1st grade is a bad as we suspected

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No one is saying online learning was super effective for K students. But if parents literally did nothing additional for all of last year, while knowing virtual was ineffective, that’s on them.

Perhaps you can come up with things parents could have done or should be doing, to make this all work out?

I have a friend who is a nurse, with 3 kids, 8th grader, 5th grader, and K. All through the pandemic, she has been working, often long hours. Her husband works overnight, so that someone is home most of the time, but obviously, in between work, they have to do things like chores and sleeping. Since dad sleeps during the day, he is unable to supervise anyone. Oldest kid was in 8th grade. Self sufficient. He was responsible for making sure that the K kid was logged on, but that was about the extent of what he could do, because he can't do his schooling and supervise the K kid. Obviously, the kid learned nothing all last year. No idea how the little one is doing this year, but I'm assuming that he is among the kids that is behind.

They could have worked with the little one every day on the basics. Zero excuse.

Yeah, sure. When one parent works 7 - 7, and the other one leaves home at 9 and isn't back until 7 in the morning, that leaves plenty of time to spend teaching the basics to a 5 year old that has spent the day on zoom classes.

[Anonymous]

I feel bad for 1st grade teachers. My DD who was in person in private all last year is incredibly bored in public 1st. She’s normally very well behaved but I got a note from the teacher today letting me know she’s refusing to do some of her work because “it’s easy kindergarten work that she already knows”. She’s not wrong (it’s a lot of what she did last year) but it’s like 2 months into 1st grade, she’s just like “nope…” Sigh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I am UMC with a partner and pretty minor, run-of-the-mill mental health challenges, and this pandemic nearly broke me. I recognize every day that I was only able to keep things together for my now first grader because of my privilege and frankly luck (easy kid who adjusted easily to Zoom school and seems to pick everything up at school without effort). I seriously do not know how people do it without a partner, without tons of money, without totally losing their minds.


Thank you, PP. I agree 100%. This is such a depressing thread.


Yes, no matter how widespread the problem, nor how well documented the overall learning loss, it is always the first instinct to blame everything on the parents (Mom!), and to continue to shortchange children. It is interesting how far apart "liberals" are in this country ("Close the schools for a year or you are a Trumper!") from democratic socialist countries (Denmark, Sweden) that prioritized in-person schools over other activities.

Exactly. Liberal countries we admire sent the kids to school without masks, and encouraged them to socialize within their cohorts. They recognized Covid as an adult emergency and prioritized normalcy for kids. Unsurprisingly, their measured response led to high levels of trust in public health and good vaccine uptake among adults.

Contrast all that with the CDC which recommends masking two year olds with no off-ramp. I hate Trump as much as anyone. Yet sometimes I just wish he had recommended closing schools and masking kids from toddlerhood and up. I think our pandemic response would have looked different. This isn’t settled science, it’s a reaction to Trump.

1+. No one really has a response to this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No one is saying online learning was super effective for K students. But if parents literally did nothing additional for all of last year, while knowing virtual was ineffective, that’s on them.

Perhaps you can come up with things parents could have done or should be doing, to make this all work out?

I have a friend who is a nurse, with 3 kids, 8th grader, 5th grader, and K. All through the pandemic, she has been working, often long hours. Her husband works overnight, so that someone is home most of the time, but obviously, in between work, they have to do things like chores and sleeping. Since dad sleeps during the day, he is unable to supervise anyone. Oldest kid was in 8th grade. Self sufficient. He was responsible for making sure that the K kid was logged on, but that was about the extent of what he could do, because he can't do his schooling and supervise the K kid. Obviously, the kid learned nothing all last year. No idea how the little one is doing this year, but I'm assuming that he is among the kids that is behind.

They could have worked with the little one every day on the basics. Zero excuse.

Yeah, sure. When one parent works 7 - 7, and the other one leaves home at 9 and isn't back until 7 in the morning, that leaves plenty of time to spend teaching the basics to a 5 year old that has spent the day on zoom classes.

Was she working daily? Most nurses who work 7-7 only work 2/3/4 days a week (24/36/48 hrs/wk). More than that (60 hrs/wk) is not often sustainable longer term.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No one is saying online learning was super effective for K students. But if parents literally did nothing additional for all of last year, while knowing virtual was ineffective, that’s on them.

Perhaps you can come up with things parents could have done or should be doing, to make this all work out?

I have a friend who is a nurse, with 3 kids, 8th grader, 5th grader, and K. All through the pandemic, she has been working, often long hours. Her husband works overnight, so that someone is home most of the time, but obviously, in between work, they have to do things like chores and sleeping. Since dad sleeps during the day, he is unable to supervise anyone. Oldest kid was in 8th grade. Self sufficient. He was responsible for making sure that the K kid was logged on, but that was about the extent of what he could do, because he can't do his schooling and supervise the K kid. Obviously, the kid learned nothing all last year. No idea how the little one is doing this year, but I'm assuming that he is among the kids that is behind.

They could have worked with the little one every day on the basics. Zero excuse.

