Call me crazy but I don't care about 1st grade Social Studies

[SKL]

OK, I care that my kids understand history, geography, diversity, government, and the economy. I personally think they are ahead of the ball in those substantive areas.

 

But my kid just got a 79% on her first Social Studies test and I don't care.

 

She has vision issues so she probably struggled with that aspect of it. Part of the test was to match up the following 3 words with pictures: job, community, leader. My dd matched "job" to a teacher writing on the board (teaching is a job, right?) She matched community to a guy cleaning up a park (sounds community-oriented to me!). She matched the remaining word, leader, to a library (give her a break, she's not a great reader). She also made one mistake on reading a map. Bam! 79%. And there are no grades for classwork, so that means she's getting a C.

 

I don't care. Shoring up her reading and math are my priorities. Besides, this stuff is somewhat subjective, and eventually there will be stuff we as a family don't even agree with on these tests. (Same goes for 1st grade "Health.") I am not saying a word to my dd about her social studies grade.

 

I know some of you would choke on the idea of being fine with a "C." I probably would too, for my other kid (who got a 100% on the same test). But really. Priorities, people. Am I alone, or are there others of you who purposely ignore some of the "noise" from school in order to focus on areas of higher priority?

[Hockey Mom]

Well...both of my boys failed their Chapter test in Bible this week. They were more upset about it than I was. I didn't even record the grade. They got confused with the meanings of "omnipresent", "omnipotent", "omniscient", and most of the questions dealt with those words. They'll get it eventually. Personally, I think they get more out of the little devotional for boys than the curriculum.

[Arcadia]

I get F for PE and C or D for Art. My parents didn't kick a fuss. In school some test are prone to misinterpretation. My 1st grader had to ask for clarification on test questions since we use virtual academy.

[Sneezyone]

I think my DD is using the same curriculum. Did focus on urban, suburban and rural too? I thought some of the questions were a little misleading and the pictures confusing but DD did well. I'm not sure that would have been the case if she hadn't been able to bring the book home and study regularly.

[SKL]

I think my DD is using the same curriculum. Did focus on urban, suburban and rural too? I thought some of the questions were a little misleading and the pictures confusing but DD did well. I'm not sure that would have been the case if she hadn't been able to bring the book home and study regularly.

 

My kids' teacher sent the book home two days before the test. (That dang book is heavy!!). We did go over the entire unit once, and did a brief oral review in the car on the way to school. I could tell some stuff wasn't sticking with my eldest. Oh well. We had other stuff to do in the 3 hours from afterschool pickup to bedtime. I did incorporate our swimming at the local rec center into the community discussions. :) (My kids really need the physical stuff every day.)

 

I am not impressed with the long list of classes covered at this age. These are the things my kids are doing for grade in 1st:

 

Reading

Spelling

English

Handwriting

Math

Religion

Memory

Science

Health

Social Studies

PE

Music

Art

 

Doesn't it seem obvious that some things are not going to stick for an average student? It seems they ought to incorporate some of that stuff into the reading program, and leave other stuff for later. (Especially since a lot of the stuff is BS [i read the health book the other day], but I probably shouldn't go there.)

[Sneezyone]

Oh yeah, the book weighs a ton! When it first came home I thought WTF! I'm going to have to get the kid a rolling backpack! Her school binder comes home daily too so it's a pretty heavy load. Your list is what we're seeing here for Grade2 just with the addition of Spanish immersion and no memory work. It is a lot.

 

They cover the same list in every grade, including preK, but seem to introduce a subject with unit studies first and then pile on textbooks one per grade. E.g. last year there was no social studies textbook, next year they will add a science book and in grade 4 they add a Spanish textbook.

 

ETA: The average kid definitely struggles with this pace but they try hard not to get a raft of avg. kids IYKWIM. The school makes it pretty clear to the parents that it's academically accelerated. The only area where DD seems to be struggling is Spanish. She has some auditory processing challenges and it affects her ability to process language and spell sounds on the fly. She's a visual learner. Still, she enjoys the class as her teacher is fun and engaging. FWIW, I don't think they expect mastery at this age. The years of repeat exposure (e.g. DS is learning about community helpers in PK also) build on eachother.

 

Oh, and no, I don't take anything but math, reading and spelling seriously at this point. DD has some fluency issues that need work so the bulk of our time is spent afterschooling math and doing read-aloud work (uaually SOTW).

 

DD came home on Friday and said Mrs. S said they were cutting back on homework so all the kids would need to do is study their spelling words each week. I think some parents complained about the overall workload. I got two Spanish tests back last week (with predictably poor grades on them) but didn't even know the tests were coming (not that it would have changed my approach). Spanish is not an immediate priority and will likely never be an area of strength for her. Her ears are not tuned for it. So yeah, I hear ya on putting these things in perspective.

