October marked the beginning of homework in Megan’s 1st-grade classroom. She came home last Monday with a ziploc of cut-out words and a daily chart of tasks to accomplish. Monday: Sort words into three categories; write them out. Tues: Sort words; alphabetize; write out. Wednesday: Sort words, write 10 sentences using words. Thursday: Do a mock test to prep for Friday’s classroom test.
It’s spelling, but they are all about the patterns. Yet another well-meant though futile attempt to impose some pretense of order onto English word construct.
Megan, bless her lil rule-followin heart, was THRILLED to have homework. But along about Thursday she said, “Mom, it’s boring. I want harder words and more categories.”
I wrestled with myself. And finally, because she had verbalized exactly what she wanted, I sent off an email to her teacher. Who has, btw, 22 students and no aide. “At the risk of pegging myself as a helicopter parent… hope to keep her engaged… let me know what I can do… totally understand if it’s too much to ask….”
Got back a prompt reply email saying “No prob. I’d be happy to give her different words.”
Wow. Cool. To quote the girl herself, “Goodie!”
So today, Monday, she comes home with this week’s words, 24 of ‘em. They seem like they’re right about in the ballpark. She has new and improved rules to sort by. And a whole little tic-tac-toe grid of homework choices. She tells me she has to choose three tasks, and include the center (Written Pattern Word Sort).
She began sorting. It took awhile. Then she coughed and the freakin little tabs of paper went shooing across the table. Re-sort. Then she alphabetized (Task 2), and wrote them out in order. A half-hour and two tasks down.
Next she picked the option to choose two words out of each category and, using a newspaper or magazine, re-create the words using a ransom-note approach. The other options were equally daunting, including looking up and writing down definitions for 10 words, or writing 10 complete sentences using all 24 words.
A tad dismayed, I fetched the newspaper and scissors. The breadth and scope of this undertaking became immediately clear to me as teeny snippets of 8-point type began covering the table. “I’m going to cut them out and then sort them.” I stepped in. “See what letter you need and THEN cut it out. And let’s use headlines.”
Time passed. d-e-c-a-y, snip snip snip. The neighbor girl gave up waiting and went home. a-g-a-i-n, snip snip snip. Dinner harkened. a-w-a-k-e, snip snip snip. Kira complained of hunger. m-a-y-o-r, snip snip snip. Darkness fell. c-r-a-y-o-n, snip snip snip. c-h-o-c-o-l-a-t-e, snip snip snip snip snip frickin snip. Gimme those scissors: ch-oc-o-late.
A faint flush of panic welled up in me. See what I get for asking to challenge my child? Dear god, we’re talking 2 hours of homework a night. Is this some sort of sadistic teacher revenge, an attempt to ensure no one ever asks for exceptions for their child? Do I suck it up?? Do I cry uncle?? I have to cry uncle. I have to. I can’t do this to Megan OR to me.
I send an email: She’s very excited about the homework. Perhaps she could choose to do TWO tasks? And btw, we worked together on the ransom notes cos dinner was imminent and it was a new concept. Hope that’s okay. Hover hover hover, love and kisses.
And then, this evening, after the MPM arrived home and I was sharing about the day and pulled out the tic-tac-toe grid and actually read the instructions, rather than taking Megan’s word for it?
“Complete 3 activities for homework each week.”
Each WEEK.
Oh.
Well. It’s always nice to get your homework out of the way early, right? Like Monday.
October 13, 2009 at 2:53 am |
that’s hysterical –read the fine print! within word pattern–third grade spelling and above stuff! go girl go!
October 13, 2009 at 1:34 pm |
That sounds exactly like something I would do.
And I’m not sure why teachers insist on teaching spelling with patterns. There are no patterns! There are more exceptions to the rules than there are rules.
(Can you tell we’re wrestling with the same sorts of activities here?)
October 13, 2009 at 2:51 pm |
Isn’t it amazing the time warp that occurs during grade school homework? One minute we’re alphabetizing, the next minute it’s ‘holy crap, it’s 9 o’clock and you still need to get a bath!’
And they start the darn homework as soon as they get home!
ahh, good times.
October 13, 2009 at 5:39 pm |
V e r y F u n n y ! Especially the cough. Hover on…
October 13, 2009 at 7:26 pm |
Ha-Ha! Jude’s teacher told me that last year she used the ransom note method, which she finds highly effective, but she got SO MANY complaints from parents about the cough/fly away nature of it that she was forced to abandon it.
October 13, 2009 at 11:03 pm |
Oh that’s a good one cousin! Glad that you and teacher are on board, so far. Nothing worse than being bored in public school (which was the case with me and why I cut class all through high school). Megs is a smart one, can’t wait to hear more school tales as the year grows (L:
October 14, 2009 at 1:21 am |
my 2 cents about the spelling pattern method: it is a developmental approach to spelling and makes good sense. Students learn the patterns (of course there are exceptions) as they begin to move from simple CVC words (consonant/vowel/consonant) and into blends/digraphs and then long vowel patterns, starting with common and then uncommon long vowel patterns. Eventually students look at the way words are joined at the syllables. I find it to be the most informed way to teach spelling.
October 14, 2009 at 12:53 pm |
Well, hecks, I will happily defer to someone with training on the topic as to its efficacy as a teaching tool, and I appreciate your input.
However, I’ll also happily maintain that English spelling is wackadoodle and random. Megs spelled “shuffle” the other day — then I asked if she could spell “shovel.” She did — which I don’t think can be attributed to anything more than visual memory. And isn’t that largely what spelling is?
October 15, 2009 at 1:33 am |
well, the u in shuffle is short, so there’s the doubling rule there. the o in shovel is an exception to the short/long pattern, but generally after a consonant, you will use the -el inflectional ending. Spelling is a predictor of reading ability, so it doesn’t surprise me she can spell those words. I’m sure visual memory comes into play, but so does her reading ability.
October 15, 2009 at 1:41 am |
Jeez, you guys, debating the merits of how to learn to spell. Duh huh, look at the gene pool that Miss Megs dips into wouldja. It doesn’t matter what you do or don’t, she will run rings around us all.