Reply to Curriculum 2.0, is it too easy?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

Today he went home with pairs of numbers for which he had written the signs for "greater than" or "less than". As in 17<53... Homework was breaking down single digits like 7 into 2+5, or 3+4... Gaaah! He could have done this 2 years ago. It's insane.

To clarify, I don't have much of a problem with the curriculum, although it could definitely be way more challenging (I went to school in France and the UK, and experienced much more rigorous content). 
I do have a problem with the seemingly purposeful brakes to acceleration and differentiation put in place with 2.0. I talked to the teacher at the beginning of term, knowing this would be problem, but there are limits to what she can do.[/quote]

This is very interesting to me. So are you saying that it's insane that 1st graders are doing addition, because your child learned addition in preschool? My child is in 1st grade also and it seems age-appropriate to me to be doing addition, subtraction, and word problems. I'm not trying to antagonize, just to assess what others think is age-appropriate.[/quote]

My child is in Pre-K and doesn't even recognize all her numbers.  There is no way she could do the work described above.  The work seems appropriate for 1st grade to me.  But I guess we'll see as we get there.[/quote]

I'm a Pre-K teacher and in my class we do introduce early mathematical concepts including the basic idea of equations.  For equations, we use a scale in which both sides need to stay balanced.  The numbers have weights so the children see 5 + 2 = 3 + 4.  For greater than less than concepts, the scale will tip the larger number side.

Some kids pick up on the ideas quickly, some kids are just introduced the ideas and will repeat them later on in elementary school.  For reading, we are introducing the children to basic sight words during circle time.  Again, some kids are beginning to read by the end of Pre-K, some kids will pick it up in Kindergarten.  There is a wide age range when kids will master these skills (kind of like when kids ride a bike).  It is all age appropriate.

At a minimum, before entering Kindergarten kids need to know their upper case and lower case letters, how to write his/her name, colors, numbers up to 20 (we expose them to 100), and basic classroom social skills.  Again, this is before Kindergarten so if you child is in Pre-K now, he/she will be working on mastering these skills by June.  You will probably see a huge amount of mental growth between now and when he/she attends Kindergarten round up in the spring.  Kids who don't attend a preschool program are sometimes at a disadvantage and lacking basic skills because they were not exposed to them and need time in Kindergarten to catch up.

[b]Getting back to 2.0, differentiating is the main problem with 2.0.  My son is in 3rd grade.  The school has admitted to us that the teachers don't have the entire curriculum for the year because the county is still writing it.  It comes to them in bits and pieces.  [/b]The "enrichment" is often the last piece so it may or may not be ready when my child is on a particular unit.  Some of the concepts are again, what I expose preschoolers to in a Pre-K program.  I am not buying that my child is learning "deeper" into a concept because once the initial concept is learned, carrying it out to 2 digit, 3 digit, and 4 digit  places doesn't negate the fact that he already knows the concept.  He still does the assigned work, often without instruction because he doesn't need instruction.  His behavior has been an issue this year partly because he runs out of work and is bored at school.

So, for kids that can master the 2.0 concepts without instruction, what is MCPS teaching these children?  Like the PP asked, where are the pathways?[/quote]

The bolded part is completely inaccurate.  Not sure why your school would tell you that, but it's not true.  I work for MCPS and the entire curriculum is available, and has been since last April, for teachers to view.  It's all there. I can see the last week of school right now on the website where the curriculum is housed.[/quote]

Another PP who has been told the 3rd grade curriculum is still being written:

I guess someone in MCPS is failing to make sure all the teachers are properly trained and know where to get the new curriculum including the extensions.  Just had a meeting last week with my child's teacher and she was the one that told me she didn't have all the curriculum for this year and the extensions.  She can only provide what the county gives her.

If you work at the Carver Center, you may want to visit Beverly Farms Elementary School.  Maybe you can show them what website you are on.  Maybe their staff needs additional training with the new curriculum.[/quote]

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