Posted on 09/03/2006 10:52:22 AM PDT by roostercogburn
The New First Grade: Too Much Too Soon? Kids as young as 6 are tested, and tested again, to ensure they're making sufficient progress. Then there's homework, more workbooks and tutoring.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
In 5th grade, my son was assigned a state report. The only thing is that no one taught him how to write a report.
He didn't know how to take notes.
He didn't know how to make an outline.
He was just told to write a report.
I spent our spring break working with him and downloading information off the web.
Thanks for the suggestion, and comment.
LOL, at least that's one American who gets it.
Most education at the younger ages requires vigilant individual oversight--especially penmanship.
While I recognize this is ALL valuable information that every child should know, I thought this was a little extreme for a fifth grader who is just being INTRODUCED to the concepts of government.
The project was over 20 pages typed, and with no fluff like pictures or anything-and the teacher made certain that none of the information was "cut-and-paste", including sending a warning to parents three days before the due date that no information was to be cut and pasted from the Internet.
Needless to say, I'm glad my daughter is a SIXTH grader now.
This has nothing to do with the school you choose, but you might want to consider what they are telling you if your son is not extra large in size. These days, everyone is holding their kids back, and half the kindergarteners are 6, some close to 7. Especially the boys. At first, people hold their sons back for maturity. Many boys are not able to do all that sitting and fine motor stuff at 5. (Don't get me started on how horrible it is that K is now all academic, no blocks or toys in the rooms!)
Then, the other moms of even mature, bright boys hold their sons back so theirs won't be the youngest and smallest, something boys hate (for some reason, LOL). Therefore you need to adjust YOUR child's age at the different grades so his class is filled with developmental peers.
From a mom of 3 boys -- just thought you ought to know. Girls do not care so much if they are a bit younger or smaller. For girls, if they are mature and can relate, their status comes from other things. Boys do not like to be younger or smaller than their peers.
EXAMINATION GRADUATION QUESTIONS
OF SALINE COUNTY, KANSAS
April 13, 1895
J.W. Armstrong, County Superintendent.
GRAMMAR (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.
2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.
3. Define Verse, Stanza, and Paragraph.
4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of do, lie, lay, and run.
5. Define Case. Illustrate each Case.
6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.
ARITHMETIC (Time, one hour)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 feet deep, 10 feet long, and 3 feet wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 pounds, what is it worth at 50 cts. per bu., deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000.
What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at 20 cents per sq. foot?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.
U.S. HISTORY (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates:
1607
1620
1800
1849
1865
ORTHOGRAPHY (Time, one hour)
1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication?
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals?
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u'.
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e'. Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: Bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, super.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: Ball, mercy, sir, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences,
cite, site, sight
fane,fain, feign
vane, vain, vein
raze, raise, rays
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.
GEOGRAPHY (Time, one hour)
1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America.
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fermandez, Aspinwall, and Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of Europe and give capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give inclination of the earth
That was an 8th grade test.
Could You Pass the 1885 Admission Test for High School?
The following entrance examination for prospective high school students in Jersey City, N.J. was reprinted in the Union City, N.J., newspaper, the Hudson Dispatch, and later in the Wall Street Journal, June 9, 1992, Section A, p. 16.
EXAMINATION FOR ADMISSION.
Jersey City High School, JUNE, 1885
Algebra
I. Define Algebra, an algebraic expression, a polynomial.
Make a literal trinomial.
II. Write a homogeneous quadrinomial of the third degree.
Express the cube root of 10ax in two ways.
III. Find the sum and difference of 3x - 4ay + 7cd - 4xy + 16, and
10ay - 3x - 8xy + 7cd - 13.
IV. Express the following in its simplest form by removing the parentheses
and combining: 1 - (1 - a) + (1 - a + a2) - (1 - a + a2 - a3).
V. Find the product of 3 + 4x + 5x2 - 6x3 and 4 - 5x - 6x2.
VI. Expand each of the following expressions and give the theorem for
each: {a+4}2, {a2-10}2, {a+4} {a-4}.
VII. Divide 6a4 + 4a3x - 9a2 x2 - 3ax3 + 2x4 by 2a2 + 2ax - x2.
VIII. Find the prime factors of x4 - b4 and x3 - 1.
IX. Find the G.C.D. of 6a2 + 11ax + 3x2, and 6a2 + 7ax - 3x2.
X. Divide (x2 - 2xy + y2)/ab by (x - y)/bc and give the answer in its
lowest terms.
