I have clearly delineated my customary blather, so you can skip right past it to the questions. That box isn't around a quote, but was used to make the text hang together as a tight blathery unit.
BEGIN BLATHERWe have our second-to-last meeting with the TAT team coming up in a week, on May 27th. I and the wife have some concerns and questions, since we are thinking that in large part the plan for next year may be set in stone at this next meeting. We were hoping that DYS might step in by then to render advice, but it looks like we may not even be accepted by then, and certainly not assigned an advocate (if anyone from Davidson reads this, I'm not griping, just explaining).
The plan, to recap, involves putting him in a classroom with other bright second-graders next year, and doing some in-class differentiation. (DS5 is currently in K for the morning, then goes to first grade for the afternoon, which has been working well to get him acclimated to his new peer group.) I think, but am not positive, that their plan is to have his smaller group of bright second-graders all doing the normal second-grade math curriculum (which he is past already) and to be given enrichment in math as well. For reading, the rough plan is (I gather from the last meeting) to have him and his in-class group do more in-depth reading on a topic, and maybe do projects or reports.
We love the feeling we got at the last meeting, because it's obvious that the team's heart is in the right place. We are glad that they want to keep him from seeming isolated-- in fact they were so concerned they had a group of kids eat outside the caf. with him for a week to integrate him gently into the lunchtime experience! We are grateful for everything they're getting ready to do and have done so far, especially as this area is strapped for resources. That all makes it tough for us to feel good about suggesting some things-- we don't want to upset the applecart, although we feel like we might have to try.
We plan to ask for him to spend the rest of the year full-time in first, but won't be concerned if they decide it's better for him to finish the year out with his K-mates so the transition is less abrupt.
1. How do you think it's best to address level and pace problems for a kid who's completed grade requirements in math, where the school seems to prefer not to pull children out of the classroom? We may suggest computer work like EPGY in-classroom, which we will offer to pay for. We also want to bring up the idea of curriculum compacting-- but are afraid this will derail plans to have him work with other kids in the room.
2. We expect the level problems to only intensify over the summer, and his MAP scores to increase, especially if he feels better about taking the test next time. He really enjoys learning math, especially, our biggest area of concern over level. As a fall-back position, should we sink hooks in now that we expect the plan to be re-evaluated if he really blows the doors off next fall's MAP? (Is it realistic to expect them to really address options like subject pull-outs for the first time mid-fall?)
3. My wife has had the idea of asking him to work with a math specialist outside the classroom. I don't like the idea because they pretty obviously want to keep him in a classroom with kids, preferably his classroom (and so do we if possible), and because I don't see it as logistically workable. They have no math specialist here, though they have a reading one. My wife thinks we should ask for a teacher to do it in her spare time. Is that as strange as it sounds to me?
4. He spells at roughly a 4th-5th grade level right now. I can't think of anything to ask for on this except for him to be let out of spelling in-class. If that's done, what is the best option? Let him read quietly on something he chooses, work on his homework, or what? I really don't think he needs to learn spelling at all. He just picks it up, and if necessary he's shown that he can learn a year's worth of normal spelling lists in an hour or so (partly because he gets many of them right without practice, so that pace might slow down as he got to higher-level words where he might need to learn vocabulary). Would you ask for him to be let out of it, or for higher-level spelling, in-class or out? I view it as just so much do-work for him, and there's only so much time in the day for us to spend together, so I'd rather not have him loaded down with spelling homework.
5. How can we make a genuine offer of help, that will be seen as such? Obviously we would offer to pay for extra computer services, though we're already stretched a little thin. What else can we do? This school has no gifted program for us to help out on. We will offer to take part in normal volunteer opportunities for parents. Is there anything else?
6. Should we hold back on letting him learn math over the summer? Or would it be better to teach him wrong math, so that he has something to (un)learn next year? I'm trying to think outside of the box here, having recently watched "Kung Pow: Enter the Fist". My idea is that he could be the Wimp Lo of second-grade math, except it would be for his own emotional well-being and to help him integrate with his peers, not for a joke.
