I was at the school as a lunch room volunteer today. The teacher called me aside and to tell me that she would be giving DD some enrichment work. She evaluated her reading skills today. It wasn’t the right setting to ask questions (in the middle of the lunch room surrounded by kids). I will give more updates about the enrichment work when we get it. Parent Teacher Conferences happen in November. Sarah came home excited and told me that her teacher loves to read too. I think it helps just for my dd to feel that her skills are recognized. It makes her feel special so she is encouraged to continue her academic growth.
Our school is one of the better school districts in our area. It has a good reputation and people move here for the schools. Kindergarten is full day. The kindergarten includes reading, math, language arts, science, social studies, art, music, Spanish, physical education, and health. However I’ve met a few dissatisfied parents with children in the gifted program. They say the gifted program isn’t challenging enough. I’m not sure whether we will fall into that category. The actual gifted program doesn’t start until second grade. Our school doesn’t engage in grade advancement (grade skipping).
My son is still loving public kindergarten. His reading level hasn’t been tested, but in Raz Kids, he’s worked his way up to level E which I think is the second level of 1st grade books. He will start bringing books home from school so I’m curious to see what level they give him. I find it a little strange that his teacher sent home a note telling parents that when we receive the books, if the levels are too easy or too hard to tell her so they can adjust accordingly, but she wasn’t willing to adjust his level on the online program. Goofy? I think so. No matter though, we are cruising through and 1st grade level is still easy for him, but the comprehension questions are getting tougher, so I like that.
Great to hear that your daughter’s ability and your efforts are being recognized! That’s very encouraging. What else are they working on at the moment? Many of the surrounding towns have half day, but our town has full day kindergarten as well.
Raz-kids looks like a great website, LDSMom, I’m definitely intrigued. I just got a subscription to Dreambox, my daughter is really enjoying it.
I have an update. My dd has been getting incentive projects with 2 other kids. The teacher sends it home at the end of the week explaining they worked on it all week. The first couple were simplistic CVC word building projects. I liked the last project a lot. They read a story and did a “story map” - a worksheet where they filled in the title, the characters, the setting, and wrote a sentence about the problem (conflict), and a sentence about how the problem was fixed (the resolution). I like writing projects, because she doesn’t write much. Sometimes she writes short disorganized notes to slip under my son’s door. Otherwise she doesn’t have any interest in writing and pretends she can’t do it. I taught her to read using a joyful game approach as per Glenn Doman. So I didn’t get her writing because she didn’t like it. I wish I had turned writing into a game. Anyway writing sentences at school seems infrequent, slow, and laborious. However I am pleased that at least her teacher is doing it, since it isn’t part of the kindergarten curriculum. She has kids that are obviously delayed, average kids, and advanced kids, all in one classroom with just one aid. The last incentive project was a good match for my daughter’s abilities. I just wish there was time for more of it at school. However I realize that in most classrooms my daughter wouldn’t get any advanced work. Also I do believe this teacher is working very hard to try to meet all of the kids at their level. I may have to inspire my daughter to do some afterschooling with me to ensure she gets enough enrichment. At the moment my dd is not interested in doing any extra work at home. She stills complains that school is too long and hasn’t completely adjusted to her school schedule. In addition to the the enrichment work, my daughter gets the regular curriculum which is too easy. They have a word ring with 5 words (red, green, blue, yellow, black) that they are supposed to practice reading nightly. Also she gets dot-to-dot worksheets to practice number recognition. Usually a couple of homework assignments regarding color of the week. This week the color is black. She had to find black objects in our house, draw them, and write the word “black” neatly. The teacher adds instructions that the kids who want an extra challenge can label their drawings, or write a sentence using the “color of week” on the back of their homework. My daughter reluctantly does the extra challenge with lots of encouragement from me. The curriculum doesn’t thrill or inspire my daughter.
My son is bringing home daily readers, writing worksheets, sometimes a pattern sheet. Nothing very challenging, but this is actually ok with me because I’m able to fit in lots of after schooling stuff.
What had been really fun for me though,is I stick a bunch of library books in the car and the kids we carpool with love looking through them or reading to each other. I also found an addition facts music cd at a local education store and I started playing it in the car. We’re working in facts of 2 right now, but its so great how into it the kids get.i pause the music before they give the answer and th kids all try to get the right answer first. It’s been a fun way to after school my son while also teaching the other kids. Btw the other kids are the ones who beg to play the math cd game now!! Maybe I should start an after school learning club for the kids.
Btw, I should add that my son sits at a table with kids who are all reading very well, so he’s got a good group of peers who are at the same level. One of them writes amazingly well. I can’t wait to meet the parents of these kids to learn how they taught their children.