Work samples for AAP

[Anonymous]

I submitted awards and recommendation letters from extra curricular activities. Also art work & writing samples for kid #1. For kid #2, photos of projects they did on their own at home.

[Anonymous]

Student of the Month would be an example of an award.

[Anonymous]

You don’t need any. Seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don’t need any. Seriously.

+1

[Anonymous]

We sent a spelling bee award. Also funny comics he made and some artwork. Not sure if it helped but he got in the first round and we parent referred as he wasn’t in the pool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both my kids got in the first round. Would you like me to send you photos of the exact work samples that worked for us? You could just recycle them.

Can you please provide me this your work sample

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You want things that show creative thinking and high level thinking. Things that don't have a right or wrong answer. We used questions like "Why is zero important" or "Write an original problem using any 5 numbers where the mean is 12. Explain why knowing the mean is important in your data set" or "Why is poetry important?" or "What do you know about the number 66?" or "Can one person influence the world? Explain" or "The answer is 80, what is the question if you must use 9 in the question?" or "Write an original word problem where the rounded answer would be 40. Explain why people round numbers" or "Adam solved 8 + 3 X 6/9-5 and got the answer 28. Is his answer correct? Explain." or "My calculator does not have a 5 key that works. How can I use my broken calculator to multiply 33 X 85?" or "Among 1 2 6 8 and 12, choose a number which is different from the others and explain why it is different. See if you can come up with something different for as many of the numbers as possible"

We've also done lots of art work, creative writing samples, etc.... I have 4 kids who all got into AAP on the first round and all were in pool. Of course you can't use my examples or you will look crazy. However, I wanted to show you how simple the questions can be and what they want to see is HOW your child thinks.

You’re crazy…seriously

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You want things that show creative thinking and high level thinking. Things that don't have a right or wrong answer. We used questions like "Why is zero important" or "Write an original problem using any 5 numbers where the mean is 12. Explain why knowing the mean is important in your data set" or "Why is poetry important?" or "What do you know about the number 66?" or "Can one person influence the world? Explain" or "The answer is 80, what is the question if you must use 9 in the question?" or "Write an original word problem where the rounded answer would be 40. Explain why people round numbers" or "Adam solved 8 + 3 X 6/9-5 and got the answer 28. Is his answer correct? Explain." or "My calculator does not have a 5 key that works. How can I use my broken calculator to multiply 33 X 85?" or "Among 1 2 6 8 and 12, choose a number which is different from the others and explain why it is different. See if you can come up with something different for as many of the numbers as possible"

We've also done lots of art work, creative writing samples, etc.... I have 4 kids who all got into AAP on the first round and all were in pool. Of course you can't use my examples or you will look crazy. However, I wanted to show you how simple the questions can be and what they want to see is HOW your child thinks.

You’re crazy…seriously

Possibly an overly-thorough response by the pp but I don’t think she’s crazy for explaining w examples how to demonstrate your child’s thought processes through work samples. These kinds of questions are exactly the samples school submitted for my child from class lessons w/ the AART. .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You want things that show creative thinking and high level thinking. Things that don't have a right or wrong answer. We used questions like "Why is zero important" or "Write an original problem using any 5 numbers where the mean is 12. Explain why knowing the mean is important in your data set" or "Why is poetry important?" or "What do you know about the number 66?" or "Can one person influence the world? Explain" or "The answer is 80, what is the question if you must use 9 in the question?" or "Write an original word problem where the rounded answer would be 40. Explain why people round numbers" or "Adam solved 8 + 3 X 6/9-5 and got the answer 28. Is his answer correct? Explain." or "My calculator does not have a 5 key that works. How can I use my broken calculator to multiply 33 X 85?" or "Among 1 2 6 8 and 12, choose a number which is different from the others and explain why it is different. See if you can come up with something different for as many of the numbers as possible"

We've also done lots of art work, creative writing samples, etc.... I have 4 kids who all got into AAP on the first round and all were in pool. Of course you can't use my examples or you will look crazy. However, I wanted to show you how simple the questions can be and what they want to see is HOW your child thinks.

