Hi y'all,
The two most frustrating things about the school year that's just wrapping up for DS7 have been his teacher's feeling that he "just needs to try harder" with writing (I've now got a dysgraphia diagnosis in hand, some ammunition for an IEP) and the total disconnect between the math he's given at school and the math he's capable of.
From an email from his teacher:
"Our math workshop block is differentiated throughout center time- meaning Yourkid can make it as challenging as he wants. Many of the activities are open-ended where he is encouraged to use his own numbers in the problems to make them as advanced as he would like."
I guess this is why he wrote 100,000,000+100,000,000=200,000,000 on a doubles worksheet?
"Yourkid also has access to an extension journal full of math logic and problem solving activities, provided my Mrs. Giftedspecialist, should he complete his center early. However, we are finding that Yourkid is not getting to his journal and is playing in his centers and not completely the initial part of the assignment. Perhaps you could also talk with him at home and encourage him to complete the center to the best of his ability (especially if he finds it easier) and then he can go on to the math journal and more challenging problems."
Most of the "more challenging problems" are from Read It! Draw It! Solve It! and involve drawing pictures of animals, and sometimes WRITING STORIES. (see: dysgraphic)
"I know that math has been on the easier side for him this year, but these are the stepping stones to next year. The math curriculum next year will use the same terminology, tools, and strategies. However, with the new Common Core curriculum that we are moving towards he will be responsible for having to describe his thinking more in depth and talk about the strategies he used, as opposed to simply providing the answer. I have talked with Yourkid about that this year and I think he understands that this is his next step in the learning process- and it is a hard one. :-)"
The weekly homework packets this year have included some Sunshine Math most weeks, and he finds that fun, at least...
The gifted coordinator tells me that "Students can compact out of the math curriculum on a topic by topic bases. I have worked very closely with the K-1 teachers to provide the materials to compact. I think the second grade teachers do a great job with this."
I am not holding my breath. /rant
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What do you think about letting him work in ALEKS this summer, if he's interested, to improve the chances of subject acceleration? I know there's not enough information to answer that question, but what would you do?
Mo
