Do your kids know about historical events, science?
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Anonymous
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I think back to when I was in elementary school (And not a good one. Several girls had dropped out by high school), and I'm pretty sure I learned about MLK, Jackie Robinson, mummies and Egypt, The Oregon Trail, and I remember reading about topics like Native Americans, pueblos / Zuni silversmiths and jewelry making, and things like ranch hands and cattle. We learned all the state capitals. We had spelling tests. Do your kids know anything about... well, anything? Mine knows a little, but pretty much just things we have talked about at home or read at the library. Is this normal for elementary school?
At school they are taught about math facts and reading skills, and I think he is ok in those areas. Science has been limited to building lego structures and making paper airplanes. History. I think they talked about being a good citizen and voted for a movie to see which movie would win a majority. His teacher last year made mention of "the old days" (like pre electricity, pre-internet) vs now, and they made a then vs now list of ideas, but that's about it. He does very little writing, and no spelling. When do they start learning more actual content versus learning early skills like reading and math facts? 4th grade? |
Anonymous
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At our school more like 2nd grade.
But nobody will ever know the Oregon Trail as well as people born in the 1980s know the Oregon Trail. Ah, memories. |
Anonymous
| My 4th grader learned about ancient civilizations last year and still spouts off random facts every once in a while. This year they are going to do Virginia history and she's really excited about it! |
Anonymous
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My kids knew a lot in elementary, but mostly from what we (parents) taught them via reading books, conversations, visiting museums and historic sites, and doing science experiments at home. They learned some science and history at school, but it was almost always very surface level stuff that my kids already knew. They did learn a lot during Virginia studied in 4th grade. Teachers would comment that my kids had a lot of “background knowledge.”
There has been a recent trend to focus on math and reading and less on “content.” In my view, you can’t rely on schools to provide 100% of your kid’s education. |
Anonymous
| Everything I know about the Oregon Trail comes from the video game or Little House on the Prairie books. |
Anonymous
| No, they don’t. Public school elementary is made up of various Ed tech programs and the teacher spending bunches of time remediating most of the class so the can pass the standard tests for reading and math. |
Anonymous
But did they used to? I went to public elementary and somehow learned all this and my parents were not taking me to museums and discussing current events, they were working. I remember doing class projects. |
Anonymous
I disagree with this. My kids are in FCPS and I think they are getting a really good science/social studies/history education, and on top of that, the new language arts curriculum has 2-3 week units that sometimes have a science or history bent to them. My kids also bring home a mix of fiction and non-fiction books from the school library. They do group projects for both science and social studies. Is it the same as how I was educated in the 1980s? No, of course not, but I do think they are getting a good education. |
Anonymous
I’m the PP, and yes, I remember doing and learning all these these things mentioned by the OP in school in the 80s-90s when I was in elementary and middle school- and writing actual papers, book reports, and essays before high school as well. I vividly remember writing up scientific experiments we did in class in 5th grade as well (hypothesis, materials, methods, variables, etc.). This was public school in the Midwest. Public schools are vastly different now- based on what I’m seeing with my own kids |
Anonymous
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Yes. Absolutely.
Not from school, but learned at home from me. I was well aware that education system is substandard in US compared to my country of origin. |
Anonymous
| My kids used to go to a charter school and regular history started in K. Story of the world and core knowledge were what they used in their curriculum. In 1st they made a Great Wall of China out of Rice Krispies treats. I moved them to the regular public school last year and I noticed in my younger kid’s class, their curriculum started like what you describe with the being a good citizen or making a map of your neighborhood and things like that. There is history in their lessons now in 2nd but Social Studies combines geography, history , civics, economics, etc. so they have to teach a little of everything. They weren’t doing that at their old school , it was just all history and a tiny bit of geography it seemed like. I can’t remember what I learned in the 90s/early 2000s when I was in elementary school, I really remember a lot of history from those American Girl books I’d read on my own. |
Anonymous
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In my school district there were 3 pushes in history...1st grade, 4th grade, and 7th.
1st grade was colonial history (Pilgrims). 4th grade was local state history/regional history. 7th grade social studies was ancient pre-history. How did human societies form and anthropology type stuff. What I have seen is that kids tend to learn a lot about the history of their state in elementary school. But if you move, you're not knowledgeable about your new place and overeducated on your old place. For me it was things like the California Gold Rush and Donner Party and Spanish Missions. That got zero coverage back east. Western PA was all about Colonial stuff including the French & Indian War. Where I am now, there's been somewhat of a retrenchment from teaching Colonial stuff 1950s style. So the white settler/hero stuff about our state had to make room for more material about Native Americans, the Underground Railroad and other topics that include different races. They do a pretty good job of it. It does seem to reduce historical content. Here's an example from 2nd grade, three years apart. My older boy did a hero report on an 1800s white male doctor who worked in our state. My younger boy did a hero report on a contemporary white female children's book author. Oregon Trail study definitely was a game driven phenomenon/trend. It was after my time. We discussed wagon trains in general but didn't stress specifically the route. |
Anonymous
What format does this take? |
Anonymous
| The MCPS elementary reading curriculum weaves a lot of this in. Just from what I can remember, in 1st they did ancient civilizations and body systems. In second, the Revolutionary War, Civil War, and democracies (among other things). |
Anonymous
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Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) builds many of these topics (probably not all of them) into the readings and related materials.
(Anyone can look at the CKLA material online at the Core Knowledge Foundation website. CKF predates and is NOT related to the so-called Common Core curriculum effort, but names are similar.) MCPS and APS each switched to CKLA for K - elementary grades maybe 2-3 years ago. I think it is a good curriculum overall. |