Were your High-performing Child(ren) Bored in Class??? Pleae share your insight

[Anonymous]

I actually live in Arlington, and APS doesn't have a program like AAP. My daughter is heading to Kindergarten in the fall, but she has pretty much mastered everything she needs to learn in K, I followed the Virginia standard of learning and taught her all those standards already (through fun activities, she is motivated there was no forcing her to learn). I went to a couple of K orientation where the teachers presented their Kindergarten curriculum and goals, I feel like my daughter is going to be so bored in class since she has met all those goals already...ugh, I am sure I am not alone in this situation.

What did you do when your child was bored in class? How did you help him/her learn beyond the required curriculum? Continue teaching her myself? I do think she is gifted (trust me, I and unfortunately the gifted service at APS is pretty much non existence.

I really appreciate your help in advance!

---- a worried mom.

[Anonymous]

Plenty of children already know everything in the K, 1st, 2nd grade curriculum. They still learn, how to be a student, how to be a friend, etc.

[Anonymous]

You are correct that she is not alone; and she will not be bored unless you allow her to think she is. Kindergarten is fun. Even if you know how to read, playing games with the alphabet is still fun. Being the kid who knows the answers is fun. Playing math games when you are good at math is fun. Exploring science, when you already know a lot about it it, is fun. Writing and illustrating your own stories is fun.

Let her have fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Plenty of children already know everything in the K, 1st, 2nd grade curriculum. They still learn, how to be a student, how to be a friend, etc.

OP here, that's true. I do think the social part is important.

Maybe K won't be a issue, but once she's in 2nd, 3rd grade, she could be bored...I just want to make sure she can stay motivated, and keep pushing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are correct that she is not alone; and she will not be bored unless you allow her to think she is. Kindergarten is fun. Even if you know how to read, playing games with the alphabet is still fun. Being the kid who knows the answers is fun. Playing math games when you are good at math is fun. Exploring science, when you already know a lot about it it, is fun. Writing and illustrating your own stories is fun.

Let her have fun.

You are right on let her have fun, and I do agree Kindergarten is fun, because the curriculum is still easy, and they do lots of games and stuff.

[Anonymous]

Honestly if you are checking out kindergarten standards to see if your kid met all of them, your kid isn't that advanced and will be fine. At least half the kids will have met those standards. My kid in kindergarten was in a reading group with three or four kids and they all read on a second grade level and could easily pass all the end of year first grade standards and most of second except for writing. There was one truly exceptional kid who could read at an upper elementary level, was super advanced in math, etc. That kid was bored because throughout K-2 no one was even close to her reading level. I think she is still bored in AAP in 4th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly if you are checking out kindergarten standards to see if your kid met all of them, your kid isn't that advanced and will be fine. At least half the kids will have met those standards. My kid in kindergarten was in a reading group with three or four kids and they all read on a second grade level and could easily pass all the end of year first grade standards and most of second except for writing. There was one truly exceptional kid who could read at an upper elementary level, was super advanced in math, etc. That kid was bored because throughout K-2 no one was even close to her reading level. I think she is still bored in AAP in 4th grade.

I forgot to add my kid reading at a second grade level was NOT bored in kindergarten. There is plenty of fun stuff to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly if you are checking out kindergarten standards to see if your kid met all of them, your kid isn't that advanced and will be fine. At least half the kids will have met those standards. My kid in kindergarten was in a reading group with three or four kids and they all read on a second grade level and could easily pass all the end of year first grade standards and most of second except for writing. There was one truly exceptional kid who could read at an upper elementary level, was super advanced in math, etc. That kid was bored because throughout K-2 no one was even close to her reading level. I think she is still bored in AAP in 4th grade.

I forgot to add my kid reading at a second grade level was NOT bored in kindergarten. There is plenty of fun stuff to do.

OP here, thank you so much for sharing! This is helpful.

[Anonymous]

Kids don't have to be pushed in early elementary. The end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids don't have to be pushed in early elementary. The end.

This. My likes-to-read-and-learned-early child didn't have many peers in early elementary, unlike PP. And that's fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually live in Arlington, and APS doesn't have a program like AAP. My daughter is heading to Kindergarten in the fall, but she has pretty much mastered everything she needs to learn in K, I followed the Virginia standard of learning and taught her all those standards already (through fun activities, she is motivated there was no forcing her to learn). I went to a couple of K orientation where the teachers presented their Kindergarten curriculum and goals, I feel like my daughter is going to be so bored in class since she has met all those goals already...ugh, I am sure I am not alone in this situation.

