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gifted acceleration



 
 
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  #11  
Old June 28th 07, 03:22 AM posted to misc.kids
toypup
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,227
Default gifted acceleration

On Wed, 27 Jun 2007 16:55:43 -0700, Mary W. wrote:

On Jun 27, 7:29 pm, "Cathy Kearns" wrote:
"Beliavsky" wrote in message

oups.com...


Yes, I think the tuition is less than $4K per year, which is much less
than the average spending per student in publis schools. Furthermore,
there are only about 20 students per grade and one teacher per grade,
so "ability-grouped" classrooms will not be possible.


Actually, Catholic schools don't have any incentive to keep classes small,
so a class of only about 20 students is not all that common. A first grade
classroom in a Catholic school in this area usually has 35 to 40 children.
The upside is, being a Catholic school they can kick out disruptive
children, so they might be able to handle 40 children with one teacher if
none of them are unruly.


That has not been my experience at all. In the Catholic school I
attended,
the one my nephews go to, the one my nieces went to, the ones my
mother taught at and the one my daughter currently attends, class size
was/is 25-28 students per class. Plus, the elementary grades (K-3 or
so) have a teacher and an aide. (Note this covers 4 different
states).


That is large. Our school has a maximum of 20 students per class up to
third grade. Kindergarten has AM and PM sessions with the AM teacher
helping out the PM teacher and vice versa. They also have one or two
parent helpers per day, so that can be 4 adults per 20 students. First
through third, I don't know about how many parent helpers they have there,
but the school has a high parent participation rate, so I'm sure it's at
least two adults per 20 kids.
  #12  
Old June 29th 07, 01:18 PM posted to misc.kids
Chookie
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,085
Default gifted acceleration

In article . com,
wrote:

The woman who will be my son's teacher is NOT open to acceleration.
She felt the need to tell me 6 times in one conversation that she was
"an early childhood education developmental specialist". She has yet
to ask me a single probing question about him or his abilities. I am
very frustrated. The gifted programs in our county have been
systematically deleted over the last 5 years to save school dollars.
There are no gifted centers, programs, or classes available to him.
There is not a decent, secular, private school. I am considering
homeschooling him.


I think I would be too, in those circumstances! But be careful with your
reading of this teacher. Our first meeting with one of the staff at our
school didn't impress us as she used lots of education department buzz-words.
I was more impressed when I saw her larking around later -- she is actually
quite normal! Your son's teacher might think that you *want* to hear that
sort of terminology.

It might be more interesting to ask her straight out how she plans to look
after your son, given that he's (eg) already reading and doing simple
addition. DS1's teacher (he's now in Year 1 with the teacher he had for K)
favours lots of small-group work, often in ability groups, because she
believes that children learn best through discussion. My bright, sociable
little boy is thriving in this environment. In Maths, his group is doing Year
3-4 level work because they are capable of it. Wonderful!

I did push a few things with the school last year, but not straight off. I
didn't need to do much at first: the staff picked up on him promptly and
moved him into a K/2 composite. He ended up doing reading with the top Year 2
group in the class. There were a number of K children with a bent for Maths,
so they ended up running a pull-out group for them.

But by the end of the year I was in formal meetings, including one with the
principal, who was plainly looking for herself to see if I were a Pushy
Parent! And that's where I did make two points. The first was that I didn't
want him to be bored, because a bored child is a naughty child IMO. The
second was that he would do best with a teacher who would not interpret his
enthusiasm (which can include calling out, bouncing in his seat, etc) as
rudeness.

Our experience so far has been completely positive, but our state department
of education *expects* that G&T children will be taken care of. Good luck!

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue
  #13  
Old June 29th 07, 04:03 PM posted to misc.kids
Cathy Kearns
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 111
Default gifted acceleration


"Chookie" wrote in message
...
The
second was that he would do best with a teacher who would not interpret
his
enthusiasm (which can include calling out, bouncing in his seat, etc) as
rudeness.


