Pdog, you've done a great job stepping outside your comfort zone and contacting the school staff - that can be so very hard when you're starting out! I still don't quite understand what your school district's gifted program actually *is* - it sounds a bit like something that's created on the fly for the younger kids? Or is it a grouped-ability classroom within the school at some point, a different magnet school, a pull-out program?
We are into our second week of school. Our child is having fun playing with kids and making friends, but is disappointed by the lack of "schoolwork". He pictured lots of reading, trips to the library, math, and science projects; and so far he tells us that they have been doing a lot of get to know you activities, cutting and pasting, and lots of singing.
My advice as you are talking to his teacher to advocate for more challenge is to also not discount everything that goes on in the classroom. Yep, it's not what your ds dreamed of when he thought about what school would be like but that doesnt mean there isn't value in it. Having fun and making friends isn't just a fun time to be had in kindergarten; being able to socialize and network are skills that help us all out later on in life - both in the workplace, in our careers and giving us friends etc to enjoy life outside of work. Cutting and pasting may not take much "brain work" but they are ways of developing fine motor skills.
Soooo... those aren't things I'd mention as a concern or mention that he's bored with when you talk to the school staff. I also don't think telling the school staff that school "isn't what he expected it to be" is going to accomplish much - chances are it isn't what 99% of the kindergartners expected it to be!
was also very sad about being limited to picture books and easy readers in the library
This is something that I think you can advocate for right away without coming across as adversarial in any way, so I'd start here. Bring in some examples of the books he reads at home and request that your ds be allowed to pick books from a reading-level appropriate (to him) section of the library. If the librarian and teacher balk at that idea or throw up some reason that it's a roadblock, go home, right a very nice politically correct email to the teacher, librarian and principal outlining what you asked, what the response was, include any suggestions you have to work around that roadblock if you have any ideas (or skip this if you don't have any ideas) and then conclude by asking if you can all meet to brainstorm a work-around that will allow your ds to read at the level he's capable of reading at.
Like the reading books, as other types of work comes home later in the year - when they start doing math etc - don't hesitate to send in examples of what your ds is doing at home.
We talked to the principal before school and she explained that she had already talked to his teacher and that we need to be patient, but they will eventually work with and challenge him. We are hoping to be as patient as we can be, but it is hard watching him be disappointed or confused about what they are or aren't doing in school. He apparently had a very different vision about what school would be like.
I think that although it's incredibly frustrating right now to see this happening, if you keep advocating for your ds, in the long run he's going to gain something far more important than simply getting more challenging work in the classroom - he'll see his mom stand up for him and he'll also learn how to advocate for himself. Again - not something that happens overnight, it will be something that happens over *years* - but it's something that I've seen happen with my own kids and it's really huge. I ran into a young woman working at the kids' center in my health club a few years ago when ds was in early elementary school and I was beyond frustrated with trying to get him an appropriate level of challenge at school (we didn't have willing staff and ds is also 2e so there was an added layer of hurdles in the eyes of the school)... anyway, while I was checking my kids into the center the woman noticed the book I had in my bag to read while I worked out - it was one of the classic "gifted kids" books, I can't remember which one, but anyway, she saw that and asked why I was reading it, wanting to know if I was studying to be a teacher. I explained I was just a parent reading it to help with advocating for one of my kids. And she gave me the most incredible pep talk ever! She told me how she and her sister were both gifted and how boring school had been and how the best thing ever in her life was seeing her mom go into school and stand up to her teachers and fight for more challenging school work for them. She said it usually didn't really help that much either but that seeing her mom stand up for them was just so empowering - that clearly made more of a mark on her life than anything she ever did in school.
So keep on plugging away! It's a long journey but you're doing a great job so far!
polarbear
ps - the last thought I'll throw out there - when my kids were in early elementary, I found it was really helpful for me to volunteer in the classroom when/if I could especially for my EG ds. Actually being in the classroom for an hour or so at a time really helped me see how the teacher and classroom functioned, and made it easier for me to understand how to advocate with the specific teacher, plus it gave me some real data points to use in negotiating.
