You've already gotten some really good feedback so I am just posting to commiserate with you. If it's of any help to you. We are in a similar position in our family with my 3rd child who is in 1st grade. I pretty much let it go with my older two but decided to speak up with my 3rd. I did ask about reading groups with my older two, was always told reading groups were held regularly, but they weren't. This year my daughter is being assessed way below her reading level. I've talked with the teacher about it but really we're not making much headway. My daughter sounds a lot like yours, very good reader and student and also very compliant. If talking to the teacher has done anything, it's just to make her more aware that while the assessment the school's using has assessed on a certain level, her reading skills are likely higher and the teacher seems to be spending some time with her in small group in the classroom now. Whereas before during reading time (Daily 5 where we live), she was pretty much working on her own. I keep asking myself what would my graduate professors do in this situation (I ask myself that question because they would sometimes share personal stories in class and I'd think, wow you said that to a teacher)? I think they'd ask for conferences with the reading specialist and then the principal. But I just don't see what good in the end that's going to do. I have seen before on the boards here that others with children in public school seem to be in a similar situation. It's baffling to me because where I taught and how I was trained as a reading teacher, I was expected to assess all my students to their top ability in reading (I always ran out of time for the above grade level readers but I did get them assessed to above grade level). I also taught regular reading groups, more often with below and on grade level readers and about 2-3 times a week for the above grade level readers. I wasn't perfect but I did meet with all my students every week. At this point and as I told the teacher, I would just like my daughter to be exposed to higher level books in the classroom for her independent reading time etc. My daughter is so compliant, at school that is, when I suggested to her to take a book from home to school she said, I don't know if I'm allowed to. Also, she wasn't aware of where a lot of the chapter books in the classroom were. So just by talking with the teacher, at least we got it cleared up, yes you can bring a book from home, and the teacher pointed out some book boxes in the classroom with higher level books that my daughter hadn't seen. For whatever reason, my older two had ready access to higher level books for independent reading time in their 1st grade classrooms.

Wow, I have to completely disagree with you. Even GT educators will tell you, one test is just a snapshot of a child on that one particular day. I put my opinion out there (even though I knew I'd get flack for it) so that other parents could hear a different viewpoint and make a decision that works for them and their children. I've done a lot of research on this topic myself. I've even spoken with the head of cognitive testing at a local university as well as the head of our county's accelerated program (not in relation to my own children, but just in general). Their viewpoints align closely with mine -- bar, screw the iq tests. In fact, one of them told me a few children who don't initially qualify for the program just need the chance to be exposed to the program and they thrive and flourish academically. If a parent, after serious consideration, truly thought their child would benefit from an advanced program, I do think they should pursue all avenues. See how the child does. By the way, "test prepping" is not a moral issue. Homeschoolers call it teaching critical thinking skills. I attended a presentation last spring by a woman who works for the Critical Thinking Skills company. As she was explaining the benefits of some of their materials to the homeschoolers in the group, I raised my hand and asked aren't these the same materials CTS recommends for preparing for gt type tests. She said , yes exactly. But (some) homeschoolers believe in teaching these skills directly for the sake of the value of the skill. Not for gt test prep. I specifically taught certain skills to my oldest and I continue to see a benefit in his visual perception skills, among others, that is an asset to him in life, not just for a test. For those interested, you can hop over to the Critical Thinking Skills company website for more info on their various materials. They're a pretty well known company.

These tests are not the end all and be all of life. I learned the hard way. Advocate for your child if you think necessary. Do what needs to be done if necessary (including, gasp, test prep). I did this on the later end. My kids are thriving in an advanced program. Yes, even the "borderline" kid. Screw IQ tests.

It has been great for us. I do tweak some things here and there but overall I have learned so much as I've taught Foundations and Essentials. Actually, using the Foundations materials (we've done A, B, and half of C so far) with my daughter taught me how to help my youngest learn to talk. He was on the later end and needed to be taught how to form certain sounds physically with his mouth. The phonemic awareness activities in Foundations gave me the knowledge to do this.

For reading, have you looked at Logic of English's materials? I would look at their Foundations curriculum and see if you think that might be a fit for your daughter. It is an Orton-Gillingham based program. It is also active and fun. You can find more info at their website, you might be interested in the pages regarding struggling readers and also dyslexia. They also offer free online training videos if you are interested in learning more about Orton-Gillingham based programs and multi-sensory systematic phonics instruction. I watched those before I used the program with three of my children. I've used Essentials with my older two and Foundations with my third child.

