I asked Iris Uber Alles yesterday if she knew what she'd be doing in second grade. "For example, we knew before you started first grade that you'd be studying the ocean, because in first grade they always do the ocean. I didn't know you'd be studying space, though."
Iris thought about this. Then she said, "They say second grade is the party year."
17 comments:
"they"? what crowd is she running with?
H, My guess is that it's more of a strut. Wasn't she a fashion girl?
lola was the fashion girl. but those first grade gangs are ruthless and thrill seeking.
You know, if it's all downhill from the third grade onward, I don't want to be part of that Universe, parties or no parties.
--
2amsomewhere
(would be in the 33rd grade by now, if they went up that high)
She's strutting with the private school girls, and according to Iris Uber Alles, "Everyone says second grade is the party year because they have so many parties."
yeah, 7 year olds are like the Tara Reids of elementary schools.
i see parties in your future.
Moonrabbit said to go here (http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/index.asp) to answer your question, I couldn't come up with a simple answer after perusing it. Having said that MR thought it was early American history (Pilgrims etc) and ocean animals, birds etc
Wow, 2nd grade rules.
That would work, Silliyak (and thanks to the esteemed Moonrabbit) if she were in public school, but she's in private school. They do big multidisciplinary studies at her school, which is cool, and some of them arise from the students' interests (the trendy "emergent curriculum"!) and some are traditional for that year. The first grade always does a big study of the ocean. In kindergarten, they did castles, trees, giraffes, and penguins. It's really nice because they'll do art, reading, and science on the topic.
Incidentally some of the teachers at our school are refugees from the public school system. I'm sure there are many headaches in dealing with the super-involved, super-confident parents at times, but the teachers have so much freedom to teach what they want and resources.
Moonrabbit was a principal in a wealthy public school district. The school board was not satisfied with 95th percentile scores, they wanted MORE, THEY WERE ENTITLED!! Her focus as a teacher had always been to teach kids how to learn and to love to learn. This district just wanted higher scores (Teach to the test!)and drove her out.
As a teacher she loved thematic teaching and did things like Hot Air balloons, Angel Island and Ft Ross.
Hilarious! She's ready for university already!
Love the blog!
God, that must have been agonizing for Moonrabbit. By the way, Iris's school is hiring for a new head... (the current head unfortunately has some serious health issues and will be retiring). The current teach-to-the-test mania, with the No Child Left Behind idiocy, is part of what made us choose private schools. They do some standardized testing, but only at certain grade levels, and they do NOT teach to any test. It's a great school. Of course, as a private school they have the ability to cherrypick students legally, so they get a student population which is easy to work with (not saying the parents are always a joy, though. The Sober Husband and I were on I.U.A.'s teachers earlier in the year to give her more challenging math work, and it ended up that the school changed math curricula for Iris's skills group and changed the schedule to provide an extra math session differentiated by ability. A public school just can't do that; they can't change curricula (and order new books and manipulatives) mid-year. Plus, a public school teacher would have so much to do working with the emotionally disturbed and disabled children "mainstreamed" in her class, plus "English learners", that she wouldn't have the time and energy to cater to a girl whose problem was just being bored and underchallenged. Iris -- and we-- are so happy with this school, but we get guilt-tripped a lot for having foresaken the public school system.
Ha, plenty of punctuation and grammar errors in that post. I, however, am a product of a particularly crappy public elementary school.
i went to all private schools and look at me!!
wait... never mind.
Ah, but you're so smart and funny, and you're very good to your dog, the esteemed Polly.
Third grade curriculum does get more intense but partly because kids like Iris are ready for so much more.
You listed all the reasons I don't teach fulltime anymore--the emotionally disturbed child (and I quote, "You know it won't do any good if we call his parents" after said child was drumming repeatedly on the desk during what was, doggone it, an actually interesting video clip) the struggling second language learner, the lack of flexibility in the curriculum. (although I just used what I liked, it took an immense amount of time to create.)
I keep hoping the pendulum will swing back from the extremes of testing, but who knows.
In the meantime, Party On, Iris.
i might add, because of my "so called" intelligence, i skipped first grade. meaning i was always the youngest in my class (i graduated high school at 15). it was a mistake.
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