Writing in elementary school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do we push for changes? So much time and focus is spent on things like portrait of a graduate but so little focus on the things I send them to school to learn - writing and math! I’ve asked the teacher about things like spelling words and it doesn’t seem like they have much say in it. Who does? The principal? School Board?

Teacher here. Changes need to come from School Board, Gatehouse and State. Teachers agree with parents that a lot if change needs to happen.
Things that should change:
Daily SS/Science Block
Daily Word Study and Grammar Blocks
Cohesive LA/Reading instruction paced out for teachers.
Subject Based AAP offerings

What changes do you want to the items in bold?

ES Teacher

I want a daily separate SS/Science block. Right now we get 40 mins daily shared. It is hard to fit everything in. I would like a daily Word Study/Grammar Block. Some years we have this and others we don’t.

DP. I thought this schedule was from the state, not from the county. Am I wrong?

I am a parent and I strongly disapprove of the way that science and social studies are condensed and only given half time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do we push for changes? So much time and focus is spent on things like portrait of a graduate but so little focus on the things I send them to school to learn - writing and math! I’ve asked the teacher about things like spelling words and it doesn’t seem like they have much say in it. Who does? The principal? School Board?

Teacher here. Changes need to come from School Board, Gatehouse and State. Teachers agree with parents that a lot if change needs to happen.
Things that should change:
Daily SS/Science Block
Daily Word Study and Grammar Blocks
Cohesive LA/Reading instruction paced out for teachers.
Subject Based AAP offerings

What changes do you want to the items in bold?

ES Teacher

I want a daily separate SS/Science block. Right now we get 40 mins daily shared. It is hard to fit everything in. I would like a daily Word Study/Grammar Block. Some years we have this and others we don’t.

DP. I thought this schedule was from the state, not from the county. Am I wrong?

I am a parent and I strongly disapprove of the way that science and social studies are condensed and only given half time.

It is, but I think it is labeled as LA instruction. So that includes reading, writing and word study. The county should prioritize this. I believe the state also says SS/Science doesn’t need to be every day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I get the internet usage report every week so I know my child is being truthful-the entire day is spent on the laptop

A lot of kids never shut down their laptop or close their browsers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do we push for changes? So much time and focus is spent on things like portrait of a graduate but so little focus on the things I send them to school to learn - writing and math! I’ve asked the teacher about things like spelling words and it doesn’t seem like they have much say in it. Who does? The principal? School Board?

Teacher here. Changes need to come from School Board, Gatehouse and State. Teachers agree with parents that a lot if change needs to happen.
Things that should change:
Daily SS/Science Block
Daily Word Study and Grammar Blocks
Cohesive LA/Reading instruction paced out for teachers.
Subject Based AAP offerings

What changes do you want to the items in bold?

ES Teacher

I want a daily separate SS/Science block. Right now we get 40 mins daily shared. It is hard to fit everything in. I would like a daily Word Study/Grammar Block. Some years we have this and others we don’t.

DP. I thought this schedule was from the state, not from the county. Am I wrong?

I am a parent and I strongly disapprove of the way that science and social studies are condensed and only given half time.

I teach third grade. We have one hour every day for science or social studies. We complete a science unit over a period of weeks then complete a SS unit. I believe grades k-2 have scheduled word study.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do we push for changes? So much time and focus is spent on things like portrait of a graduate but so little focus on the things I send them to school to learn - writing and math! I’ve asked the teacher about things like spelling words and it doesn’t seem like they have much say in it. Who does? The principal? School Board?

Teacher here. Changes need to come from School Board, Gatehouse and State. Teachers agree with parents that a lot if change needs to happen.
Things that should change:
Daily SS/Science Block
Daily Word Study and Grammar Blocks
Cohesive LA/Reading instruction paced out for teachers.
Subject Based AAP offerings

What changes do you want to the items in bold?

ES Teacher

I want a daily separate SS/Science block. Right now we get 40 mins daily shared. It is hard to fit everything in. I would like a daily Word Study/Grammar Block. Some years we have this and others we don’t.

DP. I thought this schedule was from the state, not from the county. Am I wrong?

