"Circe" wrote in message
news:JAG7c.36877$Bg.32062@fed1read03...
I have been posting on and off since Julian (now in first grade) started
kindergarten about my concerns regarding what I
perceive to be an overly aggressive and academically pressured educational
atmosphere at our elementary school. This post would be even longer than
it's likely to be as it is if I went into all of the issues that have
arisen
in the past, but I think I need some advice/assistance/input/insight from
others to help me decide what to do about the current problems.

Julian's second trimester report card came home a week ago Friday. He is
doing fine academically in reading (all marks at or above grade level) and
in all areas of math except for the addition and subtraction facts, in
which
he got a "1" (below basic; last trimester, he got a "4" which is advanced,
so he has lost ground here). In addition, he is still getting poor marks
in
writing (all below grade level although I think I have seen a lot of
improvement). Finally, he got a "Needs Improvement" in completing homework
on time, making good use of class time, completing work on time, and
exercising self-control.

So, to address each of the problem areas one by one and why I'm concerned
about them or disagree with them:

Addition and subtraction facts

The California state standard calls for first graders to "know the
addition
facts (sums) to 20 and the corresponding subtraction facts and commit them
to memory". For this trimester, they were
tested on the facts up to 12. I don't have a problem with teaching this
(although I do think it's a LOT to expect a 6yo to memorize) but I do have
a
bit of an issue with the standard they're using for testing it. This
standard is that the child can write the answers to 20 problems in 90
seconds.

Now, I can't find anything in the state standard that says this is the
only
acceptable way to measure proficiency (or even that it's the preferred
method), but to me, it seems like setting the kids up for failure. I mean,
giving them only 2.2 second per problem doesn't really seem reasonable to
me--seems like it would take at least half that time to read each problem
and absorb whether it's an addition or subtraction problem, let alone the
issue of actually pulling the answer from memory (I know all my addition
and subtraction to 20 and have them memorized, but it can take even me a
couple of seconds to get the answer sometimes) and write it down.
Apparently, a lot of the kids in his class are having problems this
trimester in this area (according to the mom of twins in his class--more
about her and them later), so it seems to me that it's not just Julian.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to come up with some games (both of my own invention
and online games) to help get him up to speed, but in the final analysis,
I'm just not very happy with the way the standard is being applied.

This seems like a VERY bad way to assess knowledge of the facts, simply
because of fine motor skills requirements. I know I would have had real
trouble with this at this age, because my motor skills were several years
behind the curve all the way through school. I would find out if any other
forms of assessment are used, or if they could be used.

Writing

I'm not as worried about the writing as I am about the math facts because
I
think that writing naturally comes with reading, provided the fine motor
skills are there. Julian's fine motor skills have always been behind the
curve, and he is on the younger end of the scale for first-graders anyway.
I
truly believe that most of the issues (legibility, etc.) will come up to
speed in second grade as his fine motor skills improve. Still, I've seen
remarkable improvement in his writing (both speed and legibility) since
the
first trimester, so I'm somewhat surprised that his marks didn't improve.

The one area in which I have an argument is in the "use of standard
spelling
on tests" mark. Now, it's true, we weren't doing a very good job of
reviewing the spelling test words and I suppose he didn't do as well as he
could have on tests as a result, but really, some of the word lists she's
giving just seem very advanced for first graders. Last week, for example,
it was a list of animals. The only things they had in common were that
they
were plural and they were animals. The ten words we cats, kittens,
turtles, toads, zebras, horses, owls, ants, snakes, and one other that
escapes me. Now, Julian apparently got 100% on the test, but we had to
spend
well over 2 hours during the week (and a full 45 minutes the night before)
drilling the words to achieve that. This is in addition to the standard
homework that takes 10-20 minutes to complete (though, thankfully, he has
gotten much better at buckling down and doing it).

I just think this is way too much for first grade. Am I crazy?

Our grade 1's do spelling words from phonetic lists and sight word lists-so
you might have all words which have the same spelling pattern. This seems
very advanced to me for 1st grade.

Completing homework on time

Okay, what gives? Maybe some of you remember, but a while back, I
mentioned
that the teacher said she considered homework "optional". In addition, I
have been told on at least one occasion that "late homework is never a
problem." So, um, if it's optional and late homework isn't a problem, how
can he "need improvement" in completing it on time

On top of that, at least three times this trimester, his homework went to
school with him on time on Friday but was not placed in his folder where
it
belonged and the teacher apparently didn't bother to look any further in
the
backpack. Twice, this was because his folder had been left at school
(which
his teacher must have known, since she put it back in the backpack that
afternoon) and once because his dad put it in his backpack without knowing
it had to be in his folder for the teacher to find it. None of these
occasions were his fault and on two other occasions when it was late, it
was
due to familial obligations (deaths in the family, etc.) and I noted that
when the homework was returned late.

So, I'm pretty annoyed about this one. I don't necessarily want her to
change it, but I want her to admit that it isn't optional because it
obviously isn't, and also to take a few extra seconds to look in his
backpack for his homework if it's a Friday and his folder isn't in the
backpack.


I tend to feel that homework, except for reading at home, is totally
unnecessary at 1st grade anyway, so I have real problems with there being a
place on the report card for it at all!!

In general (including the stuff I snipped), I think meeting with the teacher
is in order, especially to find out what this all means-if it is FYI, that's
fine-if it will affect which grade or class he is in next year, that's
another thing entirely.