Help At Home

How can I help my child at home?

This is one the main questions we get in parent / teacher conferences.  I wanted to give you some helpful ways that you can support your student at home.

First and foremost, please take time to read the weekly communications that are sent home.  The Friday Update will make you aware of what happened over the past week, and what events may be coming up.  This update is copied to a page on the class website if you lost your copy.  Also, the student’s agenda should be updated at school when packing up, and signed by a parent each night when the homework is complete.  Homework can be confirmed on the class website, in case you feel something was missed.

 

Mathematics

Math Facts – All students should fluently know their single-digit multiplication facts by now.  If not, these should be practiced frequently at home.  While there are many ways to practice (flash cards, practice tests, etc.), there are two practice websites where students have logins: First In Math and Everyday Math Online.

Study Links – Homework is the student’s way of assessing whether or not s/he understood what happened in math class.  Students should be able to independently complete these activities.  If they cannot, parents should encourage each student to come ask their teacher for help.  There are 2-3 days weekly when I stay in during recess to help students needing support.

Family Letter – The Family Letter contains an overview of the math unit, vocabulary, and answers to the study links.  It is sent home with every student at the beginning of the unit to provide parents with a way to check student work and offer support, if needed.  This letter should be kept by the parents.  It should not be kept in the student’s binder.  Students will not be able to assess themselves if they look at the answers before or while attempting to solve problems.  This letter is to be used to check work after the students have tried.

Study Guides – The study guides are provided for students before each math test.  Parents should review the topics and any provided sample questions with students before the test.  Students can reference their Math Journals and SRB for overviews of each topic.  Parents are encouraged to help students identify any areas where they are struggling and seek help at school.  There are always 2-3 extra help sessions at recess before tests with teacher and peer tutoring.

 

Reading / Language Arts

Reading Street Practice – When students take weekly tests, the reading skills are evaluated and remedial activities are assigned on Reading Street website.  These practice pages can be printed from the website, or copies of the pages are in the student’s Readers/Writers Notebook.

Reading Level – Students are required to be reading 20 minutes each night.  Parents should write the number of minutes read each night in the agenda (e.g., 20 min) when they sign it.  It is important that students are reading texts at their Independent Reading Level.  The best way to do this is to ask me for your student’s level.  On my website, there is a link to Scholastic Book Wizard.  This website provides a way to search for books at your child’s reading level in areas of his/her interest.  They can then look for these books in the class, school, or public library.

Writing – Fifth graders are learning to plan, draft, revise, edit, and publish essays.  This is the year when writing is first assessed on the PSSA exams.  It is important for students to be able to independently perform each of the steps in the writing process.  So, parents … please don’t correct student papers.  Let me clarify.  Feel free to point out sentences that do not make sense, or words that are misspelled, but don’t correct everything for the student.  They need to develop their own editing skills, and learn to identify and correct sentences that do not communicate properly.  When a teacher receives a perfectly edited work, besides the fact that this is unlikely for a fifth grader, it is difficult to determine where to best instruct the student to improve their writing skills.

 

Social Studies

I feel this is one of the greatest years for Social Studies.  Students cover the entire history of America from early explorers to post-Civil War restoration.  Take time to talk through notes and study guides with your student before assessments.  Beyond the review it provides for the students, it is a wonderful way for families to rediscover the history of our country.  Teachers often provide review activities that can really boost scores.

 

Science

The variables unit kicks off the year with a wonderful review of the scientific method.  Students experiment to