[MOM2ANSLEY]

Dd has finished her 2nd week of 1st grade. I know the beginning of the yr is a lot of review......however, I'm afraid she is going to ger bored soon. She has been reading some simple chapter books at home.... Fairy books and Junie B Jones etc; she occasionally needs help with some words(ex:suddenly)..... At school she reads out of a phonics reader.... her homework was a 3 page story about " The fat rat sat on a mat" Should I just be patient and wait for things to pick up or should I speak to the teacher??? ANY thoughts or comments are appreciated. thanks

 

[WC_hapamama]

For now I'd be patient. Usually the first month of school is all review, and it takes at least a couple of weeks for the teachers to assess the reading levels of all the students and group them appropriately.

 

[MOM2ANSLEY]

I don't think they will be "grouped" she is in a class of 20 with 1 teacher and no assistant. And I'm pretty sure one child in her class is repeating

 

[rainyday]

Will your daughter choose to read a book during free time at school or in the morning before class starts? If so, you might try sending her with her own book every day. This might help the teacher realize on her own a little faster that your daughter has the basics down.

 

[WC_hapamama]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MOM2ANSLEY I don't think they will be "grouped" she is in a class of 20 with 1 teacher and no assistant. And I'm pretty sure one child in her class is repeating

My kids were all in 1st grade classes with that student to teacher ratio, and they were all put in reading groups based on ability. Students whose groups aren't at the table are expected to work on other stuff while the teacher is working with other groups.

The kids are encouraged to pick books for silent reading that are at their ability level... and yes, in my dd's class last year, there were a few kids reading at the second grade level at the beginning of the year.

 

[eepster]

When are parent teacher conferences? If they are fairly soon, then I wait and see till they come up. If it's going to be a while before they happen though, I'd set up a meeting now.

 

[beanma]

They don't group at my child's private alternative school, but they would be happy to talk to a parent about what books the child was reading at home. Not sure how it would work in public school, but I would feel comfortable approaching any of our teachers (and I have) about what my kids were reading.

 

[Alyantavid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MOM2ANSLEY Should I just be patient and wait for things to pick up or should I speak to the teacher??? ANY thoughts or comments are appreciated. thanks

Yes. My son's in second grade and has been in for 2 weeks. He's been bringing home extremely easy books. He's reading at about a 4th grade level and these books look like maybe 1st grade level. He flips through them in about 2 minutes.

But I know it's review right now and his teacher is trying to see where they're at. And he won't be reading those forever.

We go to the library weekly and I let him choose whatever books he wants so he does get to read at his normal level at home at least. In 1st grade, he was able to do accelerated reading stuff while the other students worked at their own level. And his class only had 14 kids.

 

[Linda on the move]

Quote:

Originally Posted by WC_hapamama My kids were all in 1st grade classes with that student to teacher ratio, and they were all put in reading groups based on ability. Students whose groups aren't at the table are expected to work on other stuff while the teacher is working with other groups.

This was the case in my DDs 5th grade class. 19 kids, 1 teacher, and kids did independant work while she worked with different groups.

Could you drop the teacher an email and let her know (very nicely) what sorts of books your DD usually reads and asks how she accomodates different levels?

She is mostly likely still figuring out where they all are, and I wouldn't take the first few weeks as meaning too much. Is your DD learning things in other subjects? Is she having fun?

 

[MOM2ANSLEY]

I think parent teacher conferences are in a few wks . Think i'll wait and see and discuss it then. She is in a private school if that makes any difference

 

[velochic]

Dd is in 2nd, in a private school. It's language immersion, so she gets only 1 hour/day at language arts in English. She was reading chapter books last year in 1st, too, but reading isn't just about reading. Dd actually learned a lot, building a foundation that will eventually help out when she has to do more with language arts. I talked to her specifically that what she is learning won't necessarily help her right now, but she still needs to listen and learn. In a year or two they will be deconstructing sentences, etc. It's not just about learning to read, but also about learning the fundamental linguistics of the language. I would definitely wait and see what happens because she may learn a lot more than you think.

 

[eepster]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MOM2ANSLEY I think parent teacher conferences are in a few wks . Think i'll wait and see and discuss it then. She is in a private school if that makes any difference

There are many private schools which stick to a more old fashioned and rigid educational philosophy, where student sit in neat little rows and all do the exact same thing. This kind of thing is more common in church based schools than public ones (at least in my area.)