Edited September 29, 2012 by Sneezyone

[kiwik]

I'm sorry I still do not understand giving grades to such young kids.

[Sneezyone]

I'm sorry I still do not understand giving grades to such young kids.

 

At my kids' school, tests get scored by percentile but that is not all that goes into the "grade" for the class. The report card is really a detailed skills assessment. They use these designations: area of strength (AS), progressing appropriately (PA), progressing with support (PS) and emerging/needs improvement (EN). The kids start getting more percents as they move through, and the parents are able to track assignments and subject grades by 4/5th grade, but the report card doesn't mirror those grades until middle school.

[SKL]

I'm sorry I still do not understand giving grades to such young kids.

 

I tend to agree! I was honestly a little surprised at how . . . unforgiving they can be of such young kids. Between the grades and the comments ("she needed too much help with this / we had to go over this x times"), I was smarting on behalf of my dd in the first month of first grade. Am I crazy or do 6yos deserve a little grace? Maybe that's why I'm getting a little thick-skinned about the grades now.

 

The other thing is that my dd's grades swing wildly from one day to the next. She's gotten everything from Ds to As on math classwork, and from Cs to As in reading and English. Not sure what I'm supposed to take away from that.

[SKL]

At my kids' school, tests get scored by percentile but that is not all that goes into the "grade" for the class. The report card is really a detailed skills assessment. They use these designations: area of strength (AS), progressing appropriately (PA), progressing with support (PS) and emerging/needs improvement (EN). The kids start getting more percents as they move through, and the parents are able to track assignments and subject grades by 4/5th grade, but the report card doesn't mirror those grades until middle school.

 

It's not like this at my kids' school. There are % grades for everything, which translate into letter grades. 93% is an A-, 92% is a B+, etc. It would be nice to know how my kids are doing in relation to the class overall, but we don't get that information. Oh, and my higher achiever (mostly A student), also in 1st grade, is getting a B in art. Art! How does a 1st grader get a B in art?

[Roadrunner]

It's not like this at my kids' school. There are % grades for everything, which translate into letter grades. 93% is an A-, 92% is a B+, etc. It would be nice to know how my kids are doing in relation to the class overall, but we don't get that information. Oh, and my higher achiever (mostly A student), also in 1st grade, is getting a B in art. Art! How does a 1st grader get a B in art?

 

I don't think our school district gives grades until middle school.

My kids would have meltdowns if they had to face grades :001_smile:.

[Nart]

Priorities, people. Am I alone, or are there others of you who purposely ignore some of the "noise" from school in order to focus on areas of higher priority?

 

My son just started public school kinder. I looked online to see how the report cards were formatted. K-5 grades are reported as

1-Not meeting standards

2-Progressing

3-Meeting

 

There is no grade available for exceeding standards, so I suppose it won't be noted on his report card that he can already read and is doing above grade level math (he finished SM K last year). I am not sure what is worse, no real grades or too many grades in a variety of subjects. It bothers me that there is no incentive to exceed standards. Additionally there is no way for the next year's teacher to know if a child was average or advanced.

 

I am ignoring some things that are sent home in favor of completing afterschooling work in AAS and SM. For example, the teacher sent home an Everyday Math homework book that never has to be turned in, she writes a note that says what page to work on and then to review the previous pages. The assignments are things like: walk around your house and find things with numbers on them then draw some on this paper. Or go to a parking lot and count all the red cars.

[Arcadia]

My son just started public school kinder. I looked online to see how the report cards were formatted. K-5 grades are reported as

1-Not meeting standards

2-Progressing

3-Meeting

 

There is no grade available for exceeding standards, so I suppose it won't be noted on his report card that he can already read and is doing above grade level math (he finished SM K last year). I am not sure what is worse, no real grades or too many grades in a variety of subjects. It bothers me that there is no incentive to exceed standards. Additionally there is no way for the next year's teacher to know if a child was average or advanced.

.

 

My school district has a 4 for exceeding standards. My older boy would count the 4's every time he gets a report card. They give report cards three times a year for K-5. My district report card has too many grades. They break each subject by sub-section and give a grade.

 

The teacher gives a grade for reading in every report card. My district gives a A to Z grade for reading level (likely Fountas & Pinnell). They even give a grade for handwriting.

 

For my school district, The next year's teacher will test every kid and the beginning of the school year because of summer fog. They do not rely on the 3rd term's report card.

[MBM]

I know some of you would choke on the idea of being fine with a "C." I probably would too, for my other kid (who got a 100% on the same test). But really. Priorities, people. Am I alone, or are there others of you who purposely ignore some of the "noise" from school in order to focus on areas of higher priority?

