Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School Kindergarten homework ... wth does this mean???

I have a hard time with that one, myself. I remember studying Piaget and all that with the water and containers, but it's hard to believe it could be the same with blocks. Sure, the water thing is baffling if you look at two differently shaped containers that both hold the same amount of water but look different. But five blocks is five blocks, no matter what you do to them.

We used to send "alternate homework" sheets back to school with DS, in place of the ridiculous things that came home. More than one teacher responded by saying, "sorry, I just hand out the same thing to everyone by habit, didn't mean to give him one of those, carry on", so to speak.

DD, on the other hand, is bright but so easily distracted that it's hard to say what she might do on one of those worksheets -- it varies from one day to the next.

welcome to the world of public kindergarten ;)~

geofizz- I think my DS I "hardwired"!
but seriously, he just seemed to pick it up and know it around age2. same way with reading, it just sort of happened.

However, I know kids who do NEED to be able to touch and move objects around, to make the idea that 4 is 4, and moved around is still 4. whatever works I say.

Just wish schools would make accommodations for the kids who already know #s, letters etc upon entering kinder.

zen- I gave my DS this "test" @age 3, after reading it online somewhere, using the 2 diff sized cylinders, I said we were doing a water "experiment". He "hypothesized" just from looking at empty cylinders it would be same amount of water- "one is short and fat, but this one is tall and skinny. kind of like you and gramma!" he did add something to the effect that it looks like the tall one would hold more but it won't because it is not as fat.

then we did the water and he was quite happy to see he was correct. had he just guess without reasoning- I would have wondered if it were indeed a lucky guess.

sry typos! DS uses my laptop a lot for online gaming, and a lot of my keys are no longer working appropriately- I push them down and they just don't appear. it gets tiring having to go back to add a missed letter.

anyhow, I wanted to add that it is nice that several mentioned that teachers were willing to accept other worksheets from the kids, vs the actual worksheets sent home, it shows th teacher is at least open minded and willing to work with the child as an individual, and that possibly further down the line- more such differentiation might be allowed, and done in class

Aaaand more of the same homework came home today. I'll just have him do the writing part (practicing writing numbers) because his writing is absolutely horrible but the math part, I won't bother. He'll get another one of our home worksheets. Eventually the teacher will say if she likes it or not. Until then, I don't think I really care! I want my kid to LEARN and not be bored.

I just had a little flashback ... DSS now 20 moved in with us when he was 12 and while he was pretty smart and could understand complex ideas, he had serious problems with simple math. He was in 6th grade and had trouble telling me what 2 + 2 was. He REALLY had to think! I don't remember anymore what the categories on his MAP testing were but he would always score in the 85th-95th percentile on all categories, except the one that dealt with the very basics where he'd get scores in the 40s. I guess he was one of those kids who needed the early reinforcement and didn't get it?

But for what it's worth, DS5 is no genius but he got the basic addition and subtraction idea figured out from Vtech video games before he turned 3. Since then he's been suffering through preschool and now Kindy math. We HAVE to make it more fun for him. He used to LOVE math but since he started preschool last year, the love pretty much disappeared

I'm just worried that if I push for something more, the teacher will come back saying DS5 makes mistakes, meaning he hasn't master the topic. I haven't seen any mistakes on his work ... YET ... but knowing him he will start making them because when he does stuff that's too easy, he doesn't pay any attention to it and will just mark "whatever" to be done with it.

I am honestly regretting even sending him to K (though it's just a half day). The only real reason we sent him in was that I desperately need some QUIET (he talks nonstop all the time, no matter what he's doing) AND I need the couple hours alone time for one on one work with DS3 (to work on his anxiety and speech delay).

Val you made me think of my 3 yr old who always want three of something (or three biscuits). If I give her one piece of chocolate she will ask me to break in into three for her. She finds his very pleasing. I think she knows she doesn't really have more, but she's clearly feeling similar things to you with the cheese.

I remember being about 9 (??) And doing a homework sheet or quiz or something with a drawing of an empty glass and being asked to draw a line so it would look half full. So I obviously drew a horizontal line through it. And then a drawing of an empty glass on its side and ditto with making it look half full. I remember so clearly thinking these were so ridiculously easy they must be trick questions and worrying I'd missed the point, and then being shocked that some of my friends drew a vertical line instead of horizontal in the sideways glass...

Reading this makes me feel like I'm peering into a secret, otherworldly school system. I can't imagine DS being able to cope with the types of activities described now, let alone 3 years away.

Aquinas, 5yr olds are generally more reasonable and patient than 2 yr olds but no, I don't think you've got much hope of lock step grade placement working out for your family :-).

Ds4.4 can do that now but he couldn't a year ago. I'm pretty sure he is about as gifted as his hg+ brother.