CogAT this year for 2nd grade

[Anonymous]

Kids need to be kids. There are other ways of learning than just doing it out of a book.

We spent 30 minutes today in the grocery store, where the kiddo did the math on how much a box of cereal costs with a coupon and if we buy 4. What fraction describes the number of green balloons in the balloon display. How much money left do we have in today's budget if we buy the ice cream? If you had your own brand of cereal, what would it look like? How much would you charge? What would a commercial look like for the cereal?

Much better than sitting in a chair in the house with a book watching the clock, I tell you.

[Anonymous]

I'll even go you one further. It is easier to get a seven year-old to sit down and work on something like test prep than getting an 11 or 12 year old to do it. It never will get easier.
I'm glad mine went along with me in those days. I think it has helped alot and will in the future because DC will see these standardized tests for many years to come. Not my idea to take these tests, it's just the way it is.

You're quite right. Parents and siblings set the tone. If such activity is normal in the family setting it's a routine for all the kids to follwo suit. But, when parents don't write, read and are afraid of numbers (preferring to spend their time in front of screens -- TV, movies, and computers-- doing "fun" and "non-boring" activities) what can one expect from their children?

And we get posters who feel that 30 min a day of these activities is a burden for a 7-year-old worthy of child protection services. The poster forgets is a burden for their child is fun for mine.

[Anonymous]

Kids need to be kids. There are other ways of learning than just doing it out of a book.

We spent 30 minutes today in the grocery store, where the kiddo did the math on how much a box of cereal costs with a coupon and if we buy 4. What fraction describes the number of green balloons in the balloon display. How much money left do we have in today's budget if we buy the ice cream? If you had your own brand of cereal, what would it look like? How much would you charge? What would a commercial look like for the cereal?

Much better than sitting in a chair in the house with a book watching the clock, I tell you.

While your children prefer to read, write and do math in the grocery store. Counting balloons on cereal boxes would frankly bore some kids --including mine. They are no longer 2 and 3-year-olds anymore. My 7-year-olds prefer to sit at their chair and desk to read, write and do math. I admit they will read Harry Potter books in the car, at the pool, in the store standing up (just about anywhere) because they love fantasy books. And frequently are caught by us sneaking under their beds with a light source trying to finish their book when they should be in bed and asleep.

Thirty-minutes/day of reading, writing, and numbers is no problem or burden for them, even in the summer. And it shouldn't be for the average 7-year-old living in America. Kids need to be kids and allowed to develop passion for reading by consistent reading every day -- and not just because they are in school or the teacher has assigned them a few paragraphs to read. When you see 7-year-olds who are avid readers you may someday get what I mean. It is so gratifying to see it. These kids go to Borders and the libraries weekly and can sit in the corner reading magazines and books for 2 1/2 hours (not 30 min) by themselves. This is FUN for them. It is not a burden. They beg to go. You will find the younger siblings will follow the older sibs in this pursuit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

for most, the goal is to obtain a fair evaluation of AAP potentials through the test; for some, it's to obtain a spot in AAP.

Sounds like bull crap. Take your scripture and preach in heaven. The rest of us on earth have to pass tests in school from pre-K on -- including tests in the pool, lacrosse and baseball fields, tennis courts and gymnasia. These tests are not about fair evaluation of potential; they about whether you make the cut or team.

Of course, there are a few who live off trust funds (trust fund babies) set up by grandpa for whom the results of a test are meaningless and serve no purpose -- save obtaining a "fair" evaluation of potential.

no they're not . go ahead and prep for it, your kid just might enjoy riding the pine.

talent (potential) trumps everything in the sports world. but that's irrelevant to the topic anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids need to be kids. There are other ways of learning than just doing it out of a book.

We spent 30 minutes today in the grocery store, where the kiddo did the math on how much a box of cereal costs with a coupon and if we buy 4. What fraction describes the number of green balloons in the balloon display. How much money left do we have in today's budget if we buy the ice cream? If you had your own brand of cereal, what would it look like? How much would you charge? What would a commercial look like for the cereal?

Much better than sitting in a chair in the house with a book watching the clock, I tell you.

Aren't you beautiful. But unfortunately the CogAT will not be presented in cereal box format. Your self-justified responses (which you seem to think should be applied to all children, all parents) make me want to puke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

While your children prefer to read, write and do math in the grocery store. Counting balloons on cereal boxes would frankly bore some kids --including mine.
When you see 7-year-olds who are avid readers you may someday get what I mean.

Such rude and patronizing comments have no place in a discussion between adults. What are you so defensive about that you felt the need to make such statements?

