Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School "taking kids wide not UP"...????

Ouch! I'd have a problem with that too. That is unfair both to your dd and to the 4th grader. I believe that the purpose of those type of buddy up programs is to enhance confidence in the older student. They really should be pairing your dd with a kid who is GT identified in language arts or a very advanced reader. That other girl also shouldn't be put in the possibly humiliating position of having her 5 y/o "buddy" help her with reading.

master of none, I don't know how your school does their enrichment, but I do know that the enrichment my kid is getting right now in language arts is similar.

For example, they read a couple of Magic Treehouse books with the classroom teacher, and then the enrichment teacher started a unit on non-fiction related to one of the Magic Treehouse stories they had read as a group. So, now they are doing non-fiction reading a few times a week, and learning about dinosaurs, evolution, and geologic history. They have moved on in the language arts classroom to other books, but the enrichment continues along the same trajectory that was laid from the initial magic treehouse books back in October.

I think that with *any* educational setting, gifted school or not, how well a curriculum or concept works depends on how it's implemented, and that can vary tremendously among staff and schools and school districts. My youngest dd is in a private school that "goes deeper" - their phrase, but it's essentially "wide not up". We moved her to the school because it has a challenging overall curriculum, but also had hoped to accelerate her in math, which is clearly an area of extreme strength for her. The school does not believe in accelerating. The things we liked and placed value on at the school took priority over losing math acceleration, so we enrolled her knowing she'd be in the regular classroom learning the same math as everyone else with the potential for the "deeper" learning wherever she needed more challenge. In spite of my skepticism, I have to admit, it's worked out well for her - the teaching staff has been very aware of where her learning levels are at and she's received quite a bit of individual attention and challenge. She's been pulled out with a small group of other kids who are working ahead and given challenging "deeper" work, and most importantly, *she's* been happy with the level of work she has been given. She's only been in this school for one year, so whether or not she'll stay happy is anyone's guess at this point, but for my sample of one for one year of 2nd grade, it seems to be working ok so far.

My ds, otoh, was also in an elementary school that emphasized challenging students where they were at as core to their school philosophy, and was bored to tears much of the time and never challenged. Part of it was the school simply didn't have the resources or the motivation to truly "meet kids where they are", a larger part of it is most likely due to his being a much higher level of giftedness and different type of giftedness than my dd.

polarbear

It took a bit of work to convince them how advanced my daughter is, but once they were, it wasn't hard to get them to agree (at least in theory) to use enrichment materials from a couple of grade levels ahead, and also to progress with core skills.

I can't remember exactly how I worded it, but I emphasised that enrichment was excellent, but the opportunities for enrichment widened so dramatically over those first few grades, and she was so far beyond the grade level work that the enrichment around her grade level didn't count as enrichment. So she's getting enrichment that is normally given to the kids a couple of year levels up, and some core skills (not at the right level at the moment, we're still negotiating testing).

Its an interesting idea, but it may be contradicted by this view.

"... in a world where the entire Library of Congress will soon be accessible on a mobile device with search procedures that are vastly better than any card catalog, factual mastery will become less and less important."

Article itself is recommended!
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/education/edlife/the-21st-century-education.html

I agree, Cricket. I need to check with the teacher for details. My DD5 says she helps the older reader, but then again, she catches me making mistakes and corrects me so almost anyone is at "risk" of her correction LOL Perhaps struggling was the wrong word choice. Maybe she is a typical reader, but if their goal is to make the fourth grader feel confident, they should pair my DD5 with someone at almost adult fluency. As much as her teacher says my DD5 is bright, I don't think she realizes how much more she can do. I do not want an older child to feel embarassed if this puny baby faced five year old is correcting her or helping her. I need more details!