First Grade Isn't What It Used To Be!

The farther we get into the school year, the more amazed I am by the things that first graders are learning now. When I was in first grade, it was generally expected that you know the alphabet, and most of first grade was spent teaching kids to read. Those of us who were already reading were few and far between, and just read along with the other kids in the beginning reader books.

Now kids are expected to be reading well by the end of kindergarten, and in first grade they have weekly spelling tests! Some of the words that have been on Sam's spelling tests in the past few weeks are:
cheetah
mystery
fantasy
chalkboard
and beanstalk.

And math! When I was in first grade, we were counting. And learning to count by 2s and 5s and 10s. And learning the difference between a penny, a nickel, a dime and a quarter. And how to tell time. By the end of the year, we were doing some addition and subtraction, in the 2+3=5 or 6-3=3 sort of way.

Sam came home from school today with a math test that had 157+225=382. And 268+79=347.
Yikes. And they're doing multiplication and division--third and fourth grade work back in the OLDEN days when I was in school (as the kids would say)

Anyway, I now think that I don't want to go on the "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader" show, because if they're doing this in first grade, what are they doing in fifth grade? Calculus? Molecular biology?

I know I'm probably not smarter than a fifth grader. I'm just hoping to still be smarter than a first grader by the end of the school year!!