Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School 1st/2nd Grade 2010-2011

The school no longer has an older elementary class, so no class to attend for my older one. Next school year the will go up to the 1st grade only. The enrollment just wasn't there. Add to it financial problems and they decided they would be better off with PreK and K-1. I could still send D6 there but that wouldn't be too fair, not to mention that even this year he cared more about the older kids more than his age mates.

LMom, that is a bummer.

Hi everyone! We're still new here, but I saw your K posts from last year and am so glad to join in with all of you! DS will be an official 1st grader in a few weeks.

We started homeschooling in January after half of a year of PS Kindergarten, and we're starting up again in a few weeks through our charter. As a Kindergartener in the public school, we went through the typical PG issues with acceleration (school suggested, but we didn't feel it was the right solution) and differentiation (school was supportive, but it wasn't nearly enough).

We have a public school HS charter that is the perfect solution. As LMom put it, DS is a "first grader on paper only," but it gives him the flexiblity to jump into higher level academic workshops while still enjoying some of the fun "artsy" things that the other 1st graders are doing. It also helps us to be able to keep him registered as a 1st grader for religion class and sports (where he is not nearly so gifted! LOL).

In addition to our charter activities, we are also in two co-ops. Our Monday co-op is with a lot of older children (most not gifted), and it's a great way for us to study "out" instead of just "up." We have several vendors lined up, and have a schedule filled with Spanish, science labs, music appreciation, fine arts and drama class, and LEGO Robotics. Our Friday morning co-op is comprised of more than 50 families, and he'll be able to choose 2 similar "learning out" classes. Both sets of parents seem very supportive when I've explained that he is 6 in terms of arts/gross motor, but 3th-5th grades academically. I have my fingers double-crossed that this works out.

One question that I'd love to throw out to this group is something that comes up a lot right now. It's extremely common for random people to ask DS how old he is, followed by questions of what grade he's in, particularly when he has a schoolbook with him (ie at the dr's office/one of his brother's activities, etc.) We've tried the simple answer of "K" or "1", but when they see what he's reading/doing, it turns into a further conversation. I don't love explaining to strangers, and this will surely come up with other kids (particularly when the older kids in the co-op and workshops see him in them). Does anybody have any thoughts that you could help us with this?
Thanks!!

My last post was so long that I forgot to add...

Irisheyes, I'm SO impressed that your DD advocated for herself like that with her teacher! I think so many parents out there *think* their children are GT when they're not that teachers don't always listen to us when we try to advocate on ours' behalf. When they can speak up and explain it like she has, though, the teacher is bound to sit up and take note! I hope that goes well!!

Colinsmum, I'm also so impressed by DS's music study! I would like my DS to try piano, but this is the one thing where he continually expresses noninterest. I hate to make the leap since I know daily lessons will be a drag if he's not into it, but still, I wish I could get him excited about the idea! He wants to play guitar instead. I've tried suggesting a year of piano to start, but just found a guitar teacher who will take 6 year olds. DH is suggesting we just give guitar a try. I'm still on the fence....

Kriston, my fingers are still crossed for DS's YS app!

Hi! I'm so happy to jump into the conversation, too.

DS6 will be a 2nd grader in September. We met with his school in May and everyone agreed that he needed to be subject accelerated to 3rd for math, with the possibility of being accelerated in other subjects if the schedule demands it. We're good with that since really he's academically at least 3rd grade across the board save writing. The problem is that the scheduling is turning out to be *very* difficult. Last I heard, they were working to rearrange several teachers' and specialists' daily schedules in an attempt to accommodate DS. I'm trying to be patient and give them time to work through it as well as enjoy their time off, but if I don't hear anything by the second week of August I'm going to have to call and find out what they've worked out. I don't want to find out on the night of the open house that things still aren't in order. I really want him to start the acceleration on the first day of school and I really want to be able to introduce him to both teachers at the open house. There is another boy who also is requesting harder work in math, but he hasn't had any of the ability testing or achievement testing done (other than the MAP), so he isn't likely to be subject accelerated but will be placed in the same 2nd grade class. We know this boy and he is bright in math, but not nearly at the level of DS or even really above-level in anything but math. Still, it will be an added benefit to have another mathy kid in his class. While scheduling would be easier, we don't want to do a full grade acceleration because in all things non-academic he seems to get a good fit with the class he's in now after having skipped K.

As far as summer goes, he's just having a good time relaxing, traveling, swimming, and playing soccer. He's been writing a letter today to his 1st grade teacher and I'm really impressed with how good he is at spelling now. I think the Words Their Way curriculum they used last year really helped him internalize a lot of spelling rules (even though the words themselves were way too easy) and now he just seems to "get" spelling. So that's fun to see. The one thing that he didn't know how to do on the end-of-2nd year math test he took in May was rounding (it hadn't come up at home yet), so we talked about that one day while we were swimming and now he's got that down cold.

