First grader says he's bored at school

[Anonymous]

OP the best thing you can do for your kid is to help him not be so entitled and learn how to be bored.

I'm not judging you but we have friends who are you and I still remember how much they advocated to the teachers in early elementary for their child to get more challenge. Not all of them really needed it but the ones who got their hands held by their mother and who did not learn how to deal with boredom at school became behavior problems and some could not survive public school.

1st grade is a good time to focus on socialization at school and do creative learning at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was that age, material was pretty easy so I would entertain myself while in school by teaching myself things like writing cursive, etc. Perhaps your child could figure out something to do that is not disruptive to class.

Who said the kid was disruptive to the class? OP asked politely when the right time to talk to the teacher was about the kid being bored with the coursework, which is something I hear from half the parents I know in MoCo. But some on this thread prefer to attack the kid for being proactive enough to ask for further challenges.

The teachers will be rolling their eyes in the teacher lounge as they did at our DC's school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My first grader just started school for the first time at MCPS. Prior to this year he was in a private Montessori-style school for pre-K and kindergarten. He seems happy enough at school so far, but every day he talks about how easy the work is and how he wants more of a challenge. For example, he's been reading some simple chapter books for a while now and the class is focusing on letter sounds right now.

I know the school year is very early and everyone is getting settled, but at what point would you reach out to his teacher and mention the fact that he's bored?

Get ready to work towards the lowest common denominator. Get him back to private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was that age, material was pretty easy so I would entertain myself while in school by teaching myself things like writing cursive, etc. Perhaps your child could figure out something to do that is not disruptive to class.

Who said the kid was disruptive to the class? OP asked politely when the right time to talk to the teacher was about the kid being bored with the coursework, which is something I hear from half the parents I know in MoCo. But some on this thread prefer to attack the kid for being proactive enough to ask for further challenges.

The teachers will be rolling their eyes in the teacher lounge as they did at our DC's school.

The teachers I know wouldn't be so dismissive of a kid eager to learn. Sorry that you're around people like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spoiler alert: School is boring.

+1

Yeah, this is about the age where the enjoyment of school often wears thin.

That’s a great message to send to your kid.

that not everything is fun, but we do it anyway bc it has other benefits? Yeah, that’s a horrid lesson to learn.

No, that school has to be this awful, boring place.

What a weird take. You're attaching morality to it unnecessarily. Some things aren't fun all the time and that's ok. There are opportunities for learning, enrichment and fun in many ways outside of the classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was that age, material was pretty easy so I would entertain myself while in school by teaching myself things like writing cursive, etc. Perhaps your child could figure out something to do that is not disruptive to class.

Who said the kid was disruptive to the class? OP asked politely when the right time to talk to the teacher was about the kid being bored with the coursework, which is something I hear from half the parents I know in MoCo. But some on this thread prefer to attack the kid for being proactive enough to ask for further challenges.

You need to work on your reading comprehension skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spoiler alert: School is boring.

+1

Yeah, this is about the age where the enjoyment of school often wears thin.

That’s a great message to send to your kid.

that not everything is fun, but we do it anyway bc it has other benefits? Yeah, that’s a horrid lesson to learn.

No, that school has to be this awful, boring place.

What a weird take. You're attaching morality to it unnecessarily. Some things aren't fun all the time and that's ok. There are opportunities for learning, enrichment and fun in many ways outside of the classroom.

No, I think you're taking a request for more challenging work as an insult to the teacher. My middle school kid had been bored in English class. He waited a few weeks and then mentioned he wasn't finding the work particularly challenging and had finished everything weeks before it was due. Teacher gave him extra books to read, and my kid likes to read them. No harm, no foul.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spoiler alert: School is boring.

+1

Yeah, this is about the age where the enjoyment of school often wears thin.

That’s a great message to send to your kid.

that not everything is fun, but we do it anyway bc it has other benefits? Yeah, that’s a horrid lesson to learn.

No, that school has to be this awful, boring place.

What a weird take. You're attaching morality to it unnecessarily. Some things aren't fun all the time and that's ok. There are opportunities for learning, enrichment and fun in many ways outside of the classroom.

