Friday, September 17, 2010

Are you failing 4th grade Math, too?



In the fourth grade I was a math whiz.

It's true.

At the front of the room my teacher had a poster of a tree with lots of branches, each one representing one of the times tables. The students had their own owl with their name on it and the owl would move from branch to branch as we passed off the ones, then the twos, then threes, and so on. My owl made it to the top of that tree. And in a very timely manner, I might add.

Now I find that I fail at 4th grade Math. My daughter asked me to check her work and I ended up helping her to change nearly every answer. The next day she came home and said they were all wrong but three.

Really?

I just don't understand the terms they use nowadays--mental math, front-end estimating...I can't even remember the others. I've already had to call my school-teacher daughter twice this school year to ask her what something meant. They just don't teach the same anymore.

Whatever happened to cute owls on branches?

(at least Spelling hasn't changed, right?)
(I was spelling champ in my 5th grade class.)

10 comments:

Jolene Perry said...

I was a MATH teacher and I do NOT get the way they're teaching kids math! So, yeah. Don't feel bad.

Stephanie Humphreys said...

I know what you mean about math. My kids learned a long time ago not to ask me for help. I also sub as an educational assistant in the elementary school and there have been a few times when I have to get help after class just so I can help the kids. As far as spelling, it hasn't changed, but do they even teach it anymore. Most of the kids I know have a hard time spelling.

Anne Gallagher said...

Nevermind 4th grade, how about Kindergarten. My daughter came home the other day and announced I had to read this paper. On it were shapes and underneath each was the "new" name they were calling it. I mean, what happened to diamonds, or ovals, or stars?

And then she said, "here's the new rubric." I was like, what? Where did you learn that word?

I know we're supposed to be teaching our kids to succeed but since when does computer take the place of cursive?

I think I'm just too old-fashioned to participate anymore.

Marilyn said...

I never was good at math, so it was great that Tommy was around to help Andy with his homework. Everything has changed from when we went to school. We didn't have an October or spring break. Maybe because school has gotten harder they need those 2 extra breaks!

Tina Scott, author, artist said...

Did your daughter make you promise never to help her with her math again? I always told my kids I'd be happy to help them with their homework, but when they asked about math, I was never able to help--well, only those few years when I was taking math in college.

Anonymous said...

Just tell her she will never use that stuff in real life again anyway! :) You'll be fine and so will she!

Terina said...

How is it that I never stumbled across this blog before? I follow your vinly expressions and wanted this blog! The personal one, not the business one! LOVE IT! You are a gifted writer! Now I'm looking forward to your novel!

Elana Johnson said...

LOL! I have a math minor and I am the technology specialist at my school. I still know what those things mean. I just think some people's brains are wired for math, and some aren't.

Eliza said...

Hi Thanks for visiting my blog :-) Maths was never my strong point, I failed miserably. These days I get by, I can add, subtract, multiply and divide, what more do you need :-)

Nicole Zoltack said...

I did great with math until college. That said, I am not looking forward to when my kids will be coming home from school and need help with it. Might just let hubby help with math...

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