Anyone's kids in a Talented and Gifted Program?

My DD just turned 7 and is in 1st grade. Her teacher indicated to me today that she'd like to recommend that Isabel get tested for the Talented and Gifted Program. The program starts in 2nd grade in our district. She is a very bright kid, but I don't know what is considered talented and gifted. She is very social and enjoys her friends, but does find a lot of the work in class easy and kind of boring unless it's got a lot of hands on elements to keep her entertained. I was looking at some of the info. on the program and it appears that they structure it in 2nd grade to be included in their regular classroom, but in 3/4 grade it is self contained so the entire classroom would be made up of talented and gifted kids. Also, their program is housed at only one of the elementary schools, so it would be different than the one she is supposed to attend. I know that she would make new friends, but it also makes me a bit nervous that her only friends would be in this program. My other 2 will be starting school next year and they would be at a different school than her. I'm probably jumping the gun b/c she may not even qualify. But, I'm hoping to hear some feedback from those of you that may have kiddos or have taught kiddos in a TAG program and what your experiences have been.

 

Ok, no kids in this kind of program, but I was in one myself. In fact, that is where I met my DH! :wub:

I was extremely bored in school. The work was beyond easy for me. Our gifted program was the only place I ever felt challenged. It had nothing to do with the work being harder, either. We just did things like challenging mind teasers that made us think outside the box, had discussions about subjects my peers probably knew nothing about, and did other fun things. Every year we got to pick a subject and do an in-depth study about it and give a presentation to the class. Since the subject was something that interested us, the work was fun! But, a lot was also expected of us. That was probably the only time I ever studied in school since for all my other classes I could just take what we did in class and use it to ace the tests. We also did things like thinking of something we'd like to invent, designing it, and marketing it to the class.

It was set up differently at my school than what you are describing - we only met for half a day once a week. But, I think I would have thrived in the type of environment you talked about. I truly hated school because I was so bored. Plus, never having to work hard for my grades or study left me totally unprepared for college.

 

My oldest has been in G/T since 3rd grade. I have to say, if it were at a different school I probably wouldn't have let her be in it. Although she is okay in regular classrooms too. She would actually prefer to be in the classes like Stacy mentioned that all she has to do is show up and take the test! lol I think your dd's personality would play into whether it's worth traveling to another school for it.

 

Stacy, she's just like that. Although it's only 1st grade, she just rushes through the work b/c it's so easy and throws it in her backpack. Nothing seems to challenge her in 1st grade, but I'm not sure how much of that is her being a bright kid and how much of it is the teacher. It doesn't help that her teacher this year doesn't send home a lot of homework and is quite disorganized. But, she does do some good hands on activities which helps b/c she then can do "experiments". I know there's been a push lately for more differential teaching to teach kids at their level whether that be below the avg. for that class or above the avg., but I think it's becoming really difficult for teachers to teach at so many different levels within the classroom and not have assistants or materials. If they were able to really challenge her within her own regular classroom, that is what I think I'd prefer b/c I don't know if I want to disrupt everything and her friendships by having her go to a whole new school.

 

I was in TAG in elementary and middle school. My experience in elementary was awesome. I went every morning for a few hours and got to be with my class the rest of the day. It was wonderful to be challenged and to make friends with kids who were similar. In middle school, I was in for a couple of periods per day and I hated it. I had a terrible teacher who assumed that because we were gifted that she didn't have to teach us anything. I begged my parents to take me out because I felt like I was falling behind and not learning anything. I took advanced classes in high school and was definitely not bored.

 

I did TAG in 5th grade only. I qualified before but had not chosen to be placed. In our district 6th was choice of classes any way and we just arranged for tougher classes. This said i now have the attention span of a 4 year old. But back on target, I'd feel out the teacher on how she handles the kids. The TAG teacher I had treated us like we were in college.

 

Both of my older children are in a program for advanced children. Although I love this public school, I am not at all impressed with what they have for gifted kids. My (almost) 8 year old goes up two grades for math every day - and I think we've bought a few more years, but the principal even told me she doesn't know what we will do with her in two years when she has done all the math they have in this school. It seems I will have to homeschool her - either for math or for everything (she is in 2 grade and reading high school physics books for fun at bedtime). But I gues we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

I definitely wish there were more options for them. I have not been able to find them so far.

 

DS was in the AT (Academically Talented) Program. He was in it for 2 years -- 4th and fifth grade. He was kind of lukewarm about it in 4th grade -- extremely happy to be "not bored", but missing his friends a bunch. In fifth grade, he blossomed and loved school, the teacher, everything he did.
I think whether a kid would like it depends on personality, degree of boredom, and the teacher.
I have very mixed feelings about it.
Good -
He was happy not to be bored, and to be around other kids who were interested in what he was -- a lot of the kids in his old school labeled him as "weird" b/c he was good in math and music, especially. In his new class, he was mixed with kids involved in acting in the community, kids who wanted to be dancers, kids who were just more accepting of him b/c he's outside of the very narrow definition of "cool" that exists in his old school.
Bad -
But he missed his friends. Only 20 kids are chosen from the district for this program, so most of the "AT kids" are in a new school. That's very hard for a lot of 4th graders. DS told me he was thinking of begging DH and me to let him drop out of the program a couple times. Plus being in AT seems, sometimes, an excuse to give the kids more work. On the plus side of this, it's wonderful prep for higher grades.
My younger DS(s) are not in the AT program. I wasn't sure if I wanted them to go, and now I'm glad that I didn't have to decide. But now one DS is bored (and I'm afraid that his behavior will suffer), while the other is happy with his friends even though he's ahead of them in lots of subjects (not bragging, just stating a fact.)

 

My twin boys are in the "EAP" (Elementary Advanced Program) -- not at our local school. In our district the program begins at 3rd grade. My boys were VERY bored in their old school. One son didn't want to go into the program AT ALL. He didn't want to leave his friends at the old school. However, after 3 days at the new school, he said, "Mom, I'm so happy I'm in EAP now. I'm not bored anymore!"

We have made a strong effort to make sure he stays in touch with his friends from the local neighborhood. This whole thing has really worked out well for them.

We "waivered" our twin girls into the new school for 1st grade so that we'd have them all together.

Now, my girls are in 1st grade and they are bored and not learning much in the way of math. I have to figure out something for them for the rest of this year and through 2nd grade. I will test them for the program as well and hope they both make it in. That is a whole OTHER decision if one makes it into the program and the other does not.

I do highly recommend this type of program (assuming the program in your school district is a good one). I would advise testing your daughter and then making your decision later in the year after the testing is completed.

Good Luck!

Kat

 

My boys are still on the young side & I am not sure how 5 & 6 year olds are tested for gifted but Jason was put in the gifted K class last year. It really was best for him & he had a wonderful teacher. They were both tested at the end of K & both were put in the advanced class for 1st grade. I wasn't sure how they would do being together but only 1 gifted class per grade. I think if you want to put her in the TAG classes than doing it sooner is better than later. Justin is struggling a bit more just because Jason learned more earlier on.