My post did not say my kid was counting balloons on a cereal box. We were doing multiplication, division, addition with decimals, marketing, product design, and working with money. Hardly the stuff of preschoolers. THIS is the way they TEACH in AAP. I worked with my dc's teachers and they encouraged me to do things like this all year. We also work in workbooks, but not to the exclusion of all else.

My child IS an avid reader, thank you, and loves Borders just as much as your children. Doing nothing but workbooks doesn't work for my child. That's all. That doesn't mean all dc does is watch TV or play video games or has bad work habits. All it means that my child's style of learning is different. It must be working or my child would not have made such good grades this year, and also made AAP with that high CoGat score that we did not spend last summer studying for.


Take your kids to the grocery store and throw some challenging problems at them. I think they'll like it.

[Anonymous]

Can we agree that what works for your children would bore my children to death because of lack of challenge?

This is fine. No problem here. Adults and children will sometimes work to their levels of challenge. Can we agree these levels may vary from individual to individual?

Finally, some 7-year-olds (clinically ADHD or not) can sit down in a chair for 30 min/day and read, write and even do "work books" without undue burden while others can't or won't. "GoCAT" standardised exams, school work or assignments are not necessarily the final objective or endpoint though early discipline and focus may reap collateral benefits vis a vis any examination or test.

These are basic facts of life and growing up.

[Anonymous]

Take your kids to the grocery store and throw some challenging problems at them. I think they'll like it.

Try Art of Problem Solving website for challenging problems. My kids found Number Theory and Algebra 1 superb. There Alcumus link has a bank of really challenging and fun problems. If you are seeking problem solving I think your child may like it; but, if he or she can't sit at a computer interface for 30 min solving really hard and fun problems it may be too advanced and you might want to try back in a couple of years with improved attention span or when the child tires of and outgrows the games you play in the grocery store.

[Anonymous]

This exchange is a perfect example of why DCUrbanMoms is like crack. I just have to keep looking at the train wreck.

[Anonymous]

talent (potential) trumps everything in the sports world. but that's irrelevant to the topic anyway.

You forget about effort and hard work? What sport did you ever play in your life time?

Do you actually believe talent (potential) trumps everything in the sports world?

I suspect because your child has a 99.9 percentile WPSSI or high "GoCAT" score this intellectual and academic talent and potential is a sure bet for a Nobel Prize. Of course, talent (potential) trumps everything!!!


My oh my, brilliant insight and clairvoyance.

I wonder what your "GoCAT" score and potential is?

[Anonymous]

This exchange is a perfect example of why DCUrbanMoms is like crack. I just have to keep looking at the train wreck.

No experience with crack here so the analogy is lost.

[Anonymous]

Perhaps she meant to say that talent (potential) and crack (doping) trumps all in the sports world. Simply look at baseball and cycling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

talent (potential) trumps everything in the sports world. but that's irrelevant to the topic anyway.

You forget about effort and hard work? What sport did you ever play in your life time?

Do you actually believe talent (potential) trumps everything in the sports world?

I suspect because your child has a 99.9 percentile WPSSI or high "GoCAT" score this intellectual and academic talent and potential is a sure bet for a Nobel Prize. Of course, talent (potential) trumps everything!!!


My oh my, brilliant insight and clairvoyance.

I wonder what your "GoCAT" score and potential is?

no, it just means AAP makes sense for him.

again sports is irrelevant here - but chances are your kid can find a sport that suits his talent. it's not the end of the world if he doesn't make travel.

neither is not going to AAP.

[Anonymous]

I think maybe the point is that a hardworking person who has the underlying talent will do better than someone who is hardworking but doesn't have the underlying talent.
I can spend hours a day at batting practice, but if I do not have a talent for baseball, I might improve my hitting, but I will not make the pros.
Sports coaches look for gifted athletes, then the hard work of practice makes them into outstanding players. Hard work can not make a great player out of someone without talent.
Talent plus hard work will always win out over hard work without talent.

[Anonymous]

Talent without hard work will crash and burn. Read Malcom Gladwell's "Outliers," especially the chapter on IQ. It's really illuminating. His basic premise is that once you hit an IQ of about 130, luck and work ethic take over and determine who will succeed and who will fail in life. The guy who had an IQ of 200, with a combination of bad luck and poor work ethic, ended up a total failure by anyone's yardstick. Einstein had a lower IQ (prevailing wisdom is around 180) but we know how his story ended. And the kid with an IQ of 130 (termed "moderately" gifted or "optimally" gifted, depending on your perspective) can succeed or fail, based largely on how hard s/he is willing to work. If you continually shower your child with a stream of esteem-boosting drivel about how smart they are, instead of instilling in your child the value of hard work, that kid is in deep trouble.