How to talk to teacher about increasing challenge?

[Anonymous]

DC is in first grade and is not enjoying school. Says a lot is boring/too easy and the day feels very long. DC is way ahead on math and reads fluently and I've seen what DC is bringing home and read the teacher updates. What is the best way to approach the teacher to increase the challenge? I hear you are not supposed to say your child is bored and finds everything too easy. What do you say then if that, in fact, is the truth?

Should I be talking to the teacher or the AART? Or both? DC only started in public school recently so I doubt any level 2 services are being provided, but I've also heard that this school doesn't really do much formal differentiation before third grade.

[Anonymous]

I just reached out and gave a concrete example - the books being sent home for twenty minutes of reading took approx 1. I then offered examples of what was being read at home. Reading assignments changed within the week. They were still too easy, but it was an improvement, at least.

My child was already slated for Level 2 services, though.

[Anonymous]

Your child has been through a private preschool and you have schooled them at home when not at preschool. Public school is not positioned to handle child like yours, Public school has a moral obligation to deal with students even if their parents are low income, uneducated, and can never afford a private preschool or parenting time like what your child received. You can continue to enrich your child at your expense but dont come to a public school and ask everything be changed to your preference. Your request will be denied.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your child has been through a private preschool and you have schooled them at home when not at preschool. Public school is not positioned to handle child like yours, Public school has a moral obligation to deal with students even if their parents are low income, uneducated, and can never afford a private preschool or parenting time like what your child received. You can continue to enrich your child at your expense but dont come to a public school and ask everything be changed to your preference. Your request will be denied.

Sure, public school funded by tax payers (like me) has no obligation to meet all children where they are and find ways to differentiate appropriately? Instead, let's focus all attention on the lowest performers and kill everyone else's joy for learning. That's a race to the bottom for this country if there ever was one.

As more low performers enter schools and more high performers leave for private, then you'll be whining that people are being racist.

And ffs, I am not asking everything to be changed to my preference. I just want my child to be allowed to do other things (like read books from home) while the other kids are still learning to sound out 'cat' and skip count by 2s.

[Anonymous]

You need to slow down Sally. It’s a long ride for 12 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your child has been through a private preschool and you have schooled them at home when not at preschool. Public school is not positioned to handle child like yours, Public school has a moral obligation to deal with students even if their parents are low income, uneducated, and can never afford a private preschool or parenting time like what your child received. You can continue to enrich your child at your expense but dont come to a public school and ask everything be changed to your preference. Your request will be denied.

Sure, public school funded by tax payers (like me) has no obligation to meet all children where they are and find ways to differentiate appropriately? Instead, let's focus all attention on the lowest performers and kill everyone else's joy for learning. That's a race to the bottom for this country if there ever was one.

As more low performers enter schools and more high performers leave for private, then you'll be whining that people are being racist.

And ffs, I am not asking everything to be changed to my preference. I just want my child to be allowed to do other things (like read books from home) while the other kids are still learning to sound out 'cat' and skip count by 2s.

Most Teachers have a list of activities that kids can do when they finished their work. My kid's first grade Teacher had paper so the kids could write their own stories, allowed kids to visit the classroom library, had some extra worksheets and other similar activities. Your child's Teacher probably has a similar list of activities. Ask your child what they do when they finish their class work, I doubt they are just sitting there. If they tell you that they are then ask what the Teacher has for them to do when they are done and encourage them to do that work. Or send a book in for them to read.

And don't be surprised if you think your kid is ahead but the Teacher has a different opinion. My child was able to decipher words that were pretty advanced but his reading comprehension was not at the same level. It could be that your child appears ahead in some areas but really needs to develop those skills better and that they child doesn't understand that. Trust that your Teacher has a better understanding then your first grader in terms of where they are skills wise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your child has been through a private preschool and you have schooled them at home when not at preschool. Public school is not positioned to handle child like yours, Public school has a moral obligation to deal with students even if their parents are low income, uneducated, and can never afford a private preschool or parenting time like what your child received. You can continue to enrich your child at your expense but dont come to a public school and ask everything be changed to your preference. Your request will be denied.

