What are the MCPS options for bright 3rd graders?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is your child bored? Does she not like socializing? My DC at that age would just get all the "work" done very quickly and be happy just to read and be with friends and I think most kids are.
Everyone in our school has bright kids with all As and the only kids who had trouble being "bored" are ones with special needs.

OP depicted the majority of their school's students as academically challenged. MCPS need to be able to address that bright kid's needs in that environment equivalently to how they address your bright kids' needs in an environment conducive to teaching the whole class at a high level.

What does “address bright kids needs” mean?

The OP didn’t say her kid wasn’t learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 2nd grader is testing in the 99th percentile on MAP and DIBELS and has gotten A's on everything for the first half of 2nd grade. She is not being challenged and is bored in her class, although she loves her teacher. We are not interested in skipping grades (and know that MCPS doesn't do that usually). We are in a school where the majority of students are below grade level.

What does MCPS do for these kids? What are our options? Is third grade just a waste and then we hope for a spot in CES? Older kid is on CES wait list but at least has the ELC class and compacted Math to make things a bit less boring.

Yes. That’s about all you can do. The system is designed to teach to the middle/lower-middle, particularly in elementary school. If you raise the issue with the school you’ll either get a polite “we will try our best to enrich her” or a response more along the lines of the posts here that tell you to suck it up, stop complaining, realize how lucky you are compared to others who have real learning needs, etc.

[Anonymous]

It's OK to be bored. Enjoy being a kid. Have her read books or take u chess. Make sure you are not feeding the narrative that she is bored.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Elementary school is very low demand. You can read and math and science at home. Little kids don't need constant intense instruction. Set them up to pursue interests in free time.

I agree. And I don't totally understand the suggestions for tutoring- for what point exactly? So they can be even further ahead next year? And then be more bored?

[Anonymous]

Enroll your kid in AoPS or RSM. (AoPS has ELA as well as math -- RSM just math.) It is not going to get any better in 3rd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
OP depicted the majority of their school's students as academically challenged. MCPS need to be able to address that bright kid's needs in that environment equivalently to how they address your bright kids' needs in an environment conducive to teaching the whole class at a high level.

OP here, yes this is the challenge. There are only one or two kids in the grade who are anywhere near her in ability.

I have no clue why folks would hire a tutor in this situation, please explain.

And she is very social at appropriate times and does not “complain.” However not a single thing has happened this year that she had not already known. So there is no challenge and a lot of time reading a book while the class finishes.

I do wonder what planet the person is from who suggested playing with her friends after she finishes her work.

Basically, I have my answer. MCPS does nothing for 3rd graders who are ahead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
OP depicted the majority of their school's students as academically challenged. MCPS need to be able to address that bright kid's needs in that environment equivalently to how they address your bright kids' needs in an environment conducive to teaching the whole class at a high level.

OP here, yes this is the challenge. There are only one or two kids in the grade who are anywhere near her in ability.

I have no clue why folks would hire a tutor in this situation, please explain.

And she is very social at appropriate times and does not “complain.” However not a single thing has happened this year that she had not already known. So there is no challenge and a lot of time reading a book while the class finishes.

I do wonder what planet the person is from who suggested playing with her friends after she finishes her work.

Basically, I have my answer. MCPS does nothing for 3rd graders who are ahead.

There are few activities that are going to grow a kids' skills and knowledge as efficiently as reading, so it sounds like she's probably learning a ton at school. Lucky girl!

[Anonymous]

Slow festering brain atrophy. When our magnet kid was in 3rd grade, their reading group only met a couple of times one quarter. When we asked the teacher she said she needed to spend the time with the other reading groups and that group could do self-directed learning. Math class - the teacher had the students who were doing well in math lead the small group lessons for the kids who needed extra help. At least then CES was merit based so our student was able to access that for 4th and 5th. Some teachers probably do much better at actually meeting the needs of gifted kids, but our 3rd grader's did not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is when you teach your bright child to be in charge of their own learning and develop their own interests. The complaints about “boring” are a sign they need to be spoonfed less, not more.

This is so true. My gifted kid never once complained about being bored.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
OP depicted the majority of their school's students as academically challenged. MCPS need to be able to address that bright kid's needs in that environment equivalently to how they address your bright kids' needs in an environment conducive to teaching the whole class at a high level.

OP here, yes this is the challenge. There are only one or two kids in the grade who are anywhere near her in ability.

I have no clue why folks would hire a tutor in this situation, please explain.

And she is very social at appropriate times and does not “complain.” However not a single thing has happened this year that she had not already known. So there is no challenge and a lot of time reading a book while the class finishes.

I do wonder what planet the person is from who suggested playing with her friends after she finishes her work.

Basically, I have my answer. MCPS does nothing for 3rd graders who are ahead.

There are few activities that are going to grow a kids' skills and knowledge as efficiently as reading, so it sounds like she's probably learning a ton at school. Lucky girl!

MCPS has enrichments available within the curricula. They need to employ them with consistency and fidelity when students are in the position of OP's DD, whether there are many others in their class or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
OP depicted the majority of their school's students as academically challenged. MCPS need to be able to address that bright kid's needs in that environment equivalently to how they address your bright kids' needs in an environment conducive to teaching the whole class at a high level.

OP here, yes this is the challenge. There are only one or two kids in the grade who are anywhere near her in ability.

I have no clue why folks would hire a tutor in this situation, please explain.

And she is very social at appropriate times and does not “complain.” However not a single thing has happened this year that she had not already known. So there is no challenge and a lot of time reading a book while the class finishes.

I do wonder what planet the person is from who suggested playing with her friends after she finishes her work.

Basically, I have my answer. MCPS does nothing for 3rd graders who are ahead.

There are few activities that are going to grow a kids' skills and knowledge as efficiently as reading, so it sounds like she's probably learning a ton at school. Lucky girl!

MCPS has enrichments available within the curricula. They need to employ them with consistency and fidelity when students are in the position of OP's DD, whether there are many others in their class or not.

Kind of hard to do that when you have to spend 90% of your time working with struggling students.

[Anonymous]

My 2nd grade DD is in a class like your DD where most kids are struggling but she is above average. She and another child from that class as well as a few children from other classrooms go to another 2nd grade classroom each day for 30 minutes. My DD and that small group work together to do stuff like reading and preforming a play, reading a book and answering questions together, etc. The teacher in the room is still teaching other kids so they are working as a group independently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 2nd grade DD is in a class like your DD where most kids are struggling but she is above average. She and another child from that class as well as a few children from other classrooms go to another 2nd grade classroom each day for 30 minutes. My DD and that small group work together to do stuff like reading and preforming a play, reading a book and answering questions together, etc. The teacher in the room is still teaching other kids so they are working as a group independently.

Sounds like WIN time (What I Need). They started it this year at our school too. Kids move around for a half hour per day and they are able to either get enrichment or remediation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is when you teach your bright child to be in charge of their own learning and develop their own interests. The complaints about “boring” are a sign they need to be spoonfed less, not more.

This is so true. My gifted kid never once complained about being bored.

+1
Never once. Always found something else to do and mostly involved reading on her own or playing with friends. OP is crazy if she thinks socializing isn't a part of learning in 3rd grade. This is a 99th percentile Cogat with all subscores 99th percentile and 99th percentile map kid who thinks school is great. I would never say my child didn't learn anything in those years.

[Anonymous]

Are you white from SS? You taught your child at home and now you are complaining because you think your child is somehow better than the other kids? Give me a break.