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Hmm. I think I am late to this discussion, but there isn't dates anymore on these posts so . . .

I think you are better off focused on providing the school with more recent documentation from 3rd grade timeframe. What she did as a prescholer and kindergartener aren't really relevant at this point. Children, even normally developing ones, make huge leaps in 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades.

I do like the Potter extension and think that shows creative skills. Incidentally, that's the type of assignments that our "pre-GT" (2nd grade) and GT (3rd grade and above) track classes provide. So if you have more of that, I would think that would be more persuasive to the school.

Just an update....still waiting to hear from the school about the meeting they wer going to have...

Her Math teacher has been sending stuff home with her...Sudoku Puzzles and more worksheets.

Yesterday I got an email from her saying that DD has risen to the challenge of advanced material and she was sending home an enrichment packet for her to complete when she has time and she should bring it back when she is done.

DD did the first page quite quickly. It was a made up money system and a bunch of questions like...If something costs 3 poolas, but I only have have 2 gulpies, how many stoogies would I get back in change.

She LOVED it!She called me over to see and asked..."am I smart?" She was glowing with pride. I haven't seen this since she was a baby. I'm so happy for her. Maybe all she needs in a little enrichment to make public school work for her. Hey, a girl can hope, right?

Is is bad to say that I afraid all this logic enrichment and practice is going to make her so far ahead that regular school work will be even worse for her than it is now? As in, it will become even more senseless and boring? Ughh...can't I just be happy!? Still smiling.

wow. I'm going to be thinking about this all day. What was the powerpoint presentation about?
Actually I think I'm going to quote you. "walk up to them, look them in the eyes and speak from the heart".
Thank you. Any other words of wisdom appreciated.

This is where the observe - try something - give feedback to the school cycle comes in. It might be enough, it might make her more insistant that she wants real learning all day long - you just have to breath, try and observe. Good luck with the meeting!
Grinity

Oh No! My little one, just turned 6 has been fine in school. She has many 7 year olds in her class. I went to her open house the other day and the teacher told me that there was one other boy in the class that she put in her "reading group." He is 7. She told me that he is not reading at dd6's level, but it should work out. I did not expect her to be the ONLY kid at her level. She tested (DRA tesing) at the end of K with an independant comprehension of 2.0 and a higher decoding...I wasn't too impressed since my dd9 was way above her at that age. My dd6 also doesn't write or spell very well and isn't amazing a Math.
She is reading Diary Of A Whimpy Kid - fluently, with expression, and understanding...because she thinks it's funny, so she may have jumped a few levels since the end of K.

She has been so happy so far with school - i couldn't imagine a better fit. BUT! On the way to school today she started with this:
"MOMMY! MY morning work is soooo easy. It's like, ridiculously easy. It's like coloring in the right colors! I can't believe it! Isn't this suposed to be FIRST GRADE! I mean, I thought coloring was for pre-school and maybe Kindergarten, BUT FIRST GRADE?! I think I should be doing like Math stuff!"

She has been complaining a little for a few days, but this morning she seemed actually upset.

The teacher actually told me at the open house that she wasn't pushing for DD6 to finish her morning work because she is obviously beyond that. But DD6 is a hard worker. The children are given the oportunity to finish work during Silent Reading and DD always chooses to finish it rather than read. She colors beautifully and adds lots of detail to things, so it takes her a while to "do her best work" which is what they talk about in school everyday.

I told DD6 to tell her teacher that she would like to continue to do her best work, but it would be easier to do her best work if the work was a little harder.

We will see what comes of this. She is actually a kid who has it in her to advocate for herself. Maybe I can catch this one early and teach her early so we don't have the problems we are having with DD9.

On one hand you are so proud to have children who are so smart and creative, but when you find out that they aren't happy with school, the way it is, you feel so overwhelmed. I just didn't think I would have to go down this road with DD6.

I don't think I can handle TWO kids needing advocates! Thanks for listening.

You'll be fine! Two is easier than one in this area of life. And your DD seems like the kind of kid that teachers 'get' and 'like.'

Start your paper trail and set up a meeting with the Teacher. Great to teach your DD to respectfully self-advocate, but you can't place the whole responsibility on her shoulders....although it would be nice.

