Repeat first grade? Repeat CCD grade too?

  • Thread starter Thread starter mellowcalico
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I am an Asst DRE at a large parish. We have families that have done both. One family kept their son at his school grade level through the 4th grade for faith formation. Next year he will move up to a 6th grade class.

When it comes to sacraments, I lean towards celebrating them sooner than later. The grace your daughter will receive in 1st Recon and 1st HC will do so much for her.
 
I am a retired Catholic school teacher…early childhood is my specialty. With her being young, I would definitely hold her back, especially since you will be moving. Just listen to your heart and what is best for your daughter; but, from my own personal experience I wish my parents had held me back. I was the baby of the group and I just could never really keep up. I also remember trying to learn things one year with no success and when we reviewed it the next year, it seemed so easy that I couldn’t understand why I didn’t get it last year. There was a very good reason for this. I was not developmentally ready to be with that age of kids and my brain just was not ready to comprehend what they were studying…but, the next year it was.

As far as CCD, I don’t know about you; but, my daughter was so incredibly excited about receiving the Body of Christ that she couldn’t wait. I had always promised her that she would be able to participate when she was 7. We had to hold her back in Kindergarten and I went ahead and allowed her to stay with the first grade class because I could not go back on my promise to my daughter. Having said that, you just need to examine your daughter’s situation…is she looking forward to it or is it not a big deal or is she maybe scared of the thought…these will be clues about whether you should keep her with the older kids. Good Luck!
 
My mom held my sister back in first grade and we think it really made a difference. My sister just wasn’t ready for 2nd grade. We switched schools the same year she was held back, so she was able to start at a new school in first grade so she fit right in as if she began there in the first place. I believe she just stuck with the same religion classes as the children in her current grade. That way she wouldn’t be in a different class than her friends.

Her “new” first grade teacher had a very good way of explaining the differences in children. She said children are like popcorn. Some pop early and some pop a little later. (But in the end they are all going to pop). At that age children develop at different rates. If I were you I would probably hold her back. You want to make sure she has a really good foundation because first grade and success in elementary school is the foundation for the rest of her academic life.

I hope it all goes well!
 
How has it turned out? Has she started at her new school? Let me know if you need reading tips to help her with at home.

I hope all is well with you both. Good luck! 🙂
 
Wow! I almost forgot about this thread! First off, thank you again to everyone for your help and suggestions. I got a lot of good ideas from this thread (and another one I posted).

Things turned out pretty good I think.

First of all, my daughter and I worked on reading every night. She really is a trooper and tried her best. When I wrote this post originally, she was a DRA level 8 (I was told she really should be about a DRA16 at the end of first grade). In about two months, she accelerated to a DRA level 14. Since she had excellent marks in all her other subjects and was only a little bit behind in reading (considered in the “passable” range) she passed first grade.

So it ended up being easy. She is in second grade in both school and CCD!

We worked all summer on reading too (we read a lot, she participated in the local library summer reading program, and I signed her up for a summer reading course for children her age at a local university). We read every chance we get. Even mundane everyday things are reading “lessons” (for example I might have her help me find the right groceries in the store by having her read the labels… or I have her help me cook by asking her to read me the recipe). So we stayed on top of things. I have no idea what “DRA” level she is now, but I know that she can read a lot better than she did at the end of first grade. Her writing and spelling have also improved quite a bit too.

So maybe it was developmental. Whatever it was/is she loves reading and has greatly improved since I posted this originally. So I guess we did good! 🙂
 
Hey, I just wanted to follow up on this.

Like I said, I ended up going with second grade for both school and CCD.

CCD was a breeze for her (she caught on pretty quickly). She received First Holy Communion and all is good.

As far as public school went, she had the best teacher I could hope for. Caring, but stern. She worked with my daughter every day on reading. Plus, she was an advocate to get her in special needs (although they determined that my daughter’s high IQ disqualified her from special needs/the “remedial” reading program). The also said her grades weren’t low enough (her extremely high marks in Math and Science offset Reading and Writing).

Oddly enough, they considered her for the gifted and talented program. But her reading score disqualified her.

So her teacher worked with her a lot one-on-one and so did I. I also hired a tutor (a special Ed teacher from another school).

The year is over and my daughter maintained high grades in math, science, and social studies… and “caught up” on reading (she’s not the best reader in her class, but she’s average–which is great considering where we started from). Her writing is a bit behind still, but her teacher said she thinks that will “click” later on now that she has her reading down.

By the way, my daughter is getting a school award for “most improved.” She really did work hard–as much help as her teacher, the tutor, or I gave… it was really her determination to improve that pulled her though.

I plan on continuing the reading tutor over the summer and getting my daughter involved in a local summer reading program with the library. I don’t want her to lose anything over the summer.
 
Thanks for the update! Congratulations to your daughter on the award!

Yeah, it’s a real shortcoming that G&T programs are set up so that only high achievers in EVERY subject can get into them…“Gifted” students in real life, can have a very high ability in one or two subjects, but then much lower scores in the others. They are just as “gifted,” but not in every subject.
 
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