Kindergarten Issues

If you know how to do the work already, show me. Then I can come up with something new for you to do.

Focus on perfecting penmanship (they did it to me.. lol). My son has a similar problem - he's one of the top students in his class. His teacher does kindergarten readers; so he does his work in record time, then he gets to do his reader. Sometimes he gets to read to the class. He gets stickers for it.

He still has to 'change his color' once a week or so, but that's part of being a little boy learning how to do school IMO.

Her teacher is already punishing her for scribbling... otherwise I'd have her rewrite (or complete) the work. To me, your consequences should be for lying. K'ers live in the here and now - she really isn't going to associate a punishment at 4 with something she did at 10 that morning.
S.

As a teacher I think that even it is boring to her she still needs to know that she will have to do the work regardless. Just explain to her that once she starts doing the work correctly then you will talk with her teacher to see if she can give her some advanced assignments. As a teacher you know there is some things her teacher can be doing to make her work a little more challenging. You can't really blame the teacher not giving it to her now since she is turning in scribble. As far as punishment you know best what your daugther loves to do so take it away until she starts showing you that she can complete her assignments and stop the lying.

We had a similar issue with my son. We impose a consequence specifically for the lying, above and beyond whatever punishment/consequence is required for the misbehavior.

He got in trouble at school one day and the teacher had him write sentences. There wouldn't have been consequences at home, since there were at school, but he lied to me about it when I asked him after school.

We grounded him for the lying. We made sure he understood that the punishment was for the lying, not the incident at school, and had he told us the truth he wouldn't have been grounded. Since then we haven't had a problem with lying.

Why is it her fault that she is bored? We are now homeschooling our son, who is doing wonderfully during school time. He was getting in trouble at school (Kindergarten) and not completing his work. We thought he had behavior issues, because that's what they described to us, but we really don't feel that was it. He has recently been diagnosed with ADHD, which explains some things. But he is excelling in school. He is doing addition and subtraction problems here at home. I'm sure it was that he was bored. They were learning their colors, numbers, letters, and so forth, which he already knows.

Why is it our fault or our kids' faults they are intelligent? Why should we punish them for wanting to be intellectually challenged and stimulated? Perhaps there is another class/teacher that would work out better. I wouldn't be so quick to lay the blame on her for being disobedient. Now, I don't know what she does or doesn't know, compared to what they are learning, but she is probably bored if she already knows it. And her lying to you is a sign of her fear of getting in trouble. Don't adults sometimes tell lies (even "little white lies") to get out of trouble? Well, children are smart, too, and can figure that out.

Follow your gut feeling. YOU know what's best for your daughter. Don't let the system tell you what's right for her. YOU are her most important teacher, and SHE is your most important student...ever! So, just be there for her and let her open up to you about the work on her own. Let her know that you love her and know that she knows a lot of things but that her teacher doesn't know if she knows those things. Maybe you could offer the more challenging work at home with enrichment workbooks or something that picks her brain. Does she like word find puzzles? Maybe get her interested in some simple ones or mazes or something. Would her teacher allow her to take the challenging work to school to work on after she's completed her school work? There's got to be a way to help her. Best wishes to you, R.. Remember, she's already got the teacher on her case. She needs a comforter and someone that understands her.

Just one other quick thought that hasn't been mentioned here. My daughter started K this year and during curriculum night we learned that they test all children to see where they are at and once that has been done they can target each child more specifically. I live in Allen. I don't know if all districts do this. But my daughter's teacher is still in the middle of this assessment but once she's done she plans to gear the work more appropriately to each child's level. Also she said that each child is gifted and talented tested in Kindergarten, which I know hasn't been done yet for my daughter.

So I guess my point is, hang in there. Maybe it will get better for your daughter. She's just starting out sothey aren't able to meet her specific individual needs until they've assessed her further. Maybe open a dialog about this with her teacher and come up with a unified plan to help your daughter understand that she has to do her work.

You can make her write sentences like (I will obey.) Or if she can't write that good make her write letters for punishment. Take the TV away an early bedtime in her room. Can also be helpful but usually extra school work of some sort is the best type. Even if your making it yourself.

For my kindergartener, she gets to have extra computer time (at school) if all her work is done. I think the teacher should be able to offer her more challenging worksheets that will interest her. If the rest of the class is practicing the sight words, she could practice making sentences with them, or even a spelling test. Another program we have at our school is the accelerated reader where kids read a book and then take a test on the computer. The tests help the kids earn points that can then be traded at the AR store. Talk to her teacher and find ways that will keep her interested in the joy of learning at school. And even if she turns in a scribble paper, just ask if that is the very best she can do, and challenge her to do better!

Maybe if you talk with the teacher and there is something more challenging for her to do, if and only if, she turns in her assigned work, done nicely, before hand. I have kids who have some of the same tendancies, but they need to learn that they must give everything the teacher asks their best efforts! My kindergartener loves to have the teacher give her extra work, so it does motivate her to do her own work well. It was a very helpful solution for us. Good luck..bright kids are great, but frustrating all at the same time! ~A.~

we had this problem with my youngest who we home schooled through pre-k, and are lucky enough to live in a smaller district. Our solution was to switch him to a class with a teacher who was much more energetic and seemed to have a much faster paced classroom.