6th Grade Math Options

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, the more information the post the more nervous I get about accidentally IDing him, but he has been taking higher level math classes outside of school and doing well, which is both good for him (it's challenging, keeps him humble, and teaches him how to work) and contributing to the boredom problem at school big time. He's slated for Lakelands.

I’m sorry. So you are sending him to an outside math school that exposes him to untaught content and then bragging about a map score that reflects access to advanced/untaught content? And that you say is directly contributing to his boredom in school? It is not a race to skip foundational levels of math at age 9. It’s fine if he enjoys the outside math but I think it’s a stretch to say his map score indicates he’s an extreme outlier especially since he’s being tutored in the content outside of school.

What are you sorry about? No, I'm not bragging about his MAP score, I'm not even sure what it is, I don't even know what that test covers. I provided it to the best of my recollection because a PP specifically asked. I don't care about how he does on a standardized multiple choice math test and I totally agree it's not evidence that he's an extreme outlier. He's not skipping anything foundational, he's just already done everything he's doing now and I think has already done nearly everything he's slated to do in 5th grade compacted, and by the end of this year will probably have already done everything covered in AIM. He enjoys the outside work; I won't stop him from doing it just so he won't be quite as bored in school. It's very obviously good for him, you'll have to take my word for it. But if there's another way to be less bored in school, that would be good because he's getting more and more upset about it.

[Anonymous]

Our middle school has that option. And that is how it work based on my experience: at very beginning everyone is enrolled as AIM as usual, then in November, they looked at map score and school grade, and invited around 6-7 students to join algebra 1 class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does 6th grade math placement work? My 4th grader is, for lack of a better way to put it, a total math whiz and bored in his compacted math class. The curriculum site lists Algebra 1 as an "other option" for 6th grade. Is that something a kid could test into, or what?

If you have a 4th grader now, you should advocate for them to do pre-algebra (AIM) next year, which will set them up for Algebra in 6th. Don't wait another year, start now.

You do compacted math to algebra. No aim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, the more information the post the more nervous I get about accidentally IDing him, but he has been taking higher level math classes outside of school and doing well, which is both good for him (it's challenging, keeps him humble, and teaches him how to work) and contributing to the boredom problem at school big time. He's slated for Lakelands.

I’m sorry. So you are sending him to an outside math school that exposes him to untaught content and then bragging about a map score that reflects access to advanced/untaught content? And that you say is directly contributing to his boredom in school? It is not a race to skip foundational levels of math at age 9. It’s fine if he enjoys the outside math but I think it’s a stretch to say his map score indicates he’s an extreme outlier especially since he’s being tutored in the content outside of school.

What are you sorry about? No, I'm not bragging about his MAP score, I'm not even sure what it is, I don't even know what that test covers. I provided it to the best of my recollection because a PP specifically asked. I don't care about how he does on a standardized multiple choice math test and I totally agree it's not evidence that he's an extreme outlier. He's not skipping anything foundational, he's just already done everything he's doing now and I think has already done nearly everything he's slated to do in 5th grade compacted, and by the end of this year will probably have already done everything covered in AIM. He enjoys the outside work; I won't stop him from doing it just so he won't be quite as bored in school. It's very obviously good for him, you'll have to take my word for it. But if there's another way to be less bored in school, that would be good because he's getting more and more upset about it.

If what you are doing exacerbates the boredom but you are unwilling to change that choice to alleviate the boredom (which is a legit choice and I see your reasoning), then I recommend you direct effort into developing his frustration tolerance. Many kids will be “bored” with certain parts of school. The basketball star will be bored in that unit while other kids learn to dribble. The violin player will be bored in beginner orchestra. These children can learn and develop valuable skills and character traits from these moments as well.

[Anonymous]

This might be helpful
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bTdqDP-VwTR2-85qZ4DM6tV02NX3SQMSy7ZuUDcUOa8/edit

As you can see, there is no path to Algebra in 6th grade. I am sure some kids do it, but they all end up in the same spot later so personally I do not think its worth it. Enjoy being a kid. Take up chess. Taking more outside math is fine but then prepared to be "bored".

There are a bunch of excellent math classes at Poolesville once he gets to HS. Like PP said, this isn't a race.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our middle school has that option. And that is how it work based on my experience: at very beginning everyone is enrolled as AIM as usual, then in November, they looked at map score and school grade, and invited around 6-7 students to join algebra 1 class.

