Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Yes, another happy update...

Things are going very well six weeks into the first grade...

Over the summer DD ran a bilingual book club for 15 of her closest friends from her kindergarten class. She selected all of the books, and she helped to plan the fortnightly activities. It went remarkably well, and culminated in a "Backyard Science Museum" in which DD independently set up 5 exhibits on different topics, designed associated activities, and ran a "museum cafe" using book club dollars that she had designed and photocopied on her own.

First grade seems to have started stunningly well. Despite DD's diagnosed social anxiety, she continues to maintain a number of close friendships (many that she specifically initiated) from last year. She has also started learning the piano, and continues in her gymnastics, and theater classes. She has drawn most of her friends into the after-school theater program, and we determined that 12 of the 30 enrollees are there because DD convinced them to join.

So far this year, there have been no classroom issues --that I've been made aware of-- despite the fact that I'm on the campus helping the school librarian five days a week. Though it has to be said, DD has started an aggressive letter writing campaign on behalf of a number of friends who have had issues with their teachers. She drafts daily letters on their behalf to their teachers and turns copies in to the principal.

Two or three days each week DD has playdates with friends from school, and on weekends we try to schedule outings with friends from outside of her campus. She has also become more flexible about including non-friends in her play at lunch and recess, which is major breakthrough... though there are days when she still withdraws when her preferred friends include others in their play. She knows that this is a problem, and is actively working on it.

She seems to be a good match with her teacher, who really seems to turn a blind eye to anything that isn't intentionally disruptive, or hurtful, that takes place in the classroom. That means that DD soaking her shirt when she uses the water fountain doesn't even draw a remark, while another child calling DD stupid for doing so is reprimanded. As a teacher myself, I enforce the rules in my classroom similarly, so I'm very pleased to see this.

Academically, the school continues to encourage DD to do as much accelerated homework as she desires, while making minimal accommodation in the classroom. As such DD is now completing the 10th grade Spanish reading curriculum in their online homework system, and doing multiplication and division while her classmates do counting and introductory addition assignments. As of this moment, DD doesn't seem to have any problem with this.

So, all things considered, I'm immensely happy with DD's first six weeks of first grade.