ARITHMETIC
I. If a 60 days note of $840 is discounted at a bank at 4 1/2% what are the proceeds?
II. Find the sum of {square root of} 16.7281 and {square root of} .72 1/4.
III. The interest of $50 from March 1st to July 1st is $2.50.
What is the rate?
IV. What is the cost of 19 cwt. 83 lb. of sugar at $98.50 a ton?
What is discount? A number?
V. Divide the difference between 37 hundredths and 95 thousandths by 25 hundred thousands and express the result in words.
VI. The mason work on a building can be finished by 16 men in 24 days, working 10 hours a day.
How long will it take 22 men working 8 hours a day?
VII. A merchant sold a quantity of goods for $18,775.
He deducts 5% for cash and then finds that he has made 10%.
What did he pay for the goods?
IX. By selling goods at 12 1/2% profit a man clears $800.
What was the cost of the goods, and for what were they sold?
X. A merchant offered some goods for $1170.90 cash, or $1206 payable in 30 days.
Which was the better offer for the customer, money being worth 10%?
GEOGRAPHY
I. What is the axis of the earth?
What is the equator?
What is the distance from the equator to either pole in degrees, in miles?
Why is it warmer at the equator than near the poles?
II. Name four principal ranges of mountains in Asia, three in Europe, and three in Africa.
III. Name the capitals of the following countries:
Portugal, Greece, Egypt, Persia, Japan, China, Canada, Hindostan, Thibet, Cuba.
IV. Name the states on the west bank of the Mississippi, and the capital of each.
V. Bound New Jersey, and name six important cities in the state.
VI. Tell the situation of the following:
Detroit, Chicago, Portland, Rio Janeiro, Callao, Venice, Bombay, St. Louis, Halifax, Vera Cruz.
VII. Name 10 countries of South America, and the capital of each.
VIII. Bound Russia and name its capital and largest river.
IX. In what countries is coffee raised?
What are the principal exports of France?
Of the West Indies?
X. New York is nearly 75 {degrees} west of London.
When it is noon at the former, what time is it at the latter?
GRAMMAR
I. Analyse the following:
Perseus ground his teeth with rage, for he saw that he had fallen into a trap.
II. Make a list of all the verbs in the sentence above, and give the principal parts of each of them.
III. Parse for, had fallen, that, saw
IV. Give two uses of the hyphen.
V. Copy the sentence below, and punctuate it properly.
"Will you please to tell me boys, for what the reindeer is useful"?
VI. Write a sentence containing a noun used as an attribute, a verb in the perfect tense potential mood, and a proper adjective.
VII. Correct
{a} It is only me.
{b} Who did she invite?
{c} Whenever my husband or son take an umbrella down town, they always leave it.
VIII. Write the declension of
{a} bird,
{b} man,
{c} fly,
{d} fox,
{e} it
IX. Write four lines of poetry, giving particular attention to the use of capitals, and to punctuation.
X. Make three sentences, using the plural of sheep
{1} in the nominative case,
{2} in the possessive,
{3} in the objective.
XI. Write a declarative sentence; change to an imperative, to an interrogative, to an exclamatory, and punctuate.
U.S. HISTORY
I. What people settled Massachusetts?
Where did they land, and what was their character?
II. Name four Spanish explorers and state what induced them to come to America.
III. What event do you connect with 1565, 1607, 1620, 1664, 1775?
IV. Name the thirteen colonies that declared their independence in 1776.
V. Name three events of 1777. Which was the most important and why?
VI. What caused the war of 1812?
Who was president during that war?
What was the result of it?
VII. What form of government was established in 1789?
Into what three branches was the government divided?
What do the Senate and House of Representatives constitute?
VIII. What caused the Mexican war?
What was the result?
What American general commanded at the capture of the City of Mexico?
IX. What was the remote and the immediate cause of the great Civil war.
Who captured Fort Donelson?
X. Name three commanders of the Army of the Potomac.
In what battle was "Stonewall" Jackson killed?
How?
That depends where you live. In California in the South Bay area (San Jose), most of the kids start as young as they can.
We didn't hold our son back. He's in 7th grade, his birthday is on Wednesday, and he'll turn 12. He was one of the smallest, but now he's not. He's started puberty earlier than some of his friends and now he's the youngest and one of the tallest of his friends.
My son is also gifted and does very well academically. He's currently taking 9th grade math. He is very happy that we did not hold him back.
