ELC Reading in 4th

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can ask for your child to be placed in ELC.

I did. I spoke to the principal and she assured me DC will be placed in ELC. But I have heard nothing from school regarding ELC or compacted math placements for next year. Acc to the teacher they haven’t met to discuss these placements yet. 🤷🏽‍♀️

Our school does not offer ELC, but compacted math letters went out after the school year ended so I would expect the same is true for ELC.

Are they still doing that? It seems wrong to do so after the year ends when it’s not possible to have a conversation or ask questions of the teacher.

Why? You can ask questions about ELC right now to the Adminstration and Reading specialist/ teachers teaching the class this year. Class assignment for next year is no different than any other time except you kid may be placed in ELC for reading.

CES notification is something different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid did ELC in 4th and 5th. We were really happy with the program. They read a lot of novels in small groups (literature circles), where each child was responsible for a different role each week (things like summarizing, defining difficult vocabulary, running the discussion, talking about character growth, etc). The content selections were great! I read some of the books along with my kid just because children's literature has changed so much since I was a child. They also studied biography and memoirs, and wrote nonfiction and fiction of their own.

There was also a spelling component, which made me happy because my kid is not a strong speller even though he's a voracious reader. "Word study" forced him to do a lot of activities using the word lists of the week (write them in a pyramid! Illustrate your spelling list! Write a funny but grammatically accurate sentence with the word! Etc.) He's just finishing ELC in 5th right now, and I've paid less close attention to the content this year, but I know they did a poetry and sci-fi/fantasy exploration and an ongoing unit on cycles of change that extended throughout several genres.

From talking to other parents, it seems like ELC is a slightly heavier workload. I certainly wouldn't say it's extreme. He worked on his ELC reading/writing maybe 30 minute a day, several days a week? Not every day.

My kid's overall ability to write longer, more complex explorations into what he's reading really grew while in ELC. I'm quite sad that in middle school, there is no enrichment equivalent (apparently everyone is just in "advanced" 6th grade English).

+1. Agree with all of this. I dislike that 6th doesn’t continue the model outside of magnet’s because that’s when these kid writing will likely completely come together. More complex things such as staying with the correct character voice, or linking a thought with supporting evidence from multiple sources. Not to mention all these kids already read

[Anonymous]

MCPS really needs to creat a truly advanced English pathway in middle school for kids who need it. The “advanced” middle class is much more basic than ELC/CES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bumping this thread to ask about ELC. Why aren’t they reading more novels? Is this school specific? My child in ELC has only been assigned one novel so far this year, and otherwise it’s short stories and excerpts. They do seem to be doing some kind of lit circle (though sounds like they’re not specifically calling it that), but it seems to be based on shorter readings.

The quality of ELC depends on the teacher. Ours goes through the motions of the ELC curriculum and is underwhelming for many reasons. Hope the next one is better.

[Anonymous]

My kid did ELC and William & Mary.

My two cents: ditch benchmark and have all students do ELC unless they are dramatically behind. Even then, adjust the ELC for those students.

Everyone should be reading novels and exposed to rigorous instruction.

PS - Lobby to get your 6th grader into Global Humanities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bumping this thread to ask about ELC. Why aren’t they reading more novels? Is this school specific? My child in ELC has only been assigned one novel so far this year, and otherwise it’s short stories and excerpts. They do seem to be doing some kind of lit circle (though sounds like they’re not specifically calling it that), but it seems to be based on shorter readings.

The quality of ELC depends on the teacher. Ours goes through the motions of the ELC curriculum and is underwhelming for many reasons. Hope the next one is better.

This. It's not just the curriculum. DC1 went through ELC and actually did real work and read actual books. DC2, same school but different teacher, doesn't seem to be asked to accomplish much at all from what I can see. Take the ELC seat, absolutely, but monitor the work if you can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid did ELC and William & Mary.

My two cents: ditch benchmark and have all students do ELC unless they are dramatically behind. Even then, adjust the ELC for those students.

Everyone should be reading novels and exposed to rigorous instruction.

PS - Lobby to get your 6th grader into Global Humanities.

Our elementary did this. It occurred in between my 2 kids. So my older one suffered through Benchmark and quite literally hates to read. They are in global humanities etc and have good scores but refuses to read outside of requirements.

Second kids entire grade does ELC. Reading groups, in depth discussion etc. This kid now loves to read and goes through at least one additional book per week.

Benchmark ruined reading for my first kid.