2.0 1st grade curriculum: Carbon Dioxide? Yes! Telling time? No!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Telling time started this week

My kid just brought home empty clock to write the numbers in. Good lord, how dumb are these kids in MCPS 1st grade?? The most they will learn (per teacher) is o'clock and maybe 30. Anything else is too hard. B.O.R.I.N.G

+1, some of my kid's homework is really dumb. At least he can get it done quickly then we work on our own stuff.

lol.. they are 6/7 yrs old. Why do they need harder HW? Some people love to tout how great Finland's education system is, and the kids there don't even start school until 7 yrs of age. Do you think the education there is dumbed down because a lot of the kids there probably don't know how to read or tell time until they are 6 or 7?

-- signed a mom of a child in a gifted program.

We don't live in Finland and I have no interest in my child being in the gifted program. I have an interest in helping my child be successful. My child is asking to do multiplication and division. He's asking to learn cursive. What should I do, say no? I should tell my child that he has to put his learning on hold till Larlo and Larla learn to read? I should tell him, sorry, we cannot learn anything at home, school only. Or, better, a random person on the internet has said, its a bad idea for him to read as a random person on the internet said so.

Your complaint was that the HW was boring. My DC wanted to learn to tell time and read before K. So, yes, we taught DC. But, I still don't see why HW needs to be challenging for 6/7 yr olds. Your child's success doesn't hang on telling time or having challenging HW in 1st grade.

It is boring when they are learning basic telling time and my child was doing it at 4 when he choose to learn to read a clock. It is boring and tedious. It has nothing to do with success in school but continued growth and learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Telling time started this week

My kid just brought home empty clock to write the numbers in. Good lord, how dumb are these kids in MCPS 1st grade?? The most they will learn (per teacher) is o'clock and maybe 30. Anything else is too hard. B.O.R.I.N.G

Yes, as discussed earlier in the thread, the 1st grade curriculum includes whole and half hours. My first grader brought home "whole hour" homework that was easily completed, and then we used one of those owl clocks where you can move the hands to practice whole, half, and quarter hours. It wasn't a huge investment of time on my part and helped solidify the concepts being taught in school. Why can't the folks complaining about the curriculum just supplement a little at home?

EVERY parent in middle and upper middle class DO supplement at home. Why do you think the test grades are so bad for the poor and lower middle class? No one supplementing. MCPS is a "great" school district because so many supplement, tutor, camps and more. If took away supplement and tutors, the public school system would be a COMPLETE failure.

Finland works because as a society they are vested in their child's education and happiness. Parents stay home with their kids with paid maternity leave and get state childcare when or if they decide to go back. More than half stay home until their child is of school age. Welfare and health insurance are abundant. Universities are free. Loans are 1-5% max. You can not compare. They are a socialistic society. The US middle class is shrinking and poverty is on the rise. Not to mention the never ending poor illegal immigrants crossing over. We spend billions on military and getting in everyone else's business. They spend it on education. We will never be like Finland in anyway, ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Telling time started this week

My kid just brought home empty clock to write the numbers in. Good lord, how dumb are these kids in MCPS 1st grade?? The most they will learn (per teacher) is o'clock and maybe 30. Anything else is too hard. B.O.R.I.N.G

Yes, as discussed earlier in the thread, the 1st grade curriculum includes whole and half hours. My first grader brought home "whole hour" homework that was easily completed, and then we used one of those owl clocks where you can move the hands to practice whole, half, and quarter hours. It wasn't a huge investment of time on my part and helped solidify the concepts being taught in school. Why can't the folks complaining about the curriculum just supplement a little at home?

EVERY parent in middle and upper middle class DO supplement at home. Why do you think the test grades are so bad for the poor and lower middle class? No one supplementing. MCPS is a "great" school district because so many supplement, tutor, camps and more. If took away supplement and tutors, the public school system would be a COMPLETE failure.

Finland works because as a society they are vested in their child's education and happiness. Parents stay home with their kids with paid maternity leave and get state childcare when or if they decide to go back. More than half stay home until their child is of school age. Welfare and health insurance are abundant. Universities are free. Loans are 1-5% max. You can not compare. They are a socialistic society. The US middle class is shrinking and poverty is on the rise. Not to mention the never ending poor illegal immigrants crossing over. We spend billions on military and getting in everyone else's business. They spend it on education. We will never be like Finland in anyway, ever.

If you lived in Finland you'd have something negative to say about it too BUT since its so great, move there. Many of us do have paid maternity leave... its called saving your sick and annual for years and not taking a vacation (i.e. planning) and use that when you have a child. How do you think they pay for all this - very high taxes. And, if you want low cost health insurance, join the military and serve 20 years...

[Anonymous]

If you lived in Finland you'd have something negative to say about it too BUT since its so great, move there. Many of us do have paid maternity leave... its called saving your sick and annual for years and not taking a vacation (i.e. planning) and use that when you have a child. How do you think they pay for all this - very high taxes. And, if you want low cost health insurance, join the military and serve 20 years...

