"WAY TO GO WEDNESDAY"!

[Ramblinrose]

Morning ya'll...

LadyM..if its common core I can't help you. Many state were forced by the federal gov't to implement this way of teaching. AND..many states are now refusing gov'g monies so they can discontinue the practice.

Many of my friends are so upset with the way math is being taught, especially at the lower grade levels. There are many problems with the ways common core is being taught. The philosophy behind the practice is all schools in all states will be teaching the same lesson each day so that a student could move from California to Maine the next day and never miss a beat. I don't even have to explain the problems there.

The arguement is some schools and districts in some states have had great results so in the minds of many educators that this one-size shoe should fit all. Don't even get me going on this subject. I don't even want to get on my soapbox. My friends who have children like you get exasparated because when the math book or homework comes home the PARENTS don't understand the concepts and therefore can't help their children.

All I'm gonna say is as usual and given the history of education, if ya'll wait long enought the pendlum will swing the other way and go back to basics. I know if my son was LO's age, and given what I know and see, and from listening to my friends, I would not have my son in a commom core school. Many of the teachers who teach using this method are not trained properly and therefore that is the flaw...IMHO. It is the major complaint I hear from all the teachers in all the schools I am subbing in.

Boy, that conversation really got me going....taking very deep breaths.

We are anticipating big storms by noon and it sure is looking that way. I was suppose to meet some friends for lunch today, but cancelled. It would have entailed a 30 minute drive on the freeway and if you saw the way those crazy people drive in the rain, you wouldn't either. I'm not scared to drive in the rain...but I sure am scared of the other drivers.

Yesterday I tried to take Willis outside to throw the frizbee for a while. In less than 5 minutes I was covered with mosquitos...Yikes!!! I went to W algreens to buy some mosquito repellent and they were completely sold out...told me their warehouse didn't have any either. When to two more pharmacies and was told the same story. Finally was able to find some at my grocery store, and I bought the last bottle. Going to call the city and the health dept. today and complain..not that I expect it to help, but at least I'll feel better for doing it.

I have some things I want to do around the house so I'm happy to have
the time to do it.....

Perry Mason just started so that means time to climb on my gazelle ... cya'll later

[Lady Maverick]

Yesterday our temperature was 99 degrees - which set a new daily high for that day (beat the previously high temp set in 1963). Today we are "only" suppose to be 93 degrees. Tomorrow we should start having cooler fall like temps - in the 80's. And maybe....just maybe some RAIN! I hope hope hope so! We are in extreme drought status with just a couple miles away being in Exceptional drought (the worst category). Cities fighting over access to water sources are common local news stories.

I thought I would be out of the kitchen today but it hasn't turned out that way -
** Made breakfast burritos (sausage, eggs, vegetable filling for them)
** made carrot cake for DH to take tonight
** was going to serve BBQ pork sandwiches for lunch, but ***someone*** got into my stash in refrigerator. I didn't notice it until about 10am. I could unthawed more but decided we have had enough BBQ pork this week. Sooooo I made up a Mexican Casserole recipe using ingredients I had handy using this recipe for inspiration..

[Twins' Mom]

Skipable rant.....Right after I posted earlier I had a flurry of activity re dd's house. Probate court employee called to ask for breakdown of difference between sales price and expected proceeds. Had to try to recreate the worksheet for that (unfortunately, it doesn't appear that I saved it) and then faxed it to them. Then called to verify that they rec'd but judge is out to lunch and will look at it when she returns. (And I'm keeping my mouth shut, but OTOH they first rec'd this over a month ago and just now are asking me that? I hand delivered it to them, have called numerous times to follow up, to be sure they had what they needed and they need more info now?) Then, thinking they had told me I had to get the bond in place before the court order I called our insurance agency about that and was told they needed the court order to increase the bond. So another phone call back to court and yes, they will issue the court order and fax it to the insurance agency. (I could have sworn they told me I had to take care of the bond before the order was issued? Am I dreaming or is there some misinformation about???? ) And......the buyer still hasn't put his money into escrow (it is cash sale) and is cagey about doing so, apparently, so we may even be back to square one before it's all over and all this is for naught anyway. Rant over...

I went ahead and walked the ddogs and need to get moving with my errands.

-pack up sweater and car registration to mail to dd
-start a load of delicates in washer
-lunch

[Ramblinrose]

For those of you who are interested or wondering what I'm talking about..here are some interesting sites to read about Common Core

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ans ... st-graders

I personally know engineers with PHD's that can't do this... see if you could do this worksheet.

http://truthinamericaneducation.com/com ... -problems/

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/3 ... lec-torres


Lady M... If LO is having a difficult time with his reading comprehension then this may be the reason he is not doing well in math. Common Core math relies heavily on word problems.

