APS Upper Elementary Math

[Anonymous]

We just received our 4th grader's math inventory score and he's testing more than a grade ahead. Does anyone have suggestions for how your APS elementary school keeps more advanced students challenged, engaged and ready for more advanced classes in middle school? We obviously don't have AAP, but doing the same work as the whole class is less than satisfying.

[Anonymous]

I am not familiar with any county-wide policy. DD asked for more challenging work, and teachers have been more than happy to oblige.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just received our 4th grader's math inventory score and he's testing more than a grade ahead. Does anyone have suggestions for how your APS elementary school keeps more advanced students challenged, engaged and ready for more advanced classes in middle school? We obviously don't have AAP, but doing the same work as the whole class is less than satisfying.

Worksheets. Teachers are focused on bringing up behind students to improve SOLs.

[Anonymous]

I highly recommend doing beast academy online classes.

[Anonymous]

They do get some differentiated work. Also, when mine asked for harder math, I supplemented at home.

[Anonymous]

My kid is in 3rd, but he finished 2nd grade Dreambox by the end of K. The math specialist moved him to the “3rd-5th grade” version of Dreambox the summer before 2nd with mixed results.

He liked being able to do interesting things, but he was getting zero instruction, context, or support on the new concepts. Some things he figured out brute force or trial and error - some things he just got frustrated and gave up until we saw he was struggling and helped out.

This year they don’t bring iPads home and he’s doing something new called Reflex Math - but without the iPad at home we don’t know how he’s doin or where he is struggling with basic concepts.

I am not interested in accelerating him multiple grades ahead as much as I am interested in making sure he has a rock solid foundation going into Jr high and Hs math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in 3rd, but he finished 2nd grade Dreambox by the end of K. The math specialist moved him to the “3rd-5th grade” version of Dreambox the summer before 2nd with mixed results.

He liked being able to do interesting things, but he was getting zero instruction, context, or support on the new concepts. Some things he figured out brute force or trial and error - some things he just got frustrated and gave up until we saw he was struggling and helped out.

This year they don’t bring iPads home and he’s doing something new called Reflex Math - but without the iPad at home we don’t know how he’s doin or where he is struggling with basic concepts.

I am not interested in accelerating him multiple grades ahead as much as I am interested in making sure he has a rock solid foundation going into Jr high and Hs math.

Spending more time with apps is not the answer APS. Why can that math specialist have weekly meetups with advanced kids to teach new concepts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in 3rd, but he finished 2nd grade Dreambox by the end of K. The math specialist moved him to the “3rd-5th grade” version of Dreambox the summer before 2nd with mixed results.

He liked being able to do interesting things, but he was getting zero instruction, context, or support on the new concepts. Some things he figured out brute force or trial and error - some things he just got frustrated and gave up until we saw he was struggling and helped out.

This year they don’t bring iPads home and he’s doing something new called Reflex Math - but without the iPad at home we don’t know how he’s doin or where he is struggling with basic concepts.

I am not interested in accelerating him multiple grades ahead as much as I am interested in making sure he has a rock solid foundation going into Jr high and Hs math.

Also we do Khan math, play math games, and introduce math concepts in daily life at home. My husband and I both have engineering degrees and we’re much more qualified to support him at home with math and science than writing and literature.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in 3rd, but he finished 2nd grade Dreambox by the end of K. The math specialist moved him to the “3rd-5th grade” version of Dreambox the summer before 2nd with mixed results.

He liked being able to do interesting things, but he was getting zero instruction, context, or support on the new concepts. Some things he figured out brute force or trial and error - some things he just got frustrated and gave up until we saw he was struggling and helped out.

This year they don’t bring iPads home and he’s doing something new called Reflex Math - but without the iPad at home we don’t know how he’s doin or where he is struggling with basic concepts.

I am not interested in accelerating him multiple grades ahead as much as I am interested in making sure he has a rock solid foundation going into Jr high and Hs math.

Spending more time with apps is not the answer APS. Why can that math specialist have weekly meetups with advanced kids to teach new concepts?

Agreed that would be the BEST answer. I would even settle for a weekly grade level email of optional enrichment / home activities. However my kid LOVES the apps and when he had his iPad over the summer / during the school year, he often chooses to play the apps 10-15 min a day 3-4x a week for fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in 3rd, but he finished 2nd grade Dreambox by the end of K. The math specialist moved him to the “3rd-5th grade” version of Dreambox the summer before 2nd with mixed results.

