What does Chromebook use look like in your kid's elementary class?

[Anonymous]

Teachers have control over it if tbey want to. I have the kids read a text on Read Works, and either have an online quiz which send a grade to both the student and I or read a book and they go into Google Classroom and answer the problem of providing the main idea and 3 jey details. Now, Arcsdemics has good math games but I limit them for only basic math facts practice.

[Anonymous]

WOW! My child is in Grade 2 MCPS and I just asked her and she said she only uses Chromebooks for tests and they will eventually use during library time to do research later in year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WOW! My child is in Grade 2 MCPS and I just asked her and she said she only uses Chromebooks for tests and they will eventually use during library time to do research later in year.

In second they share them with other classrooms. In 3rd, they get their own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WOW! My child is in Grade 2 MCPS and I just asked her and she said she only uses Chromebooks for tests and they will eventually use during library time to do research later in year.

Wait until 3rd Grade. Each kid gets his own Chromebook. They will be on them ALOT.

But FTR, my K kid is in them a good amount playing games. Some of the games are good and some seem like a huge waste of time.

Also ask your 2nd Grader about all the other additional screen time the teacher gives them - movies? Ask her if she knows GoNoodle. Or if they’ve watched any videos recently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait until Middle school and playing games during classes and tests...
Bringing Chromebooks with open internet to school is the worst decision possible by MCPS.
My child became real gamer in school. Students "educate" each other what to play. Nobody watching what is going on.
All study process (except Math) involves computers...

Our ES kids seem to have moderate amounts of Chromebook time but it is game heavy. It is a babysitter to keep them docile alas. Enables teacher to vope with the realities of a too large class.

This isn’t exactly the case.

And the PP who was a teacher was right. It’s impossible to work in a small group teaching kids reading, and at the same time monitor 5 other kids on the internet.

I don't understand - it's not the case that it's chaos? It sounds just like my kid's 3rd classroom.

If it's impossible to monitor, what should the teacher/MCPS do then?[/quote]

Ask for classes that are tracked instead of mixed so the teacher can teach the entire class and not spend 90min taking small groups so your child is sitting on a chrome book for 60+min of them. I volunteer. I see it all the time. The kids are addicted to the games. They rush thru work, so they can play games for minimum 30min. The kid next to them still working? He is now consumed on their classmates screen and is not finishing their work. The teacher? Clueless as she off at a table with 5 kids. The smart kids get nothing to stimulate them and they actually get asked to meet about 1/3 of the time the other kids struggling do - well because of testing scores. The kids struggling will forever struggle. I have never ever understood mixed classes. MCPS used to at least track math classes starting in 1st grade and they stopped that with 2.0. It has been a nightmare for my youngest. Boring boring, boring. Now you add these fun chrome books? Of course they will be addicted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WOW! My child is in Grade 2 MCPS and I just asked her and she said she only uses Chromebooks for tests and they will eventually use during library time to do research later in year.

Wait until 3rd Grade. Each kid gets his own Chromebook. They will be on them ALOT.

But FTR, my K kid is in them a good amount playing games. Some of the games are good and some seem like a huge waste of time.

Also ask your 2nd Grader about all the other additional screen time the teacher gives them - movies? Ask her if she knows GoNoodle. Or if they’ve watched any videos recently.

I actually don't mind 10min Go Noodle breaks if they get the kids up and moving. I loathe the chrome books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait until Middle school and playing games during classes and tests...
Bringing Chromebooks with open internet to school is the worst decision possible by MCPS.
My child became real gamer in school. Students "educate" each other what to play. Nobody watching what is going on.
All study process (except Math) involves computers...

Our ES kids seem to have moderate amounts of Chromebook time but it is game heavy. It is a babysitter to keep them docile alas. Enables teacher to vope with the realities of a too large class.

This isn’t exactly the case.

And the PP who was a teacher was right. It’s impossible to work in a small group teaching kids reading, and at the same time monitor 5 other kids on the internet.

I don't understand - it's not the case that it's chaos? It sounds just like my kid's 3rd classroom.

If it's impossible to monitor, what should the teacher/MCPS do then?[/quote]

Ask for classes that are tracked instead of mixed so the teacher can teach the entire class and not spend 90min taking small groups so your child is sitting on a chrome book for 60+min of them. I volunteer. I see it all the time. The kids are addicted to the games. They rush thru work, so they can play games for minimum 30min. The kid next to them still working? He is now consumed on their classmates screen and is not finishing their work. The teacher? Clueless as she off at a table with 5 kids. The smart kids get nothing to stimulate them and they actually get asked to meet about 1/3 of the time the other kids struggling do - well because of testing scores. The kids struggling will forever struggle. I have never ever understood mixed classes. MCPS used to at least track math classes starting in 1st grade and they stopped that with 2.0. It has been a nightmare for my youngest. Boring boring, boring. Now you add these fun chrome books? Of course they will be addicted.

