dd (6) "bored" in y2 - wwyd?

[mimsum]

dd has just gone into y2 - she's very able (free reader, very good at maths - knows most of her times tables and is teaching herself the ones she's not so sure on, confident with fractions etc) and is saying she's bored because the work is too easy. She says she has to do the work everyone else gets, then she gets 'challenge' work, but that's still too easy. She's always had problems separating from me in the mornings, but once she's in she loves being at school, but this year she's getting very frustrated and seems to think that if she's going to have to be at school all day rather than home with me it should be 'worth her while' iykwim ...

dh is muttering about sending her to one of the local private schools for y3 onwards, other people have suggested stretching her with music/languages etc outside school - however I don't want to overburden her with extra activities (she already does enough) - and I'd rather she was being stretched at school

wwyd - private? extra stuff after school? go into school and insist they give her work she can get her teeth into?

has she got lots of friends? I'd probably think there was something up on that front first rather than them not stretching her tbh

From what you say I suspect that she would still be ahead and therefore a bit bored in most private schools. (In my state primary we did all the times tables to 12 in 'last year of infants', but this was a trillion yrs ago. In my daughter's prep they do 2, 3, 5 and 10 in yr 2). Hmmm - yes socialising impt - also is there a 'gifted and talented' programme in your school? My G&T niece was similarly bored but they took her to another primary once a week and got her into science quite early.

i would go and see the teacher..but as a fellow teacher please don't be aggressive about it...my daughter says she bored - I just wanted to let you know. Could you suggest ways at home to strech her? What are you doing at school?

but agree with private school comment

This used to happen to my DD too at 'private' school.

I think that it is peculiar to make the brighter ones work through the easy stuff first. It was so straight forward that DD used to grind to a halt as she was busy daydreaming and so sometimes she wouldn't even get on to the challenging work.

You could have a word with the teacher and perhaps give her an example of some of the work that DD can do at home.

I am not sure what the solution to this one is but they can take a blow to their self esteem and begin to doubt their ability so something needs to be done.

Good luck .

she has lots of friends, although not a 'best' friend as such - she says play times are her favourite bit of school as they're fun

G&T useless frankly - both ds1 and ds2 were/are on it and it doesn't mean a thing - they do a couple of projects and occasionally get taken on a trip somewhere. I don't think she's a genius or anything, just very bright and very keen to push herself - she was in tears last week when she realised the teacher hadn't set homework (for some bizarre reason she's really been looking forward to getting homework) and came home and insisted on practising 7 and 8 times tables

she's not grinding to a halt, far from it - she whizzes through the easy stuff, then through the challenge stuff and then gets extra challenge stuff but she says it's all too easy and when she tells me exactly what she's done, I can see why - she says she wants the work to get harder and harder until she has to think about it

obviously I'm not going to be aggressive about it cazzybabs - people don't really threaten teachers unless they up the work load do they???

It isn't all about learning tables and that, is it? It's about learning about the world, how things work, having fun making and creating - new experiences. Reading and maths make up an important part of the curriculum, but there's lots more to learn at school that a 6 year old could never know yet. 'Bored' is a lazy word with lots of meanings (especially to a 6 year old).

How big is your DD's school? DD was like this at her first, small private school-she used to do NVR papers for "fun" at weekends. She's now at a much bigger, selective school where there is a lot more going on in terms of activities and sport during the normal school day, as well as lots more kids to spark off and she's no longer bored. We knew it was time to get back to school when she got the Bond books out again towards the end of the holidays though!

DD plays 2 instruments but like you we got to the point where we'd reached a linit with sideways stretching and needed school to ffer a bit more. Rather depressing that people would automatically assume a bright, bored child would have social problems though.

DD never really said she was bored at her first school but her comments about classes and the constant quest to "do more" outside school said it for her.

yes I know that, trickerg but she does have to spend quite a bit of the day doing the maths etc - is it too much to ask that what she does then is at a level which can challenge her? maybe 'bored' is the wrong word, but she's certainly frustrated and I don't want her becoming disaffected

why marialuisa? as trickerg says, just because a child uses the word 'bored' and is bright, doesn't necessarily mean it is to do with their studies. At 6, it can mean a lot of different things.

tbh mimsum, I would be worried if my child was in tears at not getting homework.

and I didn't mean she had social problems....but 6 tends to be the age when girls start getting a bit catty and funny and I was worried she might be on the wrong end of some teasing or some such

thanks marialuisa - it's a big state primary, which has an outstanding OFSTED and is lovely in many ways but does very little in the way of extra-curricular stuff - no afterschool or lunch time activities for KS1 kids, very little in the way of music, art, drama, especially lower down the school

most of the resources seem to go towards helping the children who are struggling or just below average, which I can understand in some ways, but it does mean the bright ones are left to fend for themselves a bit

All through nursery, reception, y1 I've been told how popular she is, how exceptionally well-behaved, caring, thoughtful, full of empathy etc - she plays with a lot of different children and is special friends with a lovely group of about 6 girls - she certainly doesn't have any social problems at all

foxinsocks - I was rather surprised but she's been looking forward to it as a symbol of being 'grown-up'

no teasing or spitefulness at all in her group as far as I can see

could she go into the next class for certain work?

