Earthmerlin Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Hi. I'm new to this site & forum but have been reading posts for some time now. I have a young Kinder who is bored stiff of her teacher's readers. My kid is VERY quiet & cautious & she is a people pleaser. The teacher's a veteran, has 24 students & I' m sure she's pretty good at reaching most kids' needs. I'm just concerned she's not fully challenging mine. At home my daughter can read words like 'beautiful, Arctic, eucalyptus, courageous' but is given readers with too simple words (i.e. 'shell, mad, zoo'). Her comprehension is through the roof too. When I give her more challenging readers she has taken to them with gusto & has said 'I like this book b/c its words & ideas make me think'. I have approached the teacher before explaining my daughter's unique characteristics (quiet but bright) but don' t honestly feel heard. As you can probably tell I supplement her schoolwork but believe she should also be challenged there as well. I certainly don't want her to associate reading as mind-numbing--that's my main concern. Look, I'm also a veteran teacher & I get how hard it can be to reach all kids. But now it's my kid we're talking about & I have a vested interest in her outcome. I wonder if it's only fluency the teacher's looking for or perhaps it's the quick but loud kids that garner attention. Maybe she just believes a child nearly 1 year younger than her peers can't possibly rise to the 'lofty Kinder Core Curriculum' (her words, not mine). Ugggghhh!!! What do I do? We still have nearly 1/2 year left of Kinder & I feel I should broach the subject again but don' t want to seem like a 'my kid's a genius' parent. How do you politely yet firmly say' My child needs more challenge?' Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebrindam Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 I remember telling my son's kindergarten teacher that she should do a check for reading level because DS's memory was such that if he read a book once, he would have it memorized and therefore nothing they were sending home challenged him. They tested him and realized he was several grade levels above kindergarten and started sending home appropriate material. Just tell her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeviolin Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Talk with her about it. Or maybe subtly mention your daughter enjoying whatever book is more difficult or have your daughter bring harder books from home. This might be better addressed in the after schooling section where a lot of people have experience here. If it were me, I'd just pull her and homeschool her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nart Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Honestly, focus on her having fun at kindergarten and afterschool her. My son was a fluent reader in kindergarten. It took until November for his teacher to realize he could read on a second grade level. Once she realized it she....did nothing differently. The focus is on helping the kids who don't know all the letters and sounds. My son got the same easy work as all the kids. I challenge him at home after school and the 180 days he isn't in school. Additionally, if common core was adopted in your state then the teachers are probably focusing on adapting their teaching to meet common core. My kids' teachers have had lots of in service days this year, which has meant lots of substitute teachers covering classes. I wish I could be more optimistic but I would focus on what you can do at home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 The after schooling forum would be better. It depends on how the reading is done. Here the teachers put the children in small groups and reassess regularly. But you still run into problems if your child is above the rest of the class as they end up in the top group unless the teacher is willing to work with the child alone or send them to another class. Most people I know just say the books seem a bit easy and can he move up. You will get arguments about comprehension etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Dp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymomtime Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 In my locality, and the research I've done, most kindergarten classes do not differentiate instruction for the accelerated learner. My son is due to go to K next year and is already reading at almost at a middle first grade level. I am hoping and planning on homeschool next school year due to this. I was told by a teacher at our local school they would just send home harder books. My son isn't the quiet type and being bored in class will not go well. In your situation, I'd talk to the teacher, focus on after schooling, or pull to home school. I've been after schooling my son because he wants to learn and sees preschool as play time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanDiegoMom Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 We had the same problems- my twins' teacher said the kindergarteners had to stay in the leveled readers, even though they were reading chapter books at that point. We just read the short reader at night and then moved on to something more challenging after. Then we started afterschooling math. By second grade they were reading whatever they wanted and I was allowed in the class twice a week to teach him math. Third grade and we are homeschooling. When I did approach the K teacher about moving ahead in reading and math, she was very defensive and it kind of soured our relationship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoppeltGemoppelt Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 