Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Portfolio Ideas for a 6 Year-Old?

I'm embarrassed to admit how nauseous I am trying to compile a portfolio. I have no idea what is typical or considered advance enough to warrant inclusion in an application for a 6 year-old with kindergarten completed.

I welcome feedback on which of the following you would send in a portfolio:

-Video of the child playing chess

-Video of the child reading C.S. Lewis (unabridged)and making comments showing an understanding of what was read

-- Video of the child reading Mark Twain (unabridged)with comments showing an understanding of what was readd

- Video of the child converting mixed numbers to improper fractions and vis versa in their head

- Video of the child multiplying fractions and reducing them

- Video of the child adding and subtracting fractions after converting to a common denominator

- Video of the child doing long division and multi-digit multiplication

- Video of the child reading clearly adult-level books on animals

- Video of the child finding area and perimeter of rectangles

- Worksheets showing the child doing long division, multi-digit multiplication, multiplication of fractions, conversion of improper fractions to mixed numbers and vis versa, area and perimeter calculations of rectangles, addition and subtraction of fractions requiring conversion to a common denominator

Thank you! I welcome thoughts and suggestions!

These probably aren't necessary to do in video form unless you wanted to demonstrate extreme speed or some other aspect of performance, so I'd tend to otherwise submit them as written work samples:

- Video of the child multiplying fractions and reducing them

- Video of the child adding and subtracting fractions after converting to a common denominator

- Video of the child doing long division and multi-digit multiplication

- Video of the child finding area and perimeter of rectangles

I'd consider submitting all of your ideas in one form or another, though; the more the better, and they all seem comfortably above level without knowing more. I guess it'd be better to show him playing a good game of chess than just demonstrate the ability to play No Stress Chess or something.

Thank you so much. My thought on videotaping the math was that I wanted to "prove" my child was doing the work. I, too, feel uncertain about taping chess. . . No, we don't have a national chess champion. I don't know. I appreciate the thought "the more the better." I just hope to make this a one-time submission instead of having to come back and add more. Thank you!

One thing I got from speaking with Rebecca at DYS was that they really wanted to see evidence of those thinking skills. I've read on here of many parents who have found conversations with a rep at DYS very helpful, so maybe a phone call is in order to sort all of those ideas out?

You're welcome. Is there any possibility of a grade skip? Your son is guaranteed to be thoroughly bored in first grade. Maybe you could use some of the same portfolio materials to nudge the school in the right direction.

What if you combined short clips of everything (including the chess) into one video, and included it with the written work?

My son isn't a chess champion either, but he was the only six year old that we knew of who could play and win with the correct rules. I was quite surprised, actually, that there weren't other kids (it doesn't seem to me like a game that's too advanced for a six year old, but then again, I only know my own kids).

We'd hear of friend's kids who were learning (they were older), but they never had the same grasp that my son did. Thank heavens for our neighbour's gifted son: he likes chess too and they play together I think my son loses most of their games (our neighbour's son is two years older)

My point is, though, is that when my son was six, he had NO ONE his age to play chess with. He would have been the youngest member in the school chess club if they had run it that year. So yeah, I'd include the chess

A huge thank you for all the great suggestions. They are well-taken and much appreciated.

I did e-mail DYS and was informed that my portfolio ideas were fine. They did clarify that I did not need to "prove" my child's ability to do the work reflected in the worksheet by taping her doing the same. I also was informed that worksheets completed at home were fine, which helps immensely because we home school.

I still feel like I'm short on projects that show thinking skills, though. The idea of including doodles is fabulous, and I wish I had them to include! My little ones detest any activity that involves something in their hand, so I don't have written work like that. We had to spend a lot of time practicing writing answers to math problems before I could even get independently completed, handwritten worksheets to include. Their lack of adeptness at writing answers did help me get together some solid videos of mental math, though, because they are so used to doing math mentally and quickly.

Thank you for the encouragement to include a video of a chess game. I'll definitely do that.

Thanks again for the encouragement and suggestions!

I think your child may be bored in 1st grade as well. Boredom is bad for kids, hope you can get a grade skip.

Thank you. I, too, agree that my children likely would be quite bored in 1st grade. I feel very fortunate that we home school, so I can side-step some of the boredom issues.

To help future parents trying to compile a portfolio, I'd like to share the e-mail response I received from a Davidson consultant regarding my questions about the portfolio contents. First, they are fine with a video of a child explaining an out-of-level concept, like nuclear fusion and photons traveling through the sun's layers, even though the child obviously is communicating information they have been taught, not original ideas. Second, chess is considered a non-academic example, so parents may want to be mindful that a video of chess doesn't count as one of the four portfolio items.

Thank you so much to all the people who have taken the time to assist me. I hope this thread helps future applicants, too!