Lakelands does not do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, the more information the post the more nervous I get about accidentally IDing him, but he has been taking higher level math classes outside of school and doing well, which is both good for him (it's challenging, keeps him humble, and teaches him how to work) and contributing to the boredom problem at school big time. He's slated for Lakelands.

I’m sorry. So you are sending him to an outside math school that exposes him to untaught content and then bragging about a map score that reflects access to advanced/untaught content? And that you say is directly contributing to his boredom in school? It is not a race to skip foundational levels of math at age 9. It’s fine if he enjoys the outside math but I think it’s a stretch to say his map score indicates he’s an extreme outlier especially since he’s being tutored in the content outside of school.

What are you sorry about? No, I'm not bragging about his MAP score, I'm not even sure what it is, I don't even know what that test covers. I provided it to the best of my recollection because a PP specifically asked. I don't care about how he does on a standardized multiple choice math test and I totally agree it's not evidence that he's an extreme outlier. He's not skipping anything foundational, he's just already done everything he's doing now and I think has already done nearly everything he's slated to do in 5th grade compacted, and by the end of this year will probably have already done everything covered in AIM. He enjoys the outside work; I won't stop him from doing it just so he won't be quite as bored in school. It's very obviously good for him, you'll have to take my word for it. But if there's another way to be less bored in school, that would be good because he's getting more and more upset about it.

If what you are doing exacerbates the boredom but you are unwilling to change that choice to alleviate the boredom (which is a legit choice and I see your reasoning), then I recommend you direct effort into developing his frustration tolerance. Many kids will be “bored” with certain parts of school. The basketball star will be bored in that unit while other kids learn to dribble. The violin player will be bored in beginner orchestra. These children can learn and develop valuable skills and character traits from these moments as well.

That's a good point and I admit I don't know exactly why he finds the boredom of his math class so personally offensive. I was bored in school myself and I don't remember being overly troubled by it. We've talked about it but he can't articulate why he finds it so upsetting very well. I do have some guesses, though. During the year+ of virtual, when he was done with his math he could read a book or run around the living room. Now he must do only the assigned work, and if he finishes early, do worksheets from a specific pile. If he finishes those (which he hates, for some reason)...he may start over. He may not read, quietly work on his outside math, etc. It's his first real exposure to someone who demands he submit because she says so and is not interested in discussing reasonable alternatives. So, it would be good for him to learn to deal with that because lord knows it won't be the last time he'll have to, but so far what he seems to be learning is that he really hates school.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like he just has a bad math teacher which happens. Can you talk to the math teacher and ask if he can get additional work? Sometimes teachers let parents send in a workbook. We have seen that at our school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, the more information the post the more nervous I get about accidentally IDing him, but he has been taking higher level math classes outside of school and doing well, which is both good for him (it's challenging, keeps him humble, and teaches him how to work) and contributing to the boredom problem at school big time. He's slated for Lakelands.

I’m sorry. So you are sending him to an outside math school that exposes him to untaught content and then bragging about a map score that reflects access to advanced/untaught content? And that you say is directly contributing to his boredom in school? It is not a race to skip foundational levels of math at age 9. It’s fine if he enjoys the outside math but I think it’s a stretch to say his map score indicates he’s an extreme outlier especially since he’s being tutored in the content outside of school.

What are you sorry about? No, I'm not bragging about his MAP score, I'm not even sure what it is, I don't even know what that test covers. I provided it to the best of my recollection because a PP specifically asked. I don't care about how he does on a standardized multiple choice math test and I totally agree it's not evidence that he's an extreme outlier. He's not skipping anything foundational, he's just already done everything he's doing now and I think has already done nearly everything he's slated to do in 5th grade compacted, and by the end of this year will probably have already done everything covered in AIM. He enjoys the outside work; I won't stop him from doing it just so he won't be quite as bored in school. It's very obviously good for him, you'll have to take my word for it. But if there's another way to be less bored in school, that would be good because he's getting more and more upset about it.

If what you are doing exacerbates the boredom but you are unwilling to change that choice to alleviate the boredom (which is a legit choice and I see your reasoning), then I recommend you direct effort into developing his frustration tolerance. Many kids will be “bored” with certain parts of school. The basketball star will be bored in that unit while other kids learn to dribble. The violin player will be bored in beginner orchestra. These children can learn and develop valuable skills and character traits from these moments as well.