**** Notice this is first grade math. Its hard for me to believe that most first graders read well ehough at this point to even understand what is being asked. To me, that is a huge problem and has nothing to do about knowing your math facts.

https://grade1commoncoremath.wikispaces ... em+Solving

Nuff said about Common Core....

[Ramblinrose]

Oh Twins... I can feel your frustration and pain. Huge hugs ...

[Harmony]

(Twins) hope it all works out.

I have big criticisms about common core. DD has to teach it (she substitutes). Her boys are no longer taught the traditional way and she is working on memorization of times tables amongst other things. Also no longer getting cursive teaching. I was mindful of that, just sent my dgs a post card and printed my message. He's 12, how dumb not to be able to read cursive.

LadyM, I thought I had read a list of states who weren't doing common core, and I thought your state was one of them. Maybe I'm not remembering right.

My kids growing up just missed being taught the "new math" which was discontinued because it wasn't a good system. I wonder how close it is to this cc stuff. We go in cycles, don't we?

Need to get out and run errands. Need to visit my lady friend at nursing home and need to stop at warehouse store for some big volume of some type of food - we have a memorial lunch to do tomorrow and there is such a small number of us providing stuff now, that I don't know how we'll feed 100 people.

[Nancy]

Dgson was slow to talk, slow to read that put him behind in math, slow all grades so far 6th grader now. He finally in a middle reading group. They do not teach phonics. Ack! They wanted him on a.d.d. meds. Don't get me started.

[Ramblinrose]

Nancy...

I know the pro's and con's of meds. As a sped teacher for 20 years I can tell you two things.

For some kids the meds make a tremendous difference in a kids ablility to focus and learn. And for others...not so much.

I have a very df who's son is/was like my own. His mother, a teacher, refused to put him on meds thought both his drs and teachers thought he would greatly benefit from it. For years she refused...until he reached 10th grade and due to his problems, both socially and academically, at school she relented.

The improvement for her son was remarkable and almost immediate. I had just started teaching special ed and so I asked her son if he could explain the difference the meds made for him. I thought the conversation would open a window for me to understand my students better. Here's what he told me.

Before meds he said he would sit in a classroom and everything around him was a distraction. As hard as he tried, the light coming throuhgh the wind, making shadows in the room distracted him. Students moving in their seats distracted him...his mind would jump from one tiny thing to another, and occasionally he would "hear" what was being taught.

After he started with his meds he told me the world just quiet it'd down. No longer would a door slamming shut down the hallway startle him...that comment always amazed me....and he said for the first time he could consciencely control his mind to focus on what was being taught. He no longer got in trouble for stupid stuff in school which meant he no longer got in trouble at home. He told me the kids in his classes no longer made fun of him for all the distractions he caused in the class room...and that comment made me sad to think about because I see that happening all the time.

He was an amazing wealth of information for me and I was so thankful he had allowed me to peek into his world. Many of my teaching stratgies came from him because he was willing to share what did and didn't work for him...and often times gave me suggestions on how to reach some of my kids.

I'm not saying that meds are something your gson needs...however I have to say as a teacher I have seen some pretty amazing changes for many of my students...as much social as academics. So much more goes on in a classroom than just learning, and being very, very ADD myself, I only wish I had had the option of meds. I am convinced my childhood would have been drastically different in all different areas of my life.

[Nancy]

Well said RR. Dd is hoping dgson will out grow this. Some other family members got addicted to drugs bc of add meds. They took away gluten and that made zero diff. Sigh...

[Lady Maverick]

RE: Common core - our state did repeal the Common Core but it happened this summer not long before school started. Lessons and books are already in place. I just looked up LO's math bookand it Common Core. I don't understand the big picture and the politics being played but it seems our state has stepped on powerful toes and are being punished for doing it. I truly feel for the teachers and administrators......but most of all the students.

When I went to school a billion years ago our math looked something like...
1
+9
------
10

LO math is all about 10 frame. I'm sitting here looking at LO work from last week. The instructions on one of the papers he did poorly on says... "Name all the ways to make 10 on a ten-frame using 2 numbers"
His grade on this paper was 83. Two of the problems he miss had correct answers in adding up to 10, but he only received a partial credit for the answer because but didn't illustrate his answer on the ten-frame.

We are going to continue to work on KNOWING the answers, but that isn't going to solve the poor grade on these papers. To make a good grade, he has to use the common core way of showing his solution to the problem on the ten frame.