Oh this is why I love this forum! Where else would this get treated as a normal question?
I guess I've been afraid of turning her off by turning it into "lessons," and I'm just letting her have fun with it. (She went through an earlier phase at <2 when she learned most of the alphabet for fun, and then lost interest.) She is not one of those blatantly ready can't-stop-them early readers. But I might try her on the Powerpoint idea and see if she enjoys it.
Whole language reading is definitely not as good an idea as phonetic learning"
As far as I know, that conclusion is based on kids who are average or even behind, and have to be laboriously taught how to read. I'm not sure it applies to early learners. Really expert readers end up using both phonology and whole word recognition, and it probably doesn't matter which they start with.
It wasn't until she started demonstrating traditional academic skills like math and literacy
Exactly! It's like these are some kind of holy grail. We just don't have simple objective ways to measure other manifestations of early intelligence, so they simply get overlooked.
why is it important for you that the teacher knows she is gifted?
I wouldn't say it's important for them to know that she is "gifted." It's important to me that they
get her. That they understand who she is and what is going on in her mind. I think this is because I have an excellent relationship with the staff of this preschool and I really respect their skills and abilities. I love talking to them about what Hanni is doing in the classroom, what progress she's making in social/emotional development, where she's at with potty training, etc. I really feel like they're on my side and I can trust them. That's why it feels so weird that there is this gulf, this aspect of her where they are just not
seeing her. I'd like to be able to talk to them about her cognitive development without sounding like the delusional pushy mom.
