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

Shari,

I think it's great you are able to step back and let your DS make that decision for himself.

Sometimes things like that are tough for me -- but I'm working on it!

Shari, interesting approach. We did it differently: we decided DS needed the skill of showing his work (he's a mental math person too).

Once we taught him how to do it and why it was important, he didn't mind doing it any more; I think in his case it was really that he couldn't see why anyone would need to see "shown" what sprang to his mind instantly. But it's a good skill for later, both because computation does get more complicated and harder to hold in your head, and because for things like geometry you can't even pass without showing all the steps in a proof.

DeeDee

I am not exactly sure what they are doing this unit. they are using everday math and I know the first unit was geometry. Angles, rays, line segments, polygons, word problems related to these things. I know he is doing something entirely different this unit but has been out sick for most of this week so not sure. They also pull him aside in the classroom as the work is still pretty easy for him and he doesn't need the repetition after the lesson. So he does more complex stuff with the math coordinator who goes into his class with him almost every day. For enrichment he does whatever he has on his mind or whatever interesting things she thinks of. He has been doing calcudoku puzzles, they convert binary numbers, all sorts of things like that. He loves that stuff. And he seems to really like the math olympiad stuff as well. I am shocked at how quick he does those puzzles. I gave him his first one last night and it was timed at 4 minutes. I didn't want to time him because it was just practice and he asked me to time him. He figured it out in a minute and a half...but since he didn't really show his work I had no clue how he got his answer. He had written out an equation that I didn't get though....so I proceeded to spend 5 minutes doing it the way I would and writing out this complex thing only to end up with his answer. I ask him how he got it and he shows me and it was this strange way I would NEVER have thought of. Pretty cool though.

About the showing work he is funny. He does when he needs to, but he usually does most of it in his head and then goes back and does all the work to show how he came to that, sometimes the work is abbreviated just to give someone an idea. As the steps get harder I think he may need to show some of the work as the brain can only hold so many steps in it. Although clearly his brain holds more steps than mine.

DS will have to make the adjustment when he startsa geometry. That is scheduled for next semester. He does show his work when he needs to do something on paper but it is simply amazing what he can do in his head.

We had ds7's 2nd grade conference last night, and all went well. His teacher just gushes over him, and apparently the other kids in his class think he's the best thing since sliced bread. She gave an example of how she tried to explain something to the kids, and they just weren't getting it, so ds offered to explain - he explained it almost exactly the same way that she had, but the kids "got it" coming from ds. Apparently they view him as some kind of deity LOL. His 3rd grade math teacher was also there (he scored 96% for the 1st quarter). She said he's in the top group, along with 3 third graders. Apparently, if he doesn't show up on time for math, they're all asking where he is I told her about his EPGY math, but of course forgot to take in the printouts All in all, a good conference - they are trying hard to accomodate him, and he is happy in all respects, so can't complain too much

That is a great report. Glad that your deity is doing so well and is so appreciated.

That's awesome NCPMom!

Sigh. Had P-T conference yesterday and then had a follow-up e-mail exchange with DS6's math teacher tonight. Turns out, he's not finishing the bulk of his work. Homeroom teacher had mentioned this weeks ago, and I asked her to send work home for homework so I could enforce the importance of finishing what he starts. Nothing came home, until tonight. What I saw:

An entire packet (10-15 papers) not finished b/c he wanted to finish coloring or drawing a picture (the actual work was done). And a bunch of work that was really rote that he simply didn't do (like writing a line of letters or simple words over and over again).

It's no wonder he's finding the conversations going on around him so much more interesting. When I had him do some of the work tonight, he finished 6 worksheets in a 1/2 hour.

And the math testing showed him completely done w/2nd and 3rd grade math computation. But the teacher marked his grade slightly down b/c he's slow to finish his work ... not b/c he actually gets any of the answers wrong.

Are any of you finding speed to be an issue even though your kids know the material?

I homeschool my ds 6. I learned early this year that I had to move him along as soon as I knew he knew the material. If I ever lingered for a few days on something, he would become bored and lose focus... and become quite slow about getting it done.

Maybe your son is just bored since he knows the material.

Don't we have quite a few Nov/Dec birthdays? My ds will be 7 in two four weeks. Happy birthday to all holiday babies (who are not really babies any longer, of course)!