New curriculum for FCPS - dumbing down school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was talking with a few other parents and they were complaining about how FCPS’s new curriculum has been dumbed down and how their 5th grader hasn’t even written any papers yet and are doing very rudimentary work. Has this been your experience as well?

What? Every unit includes a lot of writing. 5th grade should have written an essay after Unit 1 and had several short answer opportunities. They should be writing something different for Unit 2 now. Not sure you are getting correct info.

PP whose kid's only essay in 5th grade was the GATP project (which happened around 3rd? quarter). It's possible the info is from before Benchmark?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new LA curriculum is actually the opposite of dumbing down - and the 5th graders have written plenty of papers already. Have you checked google drive?

No they probably haven’t

I’m always fascinated by parents complaining about things but you questions like

1. Have you talked to your student?
2. Have you asked to see their paper and electronic work?
3. Have you reviewed those assignments with your child?
4. If you have concerns that your child can’t address have you written them down and reached out to the teacher?
5. If you haven’t heard from the teacher with 3-4 days, did you reach back out again?
6. Have you escalated to counselor if the teacher still hasn’t responded and have you requested a parent teacher conference to discuss concerns you have
7. Have you escalated to assistant or school principal if counselor has been unresponsive?

It’s funny to how so many parents go from “I have an issue” to number 7, skipping steps 1-6.

So then the principal forwards the message to the assistant principal and teacher

Then the teacher has to answer them and the counselor so that the principal can then answer the parent

The principal probably ends up recommending a conference because it’s always easier to discuss in person

So we’ve essentially done steps 4-7, by starting at step 7 making the principal have to explain what the teacher explained and notice so in this process

We still haven’t done the part where the parent actually talks and reviews things with their child

So obviously it’s the teacher sucks, the curriculum is bad, my angel is perfect, and fcps sucks donkey nuts

If it's not on paper it doesn't exist.

[Anonymous]

I’m a 5th grade teacher. There are essays with rubrics for every unit. The first unit (corn) was an informative essay comparing industrial farms & small farms. The current unit (character relationships) has an essay prompt about recommending or not recommending the author Jason Reynolds. The students need to give reasons why and prove with evidence from the texts. This is what every 5th grader in fcps is doing. It’s a set program and in our pacing guide. If your teacher isn’t doing this, get admin involved. You need to ask to see their Unit 1 essay with the graded rubric. Unit 2 should be done in a couple of weeks. Your student should have received the prompt and started filling in the graphic organizer by now.

[Anonymous]

My 6th grader is writing an essay right now about the change in government of a country that she chose.

[Anonymous]

7th graders have not been writing anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new LA curriculum is actually the opposite of dumbing down - and the 5th graders have written plenty of papers already. Have you checked google drive?

No they probably haven’t

I’m always fascinated by parents complaining about things but you questions like

1. Have you talked to your student?
2. Have you asked to see their paper and electronic work?
3. Have you reviewed those assignments with your child?
4. If you have concerns that your child can’t address have you written them down and reached out to the teacher?
5. If you haven’t heard from the teacher with 3-4 days, did you reach back out again?
6. Have you escalated to counselor if the teacher still hasn’t responded and have you requested a parent teacher conference to discuss concerns you have
7. Have you escalated to assistant or school principal if counselor has been unresponsive?

It’s funny to how so many parents go from “I have an issue” to number 7, skipping steps 1-6.

So then the principal forwards the message to the assistant principal and teacher

Then the teacher has to answer them and the counselor so that the principal can then answer the parent

The principal probably ends up recommending a conference because it’s always easier to discuss in person

So we’ve essentially done steps 4-7, by starting at step 7 making the principal have to explain what the teacher explained and notice so in this process

We still haven’t done the part where the parent actually talks and reviews things with their child

So obviously it’s the teacher sucks, the curriculum is bad, my angel is perfect, and fcps sucks donkey nuts

What about when you have done it all and then go to admin and they protect a teachers who is not teaching and not remediating but they protect and shrug their shoulders at the problem, Do you think that's ok....stop protecting your precious angel FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's actually the opposite. The new language arts curriculum is much more rigorous than last year. They are building up to writing essays, etc., it's still early in the school year and in the curriculum.

We joke the unit is sponsored by big corn in our house. Anytime we ask our 5th grader what she learned about, it’s corn. Corn for weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's actually the opposite. The new language arts curriculum is much more rigorous than last year. They are building up to writing essays, etc., it's still early in the school year and in the curriculum.

We joke the unit is sponsored by big corn in our house. Anytime we ask our 5th grader what she learned about, it’s corn. Corn for weeks.

