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Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 3,428
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Joined: Aug 2010
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At my daughters school they told us before she entered first grade that they do not teach reading, they teach the first graders reading skills that they may have missed out on by teaching themselves to read. I am not sure what this would mean--but I am certain that most of the students in DS's class are still reading at a pretty early level. It is a Title 1 school with many struggling students who came to K with few skills (for instance, many did not know the alphabet). Of course, there are exceptions. I feel surprised that you would be told that children are not taught to read in grade 1. The answer you were given sounds more like something that would be told to pacify a parent whose child already knows how to read well and taught him/herself.
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Joined: Aug 2010
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Thanks, aeh--I will look at that one.
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Joined: May 2010
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At my daughters school they told us before she entered first grade that they do not teach reading, they teach the first graders reading skills that they may have missed out on by teaching themselves to read. I am not sure what this would mean--but I am certain that most of the students in DS's class are still reading at a pretty early level. It is a Title 1 school with many struggling students who came to K with few skills (for instance, many did not know the alphabet). Of course, there are exceptions. I feel surprised that you would be told that children are not taught to read in grade 1. The answer you were given sounds more like something that would be told to pacify a parent whose child already knows how to read well and taught him/herself. All of the children in first grade at this school are reading at least two grade levels ahead. It is a TAG school.
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Oh! Well, that is really different, then.
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Joined: Feb 2011
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Sorry--I didn't mean to imply he could not benefit from any type of reading instruction! Only that I did not want him to have to sit through first-grade phonics and reading lessons, and that he is at this point so far past early-grade reading mechanics that differentiating isn't very easy in class. Would they consider continuing to cross-grade him in language arts? Well, I don't know. This was promised to us, as a matter of fact. But we think he has been placed with a small group (2-4, I think?) of other competent (possibly gifted) kids. He had no such cohort last year. Because of this placement I kind of doubt they will want to continue the PT acceleration, because it could create the expectation that all would be accelerated. It could be that these kids are also very good readers, but in my experience there are not many 1st graders reading at this level even among gifted kids. (I don't mean to sound snotty. My own DD was not reading this well at this age, either.) I think his other needs can be met in the classroom without too much trouble, but in this area he is just kind of out there. Last year he did do a journal, which was great. I am happy to buy materials and the school is fine with him using those, though it might be weird if there are other kids with advanced skills. Last year I sent in some reading comp books, which I think he used some. They weren't...great, but I have not found any that are. I will look at these Thompson books. He will also be receiving some pull-out programming, but no idea how much or what it will be yet. We wound up having this same problem, and I want to caution you that while cross-grade instruction should theoretically be possible (and probably the easiest thing, really, that is remotely appropriate)-- mostly this was a battle that we wound up losing. DD did not need reading instruction, even at the third grade level, upon entering school at 6yo. She got it anyway because it was "bundled" with the entire curriculum, and we got a lot of vague answers about why she couldn't move up in language arts-- something about each grade's curriculum being "tied" together and coherent in presentation of themes/concepts, blah-blah-blah. Well, I understand that such a thing leads to helpful reinforcement and depth for NT (and probably even some MG) students, but it was mind-numbing for my PGlet. We had a lot of battles royale to get her to complete assignments that were absolutely pointless for her. She knew it, I knew it, and the teacher knew it-- but she had to do them anyway. That often burned up so much capital that she was oppositional even about those few nuggets of instruction that WOULD otherwise have been helpful. Some of the more successful strategies that we employed (mostly appropriate at a 3rd-6th grade level): - student-selected reading which is at a more appropriate level, at least for independent work
- learning tertiary skills for communicating understanding of literature-- powerpoint/graphical representations, etc. Discussion is the hardest piece of things there, and for that, our model (virtual school-- so one-on-one with a parent) was ideal. We could riff on the ideas presented in Little House on the Prairie and take them into territory that NO 4th grade classroom possibly would-- perspective taking, narrative voice, unreliable narration in biography/memoir, etc. It wasn't like there was a choice, after all-- DD was going there-- it was just a matter of whether or not she got coaching or guidance in the process.
