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Gifted program, not sure I'm loving it

638 views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  itsmyturn 
#1 ·
I hope you more experienced mamas can help me put this in perspective
. My DD's school starts the gifted program in 2nd grade, so this is our first year with it.

The way it is at her school is a pull-out program, 3 days a week. She leaves her class for 1 hour for it. Next year, it will be every day, 1 hour.

Here are my reservations:

1) There are only 5 kids in her gifted program class (2 second graders and 3 third graders). She is the only girl. I am afraid she will feel left out. (FTR, she loves being the only girl--she says that means she gets to be the boss
.)

2) I am afraid this may impede her relationships with the kids in her regular class, as she is not there for a big chunk of the morning, which is when they do the relationship-building stuff (in her school, in the morning they play games to practice eye contact, greetings, etc--all things she definitely needs practice in).

3) She also misses a recess during the gifted class. (She still goes to the afternoon recess with the other kids--but that means only 1 recess, not 2).

Does anyone else think these are problems? Is the gifted class really worth missing a recess and the bonding excercises? Is being the only girl weird? So far it's too early to tell if the class is going to be great--they haven't really done anything yet beyond getting-to-know-you exercises.
 
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#2 ·
Your #3 concern would be my largest concern at her age. One recess a day is not enough for a 2nd grader. My younger dd goes to a TAG pull-out for an hour every day (she's in 4th grade) and my only similar issue is that she misses the snack time that the rest of her class gets which leaves her hungry. They have a very late lunch and she is a small kid anyway. Missed recess would be a larger concern, though.

I've not found pull-out programs to impede social relationships with other kids in their classrooms, though. Both of my kids have done pull-outs in elementary and it didn't seem like they had issues with making friends in their regular classroom as a result.

FWIW, the size of the class probably indicates that they are being more selective in who they place in the class which may be a good thing. That there are no other girls is sad, though.

My 4th grader has about 80 4th graders in her school and 12 or 13 of them go to the TAG class. Realistically, 15-16% of the 4th graders are probably not gifted and we actually weren't sure that dd would get in despite IQ scores above the 99th percentile due to very erratic achievement in school. Our program tends to be more geared toward the high achieving kids.

Can you set up some playdates outside of school to help her with social skills practice?
 
#3 ·
Thanks, ChristaN. #3 is my biggest concern too.

Our schools sound similar in size--in DD's school there are also about 80 second graders--but only 2 in the gifted program. My DD and one boy.

She does have a lot of playdates and last year she really blossomed and made lots of friends, so she doesn't have trouble in that area. What they do in the morning that she misses are more life skills exercises. Like they role play what to do when you disagree with something someone says, or how to introduce yourself to someone you don't know. She got a lot out of this last year and I really loved it. I'm sorry she has to miss it.

I'm wondering if I should ask her regular teacher to share the exercises that DD misses with me so I can do the role-playing with her at home. But I think there's no getting around the recess problem
.
 
#4 ·
I'd wait a bit and see how your daughter feels about it after school gets into action.
For some kids, the gifted program is their favorite time of the day, some could care less, and some don't like it.
Your DD is 2nd grade, I would let her make the call herself.
And yes, I would ask the teacher about the specific activities she is missing.
I
 
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