Writing in elementary school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, we need homework! I don’t care if it’s graded, my kids need practice. It’s unbelievable that there are no spelling words to write sentences with, math problems, etc.

Then buy a workbook.

The last thing teachers need is to grade homework. If you're worried about your kid, then get a workbook and grade it yourself. Or if you're too lazy, get a tutor.

+1
Why would teachers grade hw? How would they know if the hw was done independently or how much help the child had?

There's this magical thing called tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, we need homework! I don’t care if it’s graded, my kids need practice. It’s unbelievable that there are no spelling words to write sentences with, math problems, etc.

Then buy a workbook.

The last thing teachers need is to grade homework. If you're worried about your kid, then get a workbook and grade it yourself. Or if you're too lazy, get a tutor.

+1
Why would teachers grade hw? How would they know if the hw was done independently or how much help the child had?

There's this magical thing called tests.

I'm not sure what your point is. The tests get graded. The teacher can see how the student does on the test independently. There are also many other ways the teacher can assess the student without grading hw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is a wonderful writer. She has worked with me throughout her childhood on wiring in her diary, poems, essays, etc.

It’s really not impossible to teach your child to write. It only takes doing a small amount consistently.

Parent, the buck stops with you. Not the schools.

I fundamentally disagree with this. The point of schools is to teach children. Some parents are not great teachers. The idea that you have to send your child to school and THEN do all of the real work after your tired kid comes home and you finish your workday is just not the way this is supposed to work.

That said, if my FCPS would like to send HOMEWORK home that I could do with my 3rd grader to help her learn grammar or spelling of fractions etc, that's fine. But there is no homework sent home. Let's bring back homework.

Let's not. The child is in school for 6 hours and 40 minutes. Most of their day is structured. Do we really need to continue it once the school day ends? They practice in school. What if the child does the homework incorrectly and nobody is available to monitor? That's now an incorrect understanding that is further cemented that has to be undone.

Yes they do.

Unless you are happy with mediocre results.

I'll have to disagree with you on this one. No hw doesn't mean an ES student will meet have mediocre results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, we need homework! I don’t care if it’s graded, my kids need practice. It’s unbelievable that there are no spelling words to write sentences with, math problems, etc.

Then buy a workbook.

The last thing teachers need is to grade homework. If you're worried about your kid, then get a workbook and grade it yourself. Or if you're too lazy, get a tutor.

+1
Why would teachers grade hw? How would they know if the hw was done independently or how much help the child had?

There's this magical thing called tests.

I'm not sure what your point is. The tests get graded. The teacher can see how the student does on the test independently. There are also many other ways the teacher can assess the student without grading hw.

Why do you guys think tests and homework are the only things teachers look at?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To be better writers, kids need to READ more. If you're not comfortable with or don't have time to reinforce writing instruction at home, at least make sure there is daily reading time to they see sentence structure, punctuation, capitalization, etc.

Yes, +1,000!

Do you think most great/influential writers (in literature or for professional success) have formal writing training? No, they READ a lot and have basic intelligence (plus some writing instruction, feedback on writing, etc.). It's not all about whether your FCPS elementary or middle school "teaches" writing...make sure they read, and write, and are generally intelligent humans...and they can learn colons versus semi-colons later in life if their teachers happen to miss those in the instruction. Jeesh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to send your child to Catholic school if you want quality writing instruction. They've always been known for it.

WTH are you talking about...writing instruction is fundamental to any school, including our mega-resourced excellent-but-imperfect FCPS public school system. The kids are alright as long as they try.

Catholic schools and parishes have always been known for lots of things, good and quite bad...written by a former K-12 and college Catholic school student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, we need homework! I don’t care if it’s graded, my kids need practice. It’s unbelievable that there are no spelling words to write sentences with, math problems, etc.

Then buy a workbook.

So your kid spends 8 hours a day at school and still needs homework in order to learn? Hmm, this sounds problematic. Have them play, be bored, read, etc. after school and they will learn and become better students (and people). Truly, I promise.

[Anonymous]

I’ve bought workbooks but I have limited knowledge regarding what my kids are working on. I pick out a random page in a random 3rd grade workbook at hope it goes along with what they have been working on that day/few days? Homework based upon what they were actually working on at school would work better. And the previous poster agreed, it doesn’t need to be graded, kids just need the practice!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is a wonderful writer. She has worked with me throughout her childhood on wiring in her diary, poems, essays, etc.

It’s really not impossible to teach your child to write. It only takes doing a small amount consistently.

Parent, the buck stops with you. Not the schools.

I fundamentally disagree with this. The point of schools is to teach children. Some parents are not great teachers. The idea that you have to send your child to school and THEN do all of the real work after your tired kid comes home and you finish your workday is just not the way this is supposed to work.

That said, if my FCPS would like to send HOMEWORK home that I could do with my 3rd grader to help her learn grammar or spelling of fractions etc, that's fine. But there is no homework sent home. Let's bring back homework.

Homework is not equitable.

