of gifted denial and paying more attention my DD abilities and needs. We attend a good magnet school which has gifted pull-out for math & science.
The Story:
My DD6 STAR reading level was 3.1 grade going into 1st grade this year and it has barely moved as this year has progresed, while most of the other 1st graders levels are increasing dramatically.
I casually asked the teacher about this and was told that it is nomal for advanced readers' pace to slow down while the others are still moving up. And as long as she keeps reading books at her level she is fine.
Well after reading the "Do things even out in 3rd grade" post I began to question this concept.
So, I called a few other GT 1st grade parents at my school to see if they were noticing the same trend and suprise! My DD is not the only GT kid who has slowed down after reaching the 3rd grade benchmark.
Is this leveling normal or is it due to lack of language enrichment?
Does it take more than reading alot to stimulate reading growth?
So now comes the question how do we prove or disprove that our kids are leveling off due to lack of language arts enrichment?
So here is my plan....
I going to talk with one of the 4gr teachers at our school to see what they are doing for language arts. She told me the textbook that they are using and will hopefully give a vocabulary list.
I plan to use this reading text book and vocab with to my DD6 this summer and see what happens to our STAR level. Usually levels tend to drop or stay the same over the summer.
I figure if my DD scores higer on her STAR after having some higher level reading assignments,then I will have a valid argument to request additional language arts enrichment next year. If her level stays the same or dops then I will let the school have this one.
So, I would love to hear your thoughts, ideas, and even criticism on my plan.
