Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I have one kid in the lower track and I absolutely hate hime being in a class with kids mostly smarter than him He struggles daily and I would love for him to be with peers at his level. Maybe lower ratios and more direct teaching would help these kids. Right now he blows off worksheets because he is embarrassed. And because he can. No one is watching him or helping him. Then he gets labeled as a problem child. Very frustrating.

My DD is in first grade, and I see this weekly when I volunteer. If I'm there, I can sit with the kids who are having difficulty and walk them through what they should be doing. Otherwise, the kids who don't get what's going on just blow them off and learn that they're stupid (which I adamantly do NOT believe, I just hear the kids say 'Larla is good at math, I'm not'). More direct instruction would be better for ALL the kids.

I agree with lower ratios of the kids who need to catch up. Putting them with the kids who are more advanced isn't helping. Some people on here have argued that the kids who are above level are helping the kids who need to catch up, but I don't see this happen. The kids who speed through the worksheets, just go to the reading corner and read or take extra bathroom breaks, etc.

It definately happens, what people who don't volunteer with these early primary grade kids don't realize is that they compare themselves to each other constantly. It has nothing to do with parent pressure or anything else, it's just a human fault to look at others and notice if they are better than you. As we mature, the reflection is one of admiration, for the very young it leads to not wanting to compete.



I volunteer often and see the same thing. It is sad that these struggling kids just give up after watching peers move faster than them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I have one kid in the lower track and I absolutely hate hime being in a class with kids mostly smarter than him He struggles daily and I would love for him to be with peers at his level. Maybe lower ratios and more direct teaching would help these kids. Right now he blows off worksheets because he is embarrassed. And because he can. No one is watching him or helping him. Then he gets labeled as a problem child. Very frustrating.

My DD is in first grade, and I see this weekly when I volunteer. If I'm there, I can sit with the kids who are having difficulty and walk them through what they should be doing. Otherwise, the kids who don't get what's going on just blow them off and learn that they're stupid (which I adamantly do NOT believe, I just hear the kids say 'Larla is good at math, I'm not'). More direct instruction would be better for ALL the kids.

I agree with lower ratios of the kids who need to catch up. Putting them with the kids who are more advanced isn't helping. Some people on here have argued that the kids who are above level are helping the kids who need to catch up, but I don't see this happen. The kids who speed through the worksheets, just go to the reading corner and read or take extra bathroom breaks, etc.

It definately happens, what people who don't volunteer with these early primary grade kids don't realize is that they compare themselves to each other constantly. It has nothing to do with parent pressure or anything else, it's just a human fault to look at others and notice if they are better than you. As we mature, the reflection is one of admiration, for the very young it leads to not wanting to compete.



I volunteer often and see the same thing. It is sad that these struggling kids just give up after watching peers move faster than them.

Anonymous wrote:I think the textbook hang-up so many people have is because that it wasn't how they learned so they think it is intuitively wrong. People don't like change. Kids today grow up without textbooks and access to computers so they don't know anything else. Objectively look at what your child is learning and see if they are improving. If they are not that is your problem. All the textbooks in the world won't solve that problem.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I have one kid in the lower track and I absolutely hate hime being in a class with kids mostly smarter than him He struggles daily and I would love for him to be with peers at his level. Maybe lower ratios and more direct teaching would help these kids. Right now he blows off worksheets because he is embarrassed. And because he can. No one is watching him or helping him. Then he gets labeled as a problem child. Very frustrating.

My DD is in first grade, and I see this weekly when I volunteer. If I'm there, I can sit with the kids who are having difficulty and walk them through what they should be doing. Otherwise, the kids who don't get what's going on just blow them off and learn that they're stupid (which I adamantly do NOT believe, I just hear the kids say 'Larla is good at math, I'm not'). More direct instruction would be better for ALL the kids.

I agree with lower ratios of the kids who need to catch up. Putting them with the kids who are more advanced isn't helping. Some people on here have argued that the kids who are above level are helping the kids who need to catch up, but I don't see this happen. The kids who speed through the worksheets, just go to the reading corner and read or take extra bathroom breaks, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the textbook hang-up so many people have is because that it wasn't how they learned so they think it is intuitively wrong. People don't like change. Kids today grow up without textbooks and access to computers so they don't know anything else. Objectively look at what your child is learning and see if they are improving. If they are not that is your problem. All the textbooks in the world won't solve that problem.

This is the most ridiculous thing that I have heard. We are not in the times of the "Little House on the Prairie", where we have a single teacher and kids of all ages and abilities are lumped together! In all countries there are textbooks for each subject and each grade, prescribed for the entire school district. It ensures two things - first of all, everyone gets the same curriculum, resource and education AND secondly, students can always practise or go back to content that they have not understood or need more help with.