My daughter is now almost 13 going into 8th grade and I'm still trying to
deal with this. There are always a few enthusiastic kids in her class that
tend to call out answers, and have been doing so since they were little. My
daughter has alway started the year by raising her hand, as that is what the
teacher asks the children to do. By teacher conferences two months into the
year that is the one question she always asks I bring to the teacher (for 7
years now), do they really want her to raise her hand, as the child who
calls out gets the attention. Should I push her to show her enthusiasm more
by shouting out the answers too? I've suggested this to the teachers, they
would prefer they have the chance to call on her, which they then never get
to. By mid year my daughter has alternated calling out herself, which she
doesn't feel comfortable with, and just withdrawing completely. To her it
seems that since the teacher is allowing these other kids to call out
answers, instead of raising her hand that the teacher doesn't like her. So
despite the straight A's on her report card we always get the "doesn't
participate enough" or "too chatty" or some other comment that is probably
right on but is my daughter's way of coping with a teacher that is showing
more attention to the kids who are too enthusiatic to follow the rules the
teacher sets down. How exactly do I get my daughter to understand the
special attention other kids get? Especially other kids in her advanced
classes? I'd really like to get this right with this daughter, my older
daughter is off to college, and is very assertive everywhere except in
classrooms. I've seen that hurt her in high school.

  #14  
Old June 29th 07, 04:20 PM posted to misc.kids
jaime
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6
Default gifted acceleration

I am both a parent of a little girl that is gifted (she is going into
2nd grade) as well as a special education teacher in a primary school
building. I have also struggled with finding the appropriate balance
for her educational needs as well as her social needs. I have found
through Kindergarten and first grade that the best solution is to work
with the teacher on providing materials that are interesting as well
as ensuring that she has all of the basic skills needed. For example,
although my daughter already knew how to do basic addition and
subtraction (including regrouping) before entering school, I had
never even thought to expose her to pyramids and quadrilaterals, which
are part of the first grade curriculum. Likewise, in science, she
knew 90% of the curriculum but the other 10% was completely new to her
because she had never been exposed to it. I worked with the teacher
and we developed a plan for her that consisted of completing the
assigned activities with the class, and although sometimes it was new
information to her it was mostly a review. She then had the
opportunity to work on the computer or read new, higher level reading
books, to explore the topic in more depth. She was also given the
opportunity to help other students in the classroom and this was a
positive experience for both her and the other students resulting in a
more positive self image as well as friends. Reading was always
acceptable and she had many chapter books (some that I provided and
others from the higher grades within the school) to read. I have
found that this was a great solution. I worry about homeschooling
very gifted children (My husband and I have thought about it so many
times, I must admit) because these children tend to feel isolated as
it is. They tend to have more trouble in social situations because
they are simply in a different mind than the typical child. I want my
daughter to learn how to interact at this very very influential time.
She already knows she's different but is learning to play more than
ever by being around children (especially in PE and recess and
lunch). I feel that by the 4th grade we are going to have to
reevaluate the goals she has and we want her to have but also know
that many school programs offer gifted education programs by this
time. Outside agencies also provide accelerated curriculum classes
after school for interest areas (my daughter is a science kid and we
enrolled her in a science exploration class and it was so much fun!)
Good luck, I understand how difficult this can be but also urge you to
give the teacher and the school the opportunity to work with him. And
please remember that at this tender age it is almost as important that
the children learn problem solving, social and sharing (information)
skills as it is about basic skill mastery. Give your child a big hug
and remember to listen to what he wants as well . . . after a few
months and lots of work and collaboration with the teacher, you may be
surprised how happy he can be.

Jaime


  #15  
Old June 29th 07, 04:26 PM posted to misc.kids
Banty
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,278
Default gifted acceleration

In article , Cathy Kearns
says...


"Chookie" wrote in message
...
The
second was that he would do best with a teacher who would not interpret
his
enthusiasm (which can include calling out, bouncing in his seat, etc) as
rudeness.


My daughter is now almost 13 going into 8th grade and I'm still trying to
deal with this. There are always a few enthusiastic kids in her class that
tend to call out answers, and have been doing so since they were little. My
daughter has alway started the year by raising her hand, as that is what the
teacher asks the children to do. By teacher conferences two months into the
year that is the one question she always asks I bring to the teacher (for 7
years now), do they really want her to raise her hand, as the child who
calls out gets the attention. Should I push her to show her enthusiasm more
by shouting out the answers too? I've suggested this to the teachers, they
would prefer they have the chance to call on her, which they then never get
to. By mid year my daughter has alternated calling out herself, which she
doesn't feel comfortable with, and just withdrawing completely. To her it
seems that since the teacher is allowing these other kids to call out
answers, instead of raising her hand that the teacher doesn't like her. So
despite the straight A's on her report card we always get the "doesn't
participate enough" or "too chatty" or some other comment that is probably
right on but is my daughter's way of coping with a teacher that is showing
more attention to the kids who are too enthusiatic to follow the rules the
teacher sets down. How exactly do I get my daughter to understand the
special attention other kids get? Especially other kids in her advanced
classes? I'd really like to get this right with this daughter, my older
daughter is off to college, and is very assertive everywhere except in
classrooms. I've seen that hurt her in high school.



