Asynchronous ridiculousness (APS)

[Anonymous]

What is your school doing on Mondays? Our school has switched over to doing "mosaic days." Random activities ... the last two Mondays they read a book and were supposed to pick up trash in the community or write a letter to the elderly. Okay, that's fine... I liked how it was tied to MLK's days of service. Another day they had to create a musical instrument using recycled materials. Also not terrible but this takes no more than maybe 30 minutes?

Now they are supposed to take a picture of themselves showing that they know what 6 and 10 feet apart are. That's it. That's their 5-hour school day.

The first few weeks of school they actually had assignments to do online and it at least took 1.5 hours or so. Now it's 5 minutes. Someone please explain how this is supposed to be a substitute for school? I've gone with the flow until now.... not saying anything when they keep getting let out of school 15 mins early for lunch or dismissal. Or when my kid is waiting and waiting to be let into class. It just seems like virtual is actually getting worse. (Btw I've been fine with virtual learning; in fact we elected it for whenever they go back.)

Anyone feel the same about these asynchronous days?

[Anonymous]

We are at nottingham. It’s terrible. I’d much rather have nothing than have them do the crap work that I have to supervise.

[Anonymous]

This must be elementary. My MS student has plenty of work on Mondays. Do you think it's b/c parents were complaining about having to supervise? Older kids don't need supervision, but more is expected of them.

[Anonymous]

Totally complain. Our elementary it's only supposed to take a total of 2hrs or less. We use Monday to supplement as well, filling in gaps in two core subjects where the teacher is failing the kids miserably.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This must be elementary. My MS student has plenty of work on Mondays. Do you think it's b/c parents were complaining about having to supervise? Older kids don't need supervision, but more is expected of them.

I don’t think so because now the kids have nothing to do the rest of the day. At least if there was some asynchronous work (watch these videos, read these books, draw something, write a story, etc.), they would be occupied and that is LESS work for the parent. IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Totally complain. Our elementary it's only supposed to take a total of 2hrs or less. We use Monday to supplement as well, filling in gaps in two core subjects where the teacher is failing the kids miserably.

For some reason the parents are praising these activities during the PTO meetings. I’m just baffled. I appreciate the creativity put into it but 5 minutes of work is ridiculous. APS is getting funded these Mondays for what exactly?

[Anonymous]

I'm in FCPS not APS but from what I can tell reading threads, it varies wildly by school. My DS (4th grade) typically has 3-4 hours of asynchronous work. A couple choice boards, some ST Math, Imagine Language and Literacy, and some reading activities. Other schools have next to nothing.

[Anonymous]

Also elementary parent here.. not only asynchronous Mondays but all the asynchronous work Tues-Fri as well. So tired of watching my young child tirelessly try to type on an iPad, write out math problems on the ipad, make it legible, fit it all in a small square, etc. This is not what they are supposed to be learning.

I'm considering Virtual Virginia because although it's not the teachers' fault, the distance learning in APS is so poorly put together it's useless. At least Virtual VA is constructed intentionally for remote use.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Totally complain. Our elementary it's only supposed to take a total of 2hrs or less. We use Monday to supplement as well, filling in gaps in two core subjects where the teacher is failing the kids miserably.

For some reason the parents are praising these activities during the PTO meetings. I’m just baffled. I appreciate the creativity put into it but 5 minutes of work is ridiculous. APS is getting funded these Mondays for what exactly?

I'm the PP and here was today's work
Complete Friday's math homework and then a new video and online exercise today.
Lexia, complete a required BrainPop related activity, Read.
Study for science test
Do an activity from the social studies choice board.

There's lots of optional work posted, we skip all of that and instead work on specific math and language arts skills that aren't being addressed this year.

[Anonymous]

My kid (4th) was done in 30 minutes. It seems like mondays would be a great day for them to work on projects but most things are "optional" on their to dos. We dont make our kid do those because its not worth the battle and they have good grades.

[Anonymous]

Agreed, it's not good, although I think the lessons during the week are also lacking.

For my 2nd grader, in general we've been doing okay with reading because I've been checking books out of the library on my kid's level to support the lessons. My kid loves to read so she plows through books. Writing is sufficient if I push her to do more than the bare minimum and provide feedback on her work myself. The teacher provides little if any feedback. Math, however, is terrible. So so so bad. The teacher refuses to assign math that isn't done on the screen. She assigns very few problems (2-4 per day) and those are below grade level. Last week one assignment had the kids identifying circles, square and triangles. It's literally work that she could have done as a 2 yo. Such a waste of time. We're starting to supplement, but we need to go back now and make up for the math she's forgotten during DL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agreed, it's not good, although I think the lessons during the week are also lacking.

For my 2nd grader, in general we've been doing okay with reading because I've been checking books out of the library on my kid's level to support the lessons. My kid loves to read so she plows through books. Writing is sufficient if I push her to do more than the bare minimum and provide feedback on her work myself. The teacher provides little if any feedback. Math, however, is terrible. So so so bad. The teacher refuses to assign math that isn't done on the screen. She assigns very few problems (2-4 per day) and those are below grade level. Last week one assignment had the kids identifying circles, square and triangles. It's literally work that she could have done as a 2 yo. Such a waste of time. We're starting to supplement, but we need to go back now and make up for the math she's forgotten during DL.

FYI, most of our Monday assignments are to finish anything that wasn't done during the week, plus Lexia and Dreambox.

[Anonymous]

Parents - If your kid is trying to do the math on the ipad and make it legible, have them stop. They can use paper and pencil or their white board and take a picture. Let the teacher know your child is struggling. There are options.

[Anonymous]

Ours was FOUR simple math problems and 25 jumping jacks.

[Anonymous]

Why aren't we getting manual packets? Expecting these young kids to do everything on the iPad is counter-productive. I try to get my child to write on paper and take a picture, but for some reason why I'm not around, he insists on the iPad. Schools should be providing packets for pick-up so these kids can do some traditional pencil-paper work. So much time and mental energy is wasted using the Ipad.