Reply to AppleTree Open Houses: Did you attend today (or earlier this year)?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I attended the Appletree Lincoln Park open house today.

I was impressed by the tour but quickly saw that the school was not for us. Although they certainly have their act together and seem to know exactly what they're doing, the kill and drill philosophy was not what we want.

When we went into a classroom, one teacher was showing flash cards to a child sitting her herself and the kid had to say the word of the object. Then, the kids had to read word cards.

In another class, a teacher wrote on a white board "cat" "dog" etc and the kid had to read the word. One kid had his head in his hand and had a look of "do I have to do this?"

The results (reading) are impressive, but again not what we're looking for.

This would however work for some families. If you're looking for an academic, teacher-led curriculum, I don't think you can do better than Appletree.[/quote]

Huh?  Are you sure this was APpletree LIncoln Park?  My child goes there and that does not sound like a description of that school at all.  I have never seen flash cards there.[/quote]

Yes. All classes had flash cards or small white boards. In the 4s room, there was a girl sitting across from a teacher who held up picture cards (only to the girl). The girl named the photo cards. There were also word cards sitting on the table. If this is 't common perhaps it was an assessment. Teachers in every room were working one-on-one with children in this fashion.

I saw very little free play during my visit.[/quote]

I had a similar experience at the Appletree Columbia Heights campus when I attended an open house maybe a month ago. The kids were supposedly in free play/choice time, but there were a bunch of kids around a teacher doing math problems on a white board: 1+1=? And the like. That's fine if you are looking for that, but it really turned me off, and we would rather go to our title 1 local DCPS, which uses a play-based curriculum.[/quote]

Second PPs description is more accurate -- some kids pulled aside for small group time while others are rotating through centers.  This is pretty much the same method that most other charter schools use.  There may be a little more emphasis on academics during small group time, but it doesn't seem to be very different from anywhere else that we've looked at.  Plus my kid LOVES it.  The part that really makes Appletree worth going to is the way that the teachers work with the kids to make them love school.  It's very welcoming.  They are also amazing at teaching appropriate social and behavioral skills to the kids.  I don't know how my kid's next school will ever live up to the high standards set by Appletree.[/quote]

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