Yeah, it's a problem; the teachers aren't going to say that they don't want kids
to hold up their hands because they'd really rather and they're loathe to tell a
parent otherwise, but they aren't going to be sticklers about it in the face of
a lot of kids just shouting things out. Putting those who'd *like* to be polite
and follow the rules in a dilemma. (See - some people expect and like
sticklers, some don't ;-) Stuff like this comes up time and time again.

I'd encourage your daughter to notice how these things are going in whatever
venue she is in, and if the other kids are just speaking up and getting the
attention, she should too. Adapt to the environment.

In the meantime, I'd be upfront with teacher about this if it comes up - if she
wants the rules followed, she needs to follow through too and recognize only the
students who do that. And that you can't put your daughter at a disadvantage by
telling to raise her hand if the teacher isn't holding up her end of it.

Banty

  #16  
Old June 29th 07, 10:42 PM posted to misc.kids
Rosalie B.
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 984
Default gifted acceleration

"Cathy Kearns" wrote:


"Chookie" wrote in message
...
The
second was that he would do best with a teacher who would not interpret
his
enthusiasm (which can include calling out, bouncing in his seat, etc) as
rudeness.


My daughter is now almost 13 going into 8th grade and I'm still trying to
deal with this. There are always a few enthusiastic kids in her class that
tend to call out answers, and have been doing so since they were little. My
daughter has alway started the year by raising her hand, as that is what the
teacher asks the children to do. By teacher conferences two months into the
year that is the one question she always asks I bring to the teacher (for 7
years now), do they really want her to raise her hand, as the child who


When I was in 6th grade, I found that the teacher would not call on
someone who waved their hand in the air wildly and wanted to answer.
(I don't think calling out the answer was allowed.) This was because
if you raised your hand, she knew that you knew the answer, and she
wanted to involve the students who did not know the answer.

I dealt with this in two ways.

One - If I really wanted to give an answer, I pretended to not be
paying attention, or to have dozed off so that the teacher would call
on me.

Two - if I found the discussion boring, I would hold my hand in the
air and read a book under my desk as I knew that if I raised my hand,
I would not be called on.

I don't know if something like this would work for your dd or not.

calls out gets the attention. Should I push her to show her enthusiasm more
by shouting out the answers too? I've suggested this to the teachers, they
would prefer they have the chance to call on her, which they then never get
to. By mid year my daughter has alternated calling out herself, which she
doesn't feel comfortable with, and just withdrawing completely. To her it
seems that since the teacher is allowing these other kids to call out
answers, instead of raising her hand that the teacher doesn't like her. So


I think it is more likely that the teacher has to deal with those who
really don't understand the material and need help, and your dd
doesn't. I think this may be different when she gets to HS because
she will have a lot of different teachers. But in the meantime, you
might just have her raise her hand on the more difficult questions.

And also analyze what the teacher is doing - making a chart of who
calls out answers and gets away with it and who doesn't call out and
gets called on and the reverse.

despite the straight A's on her report card we always get the "doesn't
participate enough" or "too chatty" or some other comment that is probably
right on but is my daughter's way of coping with a teacher that is showing
more attention to the kids who are too enthusiatic to follow the rules the
teacher sets down. How exactly do I get my daughter to understand the
special attention other kids get? Especially other kids in her advanced
classes? I'd really like to get this right with this daughter, my older
daughter is off to college, and is very assertive everywhere except in
classrooms. I've seen that hurt her in high school.