I really like corn. 🌽

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a 5th grade teacher. There are essays with rubrics for every unit. The first unit (corn) was an informative essay comparing industrial farms & small farms. The current unit (character relationships) has an essay prompt about recommending or not recommending the author Jason Reynolds. The students need to give reasons why and prove with evidence from the texts. This is what every 5th grader in fcps is doing. It’s a set program and in our pacing guide. If your teacher isn’t doing this, get admin involved. You need to ask to see their Unit 1 essay with the graded rubric. Unit 2 should be done in a couple of weeks. Your student should have received the prompt and started filling in the graphic organizer by now.

+1 This is how it's working. I'm not a fan of Benchmark so far for lots of reasons, but it's not skimpy on writing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new LA curriculum is actually the opposite of dumbing down - and the 5th graders have written plenty of papers already. Have you checked google drive?

No they probably haven’t

I’m always fascinated by parents complaining about things but you questions like

1. Have you talked to your student?
2. Have you asked to see their paper and electronic work?
3. Have you reviewed those assignments with your child?
4. If you have concerns that your child can’t address have you written them down and reached out to the teacher?
5. If you haven’t heard from the teacher with 3-4 days, did you reach back out again?
6. Have you escalated to counselor if the teacher still hasn’t responded and have you requested a parent teacher conference to discuss concerns you have
7. Have you escalated to assistant or school principal if counselor has been unresponsive?

It’s funny to how so many parents go from “I have an issue” to number 7, skipping steps 1-6.

So then the principal forwards the message to the assistant principal and teacher

Then the teacher has to answer them and the counselor so that the principal can then answer the parent

The principal probably ends up recommending a conference because it’s always easier to discuss in person

So we’ve essentially done steps 4-7, by starting at step 7 making the principal have to explain what the teacher explained and notice so in this process

We still haven’t done the part where the parent actually talks and reviews things with their child

So obviously it’s the teacher sucks, the curriculum is bad, my angel is perfect, and fcps sucks donkey nuts

What about when you have done it all and then go to admin and they protect a teachers who is not teaching and not remediating but they protect and shrug their shoulders at the problem, Do you think that's ok....stop protecting your precious angel FCPS.

This thread is about the curriculum - you soung like you have a teacher problem. Not a curriculum problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's actually the opposite. The new language arts curriculum is much more rigorous than last year. They are building up to writing essays, etc., it's still early in the school year and in the curriculum.

We joke the unit is sponsored by big corn in our house. Anytime we ask our 5th grader what she learned about, it’s corn. Corn for weeks.

I really like corn. 🌽

I can tell you all about it!

[Anonymous]

Aren't they following the new benchmark thing? Pretty sure it has writing in it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's actually the opposite. The new language arts curriculum is much more rigorous than last year. They are building up to writing essays, etc., it's still early in the school year and in the curriculum.

We joke the unit is sponsored by big corn in our house. Anytime we ask our 5th grader what she learned about, it’s corn. Corn for weeks.

I really like corn. 🌽

I can tell you all about it!

It's corn! A big lump with knobs. It has the juice!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new LA curriculum is actually the opposite of dumbing down - and the 5th graders have written plenty of papers already. Have you checked google drive?

No they probably haven’t

I’m always fascinated by parents complaining about things but you questions like

1. Have you talked to your student?
2. Have you asked to see their paper and electronic work?
3. Have you reviewed those assignments with your child?
4. If you have concerns that your child can’t address have you written them down and reached out to the teacher?
5. If you haven’t heard from the teacher with 3-4 days, did you reach back out again?
6. Have you escalated to counselor if the teacher still hasn’t responded and have you requested a parent teacher conference to discuss concerns you have
7. Have you escalated to assistant or school principal if counselor has been unresponsive?

It’s funny to how so many parents go from “I have an issue” to number 7, skipping steps 1-6.

So then the principal forwards the message to the assistant principal and teacher

Then the teacher has to answer them and the counselor so that the principal can then answer the parent

The principal probably ends up recommending a conference because it’s always easier to discuss in person

So we’ve essentially done steps 4-7, by starting at step 7 making the principal have to explain what the teacher explained and notice so in this process

We still haven’t done the part where the parent actually talks and reviews things with their child

So obviously it’s the teacher sucks, the curriculum is bad, my angel is perfect, and fcps sucks donkey nuts

What about when you have done it all and then go to admin and they protect a teachers who is not teaching and not remediating but they protect and shrug their shoulders at the problem, Do you think that's ok....stop protecting your precious angel FCPS.

This thread is about the curriculum - you soung like you have a teacher problem. Not a curriculum problem.

This thread is about FCPS failing our students. Also the PP was responding to someone who clearly isn't you and was talking/complaining about parents not handling issues....reread and get back to us

[Anonymous]

I have a third grader in AAP and our teacher said the curriculum is perfect for that cohort. There is a ton of reading and writing. I wish more spelling. The teachers think it's a bit above the level third grade gen Ed, though I'm not sure if they are having to make modifications or what to it for them.