How to approach the 2nd grade teacher. - Page 2

[UpToSomeGood]

Originally Posted by Emilie2 

My 8yo son is gifted... There is not a gifted program at this point in our small town school district. What are the laws regarding them having to meet his educational needs? ... Are the schools responsible for testing him?

The answer depends on the rules of your local school district, and the laws in your state, unfortunately.  Worst case, they're not required to do anything.

[joensally]

I'm not sure about the cutoffs where you are, but an 8 year old would be in grade 3 in my jurisdiction.  Did you redshirt him?  If so, could you look at a grade correction skip?

[NYMommy2007]

Originally Posted by joensally 

I'm not sure about the cutoffs where you are, but an 8 year old would be in grade 3 in my jurisdiction.  Did you redshirt him?  If so, could you look at a grade correction skip?

I agree with this, he really should be in 3rd grade at least so that he's doing more challenging work for his age level.  Depending on his birthday he could even be in 4th grade. 

[KCMichigan]

Originally Posted by joensally 

I'm not sure about the cutoffs where you are, but an 8 year old would be in grade 3 in my jurisdiction.  Did you redshirt him?  If so, could you look at a grade correction skip?

Originally Posted by NYMommy2007 

I agree with this, he really should be in 3rd grade at least so that he's doing more challenging work for his age level.  Depending on his birthday he could even be in 4th grade. 

Yes, I would look in to a grade acceleration or a combo class if available (2/3 or 3/4 split)

An 8 yr old here would be in 3rd for sure. An 8 yr old with a fall Birthday would be in 4th when school starts.

My kiddos are 5 and in 1st (they will turn six next month) so when they will be 6 -turning 7 next year in 2nd and 7 turning 8 in 3rd. 8 turning 9 in 4th...etc.

Check your state laws. Some states mandate GT ed and some do not. Hopefully yours does! What is mandated by your state will decide if they are responsible for testing or not. If they get funds for GT programming then yes, they have to identify GT students, but it can be testing with a wide variety of measures (some use group IQ, some use individual IQ, some use achievement testing, etc). If they do not offer GT programming, then no-- they do not have to test him.

[Peeko621]

 In my state, you have to be the age of 5 by the start date of school to enroll in Kindergarten.  My son's birthday isn't until mid-September.  Therefore, he couldn't start until the following year.  In hindsight I wish I had sent him to a private kindergarten the first year, then he could have started 1st at 5.

[kaybee]

I just want to reiterate what everyone else says.  Keep being the squeaky wheel.  My son is about 2 months older than yours, but he's in 3rd grade because he made the cut-off here.  

We started discussions with his 2nd grade teacher last year - she ended up giving him advanced math packets but nothing more.  We moved conversations to the principal near the end of the year, and she put him down for testing this year.  After consultations, testing, and seeing how he did on the 4th grade beginning of the year assessment (better than the 4th graders), they moved him up to 4th grade math.  He' was put in a 3/4 split class, in part because they knew this was a possibility, and it's made the logistics easier.   

The point here is that I started the ball rolling on this whole "move him up!" in the middle of last year, and we're finally there.  So make sure you/they follow through with everything.  Hopefully your son will end up in a better situation for him (and it won't take quite so long).

Good luck!

[Mom31]

Thank you for your replies. We were in the middle of a custody battle when he turned 5 in June... cut off was sept. my mom is a or was a kindergarten teacher and reccomended we not put him into school with all the upheaval going on.   I Will be calling again on Monday to touch base...

I wish I could homeschool him someday.

[Peeko621]

Emilie, I completely understand you wish to homeschool. :)  My husband and I are both teachers, and I am leaning more and more into that idea.  I just don't think that right now we can financially afford it.  I will be asking questions about him moving up a grade though when I meet with his teacher.  Dh isn't completely on board with the idea yet (as my son is not as strong in math), but I feel like his math skills would be on par with the typical 3rd grader.  His reading skills are definitely above that.  With his overall intelligence level, I think he could easily catch up on the math-- it may just be that he hasn't been exposed to it yet. 

[Mom31]

I spoke with the teacher they did some prelim testing and we have a meeting scheduled for next wed.  YAY. Progress.

