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Nope. I'll teach them many other things before I'd bother with cursive.

I definitely think spelling is still pretty important even in the days of auto correct lol! Will we also stop teaching math because we all carry calculators with us now too?

I hadn't really thought about it before. I don't write in cursive any more, it's more like a hybrid.

I won't teach it unless my son asks.

@Mrs. Pen: wow. They cut spelling??? I think spelling should definitely not be cut. Too many adults can barely spell!

I expect she'll pick it up or mimic it anyway, since I tend to write in cursive. I dont think its a super necessary skill, besides your own signature, so I dont have a problem with schools cutting it. I do think they should still teach kids proper penmanship though.

Spelling though.... whoa. Its a scary day when schools stop teaching kids to spell.

Just in case any one was wondering, it does appear that spelling is included in the Common Core State Standards even at the elementary/kindergarten level:
This is the standard that is under the language section for most of the grades I checked:

" Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. "

Isn't the new way to teach spelling to let them write things as they sound? I could have sworn I understood that to be the new method.

But, at some point, yes, you should learn the proper spellings.

@Mrs. Pen: These standards were adopted in 2010 so maybe it was just before that. But hopefully J will be learning spelling!

Obviously I care about the status of some of this because its my job, but I am already really interested when I hear what parents do/don't know about their child's education. Most of this information is public and I am really concerned about what my daughter will be required to know and be learning. (PS just to be clear, not directed at this thread, just an interest I've had for a while).

@sunshineandsushi: How often does the average person actually read historical documents in cursive and not typed out in a book? Lots of historical things are written in Latin which we stopped teaching in elementary school years and years ago.

Also, most of cursive is just regular letters strung together. Only really S's and Z's are very different from their printed counterpart. It wouldn't be hard to figure out how to read at all. Certainly easier to learn than Latin.

@sunshineandsushi: Like I said above (jokingly) are we going to cut teaching math because we all carry calculators now?

Like at least basic math, I think handwriting is still going to be a valuable skill for years to come. As much as we are becoming more and more a digital society, a lot is still done on paper. I don't think we've quite made it obsolete yet. If it does actually become useless one day, I'd have little issue cutting it from school also.

The purpose of cursive is mostly to make writing faster/easier, but now that school papers and other formal documents are expected typed up, it's become a less useful skill. Teaching typing is probably much more useful!

I'm an elementary school teacher and we still teach cursive, though definitely not to the extent that they did when we were in school. I plan on teaching my own kids cursive because I like it and like calligraphy. I think they should at least be able to read cursive.

As far as the spelling goes I have never heard of a school that does not teach spelling and can't imagine that their state or CCSS would allow it. Strange.

I was obsessed with writing in cursive before they taught it in school. I associated it with being a "big kid" like my older cousins. If my daughter is interested I will definitely teach her cursive!

What do you mean they are cutting out SPELLING?!?! That is atrocious! I think there is a lot of value to teaching cursive still. I understand it requires more patience than most people have these days, but it will be crazy to see kids growing up in a generation of amazing FONTS, yet not know how to write in cursive. Things will still need to be read in cursive.
If our school didn't teach spelling, I would switch schools. If it didn't teach cursive, I would reconsider and if not switch, teach it at home.

I taught grade 4/5 for 5 years and no grade 2/3. I taught it at the 4/5 level, but it wasn't extensive. They did their daily agenda in it, and did a practice booklet. I did not force them to do their daily work in hand writing but their were welcome to as long as we could read it!! I have several grade 2/3 who want to learn. It is a " what to do when I am done" thing. I think they should know how to read it, and basics of hand writing so they can at least sign their name and not print it like so many young people now!!
( and I still speak spelling but many teachers don't. Many of our parents do not do any practice at home, and it is hard to focus so much time on spelling)

I want to teach keyboarding at a young age but not worried about her missing too much in the cursive dept.

@Mrs. Pen: Um, I'm pretty sure that teacher was trippin'. There's no WAY a school could cut *spelling*!

@looch: in emerging writers, teachers often encourage writing "what you hear", but traditional spelling rules should start around 1st grade.

I'm not going to teach my kid(s) cursive and hope they don't learn it at school either. I think it's a waste of time. I remember being seriously annoyed at all the effort it took to learn it in 3rd grade, only to have every other teacher ask us to print because our cursive was hard to read.

I can't imagine not teaching spelling. Our daycare teacher has atrocious spelling & grammar and it just makes her seem a bit unprofessional I love her but I just hate reading the daily reports!

For instance, she spelled "scratch" incorrectly on an incident report 3 times as "sratch". I'm guessing she also mispronounces it as well

@looch: common core and developmentally appropriate teaching allows for them to start of spelling phoneticly. They are supposed to start spelling correctly as they learn high frequency words and by first grade they should have spelling taught.

@ladybee: that was my initial thought too, maybe a possible learning disability or special need...I've never taught a student who couldn't spell is by second grade and we are a fully inclusionary school. Or maybe a case of kids seeing it spelt like "iz" on TV, music lyrics, etc...lots of my students will mimic what they see in media for a bit even though they know how to spell it properly.