I am a parent and I strongly disapprove of the way that science and social studies are condensed and only given half time.

I teach third grade. We have one hour every day for science or social studies. We complete a science unit over a period of weeks then complete a SS unit. I believe grades k-2 have scheduled word study.

I teach 6th. It would be impossible to get through the first half of US history doing that. I think this year we have found a good balance, but ideally would prefer daily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do we push for changes? So much time and focus is spent on things like portrait of a graduate but so little focus on the things I send them to school to learn - writing and math! I’ve asked the teacher about things like spelling words and it doesn’t seem like they have much say in it. Who does? The principal? School Board?

Teacher here. Changes need to come from School Board, Gatehouse and State. Teachers agree with parents that a lot if change needs to happen.
Things that should change:
Daily SS/Science Block
Daily Word Study and Grammar Blocks
Cohesive LA/Reading instruction paced out for teachers.
Subject Based AAP offerings

What changes do you want to the items in bold?

ES Teacher

I want a daily separate SS/Science block. Right now we get 40 mins daily shared. It is hard to fit everything in. I would like a daily Word Study/Grammar Block. Some years we have this and others we don’t.

DP. I thought this schedule was from the state, not from the county. Am I wrong?

I am a parent and I strongly disapprove of the way that science and social studies are condensed and only given half time.

I teach third grade. We have one hour every day for science or social studies. We complete a science unit over a period of weeks then complete a SS unit. I believe grades k-2 have scheduled word study.

I teach 6th. It would be impossible to get through the first half of US history doing that. I think this year we have found a good balance, but ideally would prefer daily. [/quote

PP here.
If we had an hour a day for both science and social studies, we'd never get through all of the other subjects.

I'd like to do away with the daily morning meeting. 3 or 2 days a week would suffice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do we push for changes? So much time and focus is spent on things like portrait of a graduate but so little focus on the things I send them to school to learn - writing and math! I’ve asked the teacher about things like spelling words and it doesn’t seem like they have much say in it. Who does? The principal? School Board?

Teacher here. Changes need to come from School Board, Gatehouse and State. Teachers agree with parents that a lot if change needs to happen.
Things that should change:
Daily SS/Science Block
Daily Word Study and Grammar Blocks
Cohesive LA/Reading instruction paced out for teachers.
Subject Based AAP offerings

What changes do you want to the items in bold?

ES Teacher

I want a daily separate SS/Science block. Right now we get 40 mins daily shared. It is hard to fit everything in. I would like a daily Word Study/Grammar Block. Some years we have this and others we don’t.

DP. I thought this schedule was from the state, not from the county. Am I wrong?

I am a parent and I strongly disapprove of the way that science and social studies are condensed and only given half time.

I teach third grade. We have one hour every day for science or social studies. We complete a science unit over a period of weeks then complete a SS unit. I believe grades k-2 have scheduled word study.

I teach 6th. It would be impossible to get through the first half of US history doing that. I think this year we have found a good balance, but ideally would prefer daily.

I'd like to do away with the daily morning meeting. 3 or 2 days a week would suffice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do we push for changes? So much time and focus is spent on things like portrait of a graduate but so little focus on the things I send them to school to learn - writing and math! I’ve asked the teacher about things like spelling words and it doesn’t seem like they have much say in it. Who does? The principal? School Board?

Teacher here. Changes need to come from School Board, Gatehouse and State. Teachers agree with parents that a lot if change needs to happen.
Things that should change:
Daily SS/Science Block
Daily Word Study and Grammar Blocks
Cohesive LA/Reading instruction paced out for teachers.
Subject Based AAP offerings

What changes do you want to the items in bold?

ES Teacher

I want a daily separate SS/Science block. Right now we get 40 mins daily shared. It is hard to fit everything in. I would like a daily Word Study/Grammar Block. Some years we have this and others we don’t.

DP. I thought this schedule was from the state, not from the county. Am I wrong?

I am a parent and I strongly disapprove of the way that science and social studies are condensed and only given half time.

I teach third grade. We have one hour every day for science or social studies. We complete a science unit over a period of weeks then complete a SS unit. I believe grades k-2 have scheduled word study.

