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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous[b]]I have an 8th grader and they absolutely did not learn any grammar or vocabulary in elementary school[/b].  None.  We moved her to private in 6th and she was so far behind on paragraph formation, grammar dissecting, writing skills, study skills, basic word understanding etc...  It was really embarrassing.  All she had from 1-5th grade was a spelling test (didn't have to know what the word meant) and comprehension of some reading group books. Far and few between was a written page about a book.  When I was in 4th grade, I was diagramming sentences and writing simple stories (creative and non-fiction) and in 5th doing our own research papers.  I was amazed at how little emphasis was place on writing in elementary at MCPS.  I hope 2.0 is changing that.

Like private schools, publics need to have more emphasis on writing, presenting, speech, critical thinking, working with groups and leading them occasionally.  MCPS can just not think outside of the box.  Working a large group into standardized testing = boring academics.  Nothing you can really do about it.  My daughter is in 1st and we are just counting the days to move to private in 3rd.  [/quote]

So, this is not a 2.0 issue.  To you, this is a public vs. private issue.

My kids do a lot of writing.  1st grader reads a book and has to write about what they liked best about the book, provide details and examples from the book. It's an exercise in opinion writing.

4th grader is writing very long opinion pieces as well, and just did a research paper on Native Americans (culture, technology, diet, etc.. ), and it was a collaborative effort.

2.0 actually has kids reading a lot more nonfiction than pre 2.0.[/quote]

No it isn't.  I am saying when I was in public, I learned grammar, writing, vocabulary, how to research, presentations.  Kids in public get zero vocabulary or grammar tests.  None these days.  I am glad your 4th grader did a research paper.  I can tell you my child did not.  Never had one.  Only spelling tests and math tests and a few projects.  All 6 years. [/quote]

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