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Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)
Kinda missing kindergarten
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Anonymous
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Wow, our kid started first grade this week and all I can say is I'm blown away by how different it is from last year. K was gentle, kind, loving, easy. Fast forward to first grade - the teacher is good and experienced, but suddenly the kids are getting numeric grades, taking spelling tests and getting math and reading homework every night. One kid (not mine) left school crying today because the teacher passes out a weekly page ranking each kid on a set of seven criteria including things like learning independently and self-motivation (this child did not do well and was very upset by it, which in turn upset my child even though she did fine).
Just wasn't quite expecting things to change so completely from one grade to the next. Anyone else? |
Anonymous
| Yes, the change is a big one but what you describe sounds harsh. In one week, they are already taking spelling tests and getting number grades? What school is this? |
Anonymous
| OP here - our school is in the Rockville/Potomac area. Don't want to be too specific for obvious reasons. |
Anonymous
| Our DD just started first grade, and it is nothing like you describe. That is nuts. |
Anonymous
| Our ds is in first (not in your area of MoCo - and he's loving the challenge. But what you describe is not what he's describing. He had a raffles this afternoon for which kids earned tickets all week long for good behavior, helping, etc . He's super-excited because he got an eraser and computer time. He talks about group work for math exercises, and they've been learning about rules in social studies and the reasons why societies have rules - and he told me what the various reasons were. I was impressed, and happy. |
Anonymous
| It's great that we want our kids to be educated but too much, too early and all the time can be bad. Remember that Japan has one of the highest rates of suicides in the world. Too much pressure. Not everyone is an outlier. |
Anonymous
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I am in montco in the rockville/potomac area and I am seeing the complete opposite. Our kindergarten teacher was mean and harsh and our 1st grade teacher is kind and loving. Our 1st graders today had an outside activity. I don't think my child went outside extra in kindergarten all year. He hasn't had HW all week and certainly no rankings or spelling tests! This is not county wide or rock/potomac cluster.
I'd talk to your principal. |
Anonymous
| OP, we're in N. Bethesda and not seeing this. Our school is doing the full new integrated curriculum in 1st, is yours? I don't think all the schools have switched over. Ours alos did a modified version of it in K. I am also wondering if it is just your teacher. Have you asked parents of kids in the other classes? |
Anonymous
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OP here - yes, our school is doing the integrated curriculum. Our teacher is very experienced and seems to know what she's doing. She does try to make things fun and there are specials every day (art, music, PE, etc.).
In other words, the teacher is not being mean or harsh, just moving through a lot of academic material and requiring a lot of each child. I just think that the overall expectations are extreme and worry about what lies ahead. I'm reticent to speak with the principal when my kid isn't complaining and is not having any problems in the class. I just wanted to throw this out there to see if our experience was the norm in MoCo. Sounds like it's not. |
Anonymous
| I'm 7:43. Our school is doing the new curriculum too. |
Anonymous
| It sounds like she has hit the ground running where other classes are still easing into it. Other classes will begin the spelling tests and math instruction soon enough b/c the teachers have to follow pacing guidelines. |
Anonymous
| 22:47 here, and our school has the new EIC curriculum as well. |
Anonymous
We no longer live in DC area. I work in a highly regarded (many northern transplants with high expectations, strong programs for the gifted, high SAT scores, etc.) suburban school system in a larger southern city. What you've described is typical here. |
Anonymous
| 22:47 and9:42 here. I re-read the original post. DD did not get a ranking list, and she has not yet gotten math homework. So far, her reading homework has just been to read for 15 minutes a night. It is possible she has gotten spelling tests and numerical grades in class, but she has not mentioned anything like that. All she talks about is how much she has enjoyed things, doing a 5 finger reading activity, doing some easy math activities. I haven't seen any work sent home yet. I suppose it is possible she is getting some of the same work OP's child is getting, but she isn't bothered by and thus isn't mentioning it. DD is a very active child, and she hasn't complained about sitting still too much either. We are very pleased so far. |
Anonymous
This cannot be true. At least, I hope it isn't. |