APS Elementary Experience Today

[Anonymous]

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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?

Oh hmm. He does read at a very high level (and fast) but he never takes these books home, so I assume they are for in school work only. I don't think his friends are getting reading assigned at home. He also does his math homework waiting for the bus or on the bus. Which doesn't seem like a good environment but he gets it done, so I guess that is all that matters.

[Anonymous]

or keyboarding

Not true. It's part of 7th grade computer classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Our school, Discovery has very little homework. 20 mins reading a day and one math worksheet for the week that takes my kid 5 minutes (5th grade).

No formal cursive (we missed that due to COVID) but trying to catch them up by offering it during "encore/specials".



Curious - why do they need to learn cursive? As an adult, the only time I ever need it is to sign my name and honestly, my signature looks nothing like any recognizable letters anyway.

I sure am glad you're not in charge of the curriculum...