I can see how people would call this poster a bitter harpy, but this has also been my observation. For three years (1st, 2nd, 3rd) we have seen all of this (we had chromebook access in early elementary). It is true in many cases, and it's very very frustrating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait until Middle school and playing games during classes and tests...
Bringing Chromebooks with open internet to school is the worst decision possible by MCPS.
My child became real gamer in school. Students "educate" each other what to play. Nobody watching what is going on.
All study process (except Math) involves computers...

Agree.

The class time quickly becomes a joke. No respect for learning or listening to teachers/others or contributing to class discussion. Which are, btw, very very very important skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait until Middle school and playing games during classes and tests...
Bringing Chromebooks with open internet to school is the worst decision possible by MCPS.
My child became real gamer in school. Students "educate" each other what to play. Nobody watching what is going on.
All study process (except Math) involves computers...

Our ES kids seem to have moderate amounts of Chromebook time but it is game heavy. It is a babysitter to keep them docile alas. Enables teacher to vope with the realities of a too large class.

This isn’t exactly the case.

And the PP who was a teacher was right. It’s impossible to work in a small group teaching kids reading, and at the same time monitor 5 other kids on the internet.

I don't understand - it's not the case that it's chaos? It sounds just like my kid's 3rd classroom.

If it's impossible to monitor, what should the teacher/MCPS do then?[/quote]

Ask for classes that are tracked instead of mixed so the teacher can teach the entire class and not spend 90min taking small groups so your child is sitting on a chrome book for 60+min of them. I volunteer. I see it all the time. The kids are addicted to the games. They rush thru work, so they can play games for minimum 30min. The kid next to them still working? He is now consumed on their classmates screen and is not finishing their work. The teacher? Clueless as she off at a table with 5 kids. The smart kids get nothing to stimulate them and they actually get asked to meet about 1/3 of the time the other kids struggling do - well because of testing scores. The kids struggling will forever struggle. I have never ever understood mixed classes. MCPS used to at least track math classes starting in 1st grade and they stopped that with 2.0. It has been a nightmare for my youngest. Boring boring, boring. Now you add these fun chrome books? Of course they will be addicted.

I can see how people would call this poster a bitter harpy, but this has also been my observation. For three years (1st, 2nd, 3rd) we have seen all of this (we had chromebook access in early elementary). It is true in many cases, and it's very very frustrating.

Also my observation! Exactly, exactly how class time works in Early ES in MCPS. The description is on point. The kids rush through their work to play on ABCya. Agree that if one kid is done, and another is not, the one kid will be completely distracted by what the kid next to him is doing on the screen.

Your 1st grader may not be able to write words, but he can certainly work his way around the Chromebook. And, yes, I get that technology is important, but really, the kids at this age are just learning which buttons to press to get them to the game they are supposed to be playing.

And, the small group learning is ridiculous. The teacher is off to the side with 5 kids in one of 5 reading groups, while the rest of the kids are just passing time in 'centers'. Really, they're just chatting, or drawing pictures on the backs of their worksheets, or hanging out lying on their backs, staring out the window. SO MUCH wasted time. So MUCH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait until Middle school and playing games during classes and tests...
Bringing Chromebooks with open internet to school is the worst decision possible by MCPS.
My child became real gamer in school. Students "educate" each other what to play. Nobody watching what is going on.
All study process (except Math) involves computers...

[phone]

Someone in administration must have been getting some kickbacks for this initiative. Sure, let's spend tons of money to give every kid a crappy Chromebook, hooked up to spotty wireless internet (which this year seems to drop daily), and give unlimited internet access. And, then expect principals and teachers to monitor internet usage amongst all their other duties. Hindsight it 20/20, but I'm fairly certain most teachers would have foreseen that this would lead to some issues.

[Anonymous]

They are awful. No need to use them so much. The promethium boards are basically obsolete to chrome books for every kid now. So much money wasted in technology that ironically wastes so much class time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are awful. No need to use them so much. The promethium boards are basically obsolete to chrome books for every kid now. So much money wasted in technology that ironically wastes so much class time.

This is what bugs me the most. That they have truly wasted so much money in all these tech initiatives. Especially in ES. I can understand in MA and HS obviously, but in ES, the kids would benefit from smaller class sizes and more staff. It would make so much more of a difference than the money spent on Chromebooks and Promethean boards and the Kindergarten HeadStart tech initiative.

[Anonymous]

It’s our taxes going up. You should really write this up and send to MCPS and your local and at large Council members. My kids are not in this age group, but I’ve learned that if you alert the Council, they’ll respond.

[Anonymous]

Our PTA is raising money to buy all kindergarteners chromebooks after buying them for the entire first and second grade. It makes me sick. I'm not sure what to do. I feel guilty not contributing to the annual fund.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t really think we need to start with a Chromebooks in k to teach kids how to use a mouse and keyboard. Their hands are so small anyway at that age! Not like you will teach a 5 year old touch typing. They need to learn how to actually handwrite at that age.

If we want to introduce Chromebooks to get kids used to typing and mouse usage and research, it would be completely reasonable to wait until 4th grade.

The problem is that k starts taking mClass assessments on the chromebook and need to know how to use a touch pad or mouse. But in general, most primary classrooms don't use chrome books often.