Benchmark, almost one year done. How are people feeling about it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 5th grade AAP kid went from enjoying reading to telling me language arts is his least favorite part of the day

I don’t know if it’s the age, the teacher, the curriculum, but this year has been really rough.

Same with my AAP third grader. We have been getting a lot of library books over the years and he was reading like crazy until around February. Now, reading is "boring" and "benchmark sucks".

[Anonymous]

It would be better to ask the question again in July after all the assessments are completed.

That said, it’s a been a year of learning. As with any new initiatives, there are growing pains as you figure it out. At the literacy leaders meeting yesterday, some “lessons learned” for next year were shared around how to schedule the different elements of instruction across the literacy block. Also, the frequency of the assessments will be scaled back as they take up valuable instruction time.

The lack of reading novels is a huge gap in this curriculum that cannot be overlooked. At our school, we’re working on how we will carve out time for actual read alouds of actual books. It’s not perfect, but it’s a start.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 5th grade AAP kid went from enjoying reading to telling me language arts is his least favorite part of the day

I don’t know if it’s the age, the teacher, the curriculum, but this year has been really rough.

Same with my AAP third grader. We have been getting a lot of library books over the years and he was reading like crazy until around February. Now, reading is "boring" and "benchmark sucks".

I don't think you can blame this on the ELA curriculum at the school. I think this is the age - you have a third grade boy. Of course he's not interested in reading anymore. Sounds like you need to step up as a parent and take him to the library more, find him more interesting books. My third grading recently started reading Manga, the Fairfax county libraries have huge sections and the librarians are so good at helping kids find the perfect books for their interests. Try it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It would be better to ask the question again in July after all the assessments are completed.

That said, it’s a been a year of learning. As with any new initiatives, there are growing pains as you figure it out. At the literacy leaders meeting yesterday, some “lessons learned” for next year were shared around how to schedule the different elements of instruction across the literacy block. Also, the frequency of the assessments will be scaled back as they take up valuable instruction time.

The lack of reading novels is a huge gap in this curriculum that cannot be overlooked. At our school, we’re working on how we will carve out time for actual read alouds of actual books. It’s not perfect, but it’s a start.

Thank you for this, it's so much more helpful than entitled AAP parents upset that their children aren't getting special treatment in language arts.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure where parents are getting that their third graders should be reading novels in elementary schools - that's your job as a parent. My kids are literally sitting on the floor reading books this morning because they both woke up early and finished breakfast quickly. Do better, parents!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure where parents are getting that their third graders should be reading novels in elementary schools - that's your job as a parent. My kids are literally sitting on the floor reading books this morning because they both woke up early and finished breakfast quickly. Do better, parents!

Reading chapter books in school was part of the balanced literacy, so that’s not returning anytime soon. It should be the parents responsibility to ensure that their students are reading novels.

There’s no time in school to get whole novels read and many students don’t do it on their own, so it should be the parents responsibility.

[Anonymous]

former teacher here:
I'm not familiar with Benchmark, but

This is what happens in education--the pendulum swings. And, it usually swings too much.

Actually, I believe "balanced literacy" is a good term. The problem is that it wasn't balanced and teachers were skipping phonics.

But, to the parent who said it was up to the parents to be sure the kids read novels--I'm happy when parents do this, but it is also the teacher's job to motivate kids to read. If the books are dull, that is a huge problem.

Over the years of teaching, there was one program we were required to use that was extremely dull. The school system (not Fairfax) wanted us to use this program exclusively. Months in, the teachers were scavenging to find the older, more interesting materials.

Here is a secret: kids do have different learning styles. Good teacher use many tools. Right now, it appears, just from reading here, that the teachers are supposed to use only one tool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 5th grade AAP kid went from enjoying reading to telling me language arts is his least favorite part of the day

I don’t know if it’s the age, the teacher, the curriculum, but this year has been really rough.

Same with my AAP third grader. We have been getting a lot of library books over the years and he was reading like crazy until around February. Now, reading is "boring" and "benchmark sucks".

I don't think you can blame this on the ELA curriculum at the school. I think this is the age - you have a third grade boy. Of course he's not interested in reading anymore. Sounds like you need to step up as a parent and take him to the library more, find him more interesting books. My third grading recently started reading Manga, the Fairfax county libraries have huge sections and the librarians are so good at helping kids find the perfect books for their interests. Try it.

Did you even read what the PP wrote? "We have been getting a lot of library books". Your response: "Sounds like you need to step up as a parent and take him to the library more."

Goodness...let's spread some more blame.

There are numerous studies that show reading for pleasure every day helps to increase literacy. When I taught middle school in a former life, we built in 20 minutes of whole school daily SSR for that reason. If it's no longer happening in elementary, that is sad There is absolutely value to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a high schooler who basically taught themself to read thanks to balanced literacy and a dyslexic elementary kiddo.

As a parent, there are things I like but a lot of empty work comes home. It’s unclear whether it’s because the work has been adapted bc of my child’s disability or if the work is actually not happening in class. However I do like the quality of the curriculum, but I don’t really like the opacity as to what is being done and to what degree of fidelity, but I feel like it’s a teacher issue.

It’s leaps and bounds above what was happening before, which was basically bc nonsense.

My DD is very advanced in ELA, and most of her Benchmark workbooks come home unfinished too, so I doubt it's an adaptation based on leveling. She also talks about writing, but never brings any home. She was very excited about a stone soup writing project they did, and kept waiting for it to come home to show us, and it never did. I hope this is just the weakness of the teacher and we'll see more next year. DD is really into words and vocab, and I'm bummed the vocab sections of the workbooks always come home empty.

[Anonymous]

No curriculum is perfect, and I would have preferred CKLA. (Which APS and MCPS just chose).

That said, this Benchmark is a huge improvement over the Balanced Literacy/Whole Language crap FCPS that used to use before Benchmark. I also believe it will have better implementation as faculty get more familiar with the new curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure where parents are getting that their third graders should be reading novels in elementary schools - that's your job as a parent. My kids are literally sitting on the floor reading books this morning because they both woke up early and finished breakfast quickly. Do better, parents!

Reading chapter books in school was part of the balanced literacy, so that’s not returning anytime soon. It should be the parents responsibility to ensure that their students are reading novels.

There’s no time in school to get whole novels read and many students don’t do it on their own, so it should be the parents responsibility.

So classist. Some kids have parents who either can't (illiterate or multiple jobs) or won't read at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 5th grade AAP kid went from enjoying reading to telling me language arts is his least favorite part of the day

I don’t know if it’s the age, the teacher, the curriculum, but this year has been really rough.

+1 my 6th grader who was an advanced reader now absolutely hates reading and LA. She also is worried about how she will do in honors English next year. Her confidence has tanked.

[Anonymous]

Do they use Benchmark in middle school? Please tell me no!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do they use Benchmark in middle school? Please tell me no!

The Virginia State literacy act is for K-8 so something is coming

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure where parents are getting that their third graders should be reading novels in elementary schools - that's your job as a parent. My kids are literally sitting on the floor reading books this morning because they both woke up early and finished breakfast quickly. Do better, parents!

Reading chapter books in school was part of the balanced literacy, so that’s not returning anytime soon. It should be the parents responsibility to ensure that their students are reading novels.

There’s no time in school to get whole novels read and many students don’t do it on their own, so it should be the parents responsibility.

So classist. Some kids have parents who either can't (illiterate or multiple jobs) or won't read at home.

How is that the teacher’s fault?