I wish I had a nickle for every younger sibling who catches her or his parents by suprise.

Smiles,
Grinity

I re-read my post, Grinity...How in the world did you figure that teachers 'get' and 'like' dd6...? Because you are soooo right. I don't know what it is, but they love her. (she is really cute :))

But yeah, they do seem to get her. I notice this because my dd9 has never had that conection with a teacher.

still don't see how 2 is easier than one...but having two kids was easier...they entertain eachother!

Boy, this baby girl is taking me by surprise!
Why do I feel so sad about this? I guess because it is such a lonely place to be.

So, babygirl asked teacher today..."Can I have something harder to work on?" Teacher some something like "Well, this is what is good for the class right now." My very brave babygirl said "Well, it is too easy for ME!" Teacher told her that it would have to do for now.

It was a coloring paper with directions in it. Color the first bear brown and so on.

I asked her how guided reading went today. She said "bad." That the book was for babies and her partner and she read every other page and she had to wait forever for him to finish his page.

He is the only one in her class reading near her level.

OMG! I can't believe this is happening.

I told her that I was happy that everything else she did in class was harder...She said. "nope. EVERYTHING is way too easy."

This is the first I am hearing of any of this. I think I will wait a week or so to email the teacher. She asked for harder work, lets see if the teacher provides it.

I knew that she could 'snow' the teachers because she 'snowed' her sweet mama. And you are obviously a sensitive and observant momma.

It's just that gifted kids have nothing to do all day except whatever they set their mind to, which very often is putting one over on their momma. We have to cook and clean and sometimes work outside the home and be a marriage partner and try to stay true to ourselves and parent. It is no secrete to your younger that you were too exhausted to accomplish much for older daughter - just as it's clear to her on a psychic level - that something has changed for you - now you have our support AND now you are more successful in fighting for older DD. So she is showing that part of her that she had previously decided to keep buried - the impatient and frustrated part.

Even though it seems like teachers 'get' her - that actually are 'getting' the version of her that she wants to project. Heck, she has seen older sister be 'the smart one' and knows what the downsides of not fitting in are or being what other people want your to be. But with the changes in you, she is able to trust the world enough to cut out all that extra emotional work, and just be who she is. Wait and see - the teachers won't like her nearly so much now that she is more authentic. ((shrugs)) That's just how life is, right? As she grows up, just like the rest of us, she'll be better able to be flexible about how much of her authentic self to share and when to show something else instead. But that takes lots and lots of practice.

Even if younger DD isn't interested in reading,writing or Math, she still has a gifted brain in her head (most likely very similar to her sister) and it is doing something up there - even if we never see it! It is usual for us adults to narrowly define smarts as 'academic smarts.'

So please don't wait until the end of the week to contact the teacher. Just a mild email like this:
"Um....I'm hearing some stories from my DD about school that seem unusual for her. What do you think is going on?"

And then there is the theory that all kids hold back and try to be flexible until their capacity is exceeded and then 'snap' they flip into just demanding what they want - but since all kids differ on what their actual learning needs are and how much capacity they have, the 'snap' happens at different ages.

Sounds to me like like your younger daughter just reached her breaking point.

Smiles,
Grinity

This reminds me of a sweet story from my childhood. All of us sibs were giant PIAs. Everything bothered and worried us. My mom's response was to say:
"It's finnnnnnnnnnne" in what sounded to her like a soothing voice.

One day it occured to use that this was a verbal cue that things actually weren't fine - it may have been part of a comedy routine we overheard - or just an insight one of us had - and we started teasing her about it.

That hotdog piece fell off my plate? "It's finnnnnnnnnnne Be quiet and eat it"
Even though we are at the beach and it's all sandy now? "It's finnnnnnnnnnne Be quiet and eat it."
Even though it roll into some dog poo? "It's finnnnnnnnnnne Be quiet and eat it."

We'd be rolling on that sand, laughing, turning red, trying to see how far we could go before she noticed that we were playing with her. We'd compete to see how many volleys of ""It's finnnnnnnnnnne" we could get in a row.

Yes, we were PITAs!