APS -- Want to return but spouse resistant -- please clarify curriculum 5th grade

[Anonymous]

Also call the school and ask. Someone will talk to you about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We left APS for Langley early in the pandemic, as our DD was struggling with the isolation of remote school and had trouble reading so much on the screen.

We have had a good experience at Langley, but it is quite expensive for us, DD misses her friends, and we would love to be part of a neighborhood school again.

Spouse believes reading and writing are underemphasized in APS, so can someone who has just finished 5th grade help me win this argument:

How many novels were assigned for 5th grade students to read on their own at home? Langley had DD read 5 novels, then write essays and do a quiz on them. Which spouse really appreciates since our DD is a reluctant reader, so having it "assigned" has made it much easier to get her to read independently.

Ha. You should be looking farther down the road than 5th grade. 5 novels is more than either of my kids read in their Arlington high school English classes.
And they don't even necessarily read the complete novel when they work on one. This is our experience from both general ed and intensified English classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is definitely homework in APS. My middle schooler & elementary kid both had homework this year (though more in elementary).

Which school?

I hear most schools have “homework” that they are given a lot of time in class to complete, and only the kids who good off tend to actually take it home.

My elementary kid had math every night, supposed to read daily, & Spanish vocabulary words to study (Key).
My MS kid gets straight As & is a hard worker. He doesn’t tend to goof off. It’s true that he could finish a lot of the work at school, but some classes assigned big projects that needed to be done at home, & he often had math homework (not even assigned until class was ending— so definitely homework). Plus studying for tests, of course.
This clearly varies by school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We left APS for Langley early in the pandemic, as our DD was struggling with the isolation of remote school and had trouble reading so much on the screen.

We have had a good experience at Langley, but it is quite expensive for us, DD misses her friends, and we would love to be part of a neighborhood school again.

Spouse believes reading and writing are underemphasized in APS, so can someone who has just finished 5th grade help me win this argument:

How many novels were assigned for 5th grade students to read on their own at home? Langley had DD read 5 novels, then write essays and do a quiz on them. Which spouse really appreciates since our DD is a reluctant reader, so having it "assigned" has made it much easier to get her to read independently.

Ha. You should be looking farther down the road than 5th grade. 5 novels is more than either of my kids read in their Arlington high school English classes.
And they don't even necessarily read the complete novel when they work on one. This is our experience from both general ed and intensified English classes.

Let me know overstate it, these were short novels like Long Walk to Water and Red Kayak. Something an adult reader would finish in a day or so.

Surely they are assigned at least that much reading by middle school? I want to sway my spouse and save this tuition!

[Anonymous]

*not

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We left APS for Langley early in the pandemic, as our DD was struggling with the isolation of remote school and had trouble reading so much on the screen.

We have had a good experience at Langley, but it is quite expensive for us, DD misses her friends, and we would love to be part of a neighborhood school again.

Spouse believes reading and writing are underemphasized in APS, so can someone who has just finished 5th grade help me win this argument:

How many novels were assigned for 5th grade students to read on their own at home? Langley had DD read 5 novels, then write essays and do a quiz on them. Which spouse really appreciates since our DD is a reluctant reader, so having it "assigned" has made it much easier to get her to read independently.

Ha. You should be looking farther down the road than 5th grade. 5 novels is more than either of my kids read in their Arlington high school English classes.
And they don't even necessarily read the complete novel when they work on one. This is our experience from both general ed and intensified English classes.

Let me know overstate it, these were short novels like Long Walk to Water and Red Kayak. Something an adult reader would finish in a day or so.

Surely they are assigned at least that much reading by middle school? I want to sway my spouse and save this tuition!

Unless you really can't afford it, don't leave. Not yet. I love our school and the teachers have been working so hard this year, but my kid has been bored senseless and really frustrated. I'm not sure next year is going to be that much better. The social issues and learning loss are very real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We left APS for Langley early in the pandemic, as our DD was struggling with the isolation of remote school and had trouble reading so much on the screen.

We have had a good experience at Langley, but it is quite expensive for us, DD misses her friends, and we would love to be part of a neighborhood school again.

