Anonymous wrote:I'd heard that most MCPS students routinely do work 1-2 grade levels ahead of the stated curriculum in their classes. Is that not true?

It's Montgomery County Public Schools, not Lake Woebegone Public Schools.

I'd heard that most MCPS students routinely do work 1-2 grade levels ahead of the stated curriculum in their classes. Is that not true?

So far, my 2nd grader seems to have less homework than he did in 1st grade. I think the only homework that has come home so far are math worksheets (like 3x a week). But, he does have a writing journal that he is to write in every other week, I think. And there are weekly spelling tests that we try to study for at home. They also push for 20 minutes of reading a day.

A lot of educators don't even believe in homework -- don't think it has any real value.
You really can't look at homework alone as an indicator that your kid's education is going down the drain.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Weekly homework packet: a page of sentences to edit, a reading comprehension thing, a science or social studies thing, and a few pages of math. This week the math is expanded notation and place value for ones, tens, hundreds. Plus spelling words, plus reading.

Sounds like you have a good teacher who is able to make homework interesting. We get 5 nights of (repetitive) math work sheets. I would love for DS to have such breadth of homework in the absence of the rigor MCPS seems hell bent on withholding.

What rigor do you think that MCPS is withholding?

Anonymous wrote:Weekly homework packet: a page of sentences to edit, a reading comprehension thing, a science or social studies thing, and a few pages of math. This week the math is expanded notation and place value for ones, tens, hundreds. Plus spelling words, plus reading.

Sounds like you have a good teacher who is able to make homework interesting. We get 5 nights of (repetitive) math work sheets. I would love for DS to have such breadth of homework in the absence of the rigor MCPS seems hell bent on withholding.

Reading for 20 minutes every night, no reading groups have started, at least he hasn't come home with a book in a bag. do they still do that in 2nd grade? And a math worksheet every night.

We have reading for 20 minutes a night. A couple of times, my DS came home with a math worksheet and last night he had his first writing assignment.

Anonymous wrote:Don't apologize. This is the sort of feedback I was looking for. How can this possibly be helpful to the kids or the county? The class is going to be mutinous from sheer boredom

I would not assume that the class is doing nothing in math but addition within 20, just because that's what is in the homework packet. In the first marking period, they're supposed to do bar graphs, picture graphs, numbers up to 1,000 (including place value, expanded form, and > < = ), addition and subtraction up to 100, and mental addition and subtraction up to 20. See here:

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/curriculum/elementary/parent-guide-curriculum2.0-grade2-en.pdf

If you want to know more about exactly what your child's class is doing, I suggest e-mailing the teacher.

Weekly homework packet: a page of sentences to edit, a reading comprehension thing, a science or social studies thing, and a few pages of math. This week the math is expanded notation and place value for ones, tens, hundreds. Plus spelling words, plus reading.

Don't apologize. This is the sort of feedback I was looking for. How can this possibly be helpful to the kids or the county? The class is going to be mutinous from sheer boredom

We see the same problem in FCPS to a lesser degree in the lower grades.

PP here. Sorry for ranting on your thread!

Math is a huge problem in MCPS.

My third grader has been doing the same easy things over and over - easier by far than what he was given last year at the end of second grade!

But the school pays lip service to "enrichment": therefore every 2 weeks, they receive one super-challenging word problem. It is impossible for them to solve on their own (multi-step problem involving rather complex mathematical thought). The aim is to "broaden their minds" by discussing way-out-reach math with a parent or other adult. This is ridiculous. A simpler 2 or 3-step word problem given every day in class would really enrich these kids!
It's just another way of pretending to provide acceleration but actually keeping the math level really low.

DS has been given the same type of worksheet (addition within 20) and fill in the hundred board (three times!). No spelling, no LA. To make it time consuming, they have to do the sums and then color by number. This has been going on for weeks! Anyone's children doing anything different?