[beanma]

My dd2 is 8 next month and is a bright 2nd grader and that's where she needs to be. She was not redshirted, but in our state the kids in second grade are all 7 and 8. You have to be 5 by Aug 1 to start K, 6 by Aug 1 to start 1st, 7 by Aug 1 to start 2nd. Since she is 7 now with a fall b-day, she will be 8 most of 2nd grade. She's at about a 2.5 - 2.7 level, though. All the beginning of this year has been really easy for her, but they are doing some differentiation in reading now at least and she's enjoying that. I need to see if she can get some harder math, but I don't think the curriculum they're using lends itself to that unfortunately.

Since you did redshirt him (for good reasons) for K, you might look into grade-skipping. It sounds like he could hang with the 3rd graders. It's my understanding that 2nd grade is a lot of review anyway and making sure that kids are up to speed on reading and addition and subtraction so now would probably be an optimal year for skipping. It might be hard to leave his friends, but kids do it all the time and he could still see them other times. 

Good luck!!

[Mom31]

I know. I guess we are going to look at our options on Wed and get the dialogue going on what steps to take. He turned 5 on June 25th so had a late birthday ( to me). They believe he is at least at a 5th grade math level and 7-8th grade reading. From what the teacher recalled. The vice did some  math testing with him and the reading teacher did reading.  The principal has his results.  I am going to request actual testing and see where that goes.  His critical thinking skills are incredible. I spoke with his kindergarten teacher and she said he could multiply and divide in Kindergarten. He added up his book order the other day in his head, a bunch of 3, 5, 7, 8 dollar books all adding up to 51 dollars. He was right. He did it very quickly. Incredible.  Of course 51 for one book order is out of my budget but thats a whole other story lol.

[Mom31]

positive thought s please headed to talk to teacher at 3 alone.... xh can not make it.  We are going to go over test results. DS said something about starting to do math in the third grade class.

[joensally]

Good luck!

[Mom31]

It went very well. They have tested him at a 5th grade level tho they suspect he is able to do above that work. They are going to put him in a 3rd grade math class and eventually a 3rd grade reading class to.  That's all I know for now.

[moominmamma]

I would continue to advocate for "grade correction" (i.e. reversal of the previous red-shirting). It seems absurd to have a gifted child held back a year and getting accommodations to bring him up to what would be his normal age-grade. Perhaps at the end of this academic year, after he's already showed himself capable with the 3rd grade curriculum in those core areas you could ask to have him placed in regular 4th rather than 3rd with subject acceleration. 

Miranda

[joensally]

Originally Posted by moominmamma 

I would continue to advocate for "grade correction" (i.e. reversal of the previous red-shirting). It seems absurd to have a gifted child held back a year and getting accommodations to bring him up to what would be his normal age-grade. Perhaps at the end of this academic year, after he's already showed himself capable with the 3rd grade curriculum in those core areas you could ask to have him placed in regular 4th rather than 3rd with subject acceleration. 

Miranda

I totally agree.  In an environment of scarce resources (presumably, that does seem to be the theme in public education across jurisdictions), it would make sense that he be included in a grade level more in keeping with his abilities, and additional resources be put to challenging him versus accomodating him in typical-for-the-age grade level.

[Mom31]

I think this will be a good trial to see how he does in the higher grade. I am glad school is on board now and aware of his abilities.

[Mom31]

Xh talked to one of the principals who knows my son and did some testing with him. He told xh that ds should be in 3rd grade. Xh and I are discussing it and going to call another meeting and see about working towards this. Has anyone done two grades in one year.... say 2nd and 3rd grade this year and then move to 4th grade next year?

[Mom31]

I am thinking this is what we will do. Sort of a transition year.... I think they teach cursive in 2nd grade and I would like him to learn this as I can't teach it I don't know how to write in cursive tho I guess all he would need was a workbook and could teach himself as thats what he normally does with everything.

I am coming around to the grade acceleration. thinking about why I am hesitant. I think it has to do with him.... growing up faster.... Hard to believe I could have a 4th grader next year!

[domesticidyll]

Handwriting without tears is a fantastic cursive resource (although, depending on how strict the school is, you may be better having him learn with their program).

Sounds like he's got some great support!

Heather