Then, there are a lot of private schools that are very very open. These usually are very vocal about their educational philosophies though, so it would surprise me if you were unsure of whether she would be getting differntiation.

Finally, mostly in large urban areas, there are schools that tend to be pretty similar to public schools, but with out the metal detectors, police presence, torn text books from the 1960, enormous over crowding, etc.

What kind of school is it?

 

[StephandOwen]

At my ds's Kindergarten class (public school, 25 kids, 1 teacher, 1 assistant teacher and 1 aide (which is for my son)) we were told they split the class into 2 reading levels- 1 group for faster readers and 1 for slower readers. But at the end of last school year (so ds's preschool year) he was reading way harder books than the fast kindergarten group was at the end of kindergarten. Sooo... the plan, as far as I know, is to have ds's aide work with him on books that are his level.

That said, he brought home one of those "homework books" that had like 3 word sentences, 1 sentence per page, etc that was SO FAR below his level it wasn't even funny. DS's current favorites are these collection books. He has 5 or 6 of them and loves to read them. I was told at the end of last year that the teacher would be doing a reading assessment on ds to find out his reading level within the first few weeks of school. We're now on week 3 and we've not heard anything more about it so I'll be asking this week when I get a chance...

 

[HipGal]

I would wait just a bit and see what happens. Sometimes it is easier for the teacher to have the kids doing the same thing for the first couple weeks while she does assessments, etc. I would expect the kids to be in reading groups eventually and read at their levels. But, it is possible that the homework might always be the same for all the kids. Most teachers don't have the prep time available to make homework at different levels, so they focus on the grade level standards. If your daughter is reading above grade level, the homework might be easy for the whole year.

 

[JD5351]

When I was in school (first grade even!) we did the reading group thing. Prob about 20 students in a class, no assistant. I was an advanced reader, so I was my own group. The teacher would divide up the other students and when she was finished with them, she would take me aside. I had my own reading book...I think it was called "Superkids." and it had more challenging material to read. I will always remember her covering up words on the page to help me read SLOWER because she would test me on what we read after, and sometimes I'd read so fast I wouldn't remember what I read...lol

I would check and see if this is an option for your son.

 

[karne]

We're also taking a bit of a waiting approach. DS is in 1st and is at the beginning chapter books level. His homework was also a book with a few words per page in the beginning. I'm not super concerned because I think they're trying to get a level on the kids. More so I need for ds not to be bored because that leads to behavioral challenges.

 

[itsmyturn]

We found 1st grade to be boring in the lang arts department because many kids are still not quite reading. The pace stays slow for the higher readers.

I just modified her homework assignments to make them more on her level.
If you do decide to talk to the teacher, I would atleast wait until 4weeks have passed.

 

[MOM2ANSLEY]

Quote:

Originally Posted by itsmyturn We found 1st grade to be boring in the lang arts department because many kids are still not quite reading. The pace stays slow for the higher readers. I just modified her homework assignments to make them more on her level. If you do decide to talk to the teacher, I would atleast wait until 4weeks have passed.

Parent/teacher conf are in about 2 more wks So then I'll know how much the work will increase and can discuss options. Yes, I have adjusted her homework...Monday we did the whole weeks work in about 20 min. So instead of doing sight word flash cards, I had her write them...she still inverts b and d and reverses lots of #'s; so we worked more on what I feel she needs help with. I guess it will all come togeather in time.

 

[lindberg99]

It can't hurt to talk to the teacher. Or just send a note or quick email. My daughter was reading well in kindergarten but her teacher didn't even know it. DD is very quiet at school and wouldn't be the type to tell the teacher "I can read this already." like some kids would. Once the teacher knew, she would let DD pick out a different books.

The teacher would probably appreciate knowing your daughter can read well. I'm sure it's kind of overwhelming to figure out reading groups and knowing which kids can read well would probably make that easier for her. I can't see a reason why your daughter can't read part of her Junie B. Jones book while the other kids are reading their phonics readers. I'm betting she is not the only one in the class reading at that level either so maybe it would encourage other kids to say "Hey, I can read Junie B. Jones too!"

I don't know, I don't think I would adjust her homework. Of course, I also don't think 1st graders should even HAVE homework.