The one problem we're having is that when people ask him what grade he's going to be in next year, he always says second *and* third. Of course that always leads to a lot of questions for me, but to him that seems normal since year-before-last his sister did essentially do 2nd and 3rd grade together. I've told him just to say 2nd, but so far it's not working! I try not to call any attention to the fact that my kids' academic programs are different than the norm, although I will answer questions honestly but briefly when asked, but he's not helping! On the other hand, he's just stating fact when asked and not bragging, so maybe he's got it right?

mnmom, I think he's got it right! I generally blame the school when I get asked and it usually shuts people right up. Afterall, for us, it was the school's decision to test, etc... but most people who know us/know DS know he needed to be skipped. Thankfully not too many strangers ask further than the "he is?" when he says "going into 2nd", and I reply "yes, he is".

Hi everyone! I hope you don't mind if I join in, even though my DD7 is technically a year older than the group.

She's scheduled to be a 2nd grader when school starts in 4 more weeks. At the end of first, she asked to be grade-skipped to 3rd, so we signed her up for testing, which will be the last week in July. She's since decided she'll be happier as a 2nd grader (the unhappiness of an unchallenging school year being a distant memory, and the unhappiness of being in a class of new kids being all too close), so we'll see how the testing goes. I think that just about any outcome (full grade skip, subject acceleration, no acceleration) could be a good placement for her in one way or another.

We're adding a second dance class, along with swim lessons, but I think she wants to drop the Nutcracker, so a net increase of one activity. If she gets a full grade skip, she may want more downtime after school, and we'd cut back again.

We just started Open Enrollment EPGY math, and DD seems to be enjoying it, although it took some adjusting to make it work for us. I don't think we're at the right level yet, but it's moving fast enough that DD isn't unhappy.

We don't get teacher assignments until a few days before school starts, and any in-class enrichment is at the teacher's discretion, so hopefully we'll get a teacher who can find ways to challenge her. I wish I knew what to suggest - helping other kids seems to be popular among teachers, but one of DD's complaints about first grade was that she had to help the other kids.

Wow, some of you start the school year early! Ours starts in September, so there's plenty of time to worry. DS6 is accelerating into 2nd grade at our local public school next year, with 3rd grade reading and math. Not sure if that will be with other kids or by himself. DS6 is moving to the 2-4 grade center, so it will be all new principal, teachers, kids, etc. We don't know anything about teacher assignment and haven't even met the principal, since we got notice of the skip the week after school ended, when everyone was starting vacation. Oh well! We'll start over in a few weeks, I guess.

DS6 seems pretty excited about the skip. At a party, a stranger asked us what grade DS was going into, and I said 2nd. DS was in earshot, so he piped up, "I was in kindergarten and now I'm going to 2nd!" I was planning on just not talking about it at all!

One of the items on the list of things 2nd graders are supposed to know: tying your shoes. I laugh at this, because I have so few shoes with laces myself. DS has even fewer. I'm sure this is mostly a concern when they didn't have all the shoe options and the teachers were required to tie everyone's shoes... We shall give it a go, but I fear success will be difficult, since I can't come up with a good answer to "why do I have to do this?" at this point!

Good luck to everyone with all the different school options. I love to read about all the different choices - this is where I get my great advocacy ideas.

We won't start until Sept. either, SPG. Public school starts in August here, but we're going to continue our laidback summer schedule until the school-for-homeschoolers starts up.

And LOL about your DS6 blowing your grade skip cover. Ha!

Joining the party! My DD just turned 6 this summer. She had a very successful year homeschooling a little, and playing and exploring quite a bit. She's accelerated in everything with the possible exception of writing. Since we're homeschooling and she's young for grade, I'm still probably going to take almost a laid back approach with her for another year. She does have things she needs to do, but it doesn't take more that 30-45 minutes. She takes violin lessons and does many extra activities (dance, circus, swimming, others on occasion). Lots of social time is important to her.

We aren't starting until September either! We are going on vacation right after labor day and starting after that. It's been great taking advantage of off peak travel!

When my kids are asked what grade they're in, they just say the age appropriate one. I've found, 95% of the time people really are interested in age and don't want the specifics of our homeschool day. If people ask more questions, I go into it. Many times I've found if people start asking questions they have some sort of context for understanding more info. Sometimes my kids will be reading, or my son will start talking on some topic, and I might get another question. I don't downplay it. I just say they are strong readers or very verbal, etc.