How do you know if your elementary school is teaching your child what they need to know?

[Anonymous]

Kids in K are not the most accurate reporters. I would take their description of the day with a grain of salt. Or maybe mine really just did recess and lunch all day. Either way, he’s now a fully functional, literate teen.

[Anonymous]

Other people are trying to gaslight you. Truth is that kindergarten just isn’t fun anymore. Too many different skill sets in one classroom means no one really gets to learn. My kids enjoyed preschool so so much. I watched the joy completely disappear when they entered kindergarten. No more arts and crafts and just mostly computers. My kids knew how to read already but weren’t encouraged and no one really cared to have anything interesting for them. Focus was just on tutoring the kids who were behind. Which in my mind should happen after school, summer school or pullouts.

[Anonymous]

If he's at public school, he most likely won't ever get his educational needs met. But he'll be in the same sad boat as 80% of kids in this country. If you are super dedicated to education, you have to do private or homeschool. Not a knock on teachers at all (I am one), but the system. It's broken y'all. It was headed this way long before covid, but the pandemic just accelerated the trend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have the same questions, at a public school we are new to, but mostly because I'm hearing about watching multiple episodes of the Berenstain Bears each day (grade 1), in addition to computer games (probably educational, I don't know), books on screen, and videos for "brain breaks." If I were hearing anything related to direct instruction, or seeing some evidence of it, I'd definitely be able to more easily "calm down." My expectations aren't through the roof, but basic instruction definitely makes the ist, so I'm waiting for BTSN, interims, etc., to see what things look like.

Anyway OP, give it some time, at least you are hearing about some learning. If you'd decide to change course, six months or a year in a less-than-ideal situation probably isn't the end or the world. Haha, I hope, anyway, for all of our sakes!

The first couple weeks they do a lot of individual testing so other kids watch things and cant do formal class instruction. They do this to assess reading snd math groups the kids need to be in.

This is actually really helpful to know! I think that's probably why I'm hearing some complaints for DS that school is boring right now.

But why not just explain that to parents? Why make me guess and wonder what is going on? Our BTS night isn't until the end of September -- a short introductory email with this explanation would have been so useful.

Honestly, most parent don't care about the knowing this info. The amount of testing in public schools is ridiculous. Either deal with it or go somewhere else.

[Anonymous]

I worked in a elementary school and at one of the top 3 districts in the nation. You can bet they are not getting all they are supposed to.

[Anonymous]

You don’t. That’s why you supplement. Buy The Well Trained Mind.

[Anonymous]

What do you think your kid “needs to know”? What does it mean to “need to know” something as a kindergartner? Needs to know basic subtracting and adding? For what reason? Needs to know phonics?

I don’t understand your question or concern.

What I think my kindergartner needs to know is: how to be kind to and get along w others, share, make friends, be patient and wait her turn, listen to what the teacher has to say, speak up when she has a question, how to deal w various challenges that come up in life/at school (kids not playing nicely, not understanding teachers directions, etc) That’s what school is for at that age. If they happen to also learn reading, math, etc that’s great but it’s really not that they “need to know” math or reading yet. There’s plenty of time to learn that. The social-emotional stuff is way more important at that age.

[Anonymous]

K is basically a repeat of Pre-K— nothing new was taught

[Anonymous]

Cutting is age appropriate and important in developing fine motor skills. Computers and iPads and smart boards are not age appropriate and do not develop necessary skills for this age. They are severely overused in lower grades in our district (Fairfax). They do plenty of fun, engaging, age appropriate stuff too which is why we stay (arts and crafts, handwriting, math with manipulatives, recess and indoor play, music class, art class, gym, story / read aloud and circle time, rhyming/ phonics/ chants and songs, field trips, class plays, raising chicks, nature walks/ growing plants, but the screen time in school at this age is awful.

To answer your question about knowing if they’re learning the right stuff, yes there are lots of assessments that will show you if your kid is in or above grade level at different points on the year in math and reading. And if you look at all the work that your kid brings home and talk to them about their day, you’ll see gaps as they arise and you can address at home or with a tutor (or let it go and be okay with the fact that all kids have weak areas and/ or your kid will eventually pick up additional skills and they get older.) for my kids in Fairfax, it was clear one kid had gaps in spelling / vocabulary so we work on that at home with just a little extra homework (10 minutes or so) a couple times per week. Another child didn’t ever solidify math facts in school again a we addressed that by doing math fact activities and drills at home as a supplement to his homework. One thing that’s been intractable is horrible handwriting. The teachers don’t expect/ ask them to write neatly, so mine don’t. I hate the sloppy handwriting as it is so lazy to me. But I can’t make them care of the school doesn’t care and we just have to let that go. I’m not going to pay private school tuition over it. Overall the gaps have been manageable to address at home, and public schools offer some good stuff. Fairfax has stellar music (band and strings and chorus) opportunities for example, and my kids peers all come from diverse families who are generally kind, educated, engaged in the community, etc.

[Anonymous]

This is the reason I left public school. My son's handwriting was worse at the end of first grade then when he was in preschool. Absolutely everything was on the Chromebook. He would pick a book to be read to him over headphones and put in zero effort. Barely any papers came home and of course no tests. No writing sentences, no real math, no songs or poems. For fun the teacher would put Blippi or Koo Koo guys on the big screen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The anxiety on this board is off the chain.

Your child is being assessed in a variety of ways in literacy and math. The teacher will have a parent conference with you in about a month and share about your child’s progress and include work samples. Prior to that, they’ll share what the day is like at Back to School Night.

Calm down.

The anxiety stems from fear and love. OP should still figure out how to get a handle on it, though.

[Anonymous]

I would keep close track of what work comes home, what DC says, and also whatever feedback you get from the school. I would do this with any school through HS graduation.

I learned zero in 1st and 2nd grade because the whole school system leveled down the content. Part way thru 2nd grade, my parents figured it out and I moved to an academically challenging non-public the next year. No school is perfect, bit it was a huge improvement for me.

If I could homeschool my DC, then I would; alas, we can't make that work. YMMV

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Other people are trying to gaslight you. Truth is that kindergarten just isn’t fun anymore. Too many different skill sets in one classroom means no one really gets to learn. My kids enjoyed preschool so so much. I watched the joy completely disappear when they entered kindergarten. No more arts and crafts and just mostly computers. My kids knew how to read already but weren’t encouraged and no one really cared to have anything interesting for them. Focus was just on tutoring the kids who were behind. Which in my mind should happen after school, summer school or pullouts.

I don’t think anyone’s doing any deliberate gaslighting, but as someone with a 6th grader and 2nd grader who went through the same school for K and 1, I agree the early elementary grades are not as fun as they used to be. Our experience was that the school was doubling down on math/reading/writing in order to help kids who’s fallen behind. Although this may help get some kids up to speed, it’s a pretty joyless experience for kids who are not behind, and esp silky those who are ready to do more and need more challenge. Since they are spending so much time forced to do the same basic work, they are losing both more fun free play opportunities and also losing opportunities to do more interesting math/reading work. It’s a challenging time. I would just recommend keeping an eye on things and checking in with your kid as the year progresses.

[Anonymous]

Excuse typos/autocorrect issues

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:K is basically a repeat of Pre-K— nothing new was taught

Because not every kid has gone to pre-K unless you live in a district with universal pre-k.