I would talk to the principal asap! That being said.....I'm also a huge proponent of testing!!! We didn't have a clue what we were dealing with in terms of our DD9 until we got the feedback from her testing.
DD had an okay year of Kindergarten, then 1st grade was the year from hell with behavior issues that caused school to tell us she had ADD/ADHD and her teacher to tell us DD had ODD or conduct disorder. Things got bad very quickly. (not saying this will happen to your DD, but it definitely could). The testing showed DD wasn't any of those things - she was just very smart and very bored. This paved the way for a GIEP and better accommodations for her. You can check out my previous posts for more of our saga!
We paid out of pocket for psychoeducational testing through the psych/ed department of one of the top colleges for our state. The fee was probably 1/2 of what a private tester would charge and luckily our school accepted the testing since some schools won't. The only complaint I have from the testing is that they used the KABC-II and Kaufman Achievement tests instead of the very popular WISC. At the time we didn't even know there were different tests. You'll need to find out if your school has to use their own tester or if they are willing to accept outside testing.
If you speak to the principal now, rather than wait until next school year, you will hopefully already lay some groundwork in terms of next year's placement, etc. Also like momoftwins said - it takes time, so the sooner the better. We started advocating in 1st grade and even though DD had a "behavior" type plan in place at school, she didn't get the GIEP until 3rd grade.
Start educating yourself! You should also look into your state's education policies and your school's policies. Just because the GATE program doesn't start until 5th grade doesn't mean there isn't something else available for the lower grades. Our DD was able to work with the gifted teacher in 2nd grade as a sort of trial, but the policy stated it could only be for so many months.
Finding this forum is a good starting point. There are lots of experienced people with good ideas! Good Luck!!
