It's been a while since I've been on the forum, but I've been trying to catch up lately. I'll reintroduce myself. I'm almost 38 with 4 kids, two of which are in school (5th and 3rd grades). Both of my school-age DD's are gifted, although only one is in the school's gifted program.
DD8 is having a horrible time in 3rd grade, mainly because of Accelerated Reader. She comes home crying daily about the quizzes and gets terribly upset before and after. The teacher is rather harsh, based on what DD8 says. I realize that she may not be quite as bad as DD8 portrays her to be, but we've never had issues at school before. However, AR is heavily emphasized starting in 3rd grade, and DD8 is not a reader. I finally got fed up yesterday when DD said that her teacher made her take an AR quiz on a book she and two others had to read as a group in class. The other two readers read slowly, and DD had trouble following the story as a result. Furthermore, she was at GATE pull-out class Friday when they finished the book. DD, not surprisingly, made a 50% on the quiz. She cried (totally out of character for DD), and her teacher told her to quit crying or she'd call her mother for a conference. I decided to beat her to the punch, so DH and I will be meeting with her and DD's homeroom teacher this afternoon.
Any advice? I've always hated AR, although it was never an issue for DD10 since she's such an avid reader. She's learned how to work with the system. Obviously, there are other issues for DD8 besides AR, namely a personality clash and the fact that there are too many ridiculous rules at that school. It's an if-you-don't-do-x-then-y-will-happen-to-you atmosphere, and there seems to be little positive reinforcement.
Last edited by pinkpanther; 10/29/09 06:30 AM.
