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

Shelly... I swear they're related! My DS7 has to carry a water bottle at his school because he's too little to reach the drinking fountains. Heads up, it could happen to you! LOL

I agree w/Shellymos. There's no reason not to mention it.

No, I don't think the 3rd grade math is challenging enough - but I'm happy that he gets to go to 3rd grade, and don't mind afterschooling to supplement. I heard back from his 2nd grade teacher - she said to let her know how far he goes with the EPGY, as she's interested to see what is is capable of - so I've relaxed a little bit now

I just met with DD6's first grade teacher regarding their fall benchmarking assessments (AIMSweb). These assessments seem to be about catching the underperforming kids, but not the outperforming ones.

During our conversation I was asking her about DD and math. She said that she seems to be average and doesn't want to show her work, so the teacher has a hard idea pinpointing where she's really at. Since I know she was working on multiplication last year, it's hard for me to believe that she's regressed.

Since DD seems to be a reluctant writer, I'm not going to push the math part (at school) until we get her writing. She's reading well above grade level (her teacher agrees there) so they're having a hard time reconciling that with her reluctance to write. It seems to me that she doesn't want to spell words wrong, so she just doesn't write if she doesn't know for sure how to spell something. I just ordered two copies of the "Spelling Dictionary for Beginning Writers," one for home and one for school. We'll see how that goes. Any other suggestions?

At home we started EPGY math as an optional "free-time treat". Last night she was really excited and wanted to spend an hour on the system. I expect that she could be finished with the first grade curriculum in a week or two, depending on how often she has time. I expect that it will take her longer to finish higher grades where she's actually getting new concepts.

P.S. I haven't mentioned EPGY to her teacher. I'm planning on working on one issue at a time with the school.

Right now it's LA.

As a side note, DD recently checked out Paul Zelinsky's Rapunzel from the library. It's a great book, with beautiful artwork. (Zelinsky also includes the research he did on the story at the end... neat!)

At one point during the story the sorceress finds out that Rapunzel is pregnant and kicks her out of the tower. (In this story there's a private wedding prior to this point.) DD was confused, because the story didn't explicitly say that sex happened, so therefore it didn't. Right? We had a great discussion about discretion and reading between the lines.

Maryann: In terms of the reluctant writer (My older one is one of those...)

Some things you may have tried already, but if not:

1. Have her dictate something to you and you can write it. Just get her really used to the process. The writing itself will come with time when she's ready. The most important thing is the thought process anyways.
2. Have her draw a picture before starting to write and then have her describe the picture and why she drew it. Then see if she'll write what she just told you.
3. Tell her over and over and over again that it's okay if she doesn't yet spell the words right. The most important thing is expressing what's in her head. She may not listen till the 1000th time, however.
4. Let her type her story on the computer, where she can see the red underlines to find the words she doesn't know how to spell.
5. If she likes the mail, she might be interested in a pen pal and less worried about the spelling if she's just writing a letter to another kid.

lol, I wasn't even thinking about that. I hope DS can reach the water fountain at his school. The kids at his school are only 2-6 years older so he should be able to reach it. We have to buy him a new water bottle soon. We are only buying cheap ones since I am sure he won't be able to keep track of them.

This made me chuckle. DS6.5 is the same... and that's how I feel about sweatshirts. Only cheap ones b/c he loses those too!

Mom2twoboys,

Thanks for the response. those are some great ideas. I'm thinking a pen pal might be really good for her. She really wants to get mail, and is disappointed when there's none for her. Maybe some friends who live 5+ hours away will be game for it.

We've (at home and at school) tried to get her to caption her pictures. She's so verbal that she'd rather just tell everyone what's in the picture rather than write it. I think it's frustrating for her teacher, because DD is reading at a 3rd grade level, but will hardly write more than a sentence at a time. If we ask her to draw a picture, she will spend all her time on the picture, (seemingly) purposely not writing about it.

We've tried to reinforce the idea that spelling isn't important, but she really seems focused on it. My hope is that with a spelling dictionary she'll still have to spend time on sounding out the word (in order to find it) and she'll be able to be independently writing because she'll have the words in her book (since she can already read them). We were going to set up a word wall in our dining room. She started asking for more words than would fit (even if I papered all the walls).

Soon we're going to be taking a weekend trip out of town. I'm hoping to have her journal about it. Perhaps letting her do it on the computer will help.

Thanks again for the feedback. I'll let you know how it goes.

My DS6 went to a 3 day circus camp (daytime only) last week. I had given him the choice to attend for as many or as few days as he liked and he chose all three. It was the first time he has spent all day away from me with complete strangers so I was a bit nervous. He was very very shy and clingy when we arrived on the first day but once I was able to remove myself from his grip and sit on the edge of the room he relaxed and started chatting enthusiastically with the trainer and was happy for me to leave. He LOVED it. At the end of the first day he was just beaming and told me about all of the brave things he had tried. At the end of the second day there were tears but only because he had missed me, he was still keen to go back. On the third day he was beaming again. In the days since the camp he has shown a completely new attitude to physical challenge. He has been nervous about risk taking at the playground since he was about 3 so this is no small thing. He has been so brave, climbing higher than ever, trying again and again when things are hard.
I'm hoping like mad that he gets a place in this term's weekly classes as the environment obviously works so well for him.