Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Bridge gaps/holes in math

Hello,

My 10 year old DD started Fifth Grade this week. Previously in her K-4th grade school they offered no differentiation or acceleration, however, starting in 5th they use the NWEA scores, the MEAP (our required State assessment) scores, and a 5th grade placement test to determine what Math class they should be placed in for 5th grade.

DD was placed in a 7th grade math class. She was put in a classroom with other accelerated students (some in 6th grade math, some in 7th) and their 5th grade teacher will be teaching both math levels.

So, this is great for DD, we are nervous about skipping two grades in math, but excited for the challenge.

I spoke to the teacher about the holes/gaps of missing information in the learning. He said they will pretest before every unit to identify what the children know and what they might need more help learning, which is great.

I was wondering, however, if anyone knew of anything that I could be using at home to help her fill in the gaps? Websites, software? Advice welcome and appreciated.

Since the teacher is supportive, I would like to help her at home as thoroughly as I can to help make this new challenge a positive experience for her.

Thanks in advance!!

DD is in a gifted magnet and I'm still trying to figure out how things work, but I think basically everyone accelerates at least a year in math. Other kids might accelerate two or more years. Knowing that she'd probably be accelerated at least a year, I've been doing Khan Academy with her at home over the summer. Since she just finished third grade I clicked on 4th grade and went down the list of skills to find what she might not know. There are video lessons for each skill as well as practice problems. Then I went onto fifth grade and did the same thing. Then we got through part of sixth grade. DD said all the kids did a pre-test of some sort and it was harder than even the sixth grade stuff she had been doing (it sounded like algebra with negative numbers), so it sounds like they move kids fast. Who knows what level they will stick her in. Anyway, hope that helps. It is free and easy to sign up for an account so it doesn't hurt to try it.

I second blackcat.

Pre-algebra (up to 8th grade), most gifties have a sense to do it without instructions. But some geometry questions (in 6th-8th), you can't do it if you do not know the formula.

With my DD, I used Thinkwell. I let her do the chapter tests. If she gets >90, I let her skip.

Khan Academy is free. It used to be free flow tree pattern and kind of confusing but now they have grade levels which will help your DD a lot.

Khan Academy is great, and free, and if you have a login, you can track what you've completed on it, from which grade level. We've used it for remediation of gaps several times, as well as reinforcement of book lessons where I feel she really needs more practice on some important procedure (ie, long division).

Thanks! I think I will set up a Khan Academy account for her this weekend, sounds like the route to go. She pretested today on a Geometry unit and she said out of 20 questions, she could only answer 5, so I think we need to start there, perhaps at the 6th grade level.

Thanks again!!