- literature as ART-- poetry, drama, and the ties between literature and the other fine arts as extension activities... and those art skills needed some emphasis anyway.
- literature as history-- a big problem for DD was what to do with all of the extra time she had when doing assigned reading, since she was so FAST at it-- she often completed reading in about 2-5% of the allotted time, and we then had her extend that with author biography, historical context, similar works in the genre...
- or having her read ALL of the "choices" of reading selections... which got her up to 50-75% of the time required by peers, anyway. It also encouraged her to foster a deeper analytical approach to literature, which has served her well in secondary.
- work on fine-motor skills to fine-tune handwriting and writing skills (these were by far DD's weakest skill set)
- pre-testing and NOT offering instruction when those pretests were indicative of complete mastery (>90%)-- in a classroom setting, I think that you'd have to agree upon what the child would be doing with that block of time, though. DD spent it on sustained silent reading of her choice of reading materials.
Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.
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Joined: Nov 2012
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HK, I adore "PGlet" and plan to use it shamelessly around these parts. Nice neologism.
What is to give light must endure burning.
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Joined: Jan 2013
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I think your situation will depend alot on the other children in the class and how your teacher breaks up the students. My DD7 was the similar to your DS last year when she was in 1st grade. She was reading 4-6th grade books before kindergarten and had no differentiating in kindergarten when they were practicing their letters and truly learning to read. That was painful. For 1st she was lucky to be in a class of some higher learners but they don't have a true gifted program in this age so it wasn't really a gifted class. The kids were broken up into reading groups so I am not sure how different the assignments were but the teacher focused on analyzing the books. The books were still far below her level but for analyzing and diagramming the characters and themes etc it was not that bad. Then she got to read alot on her own from the class library. Those books were still below her level but she will read anything and she could finish them in the few minutes they gave her to read on her own. It wasn't perfect but it was not that bad. Hopefully your teacher is planning something like that because this seems like a hard thing to expect a 6 year old to do on their own with a worksheet or workbook. My DD would rather just read so if you want her to discuss themes then it needs to be a discussion and not just writing it down. Then again my DD is quite lazy/slow with her writing so might be less inclined perhaps than your child who sounds more proficient. Good luck.
Last edited by coveln; 08/20/14 01:35 PM.
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Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 313
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My DS was given 5th and 6th grade spelling work books in the 1st and 2nd grade and then moved into a middle grade vocabulary book in 3rd grade, when his teachers decided he was "done" with spelling. The vocabulary work was appropriately challenging.
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Joined: Aug 2013
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My DD6 is at a similar reading level, and these are a few things her teacher will be doing this year for her language arts (we are at a school that loops, so she has the same teacher for K and 1st....a wonderful thing for us!):
- inferencing work
- story cubes, you can find them at education stores. The teacher bought a set just for her that is around a 3rd grade level, to encourage her to write about what she is reading (precursor to a book report type project, more in depth than basic comprehension).
- including many grammatical concepts into her reading time (adjectives, adverbs, etc).
- they started a spelling program with her last year in K, and will just continue at the level she is at. Spelling at DD's school is differentiated for all kids.
- building vocabulary, particularly non-fiction, topics picked by DD
- an introduction to shakespeare (initiated by DD, using the Usborne Illustrated Shakespeare book).
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Joined: May 2011
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I would like to ask that he not have to complete reading and phonics instruction. But what should he do instead? Our son "tested out" of that part of first grade. First ask that your child be given the end-of-the-year test for phonics/reading instruction to determine he knows all the material. Then ask for the second grade end-of-the-year test for language arts, and so on. Once your child hits an 80% or below grade on that, you know the grade in which they need to be instructed. From that point, I would request the school allow a pull-out for the language arts instruction to attend a the correct level class, perhaps with an aide. Unfortunately, writing instruction is often part of the language arts (reading) instruction and so if your child is lagging in that, you may want a tutor to help.
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