Yeah, sure. When one parent works 7 - 7, and the other one leaves home at 9 and isn't back until 7 in the morning, that leaves plenty of time to spend teaching the basics to a 5 year old that has spent the day on zoom classes.

Was she working daily? Most nurses who work 7-7 only work 2/3/4 days a week (24/36/48 hrs/wk). More than that (60 hrs/wk) is not often sustainable longer term.

oh stuff it.

[Anonymous]

I had a PT conference for my second grader today and the teacher told me 8 out of 24 students (literally a third) have to go to an intervention specialist to catch up to grade level on math. It is unheard of in our very highly rated school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No one is saying online learning was super effective for K students. But if parents literally did nothing additional for all of last year, while knowing virtual was ineffective, that’s on them.

Perhaps you can come up with things parents could have done or should be doing, to make this all work out?

I have a friend who is a nurse, with 3 kids, 8th grader, 5th grader, and K. All through the pandemic, she has been working, often long hours. Her husband works overnight, so that someone is home most of the time, but obviously, in between work, they have to do things like chores and sleeping. Since dad sleeps during the day, he is unable to supervise anyone. Oldest kid was in 8th grade. Self sufficient. He was responsible for making sure that the K kid was logged on, but that was about the extent of what he could do, because he can't do his schooling and supervise the K kid. Obviously, the kid learned nothing all last year. No idea how the little one is doing this year, but I'm assuming that he is among the kids that is behind.

They could have worked with the little one every day on the basics. Zero excuse.

Yeah, sure. When one parent works 7 - 7, and the other one leaves home at 9 and isn't back until 7 in the morning, that leaves plenty of time to spend teaching the basics to a 5 year old that has spent the day on zoom classes.

Was she working daily? Most nurses who work 7-7 only work 2/3/4 days a week (24/36/48 hrs/wk). More than that (60 hrs/wk) is not often sustainable longer term.

oh stuff it.

NP you’re trying to make a point about these poor, pitiable parents who are likely not that poor and are more lazy than pitiable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel bad for 1st grade teachers. My DD who was in person in private all last year is incredibly bored in public 1st. She’s normally very well behaved but I got a note from the teacher today letting me know she’s refusing to do some of her work because “it’s easy kindergarten work that she already knows”. She’s not wrong (it’s a lot of what she did last year) but it’s like 2 months into 1st grade, she’s just like “nope…” Sigh.

You pulled your DD out of private? That was such a bad decision. I know others IRL who did this and I’m like… why? Why wouldn’t you wait another year or two until things settle down? So dumb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No one is saying online learning was super effective for K students. But if parents literally did nothing additional for all of last year, while knowing virtual was ineffective, that’s on them.

Perhaps you can come up with things parents could have done or should be doing, to make this all work out?

I have a friend who is a nurse, with 3 kids, 8th grader, 5th grader, and K. All through the pandemic, she has been working, often long hours. Her husband works overnight, so that someone is home most of the time, but obviously, in between work, they have to do things like chores and sleeping. Since dad sleeps during the day, he is unable to supervise anyone. Oldest kid was in 8th grade. Self sufficient. He was responsible for making sure that the K kid was logged on, but that was about the extent of what he could do, because he can't do his schooling and supervise the K kid. Obviously, the kid learned nothing all last year. No idea how the little one is doing this year, but I'm assuming that he is among the kids that is behind.

They could have worked with the little one every day on the basics. Zero excuse.

Yeah, sure. When one parent works 7 - 7, and the other one leaves home at 9 and isn't back until 7 in the morning, that leaves plenty of time to spend teaching the basics to a 5 year old that has spent the day on zoom classes.

Many of us supplemented before Covid. Hire a high school kid. Lots of options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is what parents of kids this age said ALL LAST YEAR WHEN THEY WERE NOT IN SCHOOL.

Yes, I am yelling because I find this so unbelievably infuriating. And now it's wow...can you believe it. Yes. This is the most predictable outcome ever. No one gave a crap about these kids.

I am genuinely sympathetic to teachers who are now dealing with this shit show. And also, the deafening silence last year (at least in my school district) from any teachers about what this would surely do to kids this age was sad. No one speaking at the School Board meetings. No letters to the Editor. No posts on social media. No petitions. No leaked emails to the principal about how this was going to really be a problem for this particular age group. No "teacher association" (aka union) statements. Dead. Silence.

I know. Especially for the K-1st graders. I cannot believe that we didn't move heaven & earth to at least get the Ks back in school 1/2 time to learn to read and write. What a colossal failure.

Who is “we?” Were you planning to volunteer to go in unvaccinated to teach them?

No, I didn’t think so.

“we” as in society- as in essential workers.

That’s what I thought. How convenient.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a first grade mom. Fortunately my kid is doing great because we hired a pod teacher and allowed play dates for socialization. But from check ins with her teacher, I’m under the impression she is now way ahead of her peers. And there have been some class-wide emails about behavior issues the teacher is asking us to address at home and I’m so grateful my child isn’t involved, but I also feel horrible for the school staff dealing with this. This group of kids really was an after thought throughout the pandemic.

