Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School We might belong here.

Hi everyone,
I am so happy to have discovered this forum. I think we might belong here.

Our DD4 started full day kindergarten at a newly built school this September and the differences between her and her classmates are becoming apparent. I am concerned because she appears to know all of the kindergarten curriculum and that the next two years will be a lot of repetition for her. She has come home on several occasions and said, "Mommy they don't teach anything at school."

Here is an example of why I'm concerned. After the two year kindergarten program students are expected to: Be able to point to letters, words, and sentences on a page, Identify most upper case and lower case letters, Orally tell what sound is heard at the beginning and ending of words. (This is not the entire list but it gives you an idea.) DD taught herself all of the letter sounds last year and is now starting to read short children's books. They are also expected to be able to count to 30. DD was able to count to 100 a couple years ago and is moving on to topics like fractions and division. She's also obsessed with science and dinosaurs.

We are going in for our first parent teacher night in a couple of weeks and I'm at a loss as to what to do. I've been reading up on differentiation in the class room but I'm not sure if they can differentiate enough to meet her needs. Any advice would be welcome. Thank you for taking the time to read.

Welcome. You likely do belong here. They do however sound like fairly low targets. Do you live in an area with a lot of children who are at an educational disadvantage?

Welcome! But yes - by six they aren't expected to do more than recognise some letters and count to 30? That can't be right, surely? Here children start school at 4 and most children can do those things when they start.

It might be good in the sense that, even if your DD is the most advanced in the class, she may well not be the only one for whom those targets are inappropriate. If you're lucky, the school will have a decent differentiation plan. But yes, do push, and do think about alternatives.

Thank you for your response. They do sound low don't they? We are in Ontario, Canada and those expectations are for the entire province. We live in an area where children have educational advantages.

You are right to mention "educational disadvantage" though. Our province changed the K curriculum because it wanted to ensure that all students started grade one on the same footing. I don't know if this is like "No Child Left behind" in the United States but they are trying to raise the scores of children who attend schools in disadvantaged areas on a Province wide standardize test taken in grade 3.

Most of the parents here, who have the same cultural and socio economic background as we do, are happy with what they are learning in kindergarten. When the discuss their child's progress I can't participate because it's awkward.

DD's teacher has said so far that her academic skills are extremely high. It's scary realizing that she is not like everyone else.

We have preschool, generally at based, until 5-6yrs, depending on birthdate, and first year of formal school does have pretty similar goals - beginning to read (starting with alphabet) and making sure that kids aren't just reciting 1-10 but have correspondence and meaning etc. in high socio economic areas many children come in with all of this. In other areas not so much.... In any area it's a spectrum. But yes the goals of first year of formal schooling are scarily basic.

Where do you live (generally), and what type of school is this? I'm a bit confused that she started K at 4 and it is a 2-year program--are you outside the states, and/or is this a private school?

Eyreapparent's post (the Loc annotation beside it, rather) says s/he is in Canada.

In preparation for your meeting you may wish to construct a list or inventory of your kiddo's skills and accomplishments to-date, including a list of books she has read. You may want to look up the lexile or reading level of the books, or count the unique words (vocabulary) in the books if they are very simple books and a reading level is not found for them.

Keeping a log or journal and creating an annual inventory provides you with ongoing documentation, which may prove helpful to you somewhere along the way... in assessing continued growth, plateauing, or correctly communicating how many years ago your child mastered what is being offered in the current year curriculum.

At the meeting you may wish to
- provide a copy of the inventory to the teacher so s/he has a factual basis to understand your child's academic/intellectual development and interests.
- inquire as to the planned curriculum to the end of the year, and work together to see if there are any areas which may be new for your child.
- learn if there are other children with a similar level of readiness/ability as your child, with whom she could be grouped. This provides a benefit to the children and to the parents as well: Strength in numbers.
- partner with the school, and possibly plan to form a team to meet and discuss identifying appropriate curriculum for your daughter (and possibly for the cluster group as a whole)... is it level 1... level 2... some combination of both... etc?

The Davidson Database has articles on parent-teacher conferences. Resources such as those by Karen B Rogers PhD may also prove valuable.

Thank you indigo!! That information is extremely helpful.

sounds like the JK/SK in ontario, canada. if that's the case, it is a K curriculum split over two years, ostensibly to encourage depth and breadth. some areas currently have full-day, some only half-day as yet.