We had the same problems- my twins' teacher said the kindergarteners had to stay in the leveled readers, even though they were reading chapter books at that point. We just read the short reader at night and then moved on to something more challenging after. Then we started afterschooling math. By second grade they were reading whatever they wanted and I was allowed in the class twice a week to teach him math. Third grade and we are homeschooling. When I did approach the K teacher about moving ahead in reading and math, she was very defensive and it kind of soured our relationship. You and I must be twins! Same experiences here with my twin boys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoppeltGemoppelt Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 My twin boys started reading in preschool, chapter books in K. The teachers in K and first basically told me that they cannot advance my kids unless their writing is up to par with their reading :confused1: The most I was able to accomplish was that they don't have to take readers home but will instead choose something else to read. This gave us time for afterschooling reading, math, and German. They are in 2nd grade now and just about finished reading the ALL the Harry Potter books. 2nd grade is much better, since the focus of school is not so much the mechanics of reading anymore. My kids' teachers this year are fabulous though, so I am worried this may not last. I would homeschool if money wasn't an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hellen Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 If you've already tried and failed, it's unlikely that continuing to press the subject will bring the results you want. In an ideal classroom, every child would be challenged but it doesn't often happen that way. I continued to fight for my son but it was a waste of time. The readers take her a few minutes at best, right? Have her take the three minutes to read what is assigned and then give her something that is interesting. She won't hate reading because of those readers. She can read them to a doll, pet, or a sibling so it's more about the experience than the content. At this time in in this subject, the teacher can't meet her needs. Next year is a new year with a new teacher. If you're going to continue at that school you don't want to become the difficult mom this early with something that you can easily remedy at home. I learned that the hard way. This is not the right battle to pick. That will come later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 What was your child's grade for reading in her report card? Assuming that the school issues report cards every trimester. The grade my kids received for reading is their reading comprehension scores on those standard leveled reading tests. It is kindergarten. Unless you know what help the ESL and kids with LDs (from Early Intervention) are getting, you may not know how tie up the teacher's time is. She may have time to challenge your child or she may not. My older was a very early reader and entered kinder at 4yrs 8mths. What help was that he was allowed to borrow whatever book he fancy from the school library and use that for reading in kindergarten. What also help was that when it was buddy reading time with the 3rd graders, his reading buddy was the 3rd grade teacher. I didn't have to advocate for anything, his teachers are used to early readers. He didn't have to read the readers that was send home under the school reading program. The typical readers and chapter books in the classroom set aren't going to be challenging enough. The easiest way to help your child is to ask that she be allowed to bring a book from home for reading time. Either that or donate some unabridged classics to the classroom library. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justasque Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 We asked for permission to substitute library books for the ones the teacher sent home. (That is, *I* chose the books, rather than asking the teacher to take on the extra work.) We then chose books that had some relationship to the current classroom theme. So if they were doing Penguins, we did books on penguins, cold habitats, ice/snow, the water cycle, birds, Antarctic exploration, fiction stories with penguin tie-ins, etc. etc. It went well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 My son's teacher noticed that he passed the Dolch list for K, 1st, and 2nd the very first time he was tested. After that, she sent home a second grade reading textbook instead of the easy readers. To be honest, I don't think it made a difference. He read way more interesting books at home. I started homeschooling him halfway through first grade so he could be sufficiently challenged. School want capable of doing that for him. I'm glad I was able to do that, because my current K'er is even more advanced in reading. :p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
go_go_gadget Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 How much time do they spend reading in class? My guess is that it isn't much, so if you have her read on her own level at home, the long-term effect of reading for a few minutes a day below her level will be pretty much zero. Similarly, spending a few minutes more per day reading on a higher level won't have a real, cumulative effect, either. The amount of time spent reading and the level of reading that's assigned might continue to be an issue as she moves along, or she might level out as other kids catch up. At the K level, it's too soon to say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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