What elementary school did your gifted child thrive in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been a teacher in DCPS for 15 years. I teach at the JKLM (this is for the racists out there who believe only smart kids exist at a JKLM). I've taught lots of bright kids. Kids reading several levels above grade expectation; can do "challenging math", were probably early talkers as infants and have great vocabulary. Out of all of those students, I've had exactly one truly gifted student- the kind of kid you remember 13 years later. Could beat adults in chess and was a classical pianist at the age of 5. Could decode any college level text I put in front of him. The parents didn't worry about challenging him academically- they wanted him to have a normal childhood and to have friends his age.

The point in mentioning this kid? Every year I get parents who want to talk about their exceptional child because the kid can read Harry Potter in 1st grade and are bored with Zearn. If your child is freakishly exceptional- the teacher will say something about it like suggest testing (RARELY HAPPENS- again, one kid in my entire career). Also, most parents who think their kid is exceptional don't realize their child has other deficits- usually social/emotional stuff .

You are confusing prodigy with gifted.

“Gifted” as you define it is probably 25-50% of my DC’s class. We’re all highly educated parents with Ivy degrees yadda yadda. Our kids truly don’t need anything special.

What bothers me is that my lazy "gifted" kid isn't pushed at school (where at-risk participation is in the single digits). She coasts year after year, yet earns near perfect grades. I wind up bribing her to work harder than her teachers require, signing her up for enrichment classes, dangling summer camps she's eager to attend to leverage cooperation. This is what happens without bona fide GT programs in DC. Bright, well-prepared kids don't need to break a sweat in DCPS elementary schools.

My kid is only in first grade but this is my concern too. Ignore the haters. I don’t want my kids to not be challenged - it’s not about being pushed too hard but being engaged and challenged to try more and do more.

All I know is my own gifted classes in grade school are the only ones I remember. I loved the way I wasn’t bored in them and I craved learning more. Meanwhile the rest of the classes were duller and I was simply bored since answers seemed obvious and materials was repeated. This isn’t hard to understand. It’s too bad really that the whole concept of gifted has become so maligned and people almost see it as snobbish elitism. No, I just want my kids to love learning and move through materials at the pace they’re able to so they don’t get bored and hate school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been a teacher in DCPS for 15 years. I teach at the JKLM (this is for the racists out there who believe only smart kids exist at a JKLM). I've taught lots of bright kids. Kids reading several levels above grade expectation; can do "challenging math", were probably early talkers as infants and have great vocabulary. Out of all of those students, I've had exactly one truly gifted student- the kind of kid you remember 13 years later. Could beat adults in chess and was a classical pianist at the age of 5. Could decode any college level text I put in front of him. The parents didn't worry about challenging him academically- they wanted him to have a normal childhood and to have friends his age.

The point in mentioning this kid? Every year I get parents who want to talk about their exceptional child because the kid can read Harry Potter in 1st grade and are bored with Zearn. If your child is freakishly exceptional- the teacher will say something about it like suggest testing (RARELY HAPPENS- again, one kid in my entire career). Also, most parents who think their kid is exceptional don't realize their child has other deficits- usually social/emotional stuff .

You are confusing prodigy with gifted.

“Gifted” as you define it is probably 25-50% of my DC’s class. We’re all highly educated parents with Ivy degrees yadda yadda. Our kids truly don’t need anything special.

What bothers me is that my lazy "gifted" kid isn't pushed at school (where at-risk participation is in the single digits). She coasts year after year, yet earns near perfect grades. I wind up bribing her to work harder than her teachers require, signing her up for enrichment classes, dangling summer camps she's eager to attend to leverage cooperation. This is what happens without bona fide GT programs in DC. Bright, well-prepared kids don't need to break a sweat in DCPS elementary schools.

I’m not sure that any kid needs to “break a sweat” in elementary school. That seems more like your family/parenting values, and less like anything related to the needs of “gifted” kids. My kid is likely as smart as yours but I don’t want him to grind in 3rd grade ....

I posted about my lazy older child, a 5th grader. I'm ancient to be the parent of a 10 year-old and an 8 year-old, in my mid 50s. I suspect what divides us is not as much family/parenting as much as generational experience. As a kid growing up in the 70s, I had to memorize quite a bit to bring home decent report cards from my public school, e.g. state capitals, classic American poems, order of planets. I also had to do a lot more writing than my children do, and had to take tests (not the standardized type) at school weekly, on which I was graded. I'm no fan of kill and drill, or a grind in elementary school - I opt my kids out of the PARCC. But it's easy to see that my children don't have to work nearly as hard in school as I did at their ages. I like their math instruction in DCPS, but the rest of the curriculum seems thin, both in terms of inspiration and rigor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been a teacher in DCPS for 15 years. I teach at the JKLM (this is for the racists out there who believe only smart kids exist at a JKLM). I've taught lots of bright kids. Kids reading several levels above grade expectation; can do "challenging math", were probably early talkers as infants and have great vocabulary. Out of all of those students, I've had exactly one truly gifted student- the kind of kid you remember 13 years later. Could beat adults in chess and was a classical pianist at the age of 5. Could decode any college level text I put in front of him. The parents didn't worry about challenging him academically- they wanted him to have a normal childhood and to have friends his age.