I am a former teacher (foreign language), and a parent of 14 year old boy/girl twins. I support the idea of homework for the purposes of practice and drill on concepts learned in class, and for independent reading and study, primarily as a self-discipline tool. My experience in junior high and high school as minimal homework, even in AP and advanced level classes, except for papers and test study. I didn't crush the SAT (1220 in one taking of the test in 1975-- the testing fee was real money to my family back then). I did do pretty well on the LSAT (44 of 50-- prior version of the test back in 1984). Our kids still have plenty of time for family activities, but I want them to learn how to study without teachers (or parents) looking over their shoulders.
I agree with some on this thread that many teachers use homework to substitute for teaching in class, and that is not good. Use of homework to practice skills, however, is a valid tool. This allows the teacher to teach MORE, not FEWER, concepts in class.
One thing about math class - there are very few, if any, math videos. I hate videos in school.
Not all schools are the same, so I don't who the "they" are that you are referring to.
I don't see anyone "slacking off teaching educational materials."
On the contrary.
I see 4-5 yr. olds expected to know material that used to be reserved for 7 yr. olds.
I see the classroom setting and curriculum designed for the strengths of young girls to the detriment of young boys.
One year of maturity at this young age makes a huge difference, and today's kids are being denied that.
"I'll say it again, last year my 3rd graders had more homework than my middle school son. He needed more, and they needed less."
Exactly the problem right there.
Those little years, as you call them, are more significant to their future than school, at least in my opinion. The kid who knows the pure joy of running out the door to play baseball, ride his bike, hike in the woods or whatever, is a kid better along the way to a fulfilling life than the one who taught to read at age 4.
Look at what's gone on over the last decade or two. We now seem to have the most legally drugged student population in history, performing at historic lows, suffering from obesity at a horrible rate, piled with homework and too many extracurricular expectations. All in pursuit of a well rounded life.
BINGO!
I can only express my own views of teaching 4 and 5 year old kids what we used to teach 6 an 7 year old children. I do not think that is wise on our part. Some people see it as giving a head start and I see it as pushing these kids into a structured process 1/3rd of their lifespans earlier.
Two years is a very long time in the life of a four year old child. What seems like an hour to us, at that age seems like a week. What seems like a year to us seems like a decade to them.
My aunt was the education secretary for a parochial school network in Texas. She taught in the class room for many years. In her opinion young boys especially, were not geared to be trapped inside a school until seven. Her observation was that they might start a little later, but they caught up quickly, when allowed to be a child first, then go to school when they were ready.
I cannot help but think we are seriously screwing up the growing process of these children.
"My aunt was the education secretary for a parochial school network in Texas. She taught in the class room for many years. In her opinion young boys especially, were not geared to be trapped inside a school until seven. Her observation was that they might start a little later, but they caught up quickly, when allowed to be a child first, then go to school when they were ready. "
And now when the boys act fidgety they take away what they need the most...recess time.
Even gym class is being considered for the chopping block.
Boys need a chance to move around and run or they'll go crazy.
When the boys don't sit like they're "supposed" to - some teachers are pushing the parents to have them put on meds.
Pretty soon, just being a boy is going to be considered a special "disability."
"I cannot help but think we are seriously screwing up the growing process of these children."
The little ones need to play as well as learn.
Elementary kids actually seem to be working very hard - we seem to be missing the boat when the kids hit grades 6-9.
I'm curious, did your parents sit you down in the evening and teach you what the teachers failed to teach you during the day?
My parents didn't. My math skills were excellent. I was beating children four years my senior in head to head competitions. I read with proficiency at an early age. I had a good understanding of geography, history and a reasoned level of English skills.
I graduated with skills in the upper 80 to 90 percentile across the board, doing work generally acceptable for second and third year college students. All this, and I wasn't a "driven" student. If anything I was in the lower precentile of students who actually gave a damn.
Today I have a job that supports a good lifestyle. I have a nice home, a good wife and a great life.
It baffles me to see folks lament parental involvement in the education process, implying that is why Johnny can't read, can't do simple math, can't express himself and is generally unfit for employment post high school.
My parents exposed me to the school environment. That was the full extent of their involvement in my education.
If you expose children to thirty hours of schooling per week over nine months (excluding holidays), and they don't learn anything, it's not the parent's fault. End of story. I'm living proof.
I agree with your comments in that last reply. Thank you.
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