No, I think you're taking a request for more challenging work as an insult to the teacher. My middle school kid had been bored in English class. He waited a few weeks and then mentioned he wasn't finding the work particularly challenging and had finished everything weeks before it was due. Teacher gave him extra books to read, and my kid likes to read them. No harm, no foul.

No, I simply said school isn't always fun.

There are other posters who seemed to take offense on the teacher's behalf. I was not one of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spoiler alert: School is boring.

+1

Yeah, this is about the age where the enjoyment of school often wears thin.

That’s a great message to send to your kid.

that not everything is fun, but we do it anyway bc it has other benefits? Yeah, that’s a horrid lesson to learn.

No, that school has to be this awful, boring place.

What a weird take. You're attaching morality to it unnecessarily. Some things aren't fun all the time and that's ok. There are opportunities for learning, enrichment and fun in many ways outside of the classroom.

No, I think you're taking a request for more challenging work as an insult to the teacher. My middle school kid had been bored in English class. He waited a few weeks and then mentioned he wasn't finding the work particularly challenging and had finished everything weeks before it was due. Teacher gave him extra books to read, and my kid likes to read them. No harm, no foul.

No, I simply said school isn't always fun.

There are other posters who seemed to take offense on the teacher's behalf. I was not one of them.

I agree that school isn't always fun, nor should it be. But I think there's two types of bored--the kind where the kid simply doesn't like school and would rather being doing something else than being in a classroom (in which case the kid needs to get over it), and the kind where the kid isn't being giving work that is at their level. It's not that hard to do some differentiation for a little kid so he's not demotivated by doing stuff they find so easy.

[Anonymous]

I would hold off until your parent-teacher conference. It takes a while to get going at school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would hold off until your parent-teacher conference. It takes a while to get going at school.

+1

I don't remember if my kid specifically complained about being bored the first couple weeks of 1st but she definitely complained about boredom a lot at that age and similarly was an advanced reader who took to academic concepts easily. I remember going to BTS night and being mildly worried school wasn't challenging her because when the teacher described what they were working on I knew it was remedial for her. But once she was in her small group and the teacher had a chance to work with her directly it was fine. Sometimes during full class instruction she would be permitted to do iReady lessons that she actually found really engaging -- she did reading comprehension lessons that happened to also be about history and science and art. Often when she came home from school those lessons would be the thing she was most excited about and it would spur her to read books or watch YouTube videos on the same subjects. She wound up absolutely loving 1st grade. I'm sure to a degree it depends on your teacher and not all teachers handle the balance of teaching to different levels at once. But 1st tends to be a grade where this is very common because there is a broad range of normal in terms of when kids click with reading.

Certainly not worth freaking out now. It's just too early. I'd encourage your kid to keep an open mind and let him know it's normal for school to be a little boring the first couple weeks as people get settled in.

[Anonymous]

I already told my 1st grader’s teacher that he is bored in Reading and Math. She said she would try to make it more challenging for him.

[Anonymous]

Give it a little while, maybe 4-6 weeks of school? A couple weeks for the teacher to assess the kids and figure out small group/differentiation plans (you can check on the timeline of this at Back to School Night), and then a couple weeks after the differentiation starts to see how it's working.

(FYI this process might be a little slower this year on the English/language arts side because it's the first year of a brand new curriculum, so teachers will be figuring out a lot on the fly.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spoiler alert: School is boring.

+1

Yeah, this is about the age where the enjoyment of school often wears thin.

That’s a great message to send to your kid.

that not everything is fun, but we do it anyway bc it has other benefits? Yeah, that’s a horrid lesson to learn.

No, that school has to be this awful, boring place.

What a weird take. You're attaching morality to it unnecessarily. Some things aren't fun all the time and that's ok. There are opportunities for learning, enrichment and fun in many ways outside of the classroom.

The reason it’s a problem is that a lot of learning can and should be done at school. It’s simply counterproductive to teach kids that school is this boring place where learning doesn’t happen.

[Anonymous]

OP, give it some time. Kids are easily bored and 2nd week of school there is lots going on, especially after a 3day weekend. Classes need time to gel. Students need to get used to rules and routines. Teachers need to determine if seating arrangements are ok, where each student is in order to form groups, social dynamics, etc.

If in October/November your DD is still not bored, then it’s worth speaking to the teacher about what’s she’s seeing in class with regards to your DD’s engagement and level of challenge.