Please!

The saga continues..

In the spring ds7's teacher had told us and another parent that our soon to be second graders would be doing third grade math this year. They were moved after spring break to second grade math (our school is all multi grade 1/2; 3/4 5/6). I was told by another parent, who is a teacher in the district, that all the schools would be having a math block.. all math classes at the same time throughout the school. DD7 spring math MAP was a 198.

On the day of her reading test last week, her teacher confirmed the third grade math..so I thought. Last night was back to school/meet the teacher night. I was told they will be doing differentiation in the class this year. Let me just say I KNOW this won't work. They tried it last year and because so many kids were at grade level or below they ended up moving a small group up.

As for ds5.. he took spring MAP as well as a prek. His math score was a 174. Over the summer he completed Thinkwell's gifted math for a first grader. I can't see him learning to write numbers when he is clearly in the upper status of the current first graders. He was also to be accelerated to first grade (although I think second grade would be more appropriate and would have asked for it after fall MAP).

So, my question.. now what? How do I get what they need? One thought is to ask if they will do the achievement testing and wisc. I was hoping they would put him in k in the morning and first in the afternoon and then second next year. For her.. she is a teacher pleaser and be happy at school and cry at home because its too easy.


help!!

Thanks
Sheila

oops hit post..
I fear he will become the class clown if he is not challenged. He has just recently started to hold his breath when things don't go his way

I don't have any great ideas for you, but I would ask the principal again for the accelerations to 3rd and 1st (or 2nd) grade math, respectively. If he/she says no, that differentiation is sufficient, I would ask what the plan would be if it didn't work and what information/benchmarks the school would need before they would okay the skips. Good luck!

MidwestMom.
Thanks for the idea and encouragement! I do appreciate it greatly.


anyone else with suggestions??

Yup, Yup, Yup
Smile, Ask for what you believe is best for both, calmly explain why, ask for a trial in the higher grades, be ready to repeat and repeat and repeat yourself. Document everything.

((Hugs))
Grinity

Good suggestions above. I would add a request related to the materials that they plan to use. Perhaps say something like, "well, since we are going to be going ahead in the classroom, I would find it reassuring if you could show me the materials that you have selected and how they align with the information from MAP". If they can't show you materials, that opens the door for you to continue pushing for acceleration. If they show you materials but can't show that they align, that also opens the door. If they can show you materials that do align, at least you'll have that bit of reassurance at the beginning and then if it goes as you predict you'll be able to say, "since bringing the materials to the classroom didn't work, can we now look at bringing him/her to an instructional environment that is already working on these standards".

Good luck--let us know how it goes!

Well.. I had the meeting this morning...

Ds5 has been switched to afternoon kinder so that he can go to first grade for math. He will be given the end of year 1st grade math test to see if this is the proper placement or if he needs to go to second for math! We did discuss his reading level and he is eager to see where ds falls on the ISEL testing he took this morning. We do have his spring MAP scores to compare to and his rate of growth will be measured in 2 weeks when he takes the fall MAP. I am crossing fingers that maybe we get a full bump to 1st grade.

For dd7, there are six 1/2 classrooms. Four of those classrooms will be second grade math and 2 for first grade math. The second graders are going to be tracked and clustered. Her math class will have about 10 students in it. They will complete second grade math by January and third grade math by the end of the year. We will revisit this in October to ensure the pace is fast enough. The gifted teacher will meet with this group just for math at least every other week.

Math is not a block this year. I was given wrong information regarding that. I am thinking he will block next year as I gave him ideas and the name of the teacher who was part of the block test at another school in our district.

Sounds like everything turned out well? So glad to hear that A promising start to what will hopefully be a great year!