The point in mentioning this kid? Every year I get parents who want to talk about their exceptional child because the kid can read Harry Potter in 1st grade and are bored with Zearn. If your child is freakishly exceptional- the teacher will say something about it like suggest testing (RARELY HAPPENS- again, one kid in my entire career). Also, most parents who think their kid is exceptional don't realize their child has other deficits- usually social/emotional stuff .

You are confusing prodigy with gifted.

“Gifted” as you define it is probably 25-50% of my DC’s class. We’re all highly educated parents with Ivy degrees yadda yadda. Our kids truly don’t need anything special.

What bothers me is that my lazy "gifted" kid isn't pushed at school (where at-risk participation is in the single digits). She coasts year after year, yet earns near perfect grades. I wind up bribing her to work harder than her teachers require, signing her up for enrichment classes, dangling summer camps she's eager to attend to leverage cooperation. This is what happens without bona fide GT programs in DC. Bright, well-prepared kids don't need to break a sweat in DCPS elementary schools.

I’m not sure that any kid needs to “break a sweat” in elementary school. That seems more like your family/parenting values, and less like anything related to the needs of “gifted” kids. My kid is likely as smart as yours but I don’t want him to grind in 3rd grade ....

What constitutes a "grind?" Weekly spelling tests? A little homework in the afternoon? Have to memorize order of the planets...state capitals...major countries and oceans of the world? Learning some grammar (we learn that from Mad Libs). Other than math and science, the DCPS ES humanities curriculum is basically a joke. Your smart kid would be harmed by having to memorize a few things to score well on the odd quiz? How?

[Anonymous]

+1 about Brent.

[Anonymous]

OP, seriously look at if you child might need support in other areas. Or if Prk is just a time to play and build classroom skills. Most Prk-K at any dcps is going to be fine and offer support to kids at different academic and social or emotional levels.
If your child is a rather independent and internally motivated learner you might try one of the dcps or charter montessori schools. My understanding is that Classroom style allows children to self pace and also dive deeper I to topics that interest them.

Pre-covid there were a few music and arts aftercare programs that would pick your child up from school. Something like that might be a good aftercare option to challenge their mind in different ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because it's all too common to think a bright and verbal 5 year old is gifted. 99% of these kids are just smart. The variation among children at that age is really wide and doesn't mean much about their abilities in the long run. Take it from a wizened old 2nd grade mom, OP-- my kid was toting Harry Potter in her backpack to PK4 and is now being perfectly well served at a regular Ward 3 DCPS. Because the other kids catch up.

+1. The skills that make a child a super strong early reader and good at early math are not the same skills that they need as they get older and are challenged by more conceptual thinking. The other kids catch up, the gifted ones don’t seem so gifted, and the slower ones don’t always seem so slow. Different skills kick on at different times for different people. The educational system also tends to even these things out over time by catching up the kids not naturally good in some areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because it's all too common to think a bright and verbal 5 year old is gifted. 99% of these kids are just smart. The variation among children at that age is really wide and doesn't mean much about their abilities in the long run. Take it from a wizened old 2nd grade mom, OP-- my kid was toting Harry Potter in her backpack to PK4 and is now being perfectly well served at a regular Ward 3 DCPS. Because the other kids catch up.

+1. The skills that make a child a super strong early reader and good at early math are not the same skills that they need as they get older and are challenged by more conceptual thinking. The other kids catch up, the gifted ones don’t seem so gifted, and the slower ones don’t always seem so slow. Different skills kick on at different times for different people. The educational system also tends to even these things out over time by catching up the kids not naturally good in some areas.

NP here. I agree that different skills kick in at different times. But kids are different. Yes most kids at typical upper NW elementaries are very bright, but there is still significant variation. Each kid is different. My oldest was precocious for her age; she has some focus issues but tested as “gifted” in the verbal area. But I see the curriculum more or less meets her needs. My younger child, by comparison with her at the same age, is just on a whole other level. He is extremely unhappy with school because of the lack of challenge. For some kids, the need for additional challenge/programming beyond what a traditional school can offer is real. I’m not about to homeschool but am exploring options.