How do Uk kids stay interested in age appropriate class (SF Bay Area)
Apr 14th 2013, 6:04 am
#16
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Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 219
Re: How do Uk kids stay interested in age appropriate class (SF Bay Area)
Wow that GT programme sound amazing! Unfortunately the programme in the school district we like doesn't start until 3rd grade!
Apr 14th 2013, 6:23 am
#17
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Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 22,105
Re: How do Uk kids stay interested in age appropriate class (SF Bay Area)
Our Kindergarten wasn't play based, but we'd been to a pretty good pre-K, plus with at home activities, the kids were already reading well and their Math was way above end-KG requirements. I was worried that their KG years would be a waste of time, and they could have been if they had got with the wrong teachers. As it was, their teachers were excellent, realized the kids needed more, so gave them it.
They also encouraged us to test the kids for the GT program, which I was initially against, but am so glad I let my wife persuade me. In our district it is a one day "pull out" program, and the kids really look forward to that day. Its a break from what, to be honest, is a pretty dull and monotonous regular program aimed at teaching the kids to pass the state testing so the schools can get better funding!!
I've still got 2nd and 4th graders in the GT program (it has changed for the 6th grader) and the teacher is great- she has a broad district-set syllabus to teach, but how she does it is largely up to her. This year they have been running online businesses selling products they've made to other kids in the school district, including developing their websites, creating video adverts, doing all the accounts and even (simplified) tax returns! They even had to create their own currency that their customers could "earn" from their own teachers (bitcoin anyone?).They've also been running share portfolios, doing lots of alternative power projects, and now they're getting into some chemistry and physiscs that I'm sure we didn't do till senior school. It is an ungraded day, so the kids are encouraged to push the limits a bit, and there is no downside of a bad grade on a report card if they bomb for trying something that doesn't work.
If you are concerned about your kids being bored, or not stretched, I would highly recommend looking into the equivalent program in the school district you're moving to.
They also encouraged us to test the kids for the GT program, which I was initially against, but am so glad I let my wife persuade me. In our district it is a one day "pull out" program, and the kids really look forward to that day. Its a break from what, to be honest, is a pretty dull and monotonous regular program aimed at teaching the kids to pass the state testing so the schools can get better funding!!
I've still got 2nd and 4th graders in the GT program (it has changed for the 6th grader) and the teacher is great- she has a broad district-set syllabus to teach, but how she does it is largely up to her. This year they have been running online businesses selling products they've made to other kids in the school district, including developing their websites, creating video adverts, doing all the accounts and even (simplified) tax returns! They even had to create their own currency that their customers could "earn" from their own teachers (bitcoin anyone?).They've also been running share portfolios, doing lots of alternative power projects, and now they're getting into some chemistry and physiscs that I'm sure we didn't do till senior school. It is an ungraded day, so the kids are encouraged to push the limits a bit, and there is no downside of a bad grade on a report card if they bomb for trying something that doesn't work.
If you are concerned about your kids being bored, or not stretched, I would highly recommend looking into the equivalent program in the school district you're moving to.
Thankfully my daughter decided to cooperate and give the gifted test a go, even though when she was younger, she didn't want to because she didn't want to change schools....children! They used to do pull outs in our district for the younger kids and then switched to the gifted program being from 3 to 6 in another school. My daughter, funny enough, is going into junior high next year and was willing to change schools (the junior high gifted program is at another school as well) to be in this program. I guess the boredom was becoming too much for her and was worth leaving her friends.
Apr 14th 2013, 8:46 am
#18
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Joined: Nov 2002
Location: Where bad things rarely happen in movies
Posts: 8,933
Re: How do Uk kids stay interested in age appropriate class (SF Bay Area)
It is good. I'm glad we did it, but a shame that its just one day. Some other districts round here (Houston and some others) have it as a totally seperate class 5 days a week, and that must be fantastic. Once they get to Junior High, the GT gets absorbed into the regular Pre-AP program - if they have enough to make a GT-only class they will, but it hasn't happened for us this year in 6th Grade.