Right, that's why there is no assigned reading anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been really disappointed with my third graders writing. He isn’t capitalizing proper names, leaving spaces between words and not using punctuation. He teacher makes no corrections for these things. Shouldn’t she correct these mistakes do he learns the correct way to write? I’m very disappointed with the lack of writing instruction. He has never had any writing home or spelling words for all of third grade! Is this just me or are others having the same issues in FCPS?

It’s just you.

They aren’t going to be churning out serials like Dickens at this age.

There is no excuse for the teacher not to correct those mistakes. That is first grade stuff! They don’t need to be writing novels but sentence level mechanics should be better than that in third grade. My second grader at Catholic school had trouble with all that last year and it was always corrected. Now he is good other than misspelling tougher words like fascinating. We are coming back to FCPS for third because a younger sibling’s needs cannot be met in Catholic school and this kind of thing makes me nervous. I think math and science will be better in FCPS but I’m expecting language arts to be disappointing. I guess I will have to keep him progressing on these things at home. Ugh.

FCPS pacing guide for writing said something about how correcting errors can hurt their feelings. I am not kidding. During student teaching elsewhere we did mark errors in colorful pen. They didn’t use Calkins so they taught spelling, grammar, etc. Came to FCPS where they never had spelling tests and the gifted kids struggled with writing. I corrected errors in attempt to teach the correct way but was told numerous times to stop because it could hurt their feelings.

I am really not kidding. I lasted one year because it hurt my head. Many parents seemed to want things that were normal in the schools I had been in before, but admins and others above me just kept telling me no.

Lurking here, considering going back to teaching. Just want to do it somewhere with a more classical approach to ELA instruction. Anyway, don’t blame the teachers. Complain to those above them. Unless you’re very seasoned, you can’t really get away with just teaching whatever you want and however you want, even if we are talking about safe things like marking corrections or explicit writing instruction.

how can a parent view a pacing guide?

You’d probably have to request a copy from the principal or teacher.

They guard it zealously. We couldn't get a copy of it even when our school closed in spring 2020.

Our MS wouldn't tell us where they left off in 2020 and what was left to cover.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, we need homework! I don’t care if it’s graded, my kids need practice. It’s unbelievable that there are no spelling words to write sentences with, math problems, etc.

Then buy a workbook.

The last thing teachers need is to grade homework. If you're worried about your kid, then get a workbook and grade it yourself. Or if you're too lazy, get a tutor.

+1
Why would teachers grade hw? How would they know if the hw was done independently or how much help the child had?

There's this magical thing called tests.

I'm not sure what your point is. The tests get graded. The teacher can see how the student does on the test independently. There are also many other ways the teacher can assess the student without grading hw.

Why do you guys think tests and homework are the only things teachers look at?

PP here. That's what I meant when I wrote "there are also may other ways the teacher can assess".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is a wonderful writer. She has worked with me throughout her childhood on wiring in her diary, poems, essays, etc.

It’s really not impossible to teach your child to write. It only takes doing a small amount consistently.

Parent, the buck stops with you. Not the schools.

I fundamentally disagree with this. The point of schools is to teach children. Some parents are not great teachers. The idea that you have to send your child to school and THEN do all of the real work after your tired kid comes home and you finish your workday is just not the way this is supposed to work.

That said, if my FCPS would like to send HOMEWORK home that I could do with my 3rd grader to help her learn grammar or spelling of fractions etc, that's fine. But there is no homework sent home. Let's bring back homework.

Let's not. The child is in school for 6 hours and 40 minutes. Most of their day is structured. Do we really need to continue it once the school day ends? They practice in school. What if the child does the homework incorrectly and nobody is available to monitor? That's now an incorrect understanding that is further cemented that has to be undone.

Yes they do.

Unless you are happy with mediocre results.

I'll have to disagree with you on this one. No hw doesn't mean an ES student will meet have mediocre results.

When you drop standards and don't create a culture that values success you embrace mediocrity.,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is a wonderful writer. She has worked with me throughout her childhood on wiring in her diary, poems, essays, etc.

It’s really not impossible to teach your child to write. It only takes doing a small amount consistently.

Parent, the buck stops with you. Not the schools.

I fundamentally disagree with this. The point of schools is to teach children. Some parents are not great teachers. The idea that you have to send your child to school and THEN do all of the real work after your tired kid comes home and you finish your workday is just not the way this is supposed to work.

That said, if my FCPS would like to send HOMEWORK home that I could do with my 3rd grader to help her learn grammar or spelling of fractions etc, that's fine. But there is no homework sent home. Let's bring back homework.

Homework is not equitable.

Right, that's why there is no assigned reading anymore.

My students have done 4 rounds of books clubs this year.

[Anonymous]

^^ in school or out of school reading? Are kids read to or do they read the book themselves?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ in school or out of school reading? Are kids read to or do they read the book themselves?

DP
At my third grade level students in book clubs read to themselves in school. They do the activities and discuss with other members and I meet with them periodically.