He liked being able to do interesting things, but he was getting zero instruction, context, or support on the new concepts. Some things he figured out brute force or trial and error - some things he just got frustrated and gave up until we saw he was struggling and helped out.

This year they don’t bring iPads home and he’s doing something new called Reflex Math - but without the iPad at home we don’t know how he’s doin or where he is struggling with basic concepts.

I am not interested in accelerating him multiple grades ahead as much as I am interested in making sure he has a rock solid foundation going into Jr high and Hs math.

Spending more time with apps is not the answer APS. Why can that math specialist have weekly meetups with advanced kids to teach new concepts?

Agreed that would be the BEST answer. I would even settle for a weekly grade level email of optional enrichment / home activities. However my kid LOVES the apps and when he had his iPad over the summer / during the school year, he often chooses to play the apps 10-15 min a day 3-4x a week for fun.

That’s because it’s a game, not because they are learning math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in 3rd, but he finished 2nd grade Dreambox by the end of K. The math specialist moved him to the “3rd-5th grade” version of Dreambox the summer before 2nd with mixed results.

He liked being able to do interesting things, but he was getting zero instruction, context, or support on the new concepts. Some things he figured out brute force or trial and error - some things he just got frustrated and gave up until we saw he was struggling and helped out.

This year they don’t bring iPads home and he’s doing something new called Reflex Math - but without the iPad at home we don’t know how he’s doin or where he is struggling with basic concepts.

I am not interested in accelerating him multiple grades ahead as much as I am interested in making sure he has a rock solid foundation going into Jr high and Hs math.

Spending more time with apps is not the answer APS. Why can that math specialist have weekly meetups with advanced kids to teach new concepts?

Agreed that would be the BEST answer. I would even settle for a weekly grade level email of optional enrichment / home activities. However my kid LOVES the apps and when he had his iPad over the summer / during the school year, he often chooses to play the apps 10-15 min a day 3-4x a week for fun.

That’s because it’s a game, not because they are learning math.

DP here. Games are a fantastic way to learn!

Also as much as I hate to admit it because I wish schools didn’t use iPads, the apps they use for really do boost test scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just received our 4th grader's math inventory score and he's testing more than a grade ahead. Does anyone have suggestions for how your APS elementary school keeps more advanced students challenged, engaged and ready for more advanced classes in middle school? We obviously don't have AAP, but doing the same work as the whole class is less than satisfying.

In my experience, APS doesn't do much. We supplemented with Fairfax Collegiate in the summer, but there's not much you can do while your kid is in school. Mine was just bored most of the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in 3rd, but he finished 2nd grade Dreambox by the end of K. The math specialist moved him to the “3rd-5th grade” version of Dreambox the summer before 2nd with mixed results.

He liked being able to do interesting things, but he was getting zero instruction, context, or support on the new concepts. Some things he figured out brute force or trial and error - some things he just got frustrated and gave up until we saw he was struggling and helped out.

This year they don’t bring iPads home and he’s doing something new called Reflex Math - but without the iPad at home we don’t know how he’s doin or where he is struggling with basic concepts.

I am not interested in accelerating him multiple grades ahead as much as I am interested in making sure he has a rock solid foundation going into Jr high and Hs math.

Spending more time with apps is not the answer APS. Why can that math specialist have weekly meetups with advanced kids to teach new concepts?

Agreed that would be the BEST answer. I would even settle for a weekly grade level email of optional enrichment / home activities. However my kid LOVES the apps and when he had his iPad over the summer / during the school year, he often chooses to play the apps 10-15 min a day 3-4x a week for fun.

That’s because it’s a game, not because they are learning math.

DP here. Games are a fantastic way to learn!

Also as much as I hate to admit it because I wish schools didn’t use iPads, the apps they use for really do boost test scores.

But games have all those dark patterns and addictive tendencies, gamification is no panacea.

[Anonymous]

The MI benchmark is a minimum level of proficiency. For example the 4th grade benchmark is 534 and we regularly had many students a good 100+ points or more over that at the end of the year. It’s a basement, not a ceiling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The MI benchmark is a minimum level of proficiency. For example the 4th grade benchmark is 534 and we regularly had many students a good 100+ points or more over that at the end of the year. It’s a basement, not a ceiling.

How does MI work? Is it benchmarked for each grade or is it one test where you just score higher as you learn more? The reason I ask if that MI scores can sometimes be lower in the fall than in the spring. Is that because of summer slump within the same continuous test or is it because students are being evaluated on the next grade's content?