Anonymous
Post 05/13/2014 21:19     Subject: Re:s/o Are these standards to hard for Kindergarten students?
Anonymous wrote: 90 minutes of reading, 75 minutes of math, and 75 minutes of science. We have 20 minutes scheduled for writing and 20 minutes for social studies, but I rarely get to those two subject areas because our reading time takes up the whole morning. We are using a guided reading with rotating centers.

Our school days is 9-3:45. Our snack time is 15 minutes long in the afternoon. The 15 minutes that we use for snack is actually part of our science time. We use FOSS (Full Option Science System) for science.


Nowhere in the Common Core State Standards are teachers told how long they must have for math and reading and science.

Those rules come from the State Board of Education.

I think it is high time that the State Boards step back from micromanaging teachers and class schedules with a set time period for instruction.

That was necessary perhaps back when teachers weren't being evaluated in part by student test scores, and when teachers didn't have to follow Common Core Standards. But if we teachers are expected to bring our students up to meet the standards, we need to have the freedom to choose how to spend our time best, doing that.

Eliminate State interference in the class schedule! That's what people should be up in arms about.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2014 21:19     Subject: Re:s/o Are these standards to hard for Kindergarten students?
“(My son) began to absolutely hate school, he hated math and he became very discouraged,” she said. “He started having anxiety issues. He refused to get out of my car when I dropped him off. He would have stomach aches, frequent headaches and he would ask me, ‘Mom, do I have to go to school today?’ In kindergarten.”

http://examiner-enterprise.com/news/local-news/citizens-speak-out-against-common-core-town-hall-meeting#sthash.6C0QvLvB.dpuf
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2014 21:18     Subject: Re:s/o Are these standards to hard for Kindergarten students?


Facebook group:

Common Core Children Hate School



AND

http://eagnews.org/common-cores-impact-the-first-picture-of-my-daughter-i-ever-hated/

Common Core’s impact: The first picture of my daughter I ever hated


. My kindergartner and my 4th grader were already finished with their homework and had left the table. I had brought my camera in to work on my white balance skills while shooting in low light as I had a session the next morning to prep for.

After checking her work, I had found 2 math problems were incorrect. I tried to help her understand where she went wrong through her process but I don’t understand it myself and was not much help.

I told her to forget about it and we’d try again tomorrow but she became very upset that she could not get the answer and kept trying and trying to fix it. She is hard on herself as she very much wants to excel in school and not be pulled for extra help all of the time. I was talking to her and clicking my camera as I changed settings … it’s something that is very common in our household … and that is when I caught this image.

My daughter is incredibly strong. My daughter is a 4-year cancer survivor. She is a fighter with a resilient spirit. It crushes me to see her cry; to see her struggle. My daughter deserves a happy childhood.

Please know that 5 minutes later I had convinced her to leave the homework behind and go snuggle with her dad on the couch and watch some Olympics coverage. She is not neglected. She was not abused or left alone to cry. And this photo was not staged.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2014 21:17     Subject: Re:s/o Are these standards to hard for Kindergarten students?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Well, by all means, we should only teach what the children are excited about

Wow. Aren't you special. Please tell me how a child is supposed to name the author and illustrator of a book she has never seen?

Sweetie, the standard doesn't say they should know things they've never seen. We're talking about a book they've been read, and discussed and with PROMPTING AND SUPPORT from an adult. Pretty basic. Who's defensive? You, apparently.




Oh, so all the child has to do is parrot it back?.. Thanks Honey. That's a great standard! Lots of little robots.




You have a real problem with hyperbole and drama, don't you? Get a Xanax and calm the fuck down.
\


No, FUCK YOU! Not when my kid is being decimated by this mother fucking Common Core.


Do you have a kindergartner? You're really telling me these BASIC concepts are decimating your child? Look in the mirror....I suspect you are a big part of the problem.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2014 21:15     Subject: s/o Are these standards to hard for Kindergarten students?
Anonymous wrote:

You picked 10 standards. There are 80 more Kindergartners have to have mastered by the end of the year. They are swamped and hating kindergarten. Parents are all over the Internet saying this.


True, there are many Kindergarten standards. However, most of them state "with support" which means they do not need to be fully mastered, independently, by the end of 1st grade. Most of them develop background knowledge for future years, and should be practiced many days a week, not just taught one day and done.

THat means that a teacher could incorporate several -- maybe 8 or 10 -- in one morning message, or one Big Book read aloud.

Pick up the Big Book. "Now children let's look at our new book. Class, what's the word for the person who writes the book? CLASS: AUTHOR! Teacher: Yes, that's right" Boom. Author standard practiced. Teacher: Look at the title! It says "Are You My Mother?" What's this funny sign at the end of the sentence? Class: Question Mark! Teacher__ Yes that's right BOOM end punctuation standard practiced.