I teach 6th. It would be impossible to get through the first half of US history doing that. I think this year we have found a good balance, but ideally would prefer daily.

I'd like to do away with the daily morning meeting. 3 or 2 days a week would suffice.

Upper ES teacher. My kids love Morning Meeting. It definitely sets the tone for the day. It shouldn’t be more than 15 mins though.

[Anonymous]

I think the larger issue is these long Math and Reading blocks. 45-50 mins should the the longest block. Kids can only focus for so long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the larger issue is these long Math and Reading blocks. 45-50 mins should the the longest block. Kids can only focus for so long.

I have trouble with the length of time the students are self-directed. Our math block is scheduled for an hour. Out of that hour, figure ~30 minutes of center time after number sense and a focus lesson. I'm supposed to be working with small groups during that time. That is followed by another 20 minutes of intervention, during which I am still working with small groups. That's 50 minutes straight of small group time while others are working independently. For me it is almost impossible to plan, implement and monitor all of it. There just isn't enough time to plan and prepare for all of it. Behavior issues and disruptions are tough to manage during this time. This is followed by 40 minutes for writing. We have an hour for reading in the afternoon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get the internet usage report every week so I know my child is being truthful-the entire day is spent on the laptop

A lot of kids never shut down their laptop or close their browsers.

Yes. DC told me that it takes too long to reboot and since they carry it between the classes and specials. They leave it on all day! The past 2-3 weeks they are using laptops in music and PE as well. You might think that specials would be screen-free time but it is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the larger issue is these long Math and Reading blocks. 45-50 mins should the the longest block. Kids can only focus for so long.

I have trouble with the length of time the students are self-directed. Our math block is scheduled for an hour. Out of that hour, figure ~30 minutes of center time after number sense and a focus lesson. I'm supposed to be working with small groups during that time. That is followed by another 20 minutes of intervention, during which I am still working with small groups. That's 50 minutes straight of small group time while others are working independently. For me it is almost impossible to plan, implement and monitor all of it. There just isn't enough time to plan and prepare for all of it. Behavior issues and disruptions are tough to manage during this time. This is followed by 40 minutes for writing. We have an hour for reading in the afternoon.

Yup! Another teacher here. This is why these long blocks are not beneficial for kids. Their attention spans don’t last that long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If FCPS would just have their own 5th and 8th grade writing tests at the end of the year again despite whatever the state is doing, a lot of these issues would go away.

I agree. It was lazy of the state to get rid of the 5th grade writing SOL. That forced schools to teach writing.

- upper elementary teacher in FCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the larger issue is these long Math and Reading blocks. 45-50 mins should the the longest block. Kids can only focus for so long.

I have trouble with the length of time the students are self-directed. Our math block is scheduled for an hour. Out of that hour, figure ~30 minutes of center time after number sense and a focus lesson. I'm supposed to be working with small groups during that time. That is followed by another 20 minutes of intervention, during which I am still working with small groups. That's 50 minutes straight of small group time while others are working independently. For me it is almost impossible to plan, implement and monitor all of it. There just isn't enough time to plan and prepare for all of it. Behavior issues and disruptions are tough to manage during this time. This is followed by 40 minutes for writing. We have an hour for reading in the afternoon.

The alternative is to group students by ability. School districts have moved away from that because of equity reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the larger issue is these long Math and Reading blocks. 45-50 mins should the the longest block. Kids can only focus for so long.

I have trouble with the length of time the students are self-directed. Our math block is scheduled for an hour. Out of that hour, figure ~30 minutes of center time after number sense and a focus lesson. I'm supposed to be working with small groups during that time. That is followed by another 20 minutes of intervention, during which I am still working with small groups. That's 50 minutes straight of small group time while others are working independently. For me it is almost impossible to plan, implement and monitor all of it. There just isn't enough time to plan and prepare for all of it. Behavior issues and disruptions are tough to manage during this time. This is followed by 40 minutes for writing. We have an hour for reading in the afternoon.

the students lose interest and focus during this independent time and get off task. Their learning wanes. It is a disaster.