  #17  
Old June 30th 07, 02:32 AM posted to misc.kids
dkhedmo
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 55
Default gifted acceleration

Thank you for sharing this information. My ds1 is also entering 2nd
grade, and even though we spoke to the teacher a number of times this
past year, I (and my son) never quite felt satisfied that he was being
challenged enough. Reading was fine, as they were grouped by ability and
he was in the top group with another boy and a girl. Writing also was
handled well, as that is a more individualized effort. But in the areas
of math and science, he often complained of being bored and was
practically begging for more challenging work. In math and similar
areas, he was always given bigger numbers to work with, or say with
clocks, was working with more subdivisions of the hour than the other
children, but he still thought the work was too easy. I don't know that
he qualifies as "gifted", but in a lot of areas I think he's at least
borderline and capable of more challenging material. I'd love to hear
more ideas you can offer for approaching his new teacher, and without
seeming pushy or like one of those parents who thinks their child is the
second coming of Einstein.

Karen


jaime wrote:
I am both a parent of a little girl that is gifted (she is going into
2nd grade) as well as a special education teacher in a primary school
building. I have also struggled with finding the appropriate balance
for her educational needs as well as her social needs. I have found
through Kindergarten and first grade that the best solution is to work
with the teacher on providing materials that are interesting as well
as ensuring that she has all of the basic skills needed. For example,
although my daughter already knew how to do basic addition and
subtraction (including regrouping) before entering school, I had
never even thought to expose her to pyramids and quadrilaterals, which
are part of the first grade curriculum. Likewise, in science, she
knew 90% of the curriculum but the other 10% was completely new to her
because she had never been exposed to it. I worked with the teacher
and we developed a plan for her that consisted of completing the
assigned activities with the class, and although sometimes it was new
information to her it was mostly a review. She then had the
opportunity to work on the computer or read new, higher level reading
books, to explore the topic in more depth. She was also given the
opportunity to help other students in the classroom and this was a
positive experience for both her and the other students resulting in a
more positive self image as well as friends. Reading was always
acceptable and she had many chapter books (some that I provided and
others from the higher grades within the school) to read. I have
found that this was a great solution. I worry about homeschooling
very gifted children (My husband and I have thought about it so many
times, I must admit) because these children tend to feel isolated as
it is. They tend to have more trouble in social situations because
they are simply in a different mind than the typical child. I want my
daughter to learn how to interact at this very very influential time.
She already knows she's different but is learning to play more than
ever by being around children (especially in PE and recess and
lunch). I feel that by the 4th grade we are going to have to
reevaluate the goals she has and we want her to have but also know
that many school programs offer gifted education programs by this
time. Outside agencies also provide accelerated curriculum classes
after school for interest areas (my daughter is a science kid and we
enrolled her in a science exploration class and it was so much fun!)
Good luck, I understand how difficult this can be but also urge you to
give the teacher and the school the opportunity to work with him. And
please remember that at this tender age it is almost as important that
the children learn problem solving, social and sharing (information)
skills as it is about basic skill mastery. Give your child a big hug
and remember to listen to what he wants as well . . . after a few
months and lots of work and collaboration with the teacher, you may be
surprised how happy he can be.

Jaime


  #18  
Old June 30th 07, 08:59 PM posted to misc.kids
Sushi Fish
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 18
Default gifted acceleration

On Jun 29, 7:20 am, jaime wrote:
I am both a parent of a little girl that is gifted (she is going into
2nd grade) as well as a special education teacher in a primary school
building. I have also struggled with finding the appropriate balance
for her educational needs as well as her social needs. I have found
through Kindergarten and first grade that the best solution is to work
with the teacher on providing materials that are interesting as well
as ensuring that she has all of the basic skills needed. For example,
although my daughter already knew how to do basic addition and
subtraction (including regrouping) before entering school, I had
never even thought to expose her to pyramids and quadrilaterals, which
are part of the first grade curriculum. Likewise, in science, she
knew 90% of the curriculum but the other 10% was completely new to her
because she had never been exposed to it. I worked with the teacher
and we developed a plan for her that consisted of completing the
assigned activities with the class, and although sometimes it was new
information to her it was mostly a review. She then had the
opportunity to work on the computer or read new, higher level reading
books, to explore the topic in more depth. She was also given the
opportunity to help other students in the classroom and this was a
positive experience for both her and the other students resulting in a
more positive self image as well as friends. Reading was always
acceptable and she had many chapter books (some that I provided and
others from the higher grades within the school) to read. I have
found that this was a great solution. I worry about homeschooling
very gifted children (My husband and I have thought about it so many
times, I must admit) because these children tend to feel isolated as
it is. They tend to have more trouble in social situations because
they are simply in a different mind than the typical child. I want my
daughter to learn how to interact at this very very influential time.
She already knows she's different but is learning to play more than
ever by being around children (especially in PE and recess and
lunch). I feel that by the 4th grade we are going to have to
reevaluate the goals she has and we want her to have but also know
that many school programs offer gifted education programs by this
time. Outside agencies also provide accelerated curriculum classes
after school for interest areas (my daughter is a science kid and we
enrolled her in a science exploration class and it was so much fun!)
Good luck, I understand how difficult this can be but also urge you to
give the teacher and the school the opportunity to work with him. And
please remember that at this tender age it is almost as important that
the children learn problem solving, social and sharing (information)
skills as it is about basic skill mastery. Give your child a big hug
and remember to listen to what he wants as well . . . after a few
months and lots of work and collaboration with the teacher, you may be
surprised how happy he can be.

