About a month ago DS8, a chronological 2nd grader was moved from a K-2 mix to a 3-8 mix. While he initially missed his friends, he is loving his new class. These are some things that are working:
1. His teachers have increased the use of accommodations. I'm seeing a lot of blank worksheets coming home that have "completed orally" written across the middle. This is for reading comprehension which is wonderful. He can work at his level in that area with oral answers and his dysgraphia can be worked on separately. I have seen several HWT worksheets that are grade level or lower where he practices proper punctuation and word/letter spacing.
2. More time on the computer. This has been a huge motivator for him to get his other work done. He is learning to use Movie Maker and Power Point. He gets to make silly little movies for his friends but they also plan to let him do Power Point presentations instead of writing reports for some assignments.
3. More hands on science. I've noticed the teachers in this class do more hands on activities. Last month they had a worm expert come to class for two days to teach the kids about decomposition. They built a compost bin outside, collected worms, and got the chance to ask a lot of questions. He loved that and if he had been in the younger class he would've missed out.
4. His classmates are smart too. He doesn't stand out as being a know it all in this classroom. There are some kids who were in the public gifted program before it changed and they are all 8-13 years old. He's learning a lot just from being around those kids.
All these things (except 4) are recommended in the evaluation that he had two years ago. They were not really happening in his other classroom.
I think our experience is a good example of an acceleration working for a 2e kid if the teachers are on board with the accommodations.