What did you do when your child was bored in class? How did you help him/her learn beyond the required curriculum? Continue teaching her myself? I do think she is gifted (trust me, I and unfortunately the gifted service at APS is pretty much non existence.

I really appreciate your help in advance!

---- a worried mom.

You realize you're obsessed, right?

When we first moved to this area many years ago we settled in Arlington and enrolled our daughter in the local public school for first grade. At back to school night one of the mothers asked what reading group our daughter was in. I said, "gee, I don't know, I guess the one for kids who can't read yet?" And I laughed. Our daughter ended up at UVA, later got a master's degree, and did very well. All of our kids did, without us ever thinking that it was our job to teach them what's in the SOLs!

[Anonymous]

The reality is that kindergarten is not about academics. When I entered kindergarten I could do math and read at 4th-5th grade level. But I learned about ecology, and coloring and playing in the sandbox and my class had a guinea pig. Some schools may have a gifted program that starts in K to identify kids and that can help. But in APS there will also be lots of other advanced kids and that fact will mean the material by any decent teacher will not be boring.

The advanced part becomes a much bigger problem at about 3rd grade where things are much more academic (and to some extent 1st where they start doing phonics etc in seats and as a class) but kindergarten will be fine. Don't make this is a problem unless it is one. You'll have much more to worry about!

[Anonymous]

According to the research literature, linguistically advantaged children have an oral vocabulary of about 10,000 words starting 1st grade and acquire about 50,000 words by high school, whereas less advantaged children have half that for both reference points because 1st grade differences in vocabulary tend to persist. In other words, it's important to arrive with a solid understanding and works towards continuous improvement. Only about 1,000-3,000 words are taught in school per year, so students have to acquire words outside of school as well.

From personal experience, this requires being on top of your child's reading level, spelling stages, and so on, and working with the teacher to ensure correct placement. Depending on the teacher, it can involve extra in-classroom work, etc. It is btw very easy to challenge even what parents might consider an 'advanced' child, the art is to do it in a way to which the child responds well. In my view, OP is not obsessed but planning ahead. Before our DC was identified as GT (and we received CoGAT, MAP scores etc.) we received very little information from the Kindergarten/1st grade teacher. We regret that and if we had to do it over we would be more cognizant from day one and asking more pointed questions about reading/spelling group placement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:According to the research literature, linguistically advantaged children have an oral vocabulary of about 10,000 words starting 1st grade and acquire about 50,000 words by high school, whereas less advantaged children have half that for both reference points because 1st grade differences in vocabulary tend to persist. In other words, it's important to arrive with a solid understanding and works towards continuous improvement. Only about 1,000-3,000 words are taught in school per year, so students have to acquire words outside of school as well.

From personal experience, this requires being on top of your child's reading level, spelling stages, and so on, and working with the teacher to ensure correct placement. Depending on the teacher, it can involve extra in-classroom work, etc. It is btw very easy to challenge even what parents might consider an 'advanced' child, the art is to do it in a way to which the child responds well. In my view, OP is not obsessed but planning ahead. Before our DC was identified as GT (and we received CoGAT, MAP scores etc.) we received very little information from the Kindergarten/1st grade teacher. We regret that and if we had to do it over we would be more cognizant from day one and asking more pointed questions about reading/spelling group placement.

I am the OP, thank you for sharing your story! I am really just trying to plan some things out. I am the type of person we plan everything way ahead. I appreciate your response

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The reality is that kindergarten is not about academics. When I entered kindergarten I could do math and read at 4th-5th grade level. But I learned about ecology, and coloring and playing in the sandbox and my class had a guinea pig. Some schools may have a gifted program that starts in K to identify kids and that can help. But in APS there will also be lots of other advanced kids and that fact will mean the material by any decent teacher will not be boring.

The advanced part becomes a much bigger problem at about 3rd grade where things are much more academic (and to some extent 1st where they start doing phonics etc in seats and as a class) but kindergarten will be fine. Don't make this is a problem unless it is one. You'll have much more to worry about!

OP here. VDOE recently revised their K standards, and basically lowered the K standards, and created a huge gap between K/1 and 2nd grade (in my opinion).

Is your observation of Arlington students' ability from your experience with APS? I don't know if many are that advanced, but I can be wrong.