Anonymous wrote:This is OP, thanks for the responses: that's reassuring. I do mean AART, which is a weekly special. I believe all the children in first grade participate.

Every week! My kids have seen the AART once this year. It is supposed to be monthly but it has been canceled several times.

This is OP, thanks for the responses: that's reassuring. I do mean AART, which is a weekly special. I believe all the children in first grade participate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What school has an AART pulling first graders from the classroom? I thought Level II services were all in classroom differentiation?

Are you discussing Art, as in the special?

Not OP, and ours does. That said, I don't remember ever actually seeing the work from it (but DC was only pulled for reading in first).

Also the AART sheets might be from the critical thinking push-in. I think all kids in at least the lower grades get that monthly (?) at our school.

Yes. Sounds like OP is talking about level I push ins.

Anonymous wrote:What school has an AART pulling first graders from the classroom? I thought Level II services were all in classroom differentiation?

Are you discussing Art, as in the special?

Not OP, and ours does. That said, I don't remember ever actually seeing the work from it (but DC was only pulled for reading in first).

Also the AART sheets might be from the critical thinking push-in. I think all kids in at least the lower grades get that monthly (?) at our school.

What school has an AART pulling first graders from the classroom? I thought Level II services were all in classroom differentiation?

Are you discussing Art, as in the special?

No, thinking outside the box is not frowned upon by AART teachers. Now if she's just totally ignoring the assignment, I might encourage her to at least follow the directions and then get creative in her own way.

My first grader is bright and loves school, but has a nonconformist streak. I've noticed that on the AART sheets she brings home, she has consistently missed the point of the exercise. For example, if they are given a "form follows function" prompt and asked to design a robot to do a task, she'll blow past that by saying her robot is a shape shifter that can do anything, case closed.

Should I be coaching her on playing the academic game and recognizing what skills she's being asked to demonstrate? Does it matter for AAP referral?

(I was very good at academic performance, as a child, but I believe it's a learned skill that comes at some cost to imagination.)