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Post by momto4 on Nov 7, 2008 9:46:37 GMT -5
I was impressed that my child's teacher expects to see one school year worth of growth in reading over the course of the school year. With all of our years in the district, this is the first time I've ever heard this. Usually in my experience if a child starts the year higher than the highest expected end of the year for that grade reading level, there hasn't seemed to be this sort of learning expected.
I was disappointed to hear that very little time is spent on science and social studies to the curriculum requirements in reading, writing, and math. I know that reading and math are important but it drives me nuts to have the focus on those, even for kids who are easily above grade level expectations, and to the exclusion of handwriting, science, social studies and even life skills. My child loves hands-on science. Should I be seeking opportunities for her to get that elsewhere? And why shouldn't it be available in school?
I hate NCLB and the way it is causing everyone to need to focus on passing a test rather than teaching a breadth of topics and going into depth on any of them.
Another thing I was surprised to learn is that even though the accelerated math kids have their HW on multiplication, division, multi-digit addition and subtraction, the math facts that are being focused on in the home room are 3rd grade subtraction facts being done 15 minutes per day. No wonder my child is struggling with the multiplication HW since they don't spend much time in school working on memorizing those facts.
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Arwen
Master Member
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Post by Arwen on Nov 7, 2008 20:17:23 GMT -5
Another thing I was surprised to learn is that even though the accelerated math kids have their HW on multiplication, division, multi-digit addition and subtraction, the math facts that are being focused on in the home room are 3rd grade subtraction facts being done 15 minutes per day. No wonder my child is struggling with the multiplication HW since they don't spend much time in school working on memorizing those facts. This sounds identical to my experience last year. I scheduled a conference with the advanced math teacher because my 3rd grader was struggling with the multiplication work. The teacher was surprised to hear that my kid didn't know his facts. I pointed out that the multiplication work in 2nd grade was light and glossy which she acknowledged. I was in turn surprised to find that they did the 1-minute timing work in homeroom and not in math class, so she didn't realize that he was still on subtraction. She did a little research and found that many of the kids in the class were in the same boat. She couldn't do anything about the Otter Creek done in homeroom, but she did institute a similar thing called Mad Minutes so they got lots of multiplication practice in MATH class which was helpful. I think there is an opportunity to do things better with the 3rd grade advanced math program. First, I think it is idiotic that they do the timed fact work in homeroom and not math class where their math teachers can monitor their progress. It probably would require an additional 5 minutes of math class everyday, but since they are already spending this time in homeroom, it isn't instructional time taken from something else. Secondly, it seems like it would be beneficial to take the 1st 2 or 3 weeks of the year and actually teach them multiplication. The fact that they totally skip the 3rd grade book and do nothing to bridge the knowledge gap was astonishing to me. How is it possible that there is NOTHING taught in the 3rd grade book that those advanced math kids need? I will acknowledge that once my kid learned his multiplication facts, he excelled the rest of the year, so it didn't have a long term detrimental effect. It just made those first 3 months a lot harder than they needed to be IMO. Update: I found the Mad Minute book on Amazon in case you want to do them at home (or suggest them to the teacher). Since they really only take 1 minute, you wouldn't be adding too much drudgery to your kid's day! It includes addition/subtraction/division and has worksheets for grades 1-8, so while it is $28.50, you could use it for a good range of kids/grades. www.amazon.com/Mad-Minute-Master-Number-Facts/dp/0201071401/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226107564&sr=1-1
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Post by gatormom on Nov 7, 2008 21:06:26 GMT -5
That is so funny, the kids used to do mad minute math in our grade schools. I think it fell by the wayside with everyday math.
When my son, many eons ago, went into accelerated math in 3rd, he was supposed to learn the multiplication tables over the summer. It was in the letter you had to sign to allow them to accelerate. I am surprised they don't do that anymore. Certainly not every child had them mastered by the time they started but most of the kids had at least worked on them over the summer.
I am surprised they don't require or ask that anymore.
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Post by title1parent on Nov 7, 2008 21:11:37 GMT -5
That is so funny, the kids used to do mad minute math in our grade schools. I think it fell by the wayside with everyday math. When my son, many eons ago, went into accelerated math in 3rd, he was supposed to learn the multiplication tables over the summer. It was in the letter you had to sign to allow them to accelerate. I am surprised they don't do that anymore. Certainly not every child had them mastered by the time they started but most of the kids had at least worked on them over the summer. I am surprised they don't require or ask that anymore. That is what I remember also. I just asked my daughter and she said we worked on it over the summer.
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Arwen
Master Member
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Post by Arwen on Nov 7, 2008 21:16:00 GMT -5
You are probably right that they were dropped with Everyday Math and then were replaced by the current Otter Creek program when they realized the need for more fact practice. I think Otter Creek would be sufficient for the advanced math kids too but they don't "advance" the Otter Creek with the math class. With Otter Creek, 3rd graders do subtraction the first semester and multiplication the second and 4th graders do multiplication the first semester and division the second. If they had the 3rd grade advanced math kids do the 4th grade Otter Creek program, then their math curriculum would match their fact practice.
ETA: I don't remember anything about learning their multiplication facts in the letter I signed. That would've made sense, but by the time we figured it out it was too late. If my younger kids are on the advanced math path, we will definitely take that approach. It would be much less painful for all involved!
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