Reply to When does APS elementary get intense?

Forum Index » Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)

Reply to "When does APS elementary get intense?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My son is in 5th grade.  I wouldn't call anything that he has encountered so far "intense," but the Virginia studies bs in 4th grade was over the top.  An entire year of history dedicated to Virginia, with a weekly packet to complete and daily study requirements, all leading up to a much-hyped SOL finale.  [/quote]

I grew up in a state in the midwest and we had this too.  Nothing like an entire year on the history of your state.  And this was back in the early 80s so it's not exactly like there were lots of units about civilizations other than white Europeans who eventually explored and settled there.  [b]At least Virginia has a much deeper history to study[/b].[/quote]

This is true, and the only reason we didn't lodge a formal complaint at the state level.  At least some of it is important enough to actually fall into the US history category.

It seems crazy to dedicate the same amount of time to va studies and ancient civilizations (5th grade).  I think it gives kids a warped perspective of what's important historically.  [/quote]

I disagree. First, ancient history was covered in 3rd grade and also in 5th grade and probably will be in middle school and high school as well. Also, many studies say local context is so important for kids to understand their world. Nova outside had a great lecture on this where the speaker talked about Gaia theory and how through local context children are able to understand their world better and tie areas of study together. Children need to feel they can make a difference in their own community before they can make a difference in the world. It's what most of the social studies curriculum is framed around. First understanding your own life and area of the world and then branching off to understanding the greater world and our history. Also, Virginia history is longer than most states. There is plenty to study and most of it is not repeated in another grade level.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics