APS reading

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I have an 8th grader -- I don't remember write a BOOK?? What?

It's true. In Kindergarten and 1st grade my son came home with multiple "books" he had been told to create using pictures and illegible sentences. I kept trying to figure out why they would be writing books and "telling their story" when they couldn't spell or write clearly. I'm glad I'm not alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to scrap her sh***y writing program, too. What is the point of having K students who can’t write a single word write a “story.” JFC, teach them how to spell individual words, then how to properly construct a sentence with proper grammar and punctuation and capitalization, and THEN teach them how to write a paragraph, and maybe then a story. Not teaching this stuff explicitly is criminal and really disadvantages ELL and kids whose parents aren’t over their shoulders at home correcting their mistakes and reinforcing these basic tenets. They want them to build a sky scraper without giving them basic building blocks to start. The district should throw her “curriculum” out and sue her. It’s shameful what’s happened to an entire cohort of kids who were not given the proper tools to be successful students. If you can’t read or write proficiently, you really haven’t received a basic education.

Oh. My. God. Their writing program is ABYSMAL. My kids are excellent readers (no thanks to APS, literally, It’s just because they’re both obsessed with reading and learning) but sub-par writers. I will never forgive APS for making my kid write A BOOK in third grade. They went from “third grade sentences have at least seven words” to “Write a book with at least four chapters, a table of contents, and a glossary.”

I have seen people on DCUM defend it because “it’s a fun thing for the kids to do” (no, it is not fun to be asked to do something you have no clue how to do), and because they do learn the main objective which is learning text features. But a) most of the time spent on that project is spent thinking about picking a topic, how the heck you organize a paragraph, how you organize a chapter, and even how to write sentences because they still don’t have that skill down Pat. And you know how you can really teach a kid learn about glossaries and tables of contents? Have them use them! While reading a factual book and making the kids learn the content using glossaries and tables of contents. But we can’t teach kids about history or science, we don’t have time for that because we are spending hours and hours a day on our shitty reading program.

And then the teachers didn’t even read the book! It was so stressful for my poor kid, because on top of all this they made him hand-write it and his handwriting sucked and was painstakingly slow.

DD is in 7th and I’m decently happy with the instruction but I’m homeschooling DD for elementary. I cannot bear the idea of him spending so much time in school learning nothing.

NP. My DS wrote a book in 2nd grade about how to play checkers. He included rules, example games, illustrations, a table of contents, glossary, an about the author page, etc. The teacher "published" it by binding it in a folder with a clear cover. It's on his bookshelf in his room.

This is in FCPS which I thought has weaker elementary schools than APS.

[Anonymous]

My 6th grader is a good reader and writer. I guess I don’t get the shock over writing “books” in elementary school. I did when I was a kid, and my kids have done the same so it seems normal. They’re not historical novels- they’re appropriate to the age level in content and length. The class has a “publishing party” (in non Covid times), and families are invited to come in and admire the work, and fill out comment cards for the students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 6th grader is a good reader and writer. I guess I don’t get the shock over writing “books” in elementary school. I did when I was a kid, and my kids have done the same so it seems normal. They’re not historical novels- they’re appropriate to the age level in content and length. The class has a “publishing party” (in non Covid times), and families are invited to come in and admire the work, and fill out comment cards for the students.

So is mine, which is why I didn’t get why it was problematic. Then my younger child started K, and I understood. For kids who need explicit instruction in reading and writing, this is a disaster. It took me 3 years to help my second child unlearn the “guess the word based on the first letter or look at the picture” to figure it out. Wouldn’t progress to books without pictures FOR THIS REASON because these are the learned habits of a struggling reader. Still can’t spell or compose a correct sentence, but is being forced to write books and feels stupid every day, because child is aware that the spelling and everything else isn’t correct. Other kids, ones like my oldest, laugh at these mistakes in “workshop.” It’s super sh**** and why this child didn’t want to return to school this year.

[Anonymous]

We left APS after third grade...our kid lost interest in reading and described being sorted into a group with kids who could not read and just quit trying. Teacher never helped the group and focused on the higher groups. DC was flagged for SOL support which we refused b/c we believe the SOL should reflect the teaching for the year not preparing for the test. Passed the SOL and upon entry to private was considered a full year behind in reading compared to peers. DC struggled to answer open ended questions. I will say, DCs writing is amazing because of the focus of writing in private...but DC still struggles with reading the way OP describes in MS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We left APS after third grade...our kid lost interest in reading and described being sorted into a group with kids who could not read and just quit trying. Teacher never helped the group and focused on the higher groups. DC was flagged for SOL support which we refused b/c we believe the SOL should reflect the teaching for the year not preparing for the test. Passed the SOL and upon entry to private was considered a full year behind in reading compared to peers. DC struggled to answer open ended questions. I will say, DCs writing is amazing because of the focus of writing in private...but DC still struggles with reading the way OP describes in MS

I'm not sure I understand. You admit your son was a year behind in reading but object to him being in a lower reading group? Then you refused extra help?

