APS Elementary Experience Today

[Anonymous]

or keyboarding

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:APS does not teach cursive

At all??? I really want DC to learn

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I hear from other parents that their 3rd graders have homework regularly. My daughter never has homework. It seem entirely tied to whether the student can get their work done in class.

drives me nuts that class/instruction time is spent on homework. between that and dreambox/lexia, how much actual instruction happens during a typical day? SMH

It's the reverse. Classwork that isn't completed becomes homework. It a student is distracted and doesn't work efficiently or works more slowly will need to finish at home. Do you really disagree with students doing math problems or writing at school?

Nice try. Class work should be simply exercise to help identify a skill or technique. If it is too hard for them to finish in class, most likely they need different tracts of classes to differentiate. Homework should be about reinforcing techniques and working small variations from the example to build mastery. Same with writing assignments.

Kids need to practice skills. It's not enough for them to do a couple of problems to "identify a skill or technique." While most the class practice what they were just taught, the teacher will help those who need help in individual instruction. Something like 5-30% of the class may not finish because they either work slower or don't work well in a busy class environment, depending on the difficulty of the material and the day. So those kids take some work home. The 10-20% of the class who finish early have extension activities to do more advanced work. What exactly is the problem? In high school you can do more direct instruction and then practice as homework, but this is third grade. Kids can't listen to an hour lesson and practice as homework. That's not age appropriate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS does not teach cursive

At all??? I really want DC to learn

My 3rd grader has been learning cursive in APS. They do a couple of practice pages every morning as a warm up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS does not teach cursive

At all??? I really want DC to learn

Cursive is one of the easiest things to teach at home. All you need is a pencil and a workbook.

[Anonymous]

Things may have changed after covid, but ASFS had homework and “projects”, even in the early grades. Some basic reinforcement is actually a good thing, but the problem that I saw was too much time learning “strategies and concepts” for things like math, rather than just memorizing basic math facts and just doing some worksheets to get the muscle memory. There was some silly homework. The principal may have been forced to stop giving homework, but she ran a much more old-school type of program. My kid grumbled, but I think he learned more with the style of teaching than he is in the much friendlier and nurturing Dorothy Hamm. That’s just my kid and the way he both gets motivation and how he processes. And they did learn cursive a bit in third grade.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope - no homework. Even for my MS child

Has homework become an equity issue since some kids don’t have stable home situations that support homework?

Race to the bottom. Great job APS in the name of equity.

Nope! It’s an evidence based practice that it doesn’t improve learning outcomes before 3rd or 4th grade and kids are better off playing sports, spending time with family, and reading or being read to.

Here, here! Homework in elementary is bullshit. I don’t want my kids to burn out before they even reach high school.

Yes much better to lull them into not working then drop them into middle school without any stamina

They’ll get it before high school. If you want your kids to do homework, give them some.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Things may have changed after covid, but ASFS had homework and “projects”, even in the early grades. Some basic reinforcement is actually a good thing, but the problem that I saw was too much time learning “strategies and concepts” for things like math, rather than just memorizing basic math facts and just doing some worksheets to get the muscle memory. There was some silly homework. The principal may have been forced to stop giving homework, but she ran a much more old-school type of program. My kid grumbled, but I think he learned more with the style of teaching than he is in the much friendlier and nurturing Dorothy Hamm. That’s just my kid and the way he both gets motivation and how he processes. And they did learn cursive a bit in third grade.

Same experience

[Anonymous]

Love the teachers, not loving the overall educational experience. Good teachers can’t make up the deficits caused by bad system-wide choices - overreliance on IPads and ed apps like Lexia and dream box, bare minimum of instructional hours, overcrowded classrooms, no textbooks in core subjects.

Good things happening like structured literacy in k-3, new resource adoption in math and literacy. Proposal to reduce class sizes. But no money included for field trips next year; and a move towards practices that are described as being about equity, but sound like a race to the bottom. Way too many families using outside reading and math tutors because kids aren’t getting what they need in school (even before the pandemic, but so much worse now). And god forbid your child has any special needs. Again, well-meaning people can’t overcome the failures of planning that happen at Syphax (summer school, VLP). Maybe Durand will start to turn it around, but they need to acknowledge the problems if they are going to address them.

Pretty much the wealth in this county hides alot of the truth of APS. This article also reflects what we’re seeing at home:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nataliewexler/2022/04/01/why-high-school-rigor-is-often-just-a-facade/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Things may have changed after covid, but ASFS had homework and “projects”, even in the early grades. Some basic reinforcement is actually a good thing, but the problem that I saw was too much time learning “strategies and concepts” for things like math, rather than just memorizing basic math facts and just doing some worksheets to get the muscle memory. There was some silly homework. The principal may have been forced to stop giving homework, but she ran a much more old-school type of program. My kid grumbled, but I think he learned more with the style of teaching than he is in the much friendlier and nurturing Dorothy Hamm. That’s just my kid and the way he both gets motivation and how he processes. And they did learn cursive a bit in third grade.