 

Eh. I wouldn't worry about a C. All of my kids at one point or another fairly received a few F's on assignments and C's on their report cards.

 

Needing to be perfect hinders students from attempting new things they will likely fail initially. Attempting new things and persevering through difficulty and failure is incredible important. Both help to create resilience.

[SKL]

My son just started public school kinder. I looked online to see how the report cards were formatted. K-5 grades are reported as

1-Not meeting standards

2-Progressing

3-Meeting

 

There is no grade available for exceeding standards, so I suppose it won't be noted on his report card that he can already read and is doing above grade level math (he finished SM K last year). I am not sure what is worse, no real grades or too many grades in a variety of subjects. It bothers me that there is no incentive to exceed standards. Additionally there is no way for the next year's teacher to know if a child was average or advanced.

 

I am ignoring some things that are sent home in favor of completing afterschooling work in AAS and SM. For example, the teacher sent home an Everyday Math homework book that never has to be turned in, she writes a note that says what page to work on and then to review the previous pages. The assignments are things like: walk around your house and find things with numbers on them then draw some on this paper. Or go to a parking lot and count all the red cars.

 

My kids' KG (different school from their 1st) gave the following grades:

• E - Excellent
  
• VG - Very Good
  
• G - Good
  
• S - Satisfactory
  
• N - Needs Improvements
  

The grades were given on numerous sub-areas of:

• Social-emotional growth
  
• Reading Readiness (this included phonic blending and recognizing 220 sight words)
  
• Mathematics
  
• Language
  
• Work Habits
  
• Physical Coordination
  

In Spring, the kids also took the Iowa test (standardized test) which provided grade levels and percentiles.

 

In KG I didn't feel the pressure to get each separate area up to a high level of competence. I focused more on readiness for 1st versus getting every answer right in KG. In fact, I didn't even see the tests the kids took until the end of the year.

[TranquilMind]

OK, I care that my kids understand history, geography, diversity, government, and the economy. I personally think they are ahead of the ball in those substantive areas.

 

But my kid just got a 79% on her first Social Studies test and I don't care.

 

She has vision issues so she probably struggled with that aspect of it. Part of the test was to match up the following 3 words with pictures: job, community, leader. My dd matched "job" to a teacher writing on the board (teaching is a job, right?) She matched community to a guy cleaning up a park (sounds community-oriented to me!). She matched the remaining word, leader, to a library (give her a break, she's not a great reader). She also made one mistake on reading a map. Bam! 79%. And there are no grades for classwork, so that means she's getting a C.

 

I don't care. Shoring up her reading and math are my priorities. Besides, this stuff is somewhat subjective, and eventually there will be stuff we as a family don't even agree with on these tests. (Same goes for 1st grade "Health.") I am not saying a word to my dd about her social studies grade.

 

I know some of you would choke on the idea of being fine with a "C." I probably would too, for my other kid (who got a 100% on the same test). But really. Priorities, people. Am I alone, or are there others of you who purposely ignore some of the "noise" from school in order to focus on areas of higher priority?

 

A 79% in FIRST grade?

 

Well, it's all over....might as well give up.

 

JUST KIDDING! ;) She will be fine. I don't think we ever even studied Social Studies (unless you mean History) until much later than that, and it didn't hurt my kids.

[Sneezyone]

Wow, I can't imagine giving that many "grades" in 1st. The most we got last year was a 12+ on the spelling tests, a positive count of how many the student got correct. They didn't even include out of how many. LOL. Math tests came home a month or more after the fact so that tells you how important they were. A grade for elementary art? Really? I know our 4th/5th graders do artist studies and take tests in their art class but there's still no "grade" for art until middle school. Wow.:001_huh:

[SKL]

Wow, I can't imagine giving that many "grades" in 1st. The most we got last year was a 12+ on the spelling tests, a positive count of how many the student got correct. They didn't even include out of how many. LOL. Math tests came home a month or more after the fact so that tells you how important they were. A grade for elementary art? Really? I know our 4th/5th graders do artist studies and take tests in their art class but there's still no "grade" for art until middle school. Wow.:001_huh:

 

Yeah, they get grades (% and A-F) for gym and music too. :glare: And my favorite, handwriting. I was initially surprised to see grades for memory work, but considering it's a Lutheran school, I guess that was my bad.

 

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only person who thinks it's a bit . . . unhelpful.

