Bright child in early elementary- what are my options?
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Anonymous
Why was it so important to teach him to read before he got to K? Do you know a lot about child development? |
Anonymous
Within MCPS - not much at that grade level. |
Anonymous
I don't think parents should push reading on kids before K, but there is a not insubstantial group of kids who either teach themselves to read before K or who are interested and find it enjoyable to learn/be taught before K. So it's not "so important" but it is something that some kids enjoy and there is nothing wrong with encouraging and/or helping that group of kids along, even if it doesn't line up exactly with school expectations. I have one kid who taught herself to read at 3-4 years old, and another who didn't read at all before K and is just now becoming a fluent enough reader to actually enjoy it in 2nd grade. It's fine either way. Also, my early reader was not bored or unchallenged in the early grades in MCPS. She was given appropriate reading options and time for her writing skills to catch up to her reading. Math is more of an issue because the kids who get it quickly and easily really are bored bored bored and start to think math is inherently boring. This may be changing some with the higher grades of Eureka. My 2nd grader has found Eureka more challenging than 2.0. |
Anonymous
My DC can multiply and divide and is in K. He is a regular kid who can read, write and speaks 3 languages. Are you sure yours is gifted? |
Anonymous
This. That doesn’t sound highly gifted. |
Anonymous
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yawn look your child isn't unique in an area where 10% is common and there are plenty of 1%ers as well
your options are skipping a grade or be like everyone else in this area where there are plenty of smart and gifted kids |
Anonymous
Not just at the W schools. At any school with a cohort of kids who had high quality preK and are being read to every night. |
Anonymous
It was just an example of what he can do, he’s calculated things in his head that have blown my mind away. (I’m no math whiz but I at least took AP calc) But that’s not the point, I don’t care if he’s labeled or not it’s just my opinion. Anyways the point is wouldn’t it be nice if we could springboard these kids who are advanced in K and keep that momentum going? Yes there are many many bright kids out there, but why are they in classes with kids who don’t even know their letters? I encouraged DC to read but I hardly had to teach, he picked up on his own so quickly like so many other bright kids. I just wish that kids like that could start off school focusing on the skills they need instead of ones they’ve already mastered. |
Anonymous
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As other posters have suggested, MCPS doesn't offer much enrichment in early elementary. Individual schools may offer some opportunities (I think I've generally heard these associated with Title 1/Focus Schools), but it's school dependent. Individual teachers may be better at providing enrichment, but that's even more arbitrary. In my experience, you can talk to the teacher (very delicately), ask what's available and/or suggest what you'd like (grade skipping, etc.). You might be able to come to a better arrangement, but the most likely outcome will be that nothing will change (and you've possibly gained a reputation as a pushy parent).
Many schools offer after-school extra-curricular programs. You might see what programs your school offers. I think such programs are usually coordinated by the PTA. If you would like to see additional programs offered, you could approach the PTA, but you might have to take on responsibility in doing so. I highly recommend you apply for gifted programs as your child ages into them. (I think the next one will most likely be applying in third grade for the fourth grade centers). For general information on giftedness and resources for enrichment, I highly recommend https://www.hoagiesgifted.org/. If you want to do math enrichment at home here are some ideas: Play games. They almost always have a math component (keeping score, making moves, etc.) and encourage logical thinking. Some, like Sleeping Queens and Monopoly, incorporate math more directly. My kids enjoyed playing Bingo with Froot Loops as tokens even when they were older (you could pick any treat for tokens). Teach him about money and consider giving an allowance. I think learning about money is one of the best things to teach kids about math. It teaches addition, subtraction, place value, regrouping, and introduces multiplication. Teach him how to tell time on an analog watch (they make some designed for learning). https://www.amazon.com/kids-teaching-watch/s?k=kids+teaching+watch Cooking is excellent for fractions. For added challenge, you could have him double or halve recipes. Crafts can be great for math. Give him a tape measure and/or a timer. Sudoku Magic Squares The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives lets kids play with and explore math concepts online. http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html Sir Cumference books by Cindy Neuschwander provide an introduction to geometry topics. Secret codes might be interesting. The Seymour Sleuth mysteries are great picture books by Doug Cushman. The Third Grade Detectives mystery series by George E. Stanley are chapter books that explore secret codes deeper. Cyberchase is a great PBS show focusing on math. Zoombinis is a great computer game focusing on logic. A verbal game called buzz is great for practicing most math concepts. You pick a pattern and then start counting, substituting the word buzz for words that fit the pattern. To make it more interesting you can combine rules. Ex. Numbers with 2s: 1, buzz, 3, 4, . . . , 11, buzz, 13, . . . , 19, buzz, buzz, buzz, . . . , 30, 31, buzz, 33, etc. You can combine rules. Ex. Odd numbers and numbers with 2s: Buzz, buzz, buzz, 4, . . . , 10, buzz, buzz, buzz, 14, . . . , 18, buzz, buzz, buzz, . . . , 30, buzz, buzz, buzz, 34, buzz, 36, etc. As your child gets older you can use other patterns for buzz: multiples, perfect squares, primes, Fibonacci numbers, etc. |