Sure, public school funded by tax payers (like me) has no obligation to meet all children where they are and find ways to differentiate appropriately? Instead, let's focus all attention on the lowest performers and kill everyone else's joy for learning. That's a race to the bottom for this country if there ever was one.

As more low performers enter schools and more high performers leave for private, then you'll be whining that people are being racist.

And ffs, I am not asking everything to be changed to my preference. I just want my child to be allowed to do other things (like read books from home) while the other kids are still learning to sound out 'cat' and skip count by 2s.

Parent here who is wildly frustrated with public education. You realize this isn't going to happen, right? And in the defense of the public schools, how could it? They have JLARC reports yelling at them over not giving appropriate special ed, and so they implement all these proceedures teachers have to do to ineffectively deal with that (because dealing with it would take work at the administrative level, and Gatehouse doesn't want to do that). They have skyrocketing behavior problems and - based on what I hear from teacher friends - the school system won't back the teachers up when they try to deal with it because parents of some kids just bring lawyers in even when the kid was a legitimate danger to other students.

So you do what we did - you teach your kid basically everything at home. If your child is bored and has free time during the day, check with the teacher if you can send in a Beast Academy workbook or logic puzzle book, plus whatever DC is reading at home. My kid who was legitimately way ahead in school at a young age just brought all her own reading.

It does really get better for most kids once they are in level IV. But first it gets worse, because the 2nd grade math curriculum focus at least 80% on making sure everyone knows the concepts taught in K and 1, and maybe 20% on really slowly introducing borrowing and carrying (regrouping they call it these days).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your child has been through a private preschool and you have schooled them at home when not at preschool. Public school is not positioned to handle child like yours, Public school has a moral obligation to deal with students even if their parents are low income, uneducated, and can never afford a private preschool or parenting time like what your child received. You can continue to enrich your child at your expense but dont come to a public school and ask everything be changed to your preference. Your request will be denied.

Sure, public school funded by tax payers (like me) has no obligation to meet all children where they are and find ways to differentiate appropriately? Instead, let's focus all attention on the lowest performers and kill everyone else's joy for learning. That's a race to the bottom for this country if there ever was one.

As more low performers enter schools and more high performers leave for private, then you'll be whining that people are being racist.

And ffs, I am not asking everything to be changed to my preference. I just want my child to be allowed to do other things (like read books from home) while the other kids are still learning to sound out 'cat' and skip count by 2s.

You will be in legal trouble if you dont pay taxes, whether you have kids or not. Just because you are forced to follow the tax laws, doesnt mean public schools should do special accommodation for your privately preschooled child.

"the other kids are still learning to sound out 'cat' and skip count by 2s" would have been much farther ahead academically than your child, had their parents had the money to put them through a half decent preschool and had plenty of time to sit with them doing reading and math worksheets in evenings, if not for their demanding physical labor at work.

Instead of comparing your privileged kid to other underprivileged kids learning "cat" and "2s", ask the teacher this question:

"I know my child couldn't be the best in his grade as there are other privately preschooled kids here as well. What can you do to help my child improve their level of reading and math?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your child has been through a private preschool and you have schooled them at home when not at preschool. Public school is not positioned to handle child like yours, Public school has a moral obligation to deal with students even if their parents are low income, uneducated, and can never afford a private preschool or parenting time like what your child received. You can continue to enrich your child at your expense but dont come to a public school and ask everything be changed to your preference. Your request will be denied.

Sure, public school funded by tax payers (like me) has no obligation to meet all children where they are and find ways to differentiate appropriately? Instead, let's focus all attention on the lowest performers and kill everyone else's joy for learning. That's a race to the bottom for this country if there ever was one.

As more low performers enter schools and more high performers leave for private, then you'll be whining that people are being racist.

And ffs, I am not asking everything to be changed to my preference. I just want my child to be allowed to do other things (like read books from home) while the other kids are still learning to sound out 'cat' and skip count by 2s.

Parent here who is wildly frustrated with public education. You realize this isn't going to happen, right? And in the defense of the public schools, how could it? They have JLARC reports yelling at them over not giving appropriate special ed, and so they implement all these proceedures teachers have to do to ineffectively deal with that (because dealing with it would take work at the administrative level, and Gatehouse doesn't want to do that). They have skyrocketing behavior problems and - based on what I hear from teacher friends - the school system won't back the teachers up when they try to deal with it because parents of some kids just bring lawyers in even when the kid was a legitimate danger to other students.

