Last year Eli's kindergarten teacher had a challenge with Eli. But, she made some adjustments to one of her systems to work for him and he thrived with it.
Fast forward to this year. She now has Brynne in her class. And, guess what ... she needs some special treatment as well. But, it's for the opposite reason that Eli needed it. So, her teacher is, again, having to adjust her work and assignments to meet Brynne's needs.
What are her needs? She's bored. She is super, super smart. But she just turned 5, so she is one of the youngest in her class. She could easily test out of kindergarten, and really needs to be in 1st grade, but we don't want to push her further than she should go emotionally. She is also experiencing some separation issues (although those just started last week.)
She has got to where she cries every day when I take her to school. First she was crying getting on the bus. Then she started crying when I took her to school. This morning she started crying as soon as she woke up.
She kept saying, "I don't like the work." But she does it impeccably and then comes home and spends the rest of the evening doing more school work that I provide her. I've noticed, though, that she has been skipping over all of the kindergarten work and doing more advanced things, like addition and subtraction.
It occurred to me when driving home from meeting with the school counselor this morning that she is bored! When I went back up to talk to the counselor, she agreed whole-heartedly.
We are so blessed to have a school that is willing to meet the individual needs of its students. Eli has special needs that they have met the past two years. And now they are taking this issue with Brynee and hitting it head on. We are considering having her do 1st grade math and do some 1st grade congnitive computer work when her class is doing work that she has already mastered.
By doing this we are hoping that she will regain an excitement to go to school, because she is doing work that challenges her.
And then I won't have to be bummed out all morning after I have left her at school in tears.
This sounds so much like Hailey last year. She was bored out of her mind, so she dilly dallied on her classwork, making sure her pictures were colored perfectly, etc, since she knew all the course work. We approached her teacher, who started offering her more complex books to read and extra worksheets. I offer more at home too. It's so hard when your child loves schoolwork but would rather stay home because you can offer her more of a challenge. I'm glad she has a good teacher, that really helps.
ReplyDeleteLori
she should attend my daughters school they were doing addition and subtraction in the first 2 weeks of kindergarten, she is in 4th grade and doing pre algreba they are like a year or so ahead of what the rest of the state is. its hard but I love and so does she.
ReplyDeleteglad your school is working with her. hope the crying stops I know its so hard on both of you. she is such a cutie and sweet girl I hate to hear she is having a rough time of it I think they all go through it at some point but it is still so hard.
I soooo feel for you girl! Of course, I know we've talked about how our girls are both very bright for their age...does Brynne's school have a gifted and talented program for kinders? We were lucky enough to have that option! Of course I was worried when Caroline went through her ITP junk in kindergarten, and then last year she was very bored, but her teacher was wonderful and worked extra with Caroline and gave her more work to keep challenging her. We were lucky enough to get the same teacher again this year! What a blessing! She knows how bright Caroline is and she can add extra stuff that giver her a boost! Since she is in the 2nd grade, she works with her on a reading level of a 4.2 {which would be part way into her 4th grade year} and math is the same. But her teacher sends extra stuff home with her, as well as me buying school workbooks that are on the same level. I think it's great that you work with her on stuff that is may not get quite so bored with! Wow...this turned into a novel! Sorry! Hugs sweet friend!
ReplyDeleteThat has to be so difficult to see her like that! I hope that the new challenges and work renew her excitement about school and learning.
ReplyDeleteI fear that I will have the same problem with Lexie. She is incredibly smart, and gets bored easily with age-appropriate work.
I love that they are able to change things around to help her, I hope she starts enjoying herself more now!
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