 

I'm trying to remember when I was in 1st grade. I too went to a high-standards Lutheran school. I'm pretty sure we didn't have "health" or a separate grade for "memory" until 5th grade. I'm sure that art, music, and gym were "E,S,I,N" grades (Excellent, satisfactory, improving, needs improvement - if they even graded those in 1st). Can't remember about science and social studies. I remember having a social studies book, but I don't recall any test angst about it. I do recall that I did awful in "handwriting," generally hovering between D and C throughout elementary. I managed to graduate anyway. :tongue_smilie:

[Caroline]

My motto is "If it won't keep you out of Harvard..." First grade social studies won't keep her out of Harvard.

[besroma]

I tend to agree! I was honestly a little surprised at how . . . unforgiving they can be of such young kids. Between the grades and the comments ("she needed too much help with this / we had to go over this x times"), I was smarting on behalf of my dd in the first month of first grade. Am I crazy or do 6yos deserve a little grace? Maybe that's why I'm getting a little thick-skinned about the grades now.

 

The other thing is that my dd's grades swing wildly from one day to the next. She's gotten everything from Ds to As on math classwork, and from Cs to As in reading and English. Not sure what I'm supposed to take away from that.

 

I liked your child's answers. I think they showed that she was thinking about the questions rather than just spitting out something she memorized.

 

At that age, especially, it shouldn't be so black and white. It would be good to think about why the child gave a certain answer and give them credit if it makes sense, IMO.

[SKL]

I liked your child's answers. I think they showed that she was thinking about the questions rather than just spitting out something she memorized.

 

At that age, especially, it shouldn't be so black and white. It would be good to think about why the child gave a certain answer and give them credit if it makes sense, IMO.

 

And matching is kind of unfair too, because if you get one wrong, it screws up the rest. An older kid would know how to strategize around that, but it's too much to ask from an average 6yo IMO. I see "matching" on a lot of their papers/tests and I assume they think they are doing the kids a favor. Sure, it's easier to guess an answer, but getting it "right" is a different matter.

 

I guess I'll chalk this stuff up to "learning how to take a test.

 

Now to figure out why Teacher recorded a 0% for my other kid a test she aced. Why did I throw the dang thing in the garbage??

[MidnightHM]

My 2nd grader's "Social Studies" this month is good citizen traits. I think that is more appropriate for 7 year old's than standard social studies.

[bolt.]

Our school doesn't do grades (at-expection / progressing sort of stuff) but even if they did, I wouldn't be the slightest bit concerened about them unless they provided me with valuable information to go forward with. As far as I'm concerned a child's test results are nothing more than a teacher's self-evaluation tool. The teacher tried to convey xyz information. Some stuck, some didn't... that's teaching. It's no big deal to me.

 

Note: On a science review thingie (basically an ungraded test of 'what stuck') about a unit about building things out of paper, the question said: "Draw and name two fasteners." My grade 1 daughter drew *two* paper clips. She named one of them Suzy and the other one Sally. She wrote the 'names' of the paperclips below them. She did not write the word 'paper clip'... she didn't get a check mark for that question. On the other hand *I* got one of the *best* moments of the whole year!

[SKL]

Note: On a science review thingie (basically an ungraded test of 'what stuck') about a unit about building things out of paper, the question said: "Draw and name two fasteners." My grade 1 daughter drew *two* paper clips. She named one of them Suzy and the other one Sally. She wrote the 'names' of the paperclips below them. She did not write the word 'paper clip'... she didn't get a check mark for that question. On the other hand *I* got one of the *best* moments of the whole year!

 

Very cute!

[kiwik]

well they should have asked her to draw and LABEL two DIFFERENT types of fastener shouldn't they? The poor child is not a mind reader and shouldn't be expected to interpret the teachers vague English.

[bolt.]

well they should have asked her to draw and LABEL two DIFFERENT types of fastener shouldn't they? The poor child is not a mind reader and shouldn't be expected to interpret the teachers vague English.

Exactly!!! :lol:

[extendedforecast]

I agree with you. None of the schools my kids have gone to gave grades until 2nd or 3rd grade. They have either been progress based report cards or the vague scale of E, S, N, and U. My fourth grader got a C on an assignment on analogies because she didn't know the sesame street characters. One question was Kermit is to green as Elmo is to blank. Well, DD has never been into watching TV, so she had no idea who the questions were talking about. The teacher told the class to work on their own, and my DD who takes everything literally to an extreme decided she wasn't allowed to ask for help. So I get where you're coming from. I wasn't upset about the grade; I just gave her some similar questions to make sure she understood the concept.

[Guest TroyJodyBranch]

 

How does a 1st grader get a B in art?

 

I agree completely! My daughter came with an acceptable in Art (she's in grade 3). She was UPSET (acceptable is very near the bottom). I told her, "Art is an interpretation. Don't worry about it." Seriously, when they're not actually teaching artistic concepts but just doing crafts ... give me a break.

[Syllieann]

nm, wrong post