You’re crazy…seriously

Possibly an overly-thorough response by the pp but I don’t think she’s crazy for explaining w examples how to demonstrate your child’s thought processes through work samples. These kinds of questions are exactly the samples school submitted for my child from class lessons w/ the AART. .

Because no 2nd grader would be exposed to such questions unless he/she’s taking math enrichment classes, that’s why. Again privileged families trying to show off

[Anonymous]

I was applying for my son from private, so I had to submit work samples. I didn't create anything special, just used things I'd had written down or taken photos of over the years.

-Original "jokes" he has created that are painful puns, but I thought showed a higher level of language mastery
-Activities from quarantine: a photo of organizing his hot wheels cars by manufacturing date as a bar graph, writing a "book" (pictures with a few sentences, certainly not anything fancy), code from a scratch project that he created
-Photo from a hobby that he is ranked in that has NOTHING to do with academics, but I thought showed his tendency towards rigor, practice, and tenacity.
-Photo of him playing fairly complex games as a young child: cribbage, ticket to ride, etc.
-Photo of sewing projects he'd created from scratch & by following patterns. Stuffed animals, clothes, pillows, etc.

I did not create anything, just used examples I already had.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You want things that show creative thinking and high level thinking. Things that don't have a right or wrong answer. We used questions like "Why is zero important" or "Write an original problem using any 5 numbers where the mean is 12. Explain why knowing the mean is important in your data set" or "Why is poetry important?" or "What do you know about the number 66?" or "Can one person influence the world? Explain" or "The answer is 80, what is the question if you must use 9 in the question?" or "Write an original word problem where the rounded answer would be 40. Explain why people round numbers" or "Adam solved 8 + 3 X 6/9-5 and got the answer 28. Is his answer correct? Explain." or "My calculator does not have a 5 key that works. How can I use my broken calculator to multiply 33 X 85?" or "Among 1 2 6 8 and 12, choose a number which is different from the others and explain why it is different. See if you can come up with something different for as many of the numbers as possible"

We've also done lots of art work, creative writing samples, etc.... I have 4 kids who all got into AAP on the first round and all were in pool. Of course you can't use my examples or you will look crazy. However, I wanted to show you how simple the questions can be and what they want to see is HOW your child thinks.

You’re crazy…seriously

Possibly an overly-thorough response by the pp but I don’t think she’s crazy for explaining w examples how to demonstrate your child’s thought processes through work samples. These kinds of questions are exactly the samples school submitted for my child from class lessons w/ the AART. .

Because no 2nd grader would be exposed to such questions unless he/she’s taking math enrichment classes, that’s why. Again privileged families trying to show off

The Math sample provided for my kid in his packet were problems like the one poster presented. One was a logic puzzle where DS had to figure out the address of a house based on a sentence on the worksheet. There were three lines to fill in, one for each number. Then DS had to write a paragraph explaining how he solved the three equations in order to get the correct answer. That was the sample provided by the school. So no, the examples she gave are not all that crazy.

It is not hard to find those type of logic puzzles online. Google logic puzzles with a grade level and print them out. Not hard to do. It doesn’t take a ton of privilege to do that. But we all know that the vast majority of appeals are from better off families because there are reports telling us that.

Like the PP, we included pictures of DS building marble runs using drums, card board tubes, and hot wheels track in his builds. We thought that it showed creativity and his engineering thought process. We mentioned his playing strategic board games in our referral letter.

[Anonymous]

I appreciate all the idea but sadly it really shows the privilege. Honestly how many parents will remember to capture those precious moments of their "gifted" children, especially those who have to work long hours to make ends meet? FCPS really should get rid of this home-provided work samples.

[Anonymous]

The entire processor reeks of privilege.

[Anonymous]

Work sample showcases the parent's ability much more than children's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I appreciate all the idea but sadly it really shows the privilege. Honestly how many parents will remember to capture those precious moments of their "gifted" children, especially those who have to work long hours to make ends meet? FCPS really should get rid of this home-provided work samples.

I literally went through old text messages to my sister. It wasn't anything fancy. I found photos and quips i'd shared.

I teach at a low income school. I promise you that even the poorest families are happy to brag about how wonderful their children are when given the opportunity. What they need is support in filling out the forms and figuring out the process, not coming up with anecdotes.