So you do what we did - you teach your kid basically everything at home. If your child is bored and has free time during the day, check with the teacher if you can send in a Beast Academy workbook or logic puzzle book, plus whatever DC is reading at home. My kid who was legitimately way ahead in school at a young age just brought all her own reading.

It does really get better for most kids once they are in level IV. But first it gets worse, because the 2nd grade math curriculum focus at least 80% on making sure everyone knows the concepts taught in K and 1, and maybe 20% on really slowly introducing borrowing and carrying (regrouping they call it these days).

This is spot on. Teachers are already so overburdened that providing enrichment to advanced kids is very low on the priority list. Even if your child brings chapter books or Beast Academy workbooks, it's a crapshoot as to whether the teacher will let your child use them. If your child is advanced, and you want your child taught at their level, you need to homeschool or stick with private schools.

[Anonymous]

I tell my kids that if they’re bored, then they should use their free time to cure cancer. Realistically I say you can read right draw or color in your free time and that all learning doesn’t have to be adult lead my oldest used to make up his own more challenging math problems for himself.

[Anonymous]

Sorry for all of the homophone mistakes - I was dictating but should have reread before posting.

[Anonymous]

Mine was like OP’s child, kinder was virtual, then DS was identified by homeroom teacher for above grade level marked on report card in math and Language art plus extra worksheet. There’s nothing else they could offer except having DS bring books from home to read if he wanted. 2nd grade was in level II service but it’s optional extra worksheets. DS then got into full time AAP in 3rd. DS was still happy to be in 1st snd 2nd grade and loved to help both classmates and teachers. We are at a high ses ES though. Just try to get into full time AAP in 3rd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your child has been through a private preschool and you have schooled them at home when not at preschool. Public school is not positioned to handle child like yours, Public school has a moral obligation to deal with students even if their parents are low income, uneducated, and can never afford a private preschool or parenting time like what your child received. You can continue to enrich your child at your expense but dont come to a public school and ask everything be changed to your preference. Your request will be denied.

Sure, public school funded by tax payers (like me) has no obligation to meet all children where they are and find ways to differentiate appropriately? Instead, let's focus all attention on the lowest performers and kill everyone else's joy for learning. That's a race to the bottom for this country if there ever was one.

As more low performers enter schools and more high performers leave for private, then you'll be whining that people are being racist.

And ffs, I am not asking everything to be changed to my preference. I just want my child to be allowed to do other things (like read books from home) while the other kids are still learning to sound out 'cat' and skip count by 2s.

You will be in legal trouble if you dont pay taxes, whether you have kids or not. Just because you are forced to follow the tax laws, doesnt mean public schools should do special accommodation for your privately preschooled child.

"the other kids are still learning to sound out 'cat' and skip count by 2s" would have been much farther ahead academically than your child, had their parents had the money to put them through a half decent preschool and had plenty of time to sit with them doing reading and math worksheets in evenings, if not for their demanding physical labor at work.

Instead of comparing your privileged kid to other underprivileged kids learning "cat" and "2s", ask the teacher this question:

"I know my child couldn't be the best in his grade as there are other privately preschooled kids here as well. What can you do to help my child improve their level of reading and math?"

Omg, give it a rest!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your child has been through a private preschool and you have schooled them at home when not at preschool. Public school is not positioned to handle child like yours, Public school has a moral obligation to deal with students even if their parents are low income, uneducated, and can never afford a private preschool or parenting time like what your child received. You can continue to enrich your child at your expense but dont come to a public school and ask everything be changed to your preference. Your request will be denied.

Sure, public school funded by tax payers (like me) has no obligation to meet all children where they are and find ways to differentiate appropriately? Instead, let's focus all attention on the lowest performers and kill everyone else's joy for learning. That's a race to the bottom for this country if there ever was one.

As more low performers enter schools and more high performers leave for private, then you'll be whining that people are being racist.

And ffs, I am not asking everything to be changed to my preference. I just want my child to be allowed to do other things (like read books from home) while the other kids are still learning to sound out 'cat' and skip count by 2s.

