Thursday, October 13, 2011

Oh, you mean this gate key.

A couple of days ago, Holly came home saying she got to go to a separate class for part of the day. She said it was her and a couple of the other smartest kids in her class. Kelsea and I weren't sure what she meant, so we kept asking her about it. Holly was the one who said the other kids were really smart, and said they were all kids who got all As or only As and Bs. We figured it was GATE, or whatever they called that program now, but we weren't sure.

Holly said they went to a different classroom with a new teacher at a specific time, and got to do different kinds of lessons. I asked what kind, and she said they were things to help them pay attention and follow directions. That made me think it might have been a remedial-type class, and I began to doubt that the other kids were all that smart, and I thought maybe Holly had some kind of behavioral problem that we didn't know about. Either way, Kelsea and I were kind of annoyed that we hadn't been informed of whatever this special class was.

I started thinking it was GATE again as Holly said how excited she was to go back, and said that they would get to go every week. I just didn't think that a remedial class could inspire that kind of enthusiasm. Then Kelsea and I began to wonder if you have to take a separate test to qualify for GATE, and neither of us could remember for sure. But we were even more convinced that if Holly was in GATE, we should have been informed, and if it was a remedial class, we really should have been informed.

I went to the school's website and found that this special teacher is the GATE teacher. So we think we have our answer. We haven't had the chance to ask Holly's teacher directly, but we're pretty sure she's in GATE. I'm not trying to brag, but Holly's pretty smart. Also Mia. I will brag about Mia another time. I specifically chose to blog about this so I could brag about my kids in a place that no one will read about it. We'll tell family about it individually. If we can ever confirm it with a teacher.

2 comments:

The Piquant Storyteller said...

Nice to know I'm not the only one who isn't informed about my child's education! It probably is GATE and if it is congratulations on your little smarty pants. Regardless of what it is you should have been informed. That's your legal right. (I have a Special Ed degree)

Tristan

Dee said...

We were informed that it is not technically GATE, as that program has only been set up for grades 3 through 5, but it's basically the same thing. I don't know what they are calling it.