Hi Grinity - sorry, that was probably a lack of clear communication on my part - I had asked her to take what she sees of dd with a grain of salt as the kid is a master of disguise. She said to me that dd's reading comprehension was variable depending on the time of day and therefore she wasn't going to try her with anything more difficult. Dd's reading The Magic Faraway Tree - she reads just before bed and can tell me everything that has happened in the chapters she has read, so the kid can comprehend as well as decode. So I suggested to the teacher that perhaps her willingness to communicate what happened in the book might vary through out the day rather than her ability to comprehend. However, later it occurred to me that dd was in all likelihood doing what I do when I am reading something that requires no thought - not absorbing it. I remember reading whole books of those Rainbow Fairies books to dd when she was small, which are more boring than watching paint dry, and I would have read the story word for word but could not tell you a single thing that happened in it (well... that's not entirely true... all 90+ books basically have the same story line, so I could take a fair guess!). So I have sent another e-mail to the teacher (when talking to her face to face she is very evasive and doesn't stop to listen), explaining this possibility to her, asking for her to try dd on something harder and letting us know how it goes and asking for a face to face meeting with myself and DH in the new school term (holidays start here in a week or so), where we will expect her to let us know her plans for dd.
I am not terribly hopeful - as you say, if there are no other kids working at her readiness level then there isn't much the teacher can be expected to do. I am kind of approaching this as a last ditch effort - maybe there is a kid dd can work with (though I have just picked her up a grade 4 extension maths book and have no doubt she could do much of it with little effort - so perhaps it's a big if!)? Maybe if nothing else we'll give the teacher some evidence that kids shouldn't always be taken on face value. Maybe nothing will change, in which case we will speak with the (to date) very helpful principal and explain what we've seen and done and see if there are any other options (maybe there is a class or teacher better equipped to work with dd) and if not, we'll pull the plug. I am reluctant to do that right off the back as dd has got some connections there, and really likes some kids in other classes (perhaps we can find a place in one of those?) - so I am keen to give the situation a chance to avoid my sensitive dd having to start over somewhere new, having just got over the shock of starting school. And, as you mentioned on the other post Grinity, I pay for her education with my taxes, so I would like them to try and accommodate her!
