My 5-1/2 year old daughter is in first grade and already I am tired of dealing with the school system!
She missed the age cutoff for K (Dec 1 in our state) by five weeks, so last year we did early entry by putting her in a private Christian school in all-day K. It was too easy but better than nothing, and socially it was good for her. All year she said it was too easy but she still enjoyed many aspects of school and wanted to go. Financially it crippled us however.
This year she went into first grade in public school. After three weeks in what was supposed to be a "multi-age" program where we thought she could be challenged, we took her out because she was complaining every day that it was too easy and she wasn't learning anything new. (Turns out it isn't a true multi-age program but a team-teaching rotation with afternoon "learning clubs" that are mixed grade. None of the core subjects are mixed grade. In a meeting with teachers and principal, I asked for her to be able to do 2nd grade work in at least one subject but they wouldn't do it.) She was excited about school the first week, but came home the second day saying "I think I'm ready for second grade." She was neutral the second week, and by the third week didn't want to go. Finally she outright said she wished she could go to a different school.
We found a different elementary school within our district with a principal who seemed to understand, and a teacher who said she believes in differentiated curriculum and allowing advanced work in the classroom, and moved her there this week. But even that was frustrating...
the day we visited the classroom, I showed the teacher the report on my daughter's testing (Woodc*ck-Johnson Reading Mastery Test) done at the end of K, at an age when most kids are in preschool, which showed her reading at a 3rd grade level. She scored in the 99.9th percentile compared to K, 1st and 2nd grders, and in the 90th percentile compared to 3rd graders.
The teacher barely looked at the report and said "we'll need to do our own testing." I asked how she does differentiated curriculum with the kids, and she showed me her files containing "homework pages" sorted by grade level--K through 3rd. I randomly pulled out one paper designated as 2nd grade level and asked the teacher if we could have my daughter read it to her. My daughter read it fluently, mistaking three words which she then said correctly when the teacher pointed to them and said "Can you try this one again?"
I'm glad I insisted on this reading, because I could see it opened the teacher's eyes. The page included phrases like "the instruments were invisible" and my daughter giggled at that and said, "That's funny, invisible instruments!" So the teacher knew that she was comprehending what she read. Immediately after this, the teacher pulled in a para-pro and had her take my daughter in the hall to do some kind of reading test. They returned and the para-pro said she got the top score possible.
Soon after my daughter read to the teacher, I saw another student in the class approach the teacher, point to a word on the wall and said "I don't know that word." The word was BLUE. It made me realize, again, that my daughter is just not like other kids. I asked the teacher how she lets advanced kids work ahead during class, and she said they have to do the same work as the other kids, but during free time they can choose to do advanced math, reading, etc. She said if they finish a worksheet early, they can always get a book and read to themselves.
It's a better classroom environment than at the other school, where my daughter finished a worksheet in two minutes then had to sit there doing nothing while it took the rest of the class another ten minutes. At least now she can read to herself and won't be completely bored. But I still feel so discouraged and frustrated, knowing that the teacher doesn't really "get it" about what my daughter already knows and can do.
Ugh, why does this have to be so difficult?
