On Wed, 6 Dec 2006 14:45:39 EST, "Jeff" wrote:


"Chris" wrote in message
oups.com...

Paula wrote:

Anyway, it's a life skill to deal with boredom productively. Who
hasn't had to sit quietly and at least seemingly attentively in
numerous boring meetings?


That's been my take pretty much. He is bored, he repeatedly states he
is bored. I figure he needs to find some way to occupy himself that is
not distracting to others. Teachers seem to have different levels of
tolerance for this. In 4th grade his teacher remarked that he "read at
inappropriate times." Turns out when she was reading aloud to the
class he preferred to read his own book. I don't see that as a
problem, but she sure did. Similarly, the example of his science
teacher who, despite quite clear evidence that the kid already knew the
material, was upset that he was reading in class. So, we continue to
work on that front. I've suggested doodling, but his teacher is not too
keen on that either. He gets frustrated with helping other kids, but
that is something he needs to learn to deal with better.

One of the things the teacher can do is have your son read and do book
reports on topics related to class. For example, if the class is doing
astronomy, he can do a book report on a book about a dwarf planet (e.g.,
Pluto) or the moon or the Big Bang or whatever. That way he is occupied, he
is learning, and he is out of her hair.

The original poster mentioned that when a teacher does provide some
extra assignment for her son, it is always of the form "write about
...." and he really does not enjoy writing. Of course, more creative
and more active options for enrichment are easy for the rest of us to
dream up (Build a model of ..., make a video of .... draw a map of
the setting of ... ) but they aren't much help as long as the teacher
isn't interested in having that kind of activity going on in her
classroom.


On the other hand, that reminds me of something. A bright kid who
reads well but does not enjoy writing -- that could be another clue to
look into LD testing, either through the school or privately.

Louise