First grader says he's bored at school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just don’t confuse this with thinking your child is gifted. Gifted children don’t get bored in school — they’re always finding something to do or wonder about.

Exactly. My gifted kid never once complained about being bored. He did later admit that didn't learn much in school until 3rd grade though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

No first grader days they want more of a challenge. Thread was started by a troll as many here are.

OP here. Well, at least one first grader *does* say that because his exact words are, "I want more challenging things. I love challenges!"

Send challenging books and have him read those. Simple.

That's what I did. My DS improved his own reading levels for all 6 six years of ES despite not being ever instructed on his grade level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Thank you for the balanced answer. I'm on the side of op sounds high maintenance and needy but I get how kids would want more individual attention if a teacher was willing to provide it. I would just not go in expecting anything and be pleasantly surprised if you have this PP's experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

No first grader days they want more of a challenge. Thread was started by a troll as many here are.

OP here. Well, at least one first grader *does* say that because his exact words are, "I want more challenging things. I love challenges!"

Send challenging books and have him read those. Simple.

That's what I did. My DS improved his own reading levels for all 6 six years of ES despite not being ever instructed on his grade level.

+1 DD also really enjoyed it! Things got more challenging in HS in a magnet so less time for reading in her spare time which IMO is not good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Pray tell when they are supposed to work on socialization when most other kid are working on the task they were given......?

I love how kids who have special needs/behavior issues arent entitled for needing support services and other ways to be managed but if a kid is bored/further ahead in an area, they are entitled because they want support or management.

Makes you go hmmmmmm

[Anonymous]

I've give it a month or two and let things settle into a routine before talking with the teacher about it.

[Anonymous]

My 1st grader complained about being bored too (she was recently qualified as gifted at the end of 2nd). She is now in 3rd and I think they are learning about more interesting stuff. Plus, she is a strong reader so she can take in more information on what she finds interesting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No school is not "supposed" to be boring.
OP- welcome to mcps. Buckle up because you are going to be going on a boring ride for the next many years, that is if you decide to stay in mcps.

+1 Get out early, OP! You won't look back!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 1st grader complained about being bored too (she was recently qualified as gifted at the end of 2nd). She is now in 3rd and I think they are learning about more interesting stuff. Plus, she is a strong reader so she can take in more information on what she finds interesting.

The MCPS “gifted” identification process is not related to whether a child is actually gifted.

[Anonymous]

We were lucky. One of my kids got like 270s in MAP-P in 2nd grade. He didn't complain boring but was one of the troublemakers between K-2nd. At 3rd grade, the home teacher made the decision to let him play on chromebook during ELA and math sessions for the whole year without even discussing with us. The side effect was that he got near-eyesighted. The bright side was he played educational app for the entire year to self-paced study. After getting into CES and then magnet MS and HS, he never complained nor making troubles anymore. It's actually largely because he finally got a group of close friends who are all similar. They can be understood and received well with cold jokes made with math hypothesis or RAM outflow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just don’t confuse this with thinking your child is gifted. Gifted children don’t get bored in school — they’re always finding something to do or wonder about.

Wrong

It’s absolutely, 100% correct. This isn’t even disputable.

[Anonymous]

My issue with the whole gifted kids dont get bored is that kids cant just do what they want during instructional time.

They can consider it a respite from their challenging day outside of school. I second piano lessons.

[Anonymous]

He will eventually be in a reading group with kids on or near his level. The higher groups will not meet too much but assignments are usually pretty broad so OPs kid will respond with a sentence. Anther kid writes two words and a third kids draws a picture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

My issue with the whole gifted kids dont get bored is that kids cant just do what they want during instructional time.

They can consider it a respite from their challenging day outside of school. I second piano lessons.

Right. For gifted kids, real education is outside of school, and school is naptime.

[Anonymous]

OP, give your kid challenges to work on school, and help them choose their own as they get older.

Hard math problems (so, more thinking than readin/writing, harder to get caught), sketching practice, writing stories. Give them a lot of reading/listening/watching material at home, so they can think about it at school.