https://padlet.com/swolf8/adotvqgyqw2m Responding to readings from the text en-us 2016-08-17 17:33:02 UTC 2026-02-03 19:04:25 UTC hello@padlet.com swolf8 https://padlet.com/swolf8/adotvqgyqw2m/wish/118646556 "A majority of American schools, however, increasingly shortchange children's overall developmental needs in favor of lopsided attention to cognitive development as expressed through standards-based academic assessment." In moving toward CC standards, I have seen a 50/50 have and have not split in my first grade classroom. The children that do not have strong home support and have limited background knowledge struggle in the classroom. Giving assessments for the sake of assessment, whether the test is valid and/or developmentally appropriate for the children I teach is very frustrating. I can't even imagine what it is like for the third and fourth grade students and their teachers. ]]> 2016-08-17 19:09:43 UTC https://padlet.com/swolf8/adotvqgyqw2m/wish/118646556 swolf8 https://padlet.com/swolf8/adotvqgyqw2m/wish/118648508 There are times as a veteran teacher that I feel like a hamster on a wheel. If I feel that way, there are many times that my 6 and 7 year old students feel it too! Our first graders use Go Math and complete over 1,000 pages of math materials, plus fact sprints. That's insane!]]> 2016-08-17 19:22:12 UTC https://padlet.com/swolf8/adotvqgyqw2m/wish/118648508 swolf8 https://padlet.com/swolf8/adotvqgyqw2m/wish/118649449 Last year, in my first grade class, I had three ELLs. One of the boys spoke only Spanish when he began. He was a bright boy, and we needed to begin his year with letter naming, because that is what he needed... NOT the typical first grade curriculum. (PS: At the end of the year, he was reading Green Eggs and Ham.) Another ELL child would translate for me. I marveled at the conversations the two boys had Spanish. The other students wanted to learn Spanish from these boys. I also had a child who spoke Chinese in the home. All three ELLs loved learning and grew so much socially, emotionally, and academically. Our class learned so many life lessons from these three children. It was an amazing year! All three of these children will be able to have fabulous jobs if they are fluent in more than one language. We are a global economy, and bilingual students will have a myriad of opportunities.]]> 2016-08-17 19:28:39 UTC https://padlet.com/swolf8/adotvqgyqw2m/wish/118649449