Is this normal for 2nd grade work? APS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, typical. They have "Ancient Greece" now in 2nd grade.

+1 Yep, my 2nd grader has been learning about Greek myths for months, it feels like.

I have zero issue with him learning about ancient greek. WE read a lot of myths and love percy jackson lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can sign into myaccess using your kid's info and access the reader to see the text in the amplify app.

Huh I had no idea about this. I tried to log in but now they don't use a password they have QR codes they scan in class. SO I don't have the info to log in, but I am sure I can get it. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Expecting the teacher to send all the reading materials in addition to the papers seems like a big ask. Matt kids were able to work on unfinished work before school (the 10 mins from when they are allowed in the class and when the bell rings). Can he do that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Expecting the teacher to send all the reading materials in addition to the papers seems like a big ask. Matt kids were able to work on unfinished work before school (the 10 mins from when they are allowed in the class and when the bell rings). Can he do that?

To be clear she offered to send home work so we could work on it. I don't want to burden her too much though. It be nice if we had access to the text books they use at home. I will ask about extra time in class. I think he is generally just paralyzed with how to start so maybe i can see if we can get him some examples of what is expected .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Expecting the teacher to send all the reading materials in addition to the papers seems like a big ask. Matt kids were able to work on unfinished work before school (the 10 mins from when they are allowed in the class and when the bell rings). Can he do that?

To be clear she offered to send home work so we could work on it. I don't want to burden her too much though. It be nice if we had access to the text books they use at home. I will ask about extra time in class. I think he is generally just paralyzed with how to start so maybe i can see if we can get him some examples of what is expected .

This is something that a good teacher can do. You can send her a message that says that - you'd like to help him with his work and you see that he gets paralyzed and needs help getting started/knowing how to begin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, typical. They have "Ancient Greece" now in 2nd grade.

very happy to hear about this. Also glad there is at least some composition in 2nd grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Expecting the teacher to send all the reading materials in addition to the papers seems like a big ask. Matt kids were able to work on unfinished work before school (the 10 mins from when they are allowed in the class and when the bell rings). Can he do that?

To be clear she offered to send home work so we could work on it. I don't want to burden her too much though. It be nice if we had access to the text books they use at home. I will ask about extra time in class. I think he is generally just paralyzed with how to start so maybe i can see if we can get him some examples of what is expected .

This is something that a good teacher can do. You can send her a message that says that - you'd like to help him with his work and you see that he gets paralyzed and needs help getting started/knowing how to begin.

Thank you! I found the curriculum on-line so we have been talking about what they read each day at dinner or on the way to the bus stop. We also set up a "system" he can follow. Basically when he gets a worksheet 1) he reads the question, 2) he thinks about what it is asking, 3) if he is confused he asked the teacher or if they are allowed a friend, 4) he writes 1-2 sentences. He seems happy with that framework, but we shall see if it actually works!

I re-read him the passage at home and he was able to answer the question, so at lease he seems capable! Just needs some scaffolding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, typical. They have "Ancient Greece" now in 2nd grade.

very happy to hear about this. Also glad there is at least some composition in 2nd grade.

WEll, you will be happy to know he is currently learning about Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Alexander the Great or as my kids refer to them. Soccer, Pluto, Aristople, and Alexander.

[Anonymous]

I think this is pretty normal by this point of the year in 2nd grade.

By 3rd grade they will have them writing a lot. Gotta start somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of DS' teacher keeps telling me he is not doing all his work. We are working on it. He does all his math and his phonics work sheets but still he is just not doing other stuff. I asked her to send home work that he doesn't' do so we can work on it at home but honestly, I got it yesterday and am a bit shocked it is 2nd grade work.

So the question is this:

"What does Sparta's stand at Thermopylae tell us about Spartans? Why was it important?"

Then gives them lines to write their answer. I am going to be honest that this sound similar to what my 5th grader is doing so I was a bit shocked it was given in 2nd grade. I am kind of not surprised my child could not do it. He said they learned about Sparta the week before and then were given this. I asked if the teacher dictated what they should write, and he said no (i don't know if this is true or not lol). My 5th grader did 2nd grade at the same school, and I don't remember these assignments, but covid did cut things short.

For background he has no learning disorders (just did a private assessment). He does have ADHD and we are starting treatment, but I am not even sure ADHD meds could have him write a paragraph about Sparta's stand at Thermopylae. I also thought it was unusual to use the word "stand" as I am not sure if 2nd graders would understand it in that context. I did ask one other parent that I know how her kid does and she said he writes two words, but obviously that isn't' a sample size.

So typical 2nd grade work?

Yes its typical. Part of the CKLA curriculum that APS adopted. My daughter had a similar assignment. Happy to see that APS is giving our kids challenging work and using an evidence based, content rich curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that there probably was a reading passage to go with it, but I think you are also overestimating the teacher’s expectations for a response. She’s probably not expecting a well-composed paragraph, most answers will be something like “brave. becuse they stayed.”

No its not just a passage. It's part of a 10 lesson unit on greek myths.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of DS' teacher keeps telling me he is not doing all his work. We are working on it. He does all his math and his phonics work sheets but still he is just not doing other stuff. I asked her to send home work that he doesn't' do so we can work on it at home but honestly, I got it yesterday and am a bit shocked it is 2nd grade work.

So the question is this:

"What does Sparta's stand at Thermopylae tell us about Spartans? Why was it important?"

Then gives them lines to write their answer. I am going to be honest that this sound similar to what my 5th grader is doing so I was a bit shocked it was given in 2nd grade. I am kind of not surprised my child could not do it. He said they learned about Sparta the week before and then were given this. I asked if the teacher dictated what they should write, and he said no (i don't know if this is true or not lol). My 5th grader did 2nd grade at the same school, and I don't remember these assignments, but covid did cut things short.

For background he has no learning disorders (just did a private assessment). He does have ADHD and we are starting treatment, but I am not even sure ADHD meds could have him write a paragraph about Sparta's stand at Thermopylae. I also thought it was unusual to use the word "stand" as I am not sure if 2nd graders would understand it in that context. I did ask one other parent that I know how her kid does and she said he writes two words, but obviously that isn't' a sample size.

So typical 2nd grade work?

Yes its typical. Part of the CKLA curriculum that APS adopted. My daughter had a similar assignment. Happy to see that APS is giving our kids challenging work and using an evidence based, content rich curriculum.

Yes I am fine with challenging work. I just think reading a passage out loud and expecting kids to remember it days (to a week later) for a worksheet seems like a lot! But I guess my kid is the outlier. So we just re-read everything every morning before school now.

He seems to be able to do it no issue if he heard the passage and was asked the question the same day. Just the days gap that is the issue, but we will work on it!

[Anonymous]

Not typical second grade work. The story about the Spartans may be okay, but the phrasing of that question is pretty sophisticated.

How about:
Were the Spartans strong? Why or why not?

Frankly, I think that this is February and that they should be doing George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Black History.

[Anonymous]

So much greek mythology at our aps school! (Also 2nd grade)

[Anonymous]

Is this the Core Knowledge series? All their stuff is free online. You should be able to pull the reading materials (and get helps for scaffolding and support) here.

https://www.coreknowledge.org/free-resource/ckla-domain-03-ancient-greek-civilization/