Parent here who is wildly frustrated with public education. You realize this isn't going to happen, right? And in the defense of the public schools, how could it? They have JLARC reports yelling at them over not giving appropriate special ed, and so they implement all these proceedures teachers have to do to ineffectively deal with that (because dealing with it would take work at the administrative level, and Gatehouse doesn't want to do that). They have skyrocketing behavior problems and - based on what I hear from teacher friends - the school system won't back the teachers up when they try to deal with it because parents of some kids just bring lawyers in even when the kid was a legitimate danger to other students.

So you do what we did - you teach your kid basically everything at home. If your child is bored and has free time during the day, check with the teacher if you can send in a Beast Academy workbook or logic puzzle book, plus whatever DC is reading at home. My kid who was legitimately way ahead in school at a young age just brought all her own reading.

It does really get better for most kids once they are in level IV. But first it gets worse, because the 2nd grade math curriculum focus at least 80% on making sure everyone knows the concepts taught in K and 1, and maybe 20% on really slowly introducing borrowing and carrying (regrouping they call it these days).

Thanks. I understand. I was really just asking for advice on what I could say to the teacher to ask for more options. People say don't say "My child is bored" so I am searching for better language. In the end it might not matter or change anything, but it's worth a shot. So any advice you have on how you talked to the teacher would be appreciated.

Also I love the idea of bringing in books to keep DC occupied (we love BA too) but want to ask teacher for permission.

There's also behavior issues in DC's class that don't help the situation.

I wish I could afford private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your child has been through a private preschool and you have schooled them at home when not at preschool. Public school is not positioned to handle child like yours, Public school has a moral obligation to deal with students even if their parents are low income, uneducated, and can never afford a private preschool or parenting time like what your child received. You can continue to enrich your child at your expense but dont come to a public school and ask everything be changed to your preference. Your request will be denied.

Sure, public school funded by tax payers (like me) has no obligation to meet all children where they are and find ways to differentiate appropriately? Instead, let's focus all attention on the lowest performers and kill everyone else's joy for learning. That's a race to the bottom for this country if there ever was one.

As more low performers enter schools and more high performers leave for private, then you'll be whining that people are being racist.

And ffs, I am not asking everything to be changed to my preference. I just want my child to be allowed to do other things (like read books from home) while the other kids are still learning to sound out 'cat' and skip count by 2s.

Parent here who is wildly frustrated with public education. You realize this isn't going to happen, right? And in the defense of the public schools, how could it? They have JLARC reports yelling at them over not giving appropriate special ed, and so they implement all these proceedures teachers have to do to ineffectively deal with that (because dealing with it would take work at the administrative level, and Gatehouse doesn't want to do that). They have skyrocketing behavior problems and - based on what I hear from teacher friends - the school system won't back the teachers up when they try to deal with it because parents of some kids just bring lawyers in even when the kid was a legitimate danger to other students.

So you do what we did - you teach your kid basically everything at home. If your child is bored and has free time during the day, check with the teacher if you can send in a Beast Academy workbook or logic puzzle book, plus whatever DC is reading at home. My kid who was legitimately way ahead in school at a young age just brought all her own reading.

It does really get better for most kids once they are in level IV. But first it gets worse, because the 2nd grade math curriculum focus at least 80% on making sure everyone knows the concepts taught in K and 1, and maybe 20% on really slowly introducing borrowing and carrying (regrouping they call it these days).

Thanks. I understand. I was really just asking for advice on what I could say to the teacher to ask for more options. People say don't say "My child is bored" so I am searching for better language. In the end it might not matter or change anything, but it's worth a shot. So any advice you have on how you talked to the teacher would be appreciated.

Also I love the idea of bringing in books to keep DC occupied (we love BA too) but want to ask teacher for permission.

There's also behavior issues in DC's class that don't help the situation.

I wish I could afford private.

I mean, with a good teacher you actually do say "My child is bored" and they understand because they see that.

But otherwise, you say what a PP said, "Thanks for all your hard work this year. Here are examples of what Larlo is doing at home when we're trying to support what he's doing. Are there ways he can access some of these extensions during the day? We're happy to send something in, if that helps."