Jaime


I totally agree with you, we tend to put too much emphasis on one area
and ignore the others. academic achievement is important
but not the ONLY objective. Social skill, fun, and other activities
are all
important to develop a kid. Schools re-evaluate themselves constantly
with different criteria to improve their ratings and I have no doubt
public
schools in US are of high quality compared to others.

The key of successfully teaching is to keep kids interested in the
school itself (classroom, playground, friends) Earning good grade is
natural extension of understanding the materials,
having funs with friend is also important. Learning is a life long
process, make them think.

  #19  
Old July 7th 07, 02:06 AM posted to misc.kids
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 8
Default gifted acceleration

On Jun 30, 3:59 pm, Sushi Fish wrote:
On Jun 29, 7:20 am, jaime wrote:



I am both a parent of a little girl that is gifted (she is going into
2nd grade) as well as a special education teacher in a primary school
building. I have also struggled with finding the appropriate balance
for her educational needs as well as her social needs. I have found
through Kindergarten and first grade that the best solution is to work
with the teacher on providing materials that are interesting as well
as ensuring that she has all of the basic skills needed. For example,
although my daughter already knew how to do basic addition and
subtraction (including regrouping) before entering school, I had
never even thought to expose her to pyramids and quadrilaterals, which
are part of the first grade curriculum. Likewise, in science, she
knew 90% of the curriculum but the other 10% was completely new to her
because she had never been exposed to it. I worked with the teacher
and we developed a plan for her that consisted of completing the
assigned activities with the class, and although sometimes it was new
information to her it was mostly a review. She then had the
opportunity to work on the computer or read new, higher level reading
books, to explore the topic in more depth. She was also given the
opportunity to help other students in the classroom and this was a
positive experience for both her and the other students resulting in a
more positive self image as well as friends. Reading was always
acceptable and she had many chapter books (some that I provided and
others from the higher grades within the school) to read. I have
found that this was a great solution. I worry about homeschooling
very gifted children (My husband and I have thought about it so many
times, I must admit) because these children tend to feel isolated as
it is. They tend to have more trouble in social situations because
they are simply in a different mind than the typical child. I want my
daughter to learn how to interact at this very very influential time.
She already knows she's different but is learning to play more than
ever by being around children (especially in PE and recess and
lunch). I feel that by the 4th grade we are going to have to
reevaluate the goals she has and we want her to have but also know
that many school programs offer gifted education programs by this
time. Outside agencies also provide accelerated curriculum classes
after school for interest areas (my daughter is a science kid and we
enrolled her in a science exploration class and it was so much fun!)
Good luck, I understand how difficult this can be but also urge you to
give the teacher and the school the opportunity to work with him. And
please remember that at this tender age it is almost as important that
the children learn problem solving, social and sharing (information)
skills as it is about basic skill mastery. Give your child a big hug
and remember to listen to what he wants as well . . . after a few
months and lots of work and collaboration with the teacher, you may be
surprised how happy he can be.


Jaime


I totally agree with you, we tend to put too much emphasis on one area
and ignore the others. academic achievement is important
but not the ONLY objective. Social skill, fun, and other activities
are all
important to develop a kid. Schools re-evaluate themselves constantly
with different criteria to improve their ratings and I have no doubt
public
schools in US are of high quality compared to others.

The key of successfully teaching is to keep kids interested in the
school itself (classroom, playground, friends) Earning good grade is
natural extension of understanding the materials,
having funs with friend is also important. Learning is a life long
process, make them think.


Our 2 and a half year old is scary smart! Homeschooling is definitely
what we are doing!

Tom
www.itspuresoap.com
www.seo9oneone.com

 




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