Taxes in Northern Europe are not substantially higher than taxes in the US. The difference is one of priorities - we spend our tax dollars on the military, and on militarized policing. They spend theirs on education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Telling time started this week

My kid just brought home empty clock to write the numbers in. Good lord, how dumb are these kids in MCPS 1st grade?? The most they will learn (per teacher) is o'clock and maybe 30. Anything else is too hard. B.O.R.I.N.G

Yes, as discussed earlier in the thread, the 1st grade curriculum includes whole and half hours. My first grader brought home "whole hour" homework that was easily completed, and then we used one of those owl clocks where you can move the hands to practice whole, half, and quarter hours. It wasn't a huge investment of time on my part and helped solidify the concepts being taught in school. Why can't the folks complaining about the curriculum just supplement a little at home?

EVERY parent in middle and upper middle class DO supplement at home. Why do you think the test grades are so bad for the poor and lower middle class? No one supplementing. MCPS is a "great" school district because so many supplement, tutor, camps and more. If took away supplement and tutors, the public school system would be a COMPLETE failure.

Finland works because as a society they are vested in their child's education and happiness. Parents stay home with their kids with paid maternity leave and get state childcare when or if they decide to go back. More than half stay home until their child is of school age. Welfare and health insurance are abundant. Universities are free. Loans are 1-5% max. You can not compare. They are a socialistic society. The US middle class is shrinking and poverty is on the rise. Not to mention the never ending poor illegal immigrants crossing over. We spend billions on military and getting in everyone else's business. They spend it on education. We will never be like Finland in anyway, ever.

If you lived in Finland you'd have something negative to say about it too BUT since its so great, move there. Many of us do have paid maternity leave... its called saving your sick and annual for years and not taking a vacation (i.e. planning) and use that when you have a child. How do you think they pay for all this - very high taxes. And, if you want low cost health insurance, join the military and serve 20 years...

Angry much? High taxes work WHEN the wealthy actually pay their share. Here in America they don't. I would pay 50% taxes to have 4-8 months of paid maternity leave, state childcare, free quality education, free lunches at school, free healthcare and free college. That ensures a very positive way of living for everyone. They also get about 6 weeks paid vacation a year and 2 weeks of personal leave. No wonder they are the 2nd happiest country in the world for a reason. They treat each other's as equals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If you lived in Finland you'd have something negative to say about it too BUT since its so great, move there. Many of us do have paid maternity leave... its called saving your sick and annual for years and not taking a vacation (i.e. planning) and use that when you have a child. How do you think they pay for all this - very high taxes. And, if you want low cost health insurance, join the military and serve 20 years...

Taxes in Northern Europe are not substantially higher than taxes in the US. The difference is one of priorities - we spend our tax dollars on the military, and on militarized policing. They spend theirs on education.

Finland's max personal tax rate is 61.96%
Sweden: 59.7
US: 55.9% (Fed + State + Local); 39.6% (Max Fed. Tax)

But the majority of people in any country don't pay the max tax rate, and in the US, at least, we know that the very wealthiest barely pay 10% if their income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Telling time started this week

My kid just brought home empty clock to write the numbers in. Good lord, how dumb are these kids in MCPS 1st grade?? The most they will learn (per teacher) is o'clock and maybe 30. Anything else is too hard. B.O.R.I.N.G

Yes, as discussed earlier in the thread, the 1st grade curriculum includes whole and half hours. My first grader brought home "whole hour" homework that was easily completed, and then we used one of those owl clocks where you can move the hands to practice whole, half, and quarter hours. It wasn't a huge investment of time on my part and helped solidify the concepts being taught in school. Why can't the folks complaining about the curriculum just supplement a little at home?

EVERY parent in middle and upper middle class DO supplement at home. Why do you think the test grades are so bad for the poor and lower middle class? No one supplementing. MCPS is a "great" school district because so many supplement, tutor, camps and more. If took away supplement and tutors, the public school system would be a COMPLETE failure.

Finland works because as a society they are vested in their child's education and happiness. Parents stay home with their kids with paid maternity leave and get state childcare when or if they decide to go back. More than half stay home until their child is of school age. Welfare and health insurance are abundant. Universities are free. Loans are 1-5% max. You can not compare. They are a socialistic society. The US middle class is shrinking and poverty is on the rise. Not to mention the never ending poor illegal immigrants crossing over. We spend billions on military and getting in everyone else's business. They spend it on education. We will never be like Finland in anyway, ever.

If you lived in Finland you'd have something negative to say about it too BUT since its so great, move there. Many of us do have paid maternity leave... its called saving your sick and annual for years and not taking a vacation (i.e. planning) and use that when you have a child. How do you think they pay for all this - very high taxes. And, if you want low cost health insurance, join the military and serve 20 years...

Angry much? High taxes work WHEN the wealthy actually pay their share. Here in America they don't. I would pay 50% taxes to have 4-8 months of paid maternity leave, state childcare, free quality education, free lunches at school, free healthcare and free college. That ensures a very positive way of living for everyone. They also get about 6 weeks paid vacation a year and 2 weeks of personal leave. No wonder they are the 2nd happiest country in the world for a reason. They treat each other's as equals.

Then move. I got 4 months of paid maternity leave through saving my leave, you could have done that too. I don't want free lunches at school. My child would not eat them. You can go to college at a low cost through community college, scholarships or a cheap state school. And, that free health care may not be so free or great once you try it. If you want 8 weeks leave, negotiate with your employer. Some will allow you to take a reduced salary for more leave. I cannot imagine life is that simple for everyone as you make it.