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Title: What Your First Grader Needs to Know by Jr. E.D. Hirsch ISBN: 0-385-48119-5 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 17 March, 1997 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.25 (16 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: What Your First Grader Needs to Know: Fundamentals of a Good
Comment: Besides the premise of some upper-middle class white guy dictating our children's values, there's much to question here in the nitty gritty. I open up the pages randomly and find things that kids shouldn't be being taught, at least not like this: page 135 under the heading "THE FIGHT GOES ON
"The Indians on the land roamed freely, hunting buffalo and other animals. The European settlers wanted to stay in one place on the land, so they could farm. They fought the Indians for new land when they had to. Both sides were hurt, and began to hate one another. The Indians were forced to move again and again. Some struck back fiercely and made the settlers hate them even more."
Break it down:
"The Indians on the land roamed freely, hunting buffalo and other animals". Well, relative to Euro folks land ownership and deeds, it was "freely", but they did have territories and use-rights between/among tribes.
"The European settlers wanted to stay in one place on the land, so they could farm." Europeanness treated as the norm, wouldn't you say?
"They fought the Indians for new land when they had to". What? When God ordered them to? Why'd they "have" to? Explain...
"Both sides were hurt, and began to hate one another."
OK, OK, this is for 6 year-olds, yes, we have to keep it simple, but where's the agency here? Who pushed who?
"The Indians were forced to move again and again."
Yea, true enough, but why don't we read this in the active voice? Who forced them?
"Some struck back fiercely and made the settlers hate them even more."
Ohhhh, there's the active voice!!! Then Indians "struck" and "made...hate".
I'm not an indigenous people's activist, I'm just someone who cares about education. The passage above was chosen at random. But wow, it's ridiculous! While I agree that maybe 1st grade is a bit young for doing studies of genocide, c'mon, we can do better than this type of whitewash!
Rating: 4
Summary: Very good guidebook for your child's 1st grade education
Comment: I'm a homeschooling dad and there are two good ways to use this book.
One, use it to ensure that you construct (or your child's teacher constructs) a curriculum for your first grader that is well-rounded and which contains sufficient depth. If you're a homeschooling family, you'll appreciate the comprehensive nature of this book -- it gives a wonderful overview of what your child should know at the end of first grade, including all the major academic disciplines (math, literature, history, science).
For me, this book greatly eased my mind in knowing what I need to cover as my son's first grade teacher. I use the book like you would use a tourbook of a foreign country. With a tourbook, you'll pick out the most important elements of a trip and cross off destinations that aren't of interest or which you won't have time to visit. Similarly, using this book, you'll identify the most important elements of your child's education. In the process, you'll identify topics that you probably won't cover with much depth because either you think them too unimportant or because you only have so much time in a day to work with your child.
The second way to use this book is like a textbook. The book is very thin on math problems, so the problems it does give should be considered as only examples of the type of math problems your first grader should know how to solve. There are some science projects to work on, but they're only a sampling. The literature portion comprises a sizeable part of the book, and it contains some very good literature. Moreover, the book contains explanations behind Aesop's fables (which as an adult I found very helpful!). You'll want to read many of the stories, poems, fables -- but not all of them. Some of the literature you may find unsuitable for your child because of your family's family system.
I have two criticisms of the book. One, the literature portion contains too many stories that include witches and too much evil -- you know, Grimm-type fairytales and the like. I skipped over some of the stories with plots or characters that I don't feel are suitable for young 6 or 7-year-olds.
Two, the book attempts to explain the world's religions in an unsatisfactory manner. As a Christian, I am not interested in teaching my first grader what Muslims believe. Worse, the book purports that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. I hardly think so. The whole section of religion would have been best removed from the book entirely, leaving each parent to decide what religious instruction to offer his or her own child.
So, this is a four-star book -- well worth the purchase, but only if you understand the caveats mentioned above.
Rating: 3
Summary: Good Overview
Comment: Great springboard book to help if you're a homeschooler or trying to supplement your child outside of the classroom.
Language and Literature: Plenty of stories and poetry to read to your child and get them started. Weak in the phonics area. I would recommend a good phonics primer - Phonics Pathways by Dolories Hiskes (awesome and inexpensive resource and it will get your child reading fast).
Mathematics: Simple progression in math skills. I like the suggestions on manipulatives and games to do with your child, they make the learning process more fun for the child.
Science: Braod overview of many sciences. Good things to start talking about with your child before a trip to the local zoo or library to pick up more in depth information.
This book is not meant to be a complete curriculum for teaching your child, but is a nice supplement. I like the stories, poems and music. It's a great portable all in one book. The notes to parents are helpful in finding ways to teach each subject.
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Title: What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know : Preparing Your Child for a Lifetime of Learning by Jr. E.D. Hirsch ISBN: 0385318413 Publisher: Delta Pub. Date: 11 August, 1997 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: What Your Second Grader Needs to Know : Fundamentals of a Good Second Grade EducationRevised by Jr. E.D. Hirsch ISBN: 038531843X Publisher: Delta Pub. Date: 13 July, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: What Your Third Grader Needs to Know (Revised Edition) : Fundamentals of a Good Third-Grade Education by Jr. E.D. Hirsch ISBN: 0385336268 Publisher: Delta Pub. Date: 28 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: What Your Fourth Grader Needs to Know : Fundamentals of a Good Fourth-Grade Education by Jr. E.D. Hirsch ISBN: 0385312601 Publisher: Delta Pub. Date: 01 July, 1994 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: What Your Fifth Grader Needs to Know : Fundamentals of a Good Fifth-Grade Education by Jr. E.D. Hirsch ISBN: 0385314647 Publisher: Delta Pub. Date: 01 July, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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