First grade work...

MommyToAshley wrote: Is anyone else surprised at what they are doing in first grade?? Ashley brought home some papers, and I looked at it and said, "wow... that's algebra!"

Her problem read like this:

Jake had 9 apples. He wanted to split the apples between three friends. How many apples would he give each person to give them the same amount? (They could draw a picture to solve the problem if they wanted to).

Another problem was like this:
10 + (there was a picture of a square) = 15
(picture of the square) = ______


She is doing fine with all the work, but I am just surprised. I don't think I did that stuff until 3rd or 4th grade. No wonder no adult is smarter than a 5th grader, I can only imagine what they do in 5th grade!

Maddie&EthansMom replied: Yes, I remember being shocked at the things Maddie was learning in first grade. But, I think it's good that they are introducing algebra earlier.

lisar replied: oh yes Lexi is doing that kind of stuff also. It blows my mind, we didnt learn that stuff in the 1st grade

mom21kid2dogs replied: They are definately doing things we did in 3rd grade now in 1st. Mind boggling!

BAC'sMom replied: wait till she gets in 3rd

maestra replied: I definitely teach things now in first that I used to teach in 3rd when I first started teaching. It's much harder now.

luvmykids replied: I'm amazed just about everyday at the things the twins are doing, I always tell them "It's not your moms first grade, thats for sure!".

I actually had to look at the answer sheet the teacher sends home a week in advance for their math homework I knew the answer, I just couldn't believe they were supposed to solve the problem the way I thought they were.

mom21kid2dogs replied:
Wait till you see "lattice math"!!!

luvmykids replied:
I'm not even going to ask

Kaitlin'smom replied:
okay I have always been good at math and that sounds ummm interesting...

my2monkeyboys replied: I have to say that while I'm all for teaching kids to their potential, I see a lot of negative results from our kids being pushed too hard too soon. When it's becoming normal to see 8-12 yr olds getting shingles (which one of the leading causes is stress), I think we should step back and re-evaluate our ways of doing things.
My nephew this week just got assigned to do a report on vikings. He's in the 4th grade this year, so a report is to be expected. However, with this report he must have notecards, footnotes, cite all of his sources (which must include both internet-based sources and publications), and then he can choose which visual to use - a model, a poster board of pictures he finds, or that kind of graph that has the small squares all connected together (can't remember the name!). They will use their notecards to give the presentation to the class. They will be graded on content, grammar, spelling, and visual aspects, too, as well as their speech.
I don't know about you, but we didn't start this until at least 8-9 grade. I just think it's one more way we're going to push our kids over the edge.

SingleMom345 replied: I was rarely every good at match especially problems like those!! I commend children today who excel in math!

Kirstenmumof3 replied: I guess I've been really lucky, Emily and Spencer have never needed help with there homework. And if they did, my DH was better at helping them. I agree it is getting harder as they get older.