Forum Index
»
Schools and Education General Discussion
How often does your child's school teacher social studies and science?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| In light of something that came up on a different thread, I'm curious to know in your child's elementary school do you know, how often science and social studies are taught each week? Do teachers alternate science one day and social studies the next, or do kids have both pretty much each day? Thanks. |
Anonymous
| I teach in MoCo. We teach science and social studies each twice a week for 35 minutes. Enough time....no way!! But, with all time devoted to reading/writing and math, specials, lunch and recess, this is all the time we have left. We try to incorporate science and ss into the reading/writing curriculum, but it isn't always a good fit or possible. It really isn't a matter of whether or not the teacher "wants" to do it. It depends on what they are required to do. |
Anonymous
|
We pulled our daughter from a "great" NW DCPS school because, among other things, she was getting no social studies and very limited, lame science. She loves history and government and so she was very unhappy. Worst of all, when I asked the teacher about it, her response was basically, "yeah, I know I'm supposed to be teaching social studies but I don't have time, so I don't."
|
Anonymous
I know Maryland has yearly state mandated tests in language arts and math -- the MSAs are at each grade level in elementary schools right? What about in science and social? Does Montgomery county have its own yearly tests in those areas, or is everything left up to individual teachers? |
Anonymous
|
Is anyone a teacher in VA? I have a question.
When I taught several years ago, there was a state mandated history and Social Sciences test for grades 3, 5 and 8. I think possibly also one for grade 4 in VA History. Is that still true now? I found the following list of SOL tests for VA:
Are students tested in Social Studies every year, now, or just grades 3 and 8? |
Anonymous
| In our Arlington public school, science is 4x week. I can't recall how much social studies right now. DS is in K |
Anonymous
| My daughter is in a MD Catholic school. They have social studies 4x a week (with their classroom teacher) and science every day (separate science teacher who does 4 days science, 1 day health) |
Anonymous
| My son's school in DC (4th grade) teaches science twice a week (each class is an hour and fifteen minutes, taught by a different instructor) and geography (which covers some social studies) an hour a day, five days a week (taught by the classroom teacher). |
Anonymous
I have heard the same thing. It is not that the teacher does not WANT to teach the subject. It is what they are directed to teach. One teacher told me that the principal said to teach only math, reading and test preparation for an entire semester. This was at a school that was in danger of getting on the NCLB "bad" list. The teacher had no choice but to forgo the science and social studies. This is a question that you need to ask the principal of the school when you tour each school. |
Anonymous
| In MD, science and social studies are not tested on the MSA. So they get taught infrequently esp in the school where my son goes and the surrounding schools. They always do well on the MSAs but they strive for excellence (which means the principals still feel pressure to do better). They absolutely teach to the test. It was INCREDIBLE how many test prep homework questions he got this year (he is in 3rd grade which it the first year they take the MSA). |
Anonymous
| I had had from our MoCo school that the science curriculum is being revamped--not sure the details but thought that was good news. |
Anonymous
|
I used to live and teach in VA. The first year I taught, elementary school teachers in our school taught about 30 minutes of either science or social studies a day -- they alternated each day. So kids got about 1 and 1/2 hours of science and 1 hour of social studies instuction each week total.
Then the SOL tests came along, kids were tested in 3rd grade and 5th grade on content knowledge in Science and Social Studies, and it became clear that kids needed at least 50 minutes per day of BOTH subjects in order to be able to learn all the content required of them. In order to find the time to teach this much content, teachers had to start using reading and writing instruction time and dovetail it with science and social studies content. So, children read fewer stories and read more informational books. Also, they spent less time in the early grades discussing beginning, middle and end of stories, and more time reading informational books, taking notes, and summarizing the information (main idea, details, etc.) Here is a link to some sample VA state tests if anyone is interested. I live in MD now but don't think MD state curriculum is this detailed or rigorous. (Yet?) Grade 3 Science: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Assessment/Release2008/VA_Spr08Released_G3Science.pdf Grade 5 Science: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Assessment/Release2008/VA_Spr08Released_G5Science.pdf Grade 4 VA studies: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Assessment/Release2007/VASpr07VaStudies.pdf Grade 6: Social Studies: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Assessment/Release2007/VASpr07USHistI.pdf |
Anonymous
Actually, I know for sure that 5th grade MCPS students will take the MSA Science test in May. I believe it was piloted last year, but counts for real this year. Also, regarding the test prep homework questions, I'm curious to know if they were mostly BCRs (Brief Constructed Responses). I know many parents gripe about them, but it seems to me that they are really just answering a question, using text-evidence to support their response. Doesn't seem so horrible to me. |