Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion The ultimate brag thread

DD9: Can you turn on my CD player? I want to listen to Katy Perry.

Me (before pressing play): Is she in the CD player already?

DD9: No, I think she lives in California.

LOL! - Kathleen'smum!

Kerry - that is fantastic!

DD6 is in first grade, and the library books are color-coded for reading levels. A few weeks ago she shared her frustrations with me that she couldn't get blue books. I suggested she advocate for herself and speak to her G/T teacher about the issue, but apparently there was some miscommunication, so after that I got involved, and her G/T teacher kicked off whatever processes the school needs to verify her reading level and get her access to harder books.

So yesterday was her library day, and the librarian told DD she could get any books she wants, but if she wants to get gray or (some other, non-blue color) books, she'd have to read a page to the librarian before she could check it out. DD was very happy about this development, and her explanation for WHY she was so happy was:

"Because my favorite thing is learning, and my second favorite thing is reading."

Awwww....

DS7's 1st grade class read a story called "an egg is an egg." They then had to come up with an example of something that changes (caterpillar into butterfly, seed into plant, etc)

DS came up with:
"a star goes supernova and becomes a white dwarf."

The teacher, to my disgust, asked DS to come up with something a little more "earthly." DS rolled his eyes, and said, "a lake can freeze."

That woman is going to completely break his spirit.

Sounds like the dwarf was the teacher.

Aww indeed!

doclori - my eyes would roll too!

after many rounds of "just do what the teacher tells you to do" (which I am really beginning to hate saying, but that is another story ;)), DD8 went along easily with yesterday's writing assignment...I'm sure it helped that it was about dogs and they could go right to the computer, instead of writing a rorugh draft...
Mrs W provided an outline with some questions to help them get started and they were allowed to "Geronimo Stilton", play with fonts, etc...so apparently, DD writes EXACTLY the minimum 5 sentances required to qualify this as a paragraph! Another parent, Mrs G, was there, assisting and she is telling me this and comments that she was sure DD would have lots more than 5 sentances. Mrs W is pleased, but I'm sure, since she sees DD interested this time, she will encourage her to do more, which is great...so she suggests 5 adjectives be added. Mrs G asks DD some questions to help her along..."Why don't you describe the snow?" and DD looks at her and says "everyone KNOWS snow is cold and white". We are both totally laughing and honestly, I am just happy the child did as asked this time!

Espers turned a year old last month. I mentioned a few months ago that she said very clearly, "get out of here" when her brother was trying to interrupt her nursing. �I had said the same thing when he did that every day for a week. �So, she wasn't talking. �That was echolalia. �She just used it in the right context. �
Now she uses some words and names, this, yeah, up, eye-it, and many wrong words, like "hot" asking for food. �But she does not talk beyond those few single words, and sometimes she'll answer you.
She studies. �She watches her brothers phonics lessons. �There was a game on the video that goes like "ugly umbrellas open under something." She answered "uh". �That was cool because me and Wyatt had been playing the game, we had been answering the sounds. �So she just played along and got one right. �
Well, that one I can tell everyone. �But since she doesn't really talk yet, she squeaks for please and squeals for no, I'll save this other story for here. �She did another echolalia in the correct context. �I was reading a teaching spelling website on my phone. �Wyatt asked what I was reading. � I read outloud the list with the same ending sounds. �Espy said clearly, "they rhyme." � I don't want anyone to think I think she knows what it meant, she just remembered for a second that's what I say when I say rhyming words and it came out of her mouth.
I think she'll be good with languages because Wyatt's first echolalia was "goodnight" and Espy's was a four word sentence.

@La Tex - thats so awesome! love the rhyming bit especially

I met with DD9's teacher for parent-teacher interviews today. She had a lot of positive things to say, which was a nice way to start the conversation :-) She related that she was impressed with DD's memory. She was asked to write an autobiography as a writing assignment in class. It took her a really long time... she asked to spend recess indoors to work on it. After it was three weeks overdue (she gets extra time as an accomodation) her teacher asked if she was almost done and she replied, "Well, I just finished grade 1 so I only have two more years to go." She ended up writing a three page, typed, single-spaced, incredibly detailed autobiography... from her premature birth to the death of her dogs when she was two to her very detailed difficulties in grade primary. She only got a B on the assignment because, honestly, it was poorly written in a literal sense. I, on the other hand, wanted to do cartwheels because my dyslexic, ADHD daughter who HATES to write worked hard on something and went above and beyond to do her best.

When I told her how proud I was she said, "Mom, a B in writing is like an A to me!"