Etc.

You can cover many of these every day in Language Arts Whole Group time; and many many more in Science and Social Studies and Health (because you can read a non-fiction book and cover many of the standards , too; or draw pictures in your journals to show what you have learned in content areas.)
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2014 21:14     Subject: Re:s/o Are these standards to hard for Kindergarten students?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Does it say that they have to have the author and illustrator memorized, or just understand what those are and figure them from looking at the book? Pretty sure it's the latter. Not that hard.


Exactly. My kid understood that as a 3 yo. Not difficult concepts for even an average kid to grasp.


Thousands of teachers and hundreds of thousands of parents disagree with you.


Thousands of teachers think it's too hard for a kindergartener to understand what is meant by "author" and "illustrator" and identify them by looking at a book? Nah. I'm sticking with that as an achievable standard. It's basically asking the same as "understands what a table of contents is and be able to locate it."


Agreed. If that many teachers find a basic standard difficult to teach, they need to find a different line of work.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2014 21:12     Subject: Re:s/o Are these standards to hard for Kindergarten students?
Anonymous wrote:
I teach kindergarten and I hate what I am doing in my classroom

by a Kindergarten Teacher

I teach kindergarten and I hate what I am doing in my classroom.

Our day is on a schedule that must be kept: 90 minutes of reading, 75 minutes of math, and 75 minutes of science. We have 20 minutes scheduled for writing and 20 minutes for social studies, but I rarely get to those two subject areas because our reading time takes up the whole morning. We are using a guided reading with rotating centers.

Our school days is 9-3:45. Our snack time is 15 minutes long in the afternoon. The 15 minutes that we use for snack is actually part of our science time. We use FOSS (Full Option Science System) for science.

Every minute of the day is to be used for academics. One day we were coloring and cutting out some animal faces to attach to headbands so that the next day in math we would solve equations by using the animals as part of the equation (math with a bit of drama) by telling a story. The Assistant Principal asked me why I was wasting academic time to color and cut. "Why don't you do this (cut and color) during some other time?"

I asked when she would like me to do this and she suggested during a reading center but she quickly retracted that suggestion. She then suggested that we do this during snack time.

Snack time! All 15 minutes of it. I could not believe I was actually having this conversation. I am so totally shocked and at the same time saddened by what we are doing to our young children. I am retiring at the end of this next year because I can no longer do this. I love teaching and I am good at what I do, no matter what grade level I might be teaching. I am stifled by all of the programs we must implement, by our collaborate learning communities (where we plan what objectives will be taught on what day). We are told that we can teach the objective any way we want to but then when administrators walk into each of our classrooms they want to know why we are not all doing the same things.

...


We even had a meeting one day to plan our math for the rest of the year and we got into this heated discussion about our kids having recess. The instructional coach stated that instead of taking a recess we could have the kids count and do 10 jumping jacks or hop 10 times while counting so that we continue the academics. We agreed to disagree when the AP walked in and we asked her if we could take a recess. She went and spoke with the principal, returned, and informed us that we could take a recess but only 10 minutes. That 10 minutes is to include lining up to go out and returning to the classroom and should any of us abuse it, even by a minute, we would lose the privilege of recess. Ridiculous. Please know that I am certainly going to print the report Crisis in the Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play in School [pdf file], and give it to both my principal and my assistant.


http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=42



Again, this is curriculum and assessment. I'm all for setting the standards and giving teachers the freedom to get the kids there based on their expertise and with whatever methods they see fit.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2014 21:11     Subject: Re:s/o Are these standards to hard for Kindergarten students?
Anonymous wrote:
And THIS is why there's an achievement gap. When teachers don't have the same (or higher) goals for all, some kids who start lower, never catch up. This is the mentality that explains why that happens.




No. Some kids catch up and some don't. You obviously think that the way to close the gap is to make the kids who can perform on a higher level wait for the rest? That's what you said.


Exactly. My kid, who catches on quickly, shouldn't have to be bored in school because some kids aren't there yet. Maybe the solution is to test kids at a baseline at the beginning of the year and split them up based on ability. Some people learn faster, and they shouldn't be held back because some kids are disadvantaged or some parents never want their child to experience struggle or failure. I'm setting my kid's expectations high and I damned well expect his schools/teachers to as well. If some parents don't like it, I really don't care.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2014 21:10     Subject: Re:s/o Are these standards to hard for Kindergarten students?

I teach kindergarten and I hate what I am doing in my classroom

by a Kindergarten Teacher

I teach kindergarten and I hate what I am doing in my classroom.