That's a good point and I admit I don't know exactly why he finds the boredom of his math class so personally offensive. I was bored in school myself and I don't remember being overly troubled by it. We've talked about it but he can't articulate why he finds it so upsetting very well. I do have some guesses, though. During the year+ of virtual, when he was done with his math he could read a book or run around the living room. Now he must do only the assigned work, and if he finishes early, do worksheets from a specific pile. If he finishes those (which he hates, for some reason)...he may start over. He may not read, quietly work on his outside math, etc. It's his first real exposure to someone who demands he submit because she says so and is not interested in discussing reasonable alternatives. So, it would be good for him to learn to deal with that because lord knows it won't be the last time he'll have to, but so far what he seems to be learning is that he really hates school.

That’s super frustrating and makes a lot of sense. I’m sorry your child’s teacher isn’t thinking outside the box on this. It would not be hard to pair him with other students who are confused and have him help go over the concept. Or allow him to read a book or work on a quiet preferred activity like the ones you describe. Teachers totally have leeway on these things, although it’s hard to tell people how to run their classrooms. She is probably more concerned with the task of bringing up the struggling group than personalizing things for your high achiever. The best teachers manage to serve both types of student, but this year is probably even harder than usual bc they skipped so much content during virtual. Anyway, you sound like a wonderful parent who is looking out for her child. I’d see if you can do some research to find out about teacher options for next year and be in touch with the administration to match your child with a more flexible, innovative teacher.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the google doc and the info about Lakelands. If he can't do it, he can't do it, I'm not going to start a crusade over it. I had just never heard of the possibility of Algebra in 6th before and wanted to make sure I wasn't lying to him about there being no other math options at school just because I didn't know the magic words to ask for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the google doc and the info about Lakelands. If he can't do it, he can't do it, I'm not going to start a crusade over it. I had just never heard of the possibility of Algebra in 6th before and wanted to make sure I wasn't lying to him about there being no other math options at school just because I didn't know the magic words to ask for it.

You can certainly ask but it would be a crusade for sure. And again, I am not sure its worth it.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't bother asking for it because you never know how he's going to do in middle school. There are a lot of changes and some kids take to it fine but others start to have a lot of trouble. It's worrisome that he gets bored and frustrated by that. There will be a lot of boring moments in MS and HS and college with a lot of boring teachers and that's one more thing you're going to have to work on with him on.

It would be nice to have one class he did not have to worry about. We have our child who is quite good at math, similar MAP scores as your child at that same age, in the top accelerated track that is offered with Alg. in 7th and it's worked out well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, the more information the post the more nervous I get about accidentally IDing him, but he has been taking higher level math classes outside of school and doing well, which is both good for him (it's challenging, keeps him humble, and teaches him how to work) and contributing to the boredom problem at school big time. He's slated for Lakelands.

I’m sorry. So you are sending him to an outside math school that exposes him to untaught content and then bragging about a map score that reflects access to advanced/untaught content? And that you say is directly contributing to his boredom in school? It is not a race to skip foundational levels of math at age 9. It’s fine if he enjoys the outside math but I think it’s a stretch to say his map score indicates he’s an extreme outlier especially since he’s being tutored in the content outside of school.

What are you sorry about? No, I'm not bragging about his MAP score, I'm not even sure what it is, I don't even know what that test covers. I provided it to the best of my recollection because a PP specifically asked. I don't care about how he does on a standardized multiple choice math test and I totally agree it's not evidence that he's an extreme outlier. He's not skipping anything foundational, he's just already done everything he's doing now and I think has already done nearly everything he's slated to do in 5th grade compacted, and by the end of this year will probably have already done everything covered in AIM. He enjoys the outside work; I won't stop him from doing it just so he won't be quite as bored in school. It's very obviously good for him, you'll have to take my word for it. But if there's another way to be less bored in school, that would be good because he's getting more and more upset about it.

Kids in Algebra in 6th don't do AIM. However, its school specific on what their criteria is and if they offer it. And, not all schools offer Algebra 2 so your child may be sent to a high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the google doc and the info about Lakelands. If he can't do it, he can't do it, I'm not going to start a crusade over it. I had just never heard of the possibility of Algebra in 6th before and wanted to make sure I wasn't lying to him about there being no other math options at school just because I didn't know the magic words to ask for it.

It is school specific so you need to call the MS your child will go to and ask if they can do Algebra in 6th.

[Anonymous]

The high map score is from taking outside math and doesn't necessarily indicate a forever trajectory. If he is so bored, it seems you should strongly encourage an outside enrichment in another area of interest so that the situation doesn't get worse. I think many kids would be bored in this situation.