Spouse believes reading and writing are underemphasized in APS, so can someone who has just finished 5th grade help me win this argument:

How many novels were assigned for 5th grade students to read on their own at home? Langley had DD read 5 novels, then write essays and do a quiz on them. Which spouse really appreciates since our DD is a reluctant reader, so having it "assigned" has made it much easier to get her to read independently.

Ha. You should be looking farther down the road than 5th grade. 5 novels is more than either of my kids read in their Arlington high school English classes.
And they don't even necessarily read the complete novel when they work on one. This is our experience from both general ed and intensified English classes.

Let me know overstate it, these were short novels like Long Walk to Water and Red Kayak. Something an adult reader would finish in a day or so.

Surely they are assigned at least that much reading by middle school? I want to sway my spouse and save this tuition!

Unless you really can't afford it, don't leave. Not yet. I love our school and the teachers have been working so hard this year, but my kid has been bored senseless and really frustrated. I'm not sure next year is going to be that much better. The social issues and learning loss are very real.

So it was better before? Like 5th grader in 2018 were reading novels?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We left APS for Langley early in the pandemic, as our DD was struggling with the isolation of remote school and had trouble reading so much on the screen.

We have had a good experience at Langley, but it is quite expensive for us, DD misses her friends, and we would love to be part of a neighborhood school again.

Spouse believes reading and writing are underemphasized in APS, so can someone who has just finished 5th grade help me win this argument:

How many novels were assigned for 5th grade students to read on their own at home? Langley had DD read 5 novels, then write essays and do a quiz on them. Which spouse really appreciates since our DD is a reluctant reader, so having it "assigned" has made it much easier to get her to read independently.

Ha. You should be looking farther down the road than 5th grade. 5 novels is more than either of my kids read in their Arlington high school English classes.
And they don't even necessarily read the complete novel when they work on one. This is our experience from both general ed and intensified English classes.

Let me know overstate it, these were short novels like Long Walk to Water and Red Kayak. Something an adult reader would finish in a day or so.

Surely they are assigned at least that much reading by middle school? I want to sway my spouse and save this tuition!

Unless you really can't afford it, don't leave. Not yet. I love our school and the teachers have been working so hard this year, but my kid has been bored senseless and really frustrated. I'm not sure next year is going to be that much better. The social issues and learning loss are very real.

So it was better before? Like 5th grader in 2018 were reading novels?

I had an APS 4th grader in 2018. 3rd and 4th grade were the most my kid ever had to read in school. They did it "book club" style where they read chapters weekly and had assigned tasks, then met in a group to discuss. They had to flag passages with post it notes and take notes on notecards. It was a lot of homework. Math homework, too.

5th grade through 7th - has not brought home any books and says they do not read in class, either. I'm really puzzled as to what they are doing in English?? Does not bring home any other homework - says it is all done at school. This seems a lot easier than I had it when I was that age!

[Anonymous]

My kid has been reading novels in 4th. I know they had at least one assigned (about a kids perspective of the revolutionary war) and one that they got to pick themselves. I know otherwise he has done a lot of writing and research projects. Like they did two projects where he researched a shark and wrote a Lap Book about it. He does a lot of creative writing as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We left APS for Langley early in the pandemic, as our DD was struggling with the isolation of remote school and had trouble reading so much on the screen.

We have had a good experience at Langley, but it is quite expensive for us, DD misses her friends, and we would love to be part of a neighborhood school again.

Spouse believes reading and writing are underemphasized in APS, so can someone who has just finished 5th grade help me win this argument:

How many novels were assigned for 5th grade students to read on their own at home? Langley had DD read 5 novels, then write essays and do a quiz on them. Which spouse really appreciates since our DD is a reluctant reader, so having it "assigned" has made it much easier to get her to read independently.

Ha. You should be looking farther down the road than 5th grade. 5 novels is more than either of my kids read in their Arlington high school English classes.
And they don't even necessarily read the complete novel when they work on one. This is our experience from both general ed and intensified English classes.

Let me know overstate it, these were short novels like Long Walk to Water and Red Kayak. Something an adult reader would finish in a day or so.

Surely they are assigned at least that much reading by middle school? I want to sway my spouse and save this tuition!

I don't think having the whole class read the same novel is typcially a central feature of 3-6th grade public school English classes. The in class work is usually focused around shorter reading passages where the kids are taught concepts and expected to extract information. Closer to what shows up on the SOL. Any novels tend to be read independently.

