I was as grade-conscious as they come when I was in school, but DD's "3s" in 3rd grade (she has quite a few 4s, too) for the first part of the school year are not bothering me one bit. Grades are subjective and as others have pointed out, teachers often like to leave "room for growth" in the first grading period, even if your child is above average.
DD8 also had very high MAP and CogAT scores. Her primary teacher feels she "pushes herself" and goes "above and beyond" and that means more to me than the small number grades. DD also got some 3s on her report card, and I am not even certain she is being appropriately challenged at school. Still, these are not grades for college (nor will they particularly count for anything in the long run), and I think it is actually GOOD for DD to feel she might need to WORK for 4s in some areas (penmanship, effort in gym
).
Oddly (for me, the former uber-grade-conscious student), the 3s are not a worry at all. It sounds like your DD is doing extremely well, and I would just bet those 3s will become 4s in future semesters.
How did the meeting go?