My experience has been that teachers meet with the lower reading groups daily and the top reading group maybe once a week. The struggling readers get the most time by far. Your son may have missed out on some of this time if you refused to have him meet with the reading specialist.

[Anonymous]

My DC was never offered a reading specialist at any parent teacher conference and an issue was never raised. Upon reflection the teacher was mediocre at best and no longer teaching 3rd grade but a lower grade now.
I was never alerted to a reading problem until leaving APS. According to APS standards my kid was performing to expectation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to scrap her sh***y writing program, too. What is the point of having K students who can’t write a single word write a “story.” JFC, teach them how to spell individual words, then how to properly construct a sentence with proper grammar and punctuation and capitalization, and THEN teach them how to write a paragraph, and maybe then a story. Not teaching this stuff explicitly is criminal and really disadvantages ELL and kids whose parents aren’t over their shoulders at home correcting their mistakes and reinforcing these basic tenets. They want them to build a sky scraper without giving them basic building blocks to start. The district should throw her “curriculum” out and sue her. It’s shameful what’s happened to an entire cohort of kids who were not given the proper tools to be successful students. If you can’t read or write proficiently, you really haven’t received a basic education.

Oh. My. God. Their writing program is ABYSMAL. My kids are excellent readers (no thanks to APS, literally, It’s just because they’re both obsessed with reading and learning) but sub-par writers. I will never forgive APS for making my kid write A BOOK in third grade. They went from “third grade sentences have at least seven words” to “Write a book with at least four chapters, a table of contents, and a glossary.”

I have seen people on DCUM defend it because “it’s a fun thing for the kids to do” (no, it is not fun to be asked to do something you have no clue how to do), and because they do learn the main objective which is learning text features. But a) most of the time spent on that project is spent thinking about picking a topic, how the heck you organize a paragraph, how you organize a chapter, and even how to write sentences because they still don’t have that skill down Pat. And you know how you can really teach a kid learn about glossaries and tables of contents? Have them use them! While reading a factual book and making the kids learn the content using glossaries and tables of contents. But we can’t teach kids about history or science, we don’t have time for that because we are spending hours and hours a day on our shitty reading program.

And then the teachers didn’t even read the book! It was so stressful for my poor kid, because on top of all this they made him hand-write it and his handwriting sucked and was painstakingly slow.

DD is in 7th and I’m decently happy with the instruction but I’m homeschooling DD for elementary. I cannot bear the idea of him spending so much time in school learning nothing.

NP. My DS wrote a book in 2nd grade about how to play checkers. He included rules, example games, illustrations, a table of contents, glossary, an about the author page, etc. The teacher "published" it by binding it in a folder with a clear cover. It's on his bookshelf in his room.

This is in FCPS which I thought has weaker elementary schools than APS.

Not sure what your point is. First of all, I don't know who has weaker elementary schools. Second of all, it's cool that your kid has their book, but the issue is whether or not your kid knows how to write a solid sentence, paragraph, etc. Maybe your kid had already been taught that, in which case, great! Now, the end result of my kid's book was cool, but it didn't help is writing skills, nor how to use text features in real life (which he already knew how to do).

[Anonymous]

You are not alone. A LOT of students struggle in middle school in reading writing and math, and their parents were always told they were doing great in elementary.

[Anonymous]

This explains it all

https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/arlington/Board.nsf/files/BZW3SX0855CF/$file/ELAAC%20Executive%20Summary%20March%202021.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This explains it all

https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/arlington/Board.nsf/files/BZW3SX0855CF/$file/ELAAC%20Executive%20Summary%20March%202021.pdf

Wow, thank you. Was this recommendation adopted?

[Anonymous]

It may not be dyslexia at all, PPs. The effing Lucy Calkins crap has screwed everyone up. Just because English isn’t *entirely* phonetic doesn’t mean that we needed to stop teaching phonics at all! (And I’m not surprised that OP mentioned terrible spelling. Spelling is largely phonics in written form.)

OP, work on phonics and things will improve.

APS is failing our kids. Stop pumping money into the central office and BS diversity any equity roles. Want to know what will ACTUALLY improve equity? Teach all kids how to read well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This explains it all

https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/arlington/Board.nsf/files/BZW3SX0855CF/$file/ELAAC%20Executive%20Summary%20March%202021.pdf

Wow, thank you. Was this recommendation adopted?

I believe it was for at least early ES

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It may not be dyslexia at all, PPs. The effing Lucy Calkins crap has screwed everyone up. Just because English isn’t *entirely* phonetic doesn’t mean that we needed to stop teaching phonics at all! (And I’m not surprised that OP mentioned terrible spelling. Spelling is largely phonics in written form.)

OP, work on phonics and things will improve.

APS is failing our kids. Stop pumping money into the central office and BS diversity any equity roles. Want to know what will ACTUALLY improve equity? Teach all kids how to read well.

YES! How many kids are struggling because they were taught fundamentals that DO NOT work and wound up making kids work even harder later because they didn't learn phonetics??!! I thought it was crazy when my kid was in K and she was guessing words instead of sounding them out. My DD said, no mom we aren't supposed to do that. What an abysmal failure to the students