I was bored in school at that age, without bigging myself up too much I was ahead of the rest of the class partly because I'd been in a small private school abroad for reception where I'd learned to read v fast and well, so was ahead of the rest of the class, partly because I am just very academic I had no problems with friendships then or now and it's sad that so many posters jump to that conclusion.

My parents took me out of the primary at eight and into a small private prep school where I was much more challenged and much happier. It may not be politically correct to say it, but some state primary schools can't offer enough challenging work for the brightest. I'd first have a word with the teacher OP (non aggressively ) but then I'd look at some selective private schools, if you can afford them. Good luck.

what they did with ds is start giving him open ended problems? could you suggest this to her teacher? it also keeps them out of the teacher's hair for a bit...

so for example, how many ways can you get to the number 97 using one of + and - and one of x and /. What different combinations of coins could you give to someone if you were giving them change from a £20 note from this shopping (list of things with prices). That sort of thing. So they don't rush through it. I.e. it's not just calculation but also extension.

nobody is jumping to that conclusion and there aren't 'lots' of posters saying that

why people are being so defensive about social problems I do not know

I do know that if either of my children complained about school and used the word bored at the age of 6, I'd be making sure that there were no friendship issues first as I would be worried they were sad and had expressed it badly. That's all I was saying. I would say it whether the OP was talking about a G and T child or one right at the bottom of her class!

The OP has checked there are no problems but I just wanted to make sure as often you don't get the true picture from what they say about school.

I can only relate my experiences with my own DD who didn't use`the word "bored" at all to describe her disaffection. But she was bored because she just wasn't getting enough stimulation of any kind at school and was constantly looking for it outside school. I behave in the same way when I don't get enough stimulation at work? The school did their best but we didn't think letting her do GCSE maths at 11 was a good idea and it wasn't big enough to offer the range of activities her current school does.

Y2 maths isn't all times tables. What can she do re. adding/subtracting/problem solving? What level is she working at?

( my responses weren't meant ot be aggressive but I didn't mean my original post to be insulting in any way)

I agree with foxinsocks problems rather than just learning facts. Times tables are useful to know but children need to be challenged to use the knowledge. The same principles apply to other skills of course not just maths.
Young children often say "I'm bored" but can't explain what they mean and I think you need to look at all possibilities.

open-ended problems sound good - I'll suggest that to her teacher

trickerg - she's confident with number bonds up to 20, she can add and take away 10, 20, 30, 50 to any number, she can divide odd numbers by two and know you're left with a half or point 5, she's confident with money and giving change, she can count in 2s, 3s and 4s starting from any number, she can divide things into halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, etc - I don't know her exact level as we're just told whether they're working below, at, or beyond the expected level but her y1 teacher said she was working "way beyond" the level - but I'm not sure what that means - do you have any more ideas re what she could be doing in maths?

she's not so frustrated with literacy, as she can choose her books herself from the KS1 library, and can extend her writing somewhat (although she says the teacher told them all they were only supposed to write three lines and then draw a picture)

mimsum - it may sort itself out. If she is whizzing through the work then I think/hope that it will be just a matter of time before her teacher starts her on the more challenging stuff first.

You could do what I have done with DD and ask her to request more challenging work from the offset.

Problem solving is definitely the way forward. She shouldn't be doing the same as everyone else and then the "challenge work" afterwards. She should be given the challenge work as her main investigation/follow up work.

Can she add and subtract tens and units in her head? Does she use number lines (Hundreds or thousands?)? Number bonds to 100? I teach an upper Y2 set and they're pretty whizzy. The top 4 or 5 children would be able to do all the things you mention, except the fractions - that is amazing for a 6 year old.

The application of mathematical operations in real life is very important as well - for instance sharing 2 biscuits equally between 2 people is different to sharing two balloons between 2 people. Children need to start thinking about context; what is possible and what isn't.

There's lots of shape, space, measure and data handling to do in Y2 - I doubt if she knows all that already.