Help! 6th grade course registration - clueless foreign parent here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK so now I am even confused. My 5th grader had a meeting with the middle school counselor today and the only choices for reading are 1) advanced reading or 2) ESOL. So I guess everyone is advanced. Is there really no differentiation in MS either?

It is very poorly named. However I was told that even within "advanced English," they differentiate in groups based on ability. I don't know if that means actual different classes or just different subgroups within each class.

[Anonymous]

The curriculum is advanced. It means there are additional lessons in each unit that CAN be taught to increase rigor. Your child's teacher may present all the lessons, some, or none depending on the needs or your child and/or the class as a whole. He or she may present the lessons, but not grade them.
It does not mean your child is considered advanced. Increasingly, schools are documenting their effort to close the achievement gap by making all non-ELLs or self-contained SPED students take the advanced course.

[Anonymous]

NP here but also the parent of two mcps fifth graders - I haven't heard about any of this- is the Feb 15th class registration date school-specific?? My kids' elem school feeds into Pyle MS.

[Anonymous]

Some middle schools offer only advanced English.

[Anonymous]

Ours offers only advanced in English, world studies and Science. The reading class is really enrichment anyone who meets the 5th grade benchmark can replace it with a foreign language.

[Anonymous]

So what percent of kids are in foreign language? If kid loves to read and write should they take one of the other classes instead.

Forgive me if I am skeptical of any in class enrichment. My child will be coming from an HGC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here but also the parent of two mcps fifth graders - I haven't heard about any of this- is the Feb 15th class registration date school-specific?? My kids' elem school feeds into Pyle MS.

Call your ES on Tuesday and ask when 5th graders will be hearing from the Pyle people.

Also, check their backpacks for any fliers that have been sent home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Second question: we are bilingual in one of the three languages offered at his middle school, although my child's written expression in that language is not as strong as his reading or his verbal expression. Would this correspond to the highest level (level 3) of this language course, and would he be allowed to test into this course? Or would his time be better spent having a free period, if that is allowed? If he has a free period, is there a study hall or somewhere he can go?

OP there are good electives your child can take if he doesn't do foreign language. My guess (unless the system has changed drastically since I went through MCPS) is that level 3 will be too easy for a native speaker - even one whose writing is not at the same level as his reading and conversation. Parachuting in to a high school class might make more sense. I hope your child's counselor will give you good advice.

[Anonymous]

My DC was in Spanish immersion, speaks and reads beautifully, writing is horrible. In MS they were in Spanish I for Spanish immersion and other 6th graders were also in Spanish I. If you school is an IB school it may have different sections of 1st year language for native/immersion speakers. that is another question to ask the counselor. You will get a detailed recommended schedule after that you can have a meeting if you dislike the choices made for your DC

[Anonymous]

When does 6th grade course registration begin? My 5th grader has brought nothing happen about this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Second question: we are bilingual in one of the three languages offered at his middle school, although my child's written expression in that language is not as strong as his reading or his verbal expression. Would this correspond to the highest level (level 3) of this language course, and would he be allowed to test into this course? Or would his time be better spent having a free period, if that is allowed? If he has a free period, is there a study hall or somewhere he can go?

OP there are good electives your child can take if he doesn't do foreign language. My guess (unless the system has changed drastically since I went through MCPS) is that level 3 will be too easy for a native speaker - even one whose writing is not at the same level as his reading and conversation. Parachuting in to a high school class might make more sense. I hope your child's counselor will give you good advice.

No free periods.

[Anonymous]

1) registration timelines are different at each school

2) Colleges don't *really* care what foreign language credits are earned in middle school, despite what shows on transcripts. They care that you get to a high level while in high school. There is no benefit in trying to push the high school level foreign language into middle school unless there is a specific, logical pipeline of courses that leads to APs or something like that. You don't want to hit level 4 in 9th grade and be done with that language.