PS--I don't think you will have to entice your daughter to do the lessons. Wait and see how your time goes before promising extra time after lessons. Because Foundations' lesson are already very active and include many games. I personally need a break sometimes after teaching the lessons. Maybe that's just me. Put your time into doing the lessons in A as often as you can. A will really help her with her blending. Get her reading the right way as fast as you can so she doesn't get confused by how her school is teaching reading. I didn't move fast enough with A and I had to undo some things my daughter's school was doing as they taught her reading in Kindergarten. I was able to get her into B by spring of Kindergarten and then it didn't matter so much how the school taught reading (ie, patterned text, sight words, looking at pictures to guess words) because she truly knew how to read words. And this is coming from someone who was trained to teach reading in my master's program the way my daughter's school was teaching her last year. :)

I have used Level A. Level A's lessons didn't take as long, maybe 20-30min. Level B's lessons took longer than A. A good plan would be to push through A as quickly as you can, meaning schedule time for it as often as you can. I think I went too slow through A since I was afterschooling, I only made time for it 2-3x a week at the most. I think A works better if you teach more lessons in a week, 4-5 if you can. Then B is fine for 2-3 lessons a week. Those lessons are longer. If you have any questions about A or B, I'd be happy to try to answer them. We are halfway through level C but to be honest, we are taking a break from Foundations lessons right now. My daughter's reading really took off halfway through level B so I have just been reading books with her or giving her books to read on her own this fall.

My problem with figuring out MCT is I can't get my hands on the materials unless I buy the whole set from MCT. With something that expensive, I like to look at it at a homeschooling conference first before buying if I can (imagine the shipping on a full MCT return!). Or in the case of All About Spelling which I was also very interested in earlier this year, I was able to find some used copies at a local homeschooling group for a good price. Sometimes I just need to have the books in hand and flip through them to understand the material better. I was able to get a used copy of Grammar Town and Building Language teacher and student books on the classifieds here last May so that is why I even have some little idea how the MCT teacher's manuals look compared to the student editions. All the posts here were really helpful to me too!

I also don't know if the MCT sequence is different for those using MCT in homeschooling/afterschooling versus public school use. My sons' school uses Building Language and Grammar Island in 3rd grade and Caesar's English I and Grammar Town in 4th. For 5th grade, Caesars English II and Grammar Voyage.

Mom2, I am listening in on this post because I also find MCT confusing. In fact, I printed out this thread earlier so I could "study" it. Not presuming to be able to answer your question but I will try. Didn't you say you have all the Teacher's Manual editions? Then likely you will have the answers printed in them. I don't think the student editions do but I am still working on figuring MCT out. I took a break from figuring it out last May when I learned my older boys would get MCT materials in their new school this year but I think I need to go back and look at them again. My oldest missed 3rd and 4th grade at this school so didn't get to use whatever MCT materials they use those years. I'd like to go back and do those with him. It is funny though. I wouldn't have even known what MCT was at the orientation if not for this forum. So I was excited to see those materials on my kids' program lists at the orientation in May.

I have ETC books 1, 2 and 3 for my daughter.

I taught in a Title 1 school for 6 years. Do you remember what the O-G based phonics instruction was? I mean, did the teachers use a specific curriculum, resources? Receive special training? Our go-to for struggling readers was Reading Recovery, which was not successful for all children. I am very interested in this topic...you are the first person I've seen who's mentioned O-G based instruction in all classes at a public school, not just special ed. I had never heard of O-G based instruction until I was teaching my oldest son how to spell (great reader, abysmal speller) and then I used LOE Essentials with him and his brother for spelling and have used LOE's Foundations with my daughter. I would love to know more about how your school taught O-G based phonics in the classroom. Thanks!

I think CTC Mathematical Reasoning is cheaper because you buy only one book, whereas with Singapore Math you buy the textbook and workbook, part A and part B plus if the teacher's guide if you want that. It was someone I met who sells CTC and is a longtime homeschooler who referred to Math Reasoning as Singapore on steroids. I like both MR and Singapore. As an afterschooler though, I am having trouble working through all of the books in a timely manner. So I am thinking for next summer, I am just going to buy some Math Mammoth topic books. I love Math Mammoth, love the way Maria teaches math. I only switched to Singapore because I was teaching one child at home last year and trying to find a curriculum that aligned closely with his K12 math. That ended up being Singapore Standards edition. Then I heard a talk by the above lady who sells CTC and couldn't resist trying CTC Math Reasoning. It's a spiral curriculum. But I think we will go back to Math Mammoth next summer for topic workbooks so we can finish them in the summer and not having this huge workbook hanging over our heads. I find a complete math curriculum to be useful for my younger children, say K-2, but a little too much for my older ones.

I would have suggested All About Spelling for you since it separates the teaching of spelling from reading. I have used Logic of English's Foundations program levels A-C with my 1st grade daughter (still in level C) but it teaches reading and spelling concurrently. There is a wide disparity between her reading and spelling levels though. She is a good speller for her grade level but much higher for reading. You could look at Explode the Code workbooks for spelling (not O-G but solid phonics). I like the first three workbooks especially. Or look at the How to Teach Spelling series which is O-G based but I think you have to do some teaching with those workbooks (there is an instructor's manual), I don't think those are as open and go as Explode the Code. You can look at some samples at Rainbow Resource I think.

Laura, very good points. I think every school handles how high they test for reading level differently. I have very much internalized how the school where I taught expected reading assessments to be handled (so I forget sometimes that not all schools do this) - I was expected to test my readers to their highest reading level instructionally. A few kids who were several grade levels above, I couldn't top out because of time issues. Each reading test consisted of taking a running record of the child reading a selection aloud, plus oral and written questions and each reading level had a fiction and nonfiction selection. I think where my kids went/go to school K-2 only tests to on grade level. I get different answers about this from different teachers.