IMO, this makes sense as there's still a pretty large range in reading ability. It's better to have kids choose novels at their reading level. It would be difficult to have the whole class the same thing at the same speed. My advanced reader who polishes off 1000 pages a week would be bored to tears while the slower readers would struggle to keep up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We left APS for Langley early in the pandemic, as our DD was struggling with the isolation of remote school and had trouble reading so much on the screen.

We have had a good experience at Langley, but it is quite expensive for us, DD misses her friends, and we would love to be part of a neighborhood school again.

Spouse believes reading and writing are underemphasized in APS, so can someone who has just finished 5th grade help me win this argument:

How many novels were assigned for 5th grade students to read on their own at home? Langley had DD read 5 novels, then write essays and do a quiz on them. Which spouse really appreciates since our DD is a reluctant reader, so having it "assigned" has made it much easier to get her to read independently.

Ha. You should be looking farther down the road than 5th grade. 5 novels is more than either of my kids read in their Arlington high school English classes.
And they don't even necessarily read the complete novel when they work on one. This is our experience from both general ed and intensified English classes.

Let me know overstate it, these were short novels like Long Walk to Water and Red Kayak. Something an adult reader would finish in a day or so.

Surely they are assigned at least that much reading by middle school? I want to sway my spouse and save this tuition!

I don't think having the whole class read the same novel is typcially a central feature of 3-6th grade public school English classes. The in class work is usually focused around shorter reading passages where the kids are taught concepts and expected to extract information. Closer to what shows up on the SOL. Any novels tend to be read independently.

IMO, this makes sense as there's still a pretty large range in reading ability. It's better to have kids choose novels at their reading level. It would be difficult to have the whole class the same thing at the same speed. My advanced reader who polishes off 1000 pages a week would be bored to tears while the slower readers would struggle to keep up.

They talk about differentiation, why not just break into small reading club groups and assign novels? Reading a novel or longer text is way different than just reading passages, as helpful as that is for SOLs

[Anonymous]

Don’t do it. Academics are week in APS in my opinion. Stay where you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t do it. Academics are week in APS in my opinion. Stay where you are.

PP here
Correction:
Weak

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We left APS for Langley early in the pandemic, as our DD was struggling with the isolation of remote school and had trouble reading so much on the screen.

We have had a good experience at Langley, but it is quite expensive for us, DD misses her friends, and we would love to be part of a neighborhood school again.

Spouse believes reading and writing are underemphasized in APS, so can someone who has just finished 5th grade help me win this argument:

How many novels were assigned for 5th grade students to read on their own at home? Langley had DD read 5 novels, then write essays and do a quiz on them. Which spouse really appreciates since our DD is a reluctant reader, so having it "assigned" has made it much easier to get her to read independently.

Ha. You should be looking farther down the road than 5th grade. 5 novels is more than either of my kids read in their Arlington high school English classes.
And they don't even necessarily read the complete novel when they work on one. This is our experience from both general ed and intensified English classes.

Let me know overstate it, these were short novels like Long Walk to Water and Red Kayak. Something an adult reader would finish in a day or so.

Surely they are assigned at least that much reading by middle school? I want to sway my spouse and save this tuition!

I don't think having the whole class read the same novel is typcially a central feature of 3-6th grade public school English classes. The in class work is usually focused around shorter reading passages where the kids are taught concepts and expected to extract information. Closer to what shows up on the SOL. Any novels tend to be read independently.

IMO, this makes sense as there's still a pretty large range in reading ability. It's better to have kids choose novels at their reading level. It would be difficult to have the whole class the same thing at the same speed. My advanced reader who polishes off 1000 pages a week would be bored to tears while the slower readers would struggle to keep up.

They talk about differentiation, why not just break into small reading club groups and assign novels? Reading a novel or longer text is way different than just reading passages, as helpful as that is for SOLs

I think they do this, just not for 5 novels a year. That would take up most of the year. It's just mixed with non-fiction units, poetry, shorter reading passages, journalism units, independent reading, etc.

[Anonymous]

Please go to private. The math is abysmal in APS. Fifth graders essentially learn same thing as in 4th grade.