Our day is on a schedule that must be kept: 90 minutes of reading, 75 minutes of math, and 75 minutes of science. We have 20 minutes scheduled for writing and 20 minutes for social studies, but I rarely get to those two subject areas because our reading time takes up the whole morning. We are using a guided reading with rotating centers.

Our school days is 9-3:45. Our snack time is 15 minutes long in the afternoon. The 15 minutes that we use for snack is actually part of our science time. We use FOSS (Full Option Science System) for science.

Every minute of the day is to be used for academics. One day we were coloring and cutting out some animal faces to attach to headbands so that the next day in math we would solve equations by using the animals as part of the equation (math with a bit of drama) by telling a story. The Assistant Principal asked me why I was wasting academic time to color and cut. "Why don't you do this (cut and color) during some other time?"

I asked when she would like me to do this and she suggested during a reading center but she quickly retracted that suggestion. She then suggested that we do this during snack time.

Snack time! All 15 minutes of it. I could not believe I was actually having this conversation. I am so totally shocked and at the same time saddened by what we are doing to our young children. I am retiring at the end of this next year because I can no longer do this. I love teaching and I am good at what I do, no matter what grade level I might be teaching. I am stifled by all of the programs we must implement, by our collaborate learning communities (where we plan what objectives will be taught on what day). We are told that we can teach the objective any way we want to but then when administrators walk into each of our classrooms they want to know why we are not all doing the same things.

...


We even had a meeting one day to plan our math for the rest of the year and we got into this heated discussion about our kids having recess. The instructional coach stated that instead of taking a recess we could have the kids count and do 10 jumping jacks or hop 10 times while counting so that we continue the academics. We agreed to disagree when the AP walked in and we asked her if we could take a recess. She went and spoke with the principal, returned, and informed us that we could take a recess but only 10 minutes. That 10 minutes is to include lining up to go out and returning to the classroom and should any of us abuse it, even by a minute, we would lose the privilege of recess. Ridiculous. Please know that I am certainly going to print the report Crisis in the Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play in School [pdf file], and give it to both my principal and my assistant.


http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=42

Anonymous
Post 05/13/2014 21:10     Subject: Re:s/o Are these standards to hard for Kindergarten students?
Anonymous wrote:
For example?

Why does being poor mean they would have trouble?


There are books written about this subject. For starters, some of these kids come to school having never seen a book.


do you really believe that?
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2014 21:08     Subject: Re:s/o Are these standards to hard for Kindergarten students?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Does it say that they have to have the author and illustrator memorized, or just understand what those are and figure them from looking at the book? Pretty sure it's the latter. Not that hard.


Exactly. My kid understood that as a 3 yo. Not difficult concepts for even an average kid to grasp.


Thousands of teachers and hundreds of thousands of parents disagree with you.


Thousands of teachers think it's too hard for a kindergartener to understand what is meant by "author" and "illustrator" and identify them by looking at a book? Nah. I'm sticking with that as an achievable standard. It's basically asking the same as "understands what a table of contents is and be able to locate it."
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2014 21:07     Subject: Re:s/o Are these standards to hard for Kindergarten students?
Anonymous wrote:
Okay, so how do YOU suggest that we set expectations and curriculum for public schools, without raising taxes that most voters would reject?




What good teachers have always done: take each child and push and pull him as far as possible. Some start low, so that's where you start. Some start high--and you take thenm higher.


Fine. But setting standards for learning expectations doesn't have to preclude doing that. Again, the problem is with our curriculum and assessment models, not learning standards.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2014 21:07     Subject: Re:s/o Are these standards to hard for Kindergarten students?
Are you recommending that a Kindergartner who cannot count be given the same work as the kid who can add?
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2014 21:06     Subject: Re:s/o Are these standards to hard for Kindergarten students?
And THIS is why there's an achievement gap. When teachers don't have the same (or higher) goals for all, some kids who start lower, never catch up. This is the mentality that explains why that happens.




No. Some kids catch up and some don't. You obviously think that the way to close the gap is to make the kids who can perform on a higher level wait for the rest? That's what you said.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2014 21:05     Subject: s/o Are these standards to hard for Kindergarten students?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:These are utterly reasonable and quite clear enough. My PK4 son who just turned five can already do most of these. With a good teacher most kids should get there by the end of K.


Great! Can we test him on the 90 standards then, for hours and hours? Hold him back if he doesn't pass? Cancel his art and music and gym? Force him to go to summer school?

Because that is what is being done all around the country.


Again, that's curriculum and assessment, NOT standards. I'm the first one to criticize the testing culture, but it doesn't mean the standards are bad


All one and the same. You cannot separate.


Yes, you can. Perhaps your challenge with differentiating concepts is part of your kid's problem?