My 1st grader is smarter than I am

I know, it's kinda fun, but honestly - I don't know what to do!
I have always known my 6 YO is VERY bright. She is reading above 3rd grade. But better yet, she's doing math...I dont' know where! Every night she pleads for a math problem. We give her one and hope we can get out her bedroom door before she gives us the answer and we have to figure out if she's right and then give her another one. By a "question" I mean she figured out 12 x 12 in a few minutes, 20 x 20 took her 10 seconds, and then last weekend my brother gave her 101 x 50. She told him 5050 in 2 minutes. I asked her how she did it. She told me she took the 00's off the 100 and put them on the 50. That gave her 5000. Then she just had to add 50 for 5050.

My mom is a special ed and 1st, 2nd, teacher and has tested her and says she was in 2nd grade math at 3 years old. We did addition, subtraction, multiplication, clocks, word stories, fractions, ALL OF IT! Meanwhile her teacher is giving her pages of 1+2 and 2+3 questions. She is in the "challenge" progarm at her school. It's a joke.

I don't expect her teacher to challenge her, I know this is too much in a public school to expect with 19 kids.

But what do I do to challenge this kid? I have 4 kids! I already spend way more time supporting her piano practice and lessons (Yes, she's great at that too.)
Help!

 

I was confused with your title, is it your 1 year old or your 6 year old? I will assume you are talking about your 6 year old
QUOTE(MamaKimberlee @ Nov 14 2008, 05:44 PM) [snapback]1071011[/snapback]
I know, it's kinda fun, but honestly - I don't know what to do!
I have always known my 6 YO is VERY bright. She is reading above 3rd grade. But better yet, she's doing math...I dont' know where! Every night she pleads for a math problem. We give her one and hope we can get out her bedroom door before she gives us the answer and we have to figure out if she's right and then give her another one. By a "question" I mean she figured out 12 x 12 in a few minutes, 20 x 20 took her 10 seconds, and then last weekend my brother gave her 101 x 50. She told him 5050 in 2 minutes. I asked her how she did it. She told me she took the 00's off the 100 and put them on the 50. That gave her 5000. Then she just had to add 50 for 5050.

My mom is a special ed and 1st, 2nd, teacher and has tested her and says she was in 2nd grade math at 3 years old. We did addition, subtraction, multiplication, clocks, word stories, fractions, ALL OF IT! Meanwhile her teacher is giving her pages of 1+2 and 2+3 questions. She is in the "challenge" progarm at her school. It's a joke.

I don't expect her teacher to challenge her, I know this is too much in a public school to expect with 19 kids. I would be talking to her teacher, she SHOULD be challenged... It is her job to teach her, and if she already knows what she is teaching, she will have to make some adjustments... It is totally possible for her to send her to another class for math that WILL challenge her... There is nothing worse than a student who is bored... If she isn't challenged, she will get bored, and that brings more problems than her being bright... If your teacher isn't willing or able to help, go to the principal and demand that she be looked after... There may be programs available through the school district that they can lead you to...
But what do I do to challenge this kid? I have 4 kids! I already spend way more time supporting her piano practice and lessons (Yes, she's great at that too.)
Help!


I don't have a lot of advice beyond what I have said, but there are lots of websites that are interactive and challenging that she could work on... Or educational software... It's difficult when you have other kids...

 

That's great. I know if it were me she'd out pace my math fast!!! Today my 17 month old corrected my grammar...We saw geese flying above and because I think it's cute, I called them "gooses" and my DD said, clear as a bell, "geese". Of her 12 words she has, one of them is to correct me!!

 

Whoops! Sorry! I meant to say my 1st grader! (Mods - could you fix this???)
Thanks guys!

 

Ok, gotcha covered....but I know NOTHING about 1st graders! Sorry :hug:

She sounds AMAZING!!!

 

Oh my gosh! That is amazing!

It tis the teachers job to teach at her ability level. I taught 1st grade for 6 years. For math, I had a about 5 different math groups. For example, if we were working on money, durning small groups, the lower group would focus on counting pennies and nickels and the higher group would work on making change. I would talk to the teacher and ask her what she can do to teach your child at her ability level.

 

Jonathan is like that as well. I just had his conference, and his teacher sent home a packet of math that he can do in lieu of the regular math homework. It is the enrichment pages. I looked through it, and it does the same application, but requires more critical thinking skill than the regular work. She is also pulling out harding books in the classroom to make them available to him. I never worked with him, it was all child led learning, so I do understand where you are coming from.

 

Last year, Brady needed more challenging reading, and his Kindergarten teacher sent him and another boy to a 1st grade class for reading time. I wonder if your teacher can have your child join a higher-grade classroom for math exercises?

 

QUOTE(MamaKimberlee @ Nov 14 2008, 09:44 PM) [snapback]1071011[/snapback]
I don't expect her teacher to challenge her, I know this is too much in a public school to expect with 19 kids.

But what do I do to challenge this kid? I have 4 kids! I already spend way more time supporting her piano practice and lessons (Yes, she's great at that too.)
Help!


I'm not sure why the teacher can't give her different work; surely that's not expecting too much. Our school is also public and has similar class sizes; all kids are pretested on each math unit and any child who tests out is given more challenging work to do. Some kids do different work all year round, others might do it only for a unit or two.

If the school absolutely won't help, I would try finding more challenging work for her via maybe a 3rd or 4th grade math book; in the meantime, you might want to start looking into one of the gifted programs that kids can do from home. Your DD is a bit young yet, but depending on what state you're in, Johns Hopkins has an excellent one open to kids in second grade on up (it's not a regional thing; it's open to many states, not only Maryland), and Northwestern University has a program as well, though I'm not sure of the grade level for that one.

She sounds very, very bright!

 

Thanks guys! I have really gotten NO WHERE with her school. It is good to hear that some of you are geting help from your schools, but I don't think making a fuss would really help. There are some other good readers in her class, so the teacher has a reading group for them, but I know no one else is doing this kind of math, and I think the teacher has enough kids struggling she can't work on this.

So! I have decided I'm on my own. I will look into the ideas you have - BGTwins97. Thanks!