Same experience

I had the same experience for my eldest at asfs. Now they have no homework though! I think it’s just a shift to wanting to stress kids out less this year. Personally I think my kid could use more practice with writing, which the weekly readers response definitely gave my older one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS does not teach cursive

At all??? I really want DC to learn

Both my kids have had cursive and keyboarding taught in ES. I think it’s sometimes dependent on the teacher just how much it’s stressed, and maybe on the individual student. My older DC can read cursive, and can write with some effort, and can do a signature, but it’s not something DC cared about. Younger one is writing everything, by choice, in cursive. Could be the one who uses it more is more interested in art, or gender might play a role. Not sure. But they are teaching it, though not requiring it or grading it the way parochial schools do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Things may have changed after covid, but ASFS had homework and “projects”, even in the early grades. Some basic reinforcement is actually a good thing, but the problem that I saw was too much time learning “strategies and concepts” for things like math, rather than just memorizing basic math facts and just doing some worksheets to get the muscle memory. There was some silly homework. The principal may have been forced to stop giving homework, but she ran a much more old-school type of program. My kid grumbled, but I think he learned more with the style of teaching than he is in the much friendlier and nurturing Dorothy Hamm. That’s just my kid and the way he both gets motivation and how he processes. And they did learn cursive a bit in third grade.

Same experience

I had the same experience for my eldest at asfs. Now they have no homework though! I think it’s just a shift to wanting to stress kids out less this year. Personally I think my kid could use more practice with writing, which the weekly readers response definitely gave my older one.

Which grade? I have a 3rd grader at ASFS and they get a weekly reading response and a monthly math packet (plus read 20 mins/day which I think is consistent across all APS ES). The reading response seems useful in terms of getting used to homework, but there is zero feedback on it and after a few months kid started putting very little effort into it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Things may have changed after covid, but ASFS had homework and “projects”, even in the early grades. Some basic reinforcement is actually a good thing, but the problem that I saw was too much time learning “strategies and concepts” for things like math, rather than just memorizing basic math facts and just doing some worksheets to get the muscle memory. There was some silly homework. The principal may have been forced to stop giving homework, but she ran a much more old-school type of program. My kid grumbled, but I think he learned more with the style of teaching than he is in the much friendlier and nurturing Dorothy Hamm. That’s just my kid and the way he both gets motivation and how he processes. And they did learn cursive a bit in third grade.

Same experience

I had the same experience for my eldest at asfs. Now they have no homework though! I think it’s just a shift to wanting to stress kids out less this year. Personally I think my kid could use more practice with writing, which the weekly readers response definitely gave my older one.

Which grade? I have a 3rd grader at ASFS and they get a weekly reading response and a monthly math packet (plus read 20 mins/day which I think is consistent across all APS ES). The reading response seems useful in terms of getting used to homework, but there is zero feedback on it and after a few months kid started putting very little effort into it.

Are they assigned novels to read by 5th grade, or still just 20min of reading?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Things may have changed after covid, but ASFS had homework and “projects”, even in the early grades. Some basic reinforcement is actually a good thing, but the problem that I saw was too much time learning “strategies and concepts” for things like math, rather than just memorizing basic math facts and just doing some worksheets to get the muscle memory. There was some silly homework. The principal may have been forced to stop giving homework, but she ran a much more old-school type of program. My kid grumbled, but I think he learned more with the style of teaching than he is in the much friendlier and nurturing Dorothy Hamm. That’s just my kid and the way he both gets motivation and how he processes. And they did learn cursive a bit in third grade.

Same experience

I had the same experience for my eldest at asfs. Now they have no homework though! I think it’s just a shift to wanting to stress kids out less this year. Personally I think my kid could use more practice with writing, which the weekly readers response definitely gave my older one.

Which grade? I have a 3rd grader at ASFS and they get a weekly reading response and a monthly math packet (plus read 20 mins/day which I think is consistent across all APS ES). The reading response seems useful in terms of getting used to homework, but there is zero feedback on it and after a few months kid started putting very little effort into it.

Are they assigned novels to read by 5th grade, or still just 20min of reading?

My kid is in 4th at Claremont but was assigned novels starting in 3rd grade for small group reading assignments. I know he just finished reading one for school that had to do with the revolutionary war. He does it all in school though. The past two weeks he has started taking home math packets, so maybe he has math homework now

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Things may have changed after covid, but ASFS had homework and “projects”, even in the early grades. Some basic reinforcement is actually a good thing, but the problem that I saw was too much time learning “strategies and concepts” for things like math, rather than just memorizing basic math facts and just doing some worksheets to get the muscle memory. There was some silly homework. The principal may have been forced to stop giving homework, but she ran a much more old-school type of program. My kid grumbled, but I think he learned more with the style of teaching than he is in the much friendlier and nurturing Dorothy Hamm. That’s just my kid and the way he both gets motivation and how he processes. And they did learn cursive a bit in third grade.

Same experience

I had the same experience for my eldest at asfs. Now they have no homework though! I think it’s just a shift to wanting to stress kids out less this year. Personally I think my kid could use more practice with writing, which the weekly readers response definitely gave my older one.

Which grade? I have a 3rd grader at ASFS and they get a weekly reading response and a monthly math packet (plus read 20 mins/day which I think is consistent across all APS ES). The reading response seems useful in terms of getting used to homework, but there is zero feedback on it and after a few months kid started putting very little effort into it.

Are they assigned novels to read by 5th grade, or still just 20min of reading?

My kid is in 4th at Claremont but was assigned novels starting in 3rd grade for small group reading assignments. I know he just finished reading one for school that had to do with the revolutionary war. He does it all in school though. The past two weeks he has started taking home math packets, so maybe he has math homework now

Is he an exceptional reader or do they just not assign enough reading to bring it home?