What is gifted?

[RBBMummy]

I feel like the term is overused. My son loves learning and increasing more and more people are calling him gifted particularly today. But I thought gifted meant having a natural ability, he just can't stop learning. Its not gifted if it's just learning is it?

They do a couple of 10 minute activities a day to teach them things. Some of the other kids were telling me my son would always be put in the corner given the activity then left alone. He would do it in a few seconds then just sit there till he was told it was ok to leave. He's not gifted, he doesn't have a natural ability, he actually needs to be taught and wants to learn.

The “other kids told you”? At nursery level?

That’s not reliable information.

Go in and see the staff and discuss what’s happening and what options are.

Yeah I pick him up a bit earlier than most and it takes a while so some kids like to show off what they've done that day and tell me what my kid did. I bought it up with them but they just shrugged it off as "oh well he's gifted"

My dd was ahead with academic things at nursery, so I chose a Montessori nursery, where they are allowed to pick their own activity. If you either teach them at home or provide them with teaching resources at home, they will be ahead. I looked at nursery as somewhere where dd socialised and learnt fine motor skills, etc. and was not expecting them to teach her. But then she was only there for a few half days each week.
Could you look at a Montessori nursery or ask the staff at his nursery if he could bring in the workbooks he likes doing by himself at home?

When I worked in secondary ed, 'gifted' meant "top 10% of the school academically" and "talented" meant "good at sport, art, drama, or plays a musical instrument".

It was more of an administrative label than anything else. I don't think this is how the majority of people would interpret the words though.

Is this a private daycare nursery rather than a school nursery? Do you have any meetings with your child’s keyworker, or regular reports?

It seems surprising that everybody at nursery ‘knows’ he’s gifted, but the staff haven’t spoken to you. I would ask for a chat with his keyworker about his learning.

I would also look at all 17 areas in the EYFS framework. If he’s weak on any of those, focus on those areas rather than worrying too much about how he’s being stretched in his best areas.

I sent him in with a few pages of maths problem today. Mostly just big number addition and subtraction. I asked them to let him have them if he wanted. He did them all and was really happy he got to do something during learning time. They even checked they were all correct. I'm going to talk with them tomorrow to address the issues properly. Should be fun

My ds's nursery manager actually bought work books for him to use. I didn't think it was a good idea, tbh, though I didn't complain.
Is he ok with other aspect of learning? Like socialising, taking turns, joining in, following instructions, etc?
My ds had a lot exposure to maths as a toddler/infant, but mostly with the toys, not with workbooks.

Why didn't you think it was a good idea?

Because I wanted him to socialise with other children, or joining in with whatever all the children were doing, rather than doing workbooks on his own. Academic stuff was not what I expected from nursery.

This site has a lot of ideas how to develop mathematical thinking in fun way. If he is more advanced, you can have a look into lower/upper primary section as well.

nrich.maths.org/early-years

Also this site has a lot of short articles from various topics that he may be interested. Just choose topic/ grade/ lexile.

www.readworks.org/find-content#!q:/g:16/t:0/f:0/pt:/features:/

Workbooks at 3? Really? If a child would turn up at my house (I'm a childminder) with worksheets at that age I think I'd throw them away (the sheets, not the child). They need to play, make mud pies, build castles, draw, learn to make friends, learn to take turn, listen to stories and make up stories, climb, skip, jump, cut with scissors, put their shoes on on their own.

My DS is gifted in maths and much older (he is now in year 6) and I would have never, ever done worksheets with him. Identify numbers on car number plates, houses, count steps, count up in two, count up (and down) in three whilst playing Janga, do puzzles, put toys in categories (by size, colour, use), measure and weigh teddy bears, bake and measure/weigh the ingredients, play 'bulls eye' and add up the results, etc. There are hundreds of ways that you can do maths with a toddler without worksheets.

More ideas: identify patters, count the blue cars parked on the street, count the red cars and figure out how many more red cars there are compared to blue, talk about and identify three-D shapes, compare the size of the children's feet, their height, etc.

irvineoneohone it seems like sending him in with sheets mean hes more included these last couple days. Although they mostly didn't understand what he was doing.

Twofishfingers i don't think you've understood the situation

I have understood it perfectly well.

First, I am a childcare professional with 10+ years experience, and secondly I have a DS who is G&T in maths - and he is 11 years old so I've had some direct experience. Worksheets at 3 are completely inappropriate. At that age they should learn through play.

I'm not trying to teach him how to count or dictating how he wants to play. It's about dismissing a child because hes "gifted". You clearly don't get it

I don't think people normally dismiss a child because they are "gifted". Twofishfingers is one of the great poster here on G&T board. She definitely get it, I am sure.

She said my son plays wrong then told me how to teach him to count... Which he clearly already can. Not anything to do with this

No that is not what she was saying. You are misunderstanding and being defensive. She is suggesting he does not need to learn through a sit-down work sheet approach - he will have years of that to come. Rather extend his learning through experience and practical activities, which are both interactive and social. It is lovely he is inquisitive and enthused so young but don't lose sight of other aspects of his development, sone of which may come less easily.

Have you considered giving him educational toys instead of workbooks?
These are the things my ds loved. Peg board, 3d models, fraction toys, magnetic letters/numbers, abacus, calculators, 3d puzzles, teaching clocks, etc. Also we bought(mostly from charity shops) excessive amount of wooden blocks, legos, train sets, construction sets, kinex, etc, so he never run out of any parts he needed. I think those made great base for him to be really understand concepts of numbers and shapes, than doing workbooks.

‘Oh woe is me my child is gifted what on earth can I do...’
If you don’t like the nursery then put him in another nursery, I’m sure they don’t leave him out and at that age there’s very little focused work so he’ll be playing with other kids which is what he needs this age, just chill out.

You don't want to 'dictate' how he wants to play yet you are prepared to sit a three year old in front of worksheets?

Maths is about so much more than counting. If your child is really gifted in maths, I think you have a lot to learn.

To the last two posters...

OP is adamant that her child is not gifted.