You should feel bad for your child. Her class is probably a chaotic mess and she is probably bored to death.

I do feel bad for her. For the other kids who are behind. For the teacher. I also have a lot of anger at society for deciding it was ok to sacrifice this age group to save by and large the elderly. We could have had kids masked and in school last year.

Yes, so many of us parents of young elementary school students were screaming from the rooftops last year that the kids were not okay and no one cared at all. Instead we got a bunch of gaslighting emails from school administrators patting themselves on the back and claiming there was little to no learning loss.

There was a pandemic. The schools did the right thing.

+1,000

-1000. There was no medical or health justification for keeping schools closed for 18 months! It is clear now, and it will be even more glaringly obvious when this area’s policies are actually access and compared to other states (MA, RI?) and countries that kept their schools open. Mark my words, you all will sound like flat-earthers. I can see that the cover up is already beginning….

Psst! Your tinfoil hat is showing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for subbing! We NEED you!

+1000. I don’t know why so many people are being nasty to OP.

Education begins at home. I have a niece in 1st and a nephew in 3rd. They had a father working in COVID wards and a mother WFH in a high-stress job. They were put through Kumon to supplement the poor DL and they’re perfectly fine. Other parents chose not to do this and they’re being defensive. And don’t whine to me about their privilege. Many of you have the same privilege yet you failed your kids.

*thunderous applause*

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The good news is that K-2 are times were lots of concepts are taught in spirals with lots of reinforcement so the kids should be able to catch up. I would be far more concerned if we were talking about the MS and HS kids, who I do think were legitimately screwed last year. Lots of those classes build on each other and catching up is far harder to do.

No one is pretending that there is an easy way to deal with what happened last year, it was a unique situation. Schools were shut because they needed to be. Could they have been opened earlier? Yup. No doubt about it in my mind but I am not a Scientist or medical expert and it wasn't my call. All I could do is make the mess work as best as I could.

What I saw, in our little circle of friends, is that very few kids parents were making their kids complete the Monday async work. The few who were only had their kids complete the must do work. DS was the only kid who was doing all the must dos and can dos. The number of people talking at the pool this summer about how they allowed their ES kid to just not do the work on Mondays or skip the sessions they didn't like was crazy. People seemed almost proud of the fact that they had stuck it to the schools by letting their kids turn off the computer or not participate.

And now they are now complaining that their kids are behind. Well, of course they are. Virtual learning sucked, especially for the younger kids. It was stupid hard and not an effective way to teach kids. The Teachers had no say over that mess and could only try to do their best to make it work. There wasn't a Teacher out there that thought that this was an effective way of teaching kids, especially early elementary. But it is where we were and what we had to work with. It was hard for everyone. Really it was. The amount of people whose response was to say screw it and not find a solution was astonishingly high.

So yeah, kids are behind this year. Kids who were in person all last year are ahead. ES kids are in the best position to make up that ground. It is going to take work but it is doable if parents choose to make it a priority and don't expect the schools to do everything.

DCUM was crawling with them last year too.
“I told him he didn’t have to do it. It’s stupid. It’s not “real school.” I turned it off and told him to go outside and play.”
1 1/2 years later: “WAAAHHHH!!! WHY IS MY BABY BEHIND? THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!!” (insert dramatic foot stomp)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a huge thread on here discussing kids who got "4s" in AAP 6th grade math last year who are failing 7th grade math and completely lost. So agree: wrong.

I don’t know if that’s a good example because 7th grade in general is when the math really starts to shake out of who can truly do the advanced work or not, even before Covid.

But of all my kids and their friends, the ones who showed up, listened in class, asked for help/went to office hours, and turned in assignments, etc. they got A’s and B’s last year and are doing fine this year. We checked our kids grades regularly and made sure they turned in any missing assignments and sought help after tests and quizzes they did poorly on. But we do this anyway.

Wow, you are smug and annoying.

Truth hurts. DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No one is saying online learning was super effective for K students. But if parents literally did nothing additional for all of last year, while knowing virtual was ineffective, that’s on them.

Perhaps you can come up with things parents could have done or should be doing, to make this all work out?

I have a friend who is a nurse, with 3 kids, 8th grader, 5th grader, and K. All through the pandemic, she has been working, often long hours. Her husband works overnight, so that someone is home most of the time, but obviously, in between work, they have to do things like chores and sleeping. Since dad sleeps during the day, he is unable to supervise anyone. Oldest kid was in 8th grade. Self sufficient. He was responsible for making sure that the K kid was logged on, but that was about the extent of what he could do, because he can't do his schooling and supervise the K kid. Obviously, the kid learned nothing all last year. No idea how the little one is doing this year, but I'm assuming that he is among the kids that is behind.

They could have worked with the little one every day on the basics. Zero excuse.

Yeah, sure. When one parent works 7 - 7, and the other one leaves home at 9 and isn't back until 7 in the morning, that leaves plenty of time to spend teaching the basics to a 5 year old that has spent the day on zoom classes.

Yes, it’s very hard, and tiring, to find the time when you have a busy schedule. But you don’t work 24/7. I’m sorry. You just don’t.