Grade 4 student question

[tigercat]

My dgrdd is in Grade 4. She was homeschooled up until this year. We decided to let her go to school this year. The spelling words are so easy for her that the teacher has tried giving her some harder ones. They have been easy as well. She has now been put in charge of marking all the classes spelling tests. As well, math has been very easy for her so this week the teacher decided that she would also start marking the math tests. If a volunteer is needed for something, she is sent out because as the teacher says, she won't miss anything. The principal is now getting her to do things as well as the library teacher. She is quickly becoming a favourite among the teachers but I am worried that she is not being intellectually stimulated. What do you think?
tigercat

 

[disneychrista]

It is very hard for gifted children or above average children, especially ones like your child who was home schooled and may be several grades above her classmates. Have you aske about maybe having her do spelling and math with a 5th grade class? Does your school district have a gift program? I would deffiently get her tested for that.

I am will likely have this trouble next year with my DD, she has been in a combo class the past two years doing the higher grades work, but next year in 6th grade, a combo class is not an option. So she will have done the 6th grade spelling and math already.

 

[tigercat]

The spelling that she is doing now is a grade 5. It seems that they don't test kids until they are in grade 5. There really isn't a gifted program here so I'm not really sure what they are going to do with her. It's funny, before she went to school everyone said that as a homeschooled child she would be so far behind everyone. Actually the opposite is true. The teachers all rave about her.
tigercat

 

[Dancind]

Look at it this way, your daughter has just as much right to learn as the other kids in her class. She shouldn't be helping them teach. Keep on that school, sounds like a grade skip is in order. Diana

 

[swanmom]

Can't really evaluate whether a grade skip is in order. There are so many factors besdies academic that enter into the equation- especially for a kid who hasn't attended school before. But, when my DD wasn't challenged enough by her work, her teacher got several supplemental books (word challenges, dictionary skills, reading comprehension workbooks, math brain teasers and other supplements.) If she finished early, needed extra homework, or already knew the material in a given lesson; they'd pull these out and work together. It wasn't perfect but it did get her through the beginning of the year. (This might also stop the teacher from asking her to 'check' things for lack of something better to do.) Later in the year, they moved on to some more difficult stuff and several other kids who were ahead began working wih her. In the end, it worked out fine.

 

[goofy4tink]

One of the other factors at a public school versus home schooling is the social one. Is she getting enough social interaction? I would think that if she is getting such 'terrific' treatment from all the teachers, the other kids might end up resenting her. That would not make for a very good environment for learning. Where does her birthday fall? If she is on the older side of her class, birthday early in the year, then maybe she could easily be moved up a grade. She would still be young compared to the rest of her class but not really obviously. Other posters are quite correct in saying she should be learning, not teaching!!! It is the teacher's responsibility to challenge each child. If they can't, then the child needs to be put in an envirionment that does challenge her. Otherwise there is no learning going on.

 

[tigercat]

She would be on the older side of the age scale in her class. Now socialization in school or out of school is quite an issue. She had plenty of socialization when she was homeschooled. THat was not a problem with her at all. She lives in a small complex that is full of children. She however has always been an "old" child. Her sister is a child who acts her age but she never did. It is really funny how 2 children in the same family, with the same circumstances can be so different.
tigercat