I am surprised that when people clamour to close the achievement gap, they do not demand that textbooks should be prescribed and made available. Do you think that children who are studying, being enriched and tutored outside of school are doing it without any textbook or material?

I use the old algebra books that was being used a few years back. Math has not changed - even if curriculum 2.0 would want us to believe it has. My child is in the Math magnet program and we still use the textbooks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the textbook hang-up so many people have is because that it wasn't how they learned so they think it is intuitively wrong. People don't like change. Kids today grow up without textbooks and access to computers so they don't know anything else. Objectively look at what your child is learning and see if they are improving. If they are not that is your problem. All the textbooks in the world won't solve that problem.

This is the most ridiculous thing that I have heard. We are not in the times of the "Little House on the Prairie", where we have a single teacher and kids of all ages and abilities are lumped together! In all countries there are textbooks for each subject and each grade, prescribed for the entire school district. It ensures two things - first of all, everyone gets the same curriculum, resource and education AND secondly, students can always practise or go back to content that they have not understood or need more help with.

I am surprised that when people clamour to close the achievement gap, they do not demand that textbooks should be prescribed and made available. Do you think that children who are studying, being enriched and tutored outside of school are doing it without any textbook or material?

I use the old algebra books that was being used a few years back. Math has not changed - even if curriculum 2.0 would want us to believe it has. My child is in the Math magnet program and we still use the textbooks.

Anonymous wrote:I think the textbook hang-up so many people have is because that it wasn't how they learned so they think it is intuitively wrong. People don't like change. Kids today grow up without textbooks and access to computers so they don't know anything else. Objectively look at what your child is learning and see if they are improving. If they are not that is your problem. All the textbooks in the world won't solve that problem.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are books made for common core.

http://www.amazon.com/Common-Core-Math-Today-Grade/dp/1624425992/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1463349534&sr=1-1&keywords=common+core+workbook

http://www.amazon.com/First-Grade-Common-Core-Workbook/dp/1508421277/ref=sr_1_18?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1463349572&sr=1-18&keywords=common+core+workbook

http://www.amazon.com/Common-Core-Connections-Language-Grade/dp/1624427936/ref=sr_1_28?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1463349633&sr=1-28&keywords=common+core+workbook

https://www.sadlierconnect.com/anonymous/resources.html
(they even have state specific workbooks)

In fairness, MCPS is correct to not buy a book just because CC is slapped on the cover and they are saying that is essentially what's going on with current batch of books.

However CC is not that radically different, to say the old Algebra text should be abandoned because it's not CC when there is no viable alternative is foolish. According to one PP, not all schools have done this but my DCs classes and it has made things more difficult than they should be.

Anonymous wrote:There are books made for common core.

http://www.amazon.com/Common-Core-Math-Today-Grade/dp/1624425992/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1463349534&sr=1-1&keywords=common+core+workbook

http://www.amazon.com/First-Grade-Common-Core-Workbook/dp/1508421277/ref=sr_1_18?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1463349572&sr=1-18&keywords=common+core+workbook

http://www.amazon.com/Common-Core-Connections-Language-Grade/dp/1624427936/ref=sr_1_28?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1463349633&sr=1-28&keywords=common+core+workbook

https://www.sadlierconnect.com/anonymous/resources.html
(they even have state specific workbooks)

Anonymous wrote:

Oh, I've got this. March 8, 2016 Business Meeting, Agenda item 7.1 Math Plan and Data Review, around 74 minutes in, there's a question about math packets and discussion of textbooks. Don't think it's possible to provide a direct link, look it up here: http://www.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/Public# (I would like to hear the discussion when this was originally decided but not certain when that happened.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Earlier in the thread someone stated they do not get a textbook until PreCalculus. In MCPS I think that is 9th grade?

Two billion dollar budget and they can't afford textbooks. Unbelievable.

Next time you go into a classroom ask the teacher how much time they spend at a copier every week. Just imagine if they had a actual textbook to work from, to plan ahead and work out a lesson plan, instead of a nebulous instructions from a newsletter.

Please provide a reference to one instance of someone explaining on behalf of MCPS that the reason there are no math textbooks in elementary schools is that MCPS can't afford them.

Oh, I've got this. March 8, 2016 Business Meeting, Agenda item 7.1 Math Plan and Data Review, around 74 minutes in, there's a question about math packets and discussion of textbooks. Don't think it's possible to provide a direct link, look it up here: http://www.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/Public# (I would like to hear the discussion when this was originally decided but not certain when that happened.)