Tell me about FCPS AAP research and writing in ES

[Anonymous]

For the purposes of setting appropriate expectations for myself and my child, I'm curious to hear what your students' experiences have been in 4th-6th grade AAP with research and writing.

Thinking back to my own experience at these grade levels (in California), I recall one year we did a 5-10 page report (along with an artistic expression) about one of the Missions (I had Carmel), another year we did 10-20 page country reports (I had Belgium). The reports weren't intense, usually a combination of some double-spaced narrative and then some images, maps, etc. as well. They gave us the general structure/format of the different sections, and we did our research and writing from there, which was mostly books and Encyclopedias back then, would likely be heavily online resources today I presume. As for creative writing, I don't recall doing as much of it until MS and especially HS, but there was occasionally some short-form stuff like poetry, haikus, maybe a 1-2 page short story, etc.

Is my experience at all analogous to the type of introduction to research and report-writing that's done today in FCPS AAP? If not, how does it differ? Is this heavily school-dependent? If so, we're in Haycock zone so would particularly appreciate any specific insights/experiences there.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can provide constructive information or comparisons.

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to note that your memory is truly extraordinary that you recall the details of your ES work like that. That is some serious recall capability!

[Anonymous]

No, it doesn't happen.

[Anonymous]

It's really school dependent. I think the only consistent thing about AAP is the Math acceleration. The Writing/LA/SS/Science seems to be dependent on the school and interests of the teachers. Also, I see more creative writing in ES than legit report writing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the purposes of setting appropriate expectations for myself and my child, I'm curious to hear what your students' experiences have been in 4th-6th grade AAP with research and writing.

Thinking back to my own experience at these grade levels (in California), I recall one year we did a 5-10 page report (along with an artistic expression) about one of the Missions (I had Carmel), another year we did 10-20 page country reports (I had Belgium). The reports weren't intense, usually a combination of some double-spaced narrative and then some images, maps, etc. as well. They gave us the general structure/format of the different sections, and we did our research and writing from there, which was mostly books and Encyclopedias back then, would likely be heavily online resources today I presume. As for creative writing, I don't recall doing as much of it until MS and especially HS, but there was occasionally some short-form stuff like poetry, haikus, maybe a 1-2 page short story, etc.

Is my experience at all analogous to the type of introduction to research and report-writing that's done today in FCPS AAP? If not, how does it differ? Is this heavily school-dependent? If so, we're in Haycock zone so would particularly appreciate any specific insights/experiences there.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can provide constructive information or comparisons.

It used to be more intense before they reduced the rigor. You can't lower the bar to admit 20% of the students (including some that don't demonstrate the academic ability on the testing instruments) without making the curriculum easier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just wanted to note that your memory is truly extraordinary that you recall the details of your ES work like that. That is some serious recall capability!

Well I was aided by recently clearing out my parents storage unit, which contained boxes of my larger childhood school projects and reports.

[Anonymous]

There is a multi week research project for National History Day in sixth grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's really school dependent. I think the only consistent thing about AAP is the Math acceleration. The Writing/LA/SS/Science seems to be dependent on the school and interests of the teachers. Also, I see more creative writing in ES than legit report writing.

Thanks… we’ll reach out to our ES as well but was interested in coupling that with some parent perspectives here. Might be a good excuse to get to know a few neighbors with kids a bit older than ours as well.

[Anonymous]

There's a "research" unit starting in...third (I think?) every year. At our school both my 4th and 6th grader are moving into it. That does not look like a research essay as you might remember it. My kids did learn to make citations in fourth, though.

In fifth there's a big research group project that - at our school at least - was done as a web page but was somewhat structured like an essay with a thesis and supporting points. However the teacher never taught my kid how to actually support a thesis, so I ended up teaching her and she ended up attempting to explain it to her group mates. I think they lost more points for poor web navigation by the person running the computer during the presentation than anything writing-related.

At our school at least there is a lack of instruction on sentence structure, paragraph structure, and essay structure in general.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, it doesn't happen.

+1. All my dc did was group projects on google slides.

The 9t grader still hasn't had an actual research/writing paper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a multi week research project for National History Day in sixth grade.

Maybe at your particular school. Everything is school dependent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, it doesn't happen.

+1. All my dc did was group projects on google slides.

The 9t grader still hasn't had an actual research/writing paper.

+1. It was all google slide shows done in a group for both my AAP kid and my gen ed kid. Each slide maybe had 2 sentences, and the research was just google searching for information. The weakest kids in the group usually just found the pictures for the slides and didn't do any "research" or writing at all.

[Anonymous]

DS has written a memoir in 5th and 6th grade. They work on a chapter each semester. I have seen a lot of comments on the early drafts and writing worksheet reviews that have come home. They have done research projects as well but those seem to be on Google slides and the like. They do have to cite their sources and spend a good amount of time looking at different type of citations and discussing how to use citations, again based on the papers I see in his binder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a multi week research project for National History Day in sixth grade.

Maybe at your particular school. Everything is school dependent.

OP said they’re zoned for Haycock and the NHD project pp referred to above just wrapped up at haycock 2 weeks ago. It was a great learning opportunity for the students.