Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional 8th grade literature series for 8 year old?

I originally posted this in Recommended Resources but didn't get any responses so I thought it might do better here in the 2E section...

DD8 (third grade) just started in a special ed out of district placement. The school was very clear that they don't have a 2E program or other 2E kids but have been bending over backwards to try to accommodate the giftedness along with the learning disabilities and anxiety. They plan to offer special projects in the areas of science and social studies as well as one-on-one instruction on high level audio books.

They are placing her in 2 reading groups - one for her decoding level and one for her comprehension level. They had talked about grouping her with the 5th-6th graders in her area of the school for this but today asked if we would be ok if they grouped her with the middle schoolers instead. We told them that we are fine with whatever they want to try. I figure as long as she can discuss the books she will enjoy it and it is better to have her start somewhere...

There will be 3 middle schoolers with her and they will be using the Holt McDougal grade 8 literature series. I know nothing about this. She will listen to the audio books rather than read the texts.

Is anyone familiar with what this series may entail? High level comprehension is one thing but she is still 8 years old so I am always a bit concerned about age appropriate content. She is almost done with Oliver Twist and has already listened to Tom Sawyer and all 7 Harry Potter books so has been exposed to violence, racism, inappropriate language, etc. We have kept her pretty well shielded from sexual content - would that be a concern at this level? Anything else I haven't thought of?

Thanks in advance for your input.

I'd think it would be reasonable to ask to see a copy of the textbook and to see the syllabus.

Looks like this might be a full list of the works covered:
http://www.classzone.com/cz/books/m...g&at=audio_summaries&var=audio_summaries

Pemberley - it sounds like your dd's new school genuinely cares about meeting her where she's at intellectually - that's wonderful!

Re the literature series, the one thing I'd do for sure is talk to the teacher and ask her your questions. I'm not familiar with that series at all, but having two kids in middle school I can tell you what my potential concerns would be:

1) Although I can't think of any books that my children have been assigned to read that have either sex or drugs in them, they have read and discussed (in class) books that have very deeply emotional topics - holocaust, abuse, poverty.

2) The level of classroom discussion - this is one area where I see a potentially large gap in where an 8 year old might be developmentally and where a typical middle school child is.

Unless the teacher is new to the school or grade level, he/she will have a background understanding of what's in the books and how the discussions will go in class (or if they will be discussed at all).

How's everything going so far? I hope your dd is happy this year!

Best wishes,

polarbear

So DD had her first 8th grade level reading comprehension class today. Apparently they worked on a story called "The Last Dog" which she described as "a futuristic sci-fi story." Since there is no access to audio books (see a separate thread about me beating my head into a brick wall...) she listened as the class read it aloud and then participated in a discussion about the vocabulary in the story. The only word she could remember was "Without or lacking a body, as in 'disembodied'", her definition.

She seems happy to be able to do this but felt the older kids weren't quite sure just what to make of having a little kid in the class with them. Once we get the audio book situation worked out I will have to ask more questions about what they are going to be covering. I assume since it's a special ed school they will be sensitive to the topics covered. And if she is with only 3 other kids there should be enough flexibility. I sure hope so anyway. We are due for something to work out properly.