Anonymous wrote:It may not be dyslexia at all, PPs. The effing Lucy Calkins crap has screwed everyone up. Just because English isn’t *entirely* phonetic doesn’t mean that we needed to stop teaching phonics at all! (And I’m not surprised that OP mentioned terrible spelling. Spelling is largely phonics in written form.)

OP, work on phonics and things will improve.

APS is failing our kids. Stop pumping money into the central office and BS diversity any equity roles. Want to know what will ACTUALLY improve equity? Teach all kids how to read well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This explains it all

https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/arlington/Board.nsf/files/BZW3SX0855CF/$file/ELAAC%20Executive%20Summary%20March%202021.pdf

Wow, thank you. Was this recommendation adopted?

Anonymous wrote:This explains it all

https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/arlington/Board.nsf/files/BZW3SX0855CF/$file/ELAAC%20Executive%20Summary%20March%202021.pdf

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to scrap her sh***y writing program, too. What is the point of having K students who can’t write a single word write a “story.” JFC, teach them how to spell individual words, then how to properly construct a sentence with proper grammar and punctuation and capitalization, and THEN teach them how to write a paragraph, and maybe then a story. Not teaching this stuff explicitly is criminal and really disadvantages ELL and kids whose parents aren’t over their shoulders at home correcting their mistakes and reinforcing these basic tenets. They want them to build a sky scraper without giving them basic building blocks to start. The district should throw her “curriculum” out and sue her. It’s shameful what’s happened to an entire cohort of kids who were not given the proper tools to be successful students. If you can’t read or write proficiently, you really haven’t received a basic education.

Oh. My. God. Their writing program is ABYSMAL. My kids are excellent readers (no thanks to APS, literally, It’s just because they’re both obsessed with reading and learning) but sub-par writers. I will never forgive APS for making my kid write A BOOK in third grade. They went from “third grade sentences have at least seven words” to “Write a book with at least four chapters, a table of contents, and a glossary.”

I have seen people on DCUM defend it because “it’s a fun thing for the kids to do” (no, it is not fun to be asked to do something you have no clue how to do), and because they do learn the main objective which is learning text features. But a) most of the time spent on that project is spent thinking about picking a topic, how the heck you organize a paragraph, how you organize a chapter, and even how to write sentences because they still don’t have that skill down Pat. And you know how you can really teach a kid learn about glossaries and tables of contents? Have them use them! While reading a factual book and making the kids learn the content using glossaries and tables of contents. But we can’t teach kids about history or science, we don’t have time for that because we are spending hours and hours a day on our shitty reading program.

And then the teachers didn’t even read the book! It was so stressful for my poor kid, because on top of all this they made him hand-write it and his handwriting sucked and was painstakingly slow.

DD is in 7th and I’m decently happy with the instruction but I’m homeschooling DD for elementary. I cannot bear the idea of him spending so much time in school learning nothing.

NP. My DS wrote a book in 2nd grade about how to play checkers. He included rules, example games, illustrations, a table of contents, glossary, an about the author page, etc. The teacher "published" it by binding it in a folder with a clear cover. It's on his bookshelf in his room.

This is in FCPS which I thought has weaker elementary schools than APS.

Anonymous wrote:We left APS after third grade...our kid lost interest in reading and described being sorted into a group with kids who could not read and just quit trying. Teacher never helped the group and focused on the higher groups. DC was flagged for SOL support which we refused b/c we believe the SOL should reflect the teaching for the year not preparing for the test. Passed the SOL and upon entry to private was considered a full year behind in reading compared to peers. DC struggled to answer open ended questions. I will say, DCs writing is amazing because of the focus of writing in private...but DC still struggles with reading the way OP describes in MS

Anonymous wrote:My 6th grader is a good reader and writer. I guess I don’t get the shock over writing “books” in elementary school. I did when I was a kid, and my kids have done the same so it seems normal. They’re not historical novels- they’re appropriate to the age level in content and length. The class has a “publishing party” (in non Covid times), and families are invited to come in and admire the work, and fill out comment cards for the students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to scrap her sh***y writing program, too. What is the point of having K students who can’t write a single word write a “story.” JFC, teach them how to spell individual words, then how to properly construct a sentence with proper grammar and punctuation and capitalization, and THEN teach them how to write a paragraph, and maybe then a story. Not teaching this stuff explicitly is criminal and really disadvantages ELL and kids whose parents aren’t over their shoulders at home correcting their mistakes and reinforcing these basic tenets. They want them to build a sky scraper without giving them basic building blocks to start. The district should throw her “curriculum” out and sue her. It’s shameful what’s happened to an entire cohort of kids who were not given the proper tools to be successful students. If you can’t read or write proficiently, you really haven’t received a basic education.

Oh. My. God. Their writing program is ABYSMAL. My kids are excellent readers (no thanks to APS, literally, It’s just because they’re both obsessed with reading and learning) but sub-par writers. I will never forgive APS for making my kid write A BOOK in third grade. They went from “third grade sentences have at least seven words” to “Write a book with at least four chapters, a table of contents, and a glossary.”

I have seen people on DCUM defend it because “it’s a fun thing for the kids to do” (no, it is not fun to be asked to do something you have no clue how to do), and because they do learn the main objective which is learning text features. But a) most of the time spent on that project is spent thinking about picking a topic, how the heck you organize a paragraph, how you organize a chapter, and even how to write sentences because they still don’t have that skill down Pat. And you know how you can really teach a kid learn about glossaries and tables of contents? Have them use them! While reading a factual book and making the kids learn the content using glossaries and tables of contents. But we can’t teach kids about history or science, we don’t have time for that because we are spending hours and hours a day on our shitty reading program.

And then the teachers didn’t even read the book! It was so stressful for my poor kid, because on top of all this they made him hand-write it and his handwriting sucked and was painstakingly slow.

DD is in 7th and I’m decently happy with the instruction but I’m homeschooling DD for elementary. I cannot bear the idea of him spending so much time in school learning nothing.

Anonymous wrote:

I have an 8th grader -- I don't remember write a BOOK?? What?