Anonymous
I know for a fact that the vast majority of kids can learn to read and do simple math in preschool. I have seen schools do this. What’s interesting is that those kids are actually no better readers in 3rd or 6th or 9th grade than kids who learn to read in kindergarten. In England all kids read the year they turn 4. Those English kids are not better readers in secondary school. Because ultimately comprehension becomes the thing that determines reading ability not decoding. And that is developmental. The English school system just uses a slightly different timeline to teach reading. They start earlier but get to the same place. As a parent you can also change the timeline slightly by enriching your kid’s education at home. Read to your kid a lot, point out words, introduce those phonics videos and apps, encourage letters and numbers, buy the right little books and games. It’s not hard if you are semi intelligent, have the time, have the motivation, and have the money. But your kid isn’t highly gifted because he’s doing things earlier than all those kids who didn’t get that enrichment. (Also, your kid is in 4th grade now. Using something he did in kindergarten as an example of him being highly gifted is telling.) It’s really silly to try and track kids at such a young age. 1. Because there’s no point. The kids who are just overly-enriched will hit developmental roadblocks like the kids in England. And the kids who are gifted don’t need to be tracked because their intelligence will be there just the same in middle school. 2. The kids who are learning letters in kindergarten are likely just as bright. Tracking kids this early does them a disservice. Even gifted programs that start in 3rd or 4th grade are questionable, especially when the selection process favors kids who get the outside enrichment. The little research done shows that most these kids are not gifted by high school. |
Anonymous
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Please stop arguing about whether a child is gifted. It seems like DCUM spends a lot of time trying to prove that any given child isn't really gifted, so they don't need more than the standard curriculum, or that if they are gifted they don't need anything beyond the standard curriculum.
I really don't care how any particular child compares to any other, or how we describe them, let's meet all their needs. It isn't a competition. If we decide that they all need more, then call them all gifted and give them a gifted curriculum or develop a more challenging curriculum and call it standard. Knowledge is not a limited resource that requires rationing. We know that MCPS's Curriculum 2.0 was lousy. As they switch over to a new curriculum, hopefully it will get better. In the meantime, we should recognize that many children's needs are not being met. Some may need help because they have gaps in their knowledge and need support and remediation. Others may have surpassed the curriculum and need more challenge. Many will probably have both problems. Let's help each other figure out how to help those children. Why are we still talking about tracking? I don't think anybody believes in locking children into rigid academic tracks anymore. However, flexible ability grouping can benefit all children. Here's an article that discusses its effective use in MCPS: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/03/AR2007110301167.html?sid=ST2007110301386 Whether a decrease in the gap between those who are labeled as gifted at a young age and those who aren't decreases with age doesn't matter. Nor does it matter if some are strong in reading, math, or both (or other academic subjects). What matters is if a child's academic needs are being met at any given time. |
Anonymous
God forbid. |
Anonymous
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Middle School parent chiming in. The things that everyone else has suggested are great, but in my opinion the most important thing that you can do in these years is foster their social-emotional abilities. This is not easy for many bright kids and it is so very, very important especially as they get older.
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Anonymous
You know darn well that gifted programs are tracking and that is exactly that parents who write “my child was highly gifted in math in kindergarten blah bla bla...” want their child labeled and segregated away from the masses. They want their kid to be put on a faster track. They don’t want their kid sitting next to kids learning their abcs. Ability grouping is exactly what is done in kindergarten classrooms but it’s never enough. Parents get upset if they think their child who can read is even in earshot of a phonics lesson god forbid. A worksheet about the letter F is beneath their child. The truth is that a teacher allows the kid to read on his own, write long sentences on his worksheet, and explore numbers in a gifted way, but the teacher also knows that some kids who appear advanced need to do some phonics lessons or work in a kindergarten math workbook because despite what the kid’s parents think it’s actually beneficial to the child. I promise you, if your kid is reading at a sixth grade level or doing algebra in kindergarten they wouldn’t be asked to do phonics or a kindergarten workbook. But most of these kids actually do need to work at this level at least a little bit. |
Anonymous
NO. This would not be nice. It would lead to an arms race that does nothing but reinforce privilege. It is ridiculous to expect a social good like public education to provide a concierge education to each child. It is doubly ridiculous to expect that the school will cater a curriculum to keep kids one step ahead of what their parents are teaching them at home (or paying someone else to teach them). "Springboarding" kids who show up to kindergarten ahead of their peers is a nightmare idea, designed to create a permanent underclass and to hoard advantages that can only be attained through time/income that many parents do not have. It creates a system that reward family income over potential, and is bad for society, in that it means gifted kids who didn't get enrichment before they turned 5 would be left behind. |