Reply to 6 yr old 1st grader having trouble "focusing" in class

Forum Index » Elementary School-Aged Kids

Reply to "6 yr old 1st grader having trouble "focusing" in class"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Not really even sure what my question is here, except for advice on what to do next.  The year seemed to be going really well for my 6-year-old first grader.  Enjoying school, very obviously learning and absorbing.. her math skills and reading are clearly progressing, she does her homework mostly on her own.  And then wham, teacher conference last week, only to hear all about how she has trouble following directions in class, doesn't focus on her work, has to be told several times what to do.  (This is all from a classwork perspective -- not at all from a behavior/ classroom disruption perspective.)  The teacher had example after example of how my DD, since the start of school, and still continuing, doesn't follow directions on assignments.

Never heard any reports like this in K, or in preschool for that matter.  Some things to consider: She came from a play-based preschool, and then into a very loving, fabulous kindergarten experience.  And now, her 1st grade teacher is a total opposite.  All about business, running the class like she thinks these kids are in 4th grade (ok, that's my snarky comment.)  But it's true.

My DD is definitely on the introverted side, if she's not 100 percent comfortable in a situation, she'll just be quiet and take it all in, rather than be more extroverted like she is at home.  I suspect a lot of this is because she isn't used to the teacher's style, maybe she's a little overwhelmed in class because of it.  And she's not confident enough to speak up if she has questions. And yes, there is probably a little defiance going on there, too.  Normal kid stuff.  DD and I talked a few times about it all over the weekend.  She didn't really give me much insight, other than sometimes she gets "distracted" when the teacher is talking, but she said she'd try harder to focus and listen. (and my guess is that she's just parroting the teacher when she says "distracted" and "try harder to focus."

But I got another email today from the teacher, listing the 5 things my DD didn't do when instructed today (again all classwork related.)  Again, my gut is to chalk this up to a hard-a$$ 1st grade teacher, but I also don't want to miss something larger, that maybe she is having some sort of focus issue.

In the conference, when I asked the teacher her suggestions, she threw it back at me for my thoughts and she didn't really have any ideas about how to right the course.

I'm not sure it's at this point yet, but as for what to do next, or who to talk to next -- we are at a small, private school.  Really the only other person I would reach out to next for help in how to remedy the situation is the principal.

Any ideas/thoughts?  (and the teacher absolutely did NOT say this, and no one else has ever either -- but is this possibly what ADD looks like?  Again, until this situation, there has never been any other warning sign of any attention issues.)

Thanks.[/quote]

It sounds to me like your daughter is dealing with a lot of new structure and a different, more formal set of expectations. She's probably expending a lot of energy on that project. Despite this, she's enjoying school. That's fantastic.

I don't know what the next step is, however. Keep an eye on whether she adjusts or begins to feel overwhelmed? What does the teacher want?[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics