I think most teachers are still trying to figure out the levels in their classes.
William's 3rd grade gifted math is doing 4 digit addition and subtraction and these kind of math machine things I can only describe as figuring out what number goes in to get the number that comes out. The teacher also said they are focusing heavily on algebra and geometry in the district this year.
Oh, my. I know you said you thought it was fine, but I find this rather sad.
...
I talked to DS's teacher again and now have permission to substitute his homework up to something more challenging. But she is unable to do more in class. Yes. Unable. She said she doesn't feel like she has the skills to teach 3rd grade math to my 1st grader.
...
Has anyone read Liping Ma's book? I've been reading it lately and find myself absolutely horrified at regular intervals. It's truly shocking how poorly the American teachers she studied understood very basic elementary school math. They didn't just not understand dividing by fractions or similar topics (which would be horrifying enough), but many of them also seemed to not really understand the concepts behind our standard multiplication algorithm or even the fundamental concepts behind addition with what we once called carrying.
Reading this book has helped confirm my belief that we've had such trouble getting math accommodations because his previous teacher couldn't understand DS's level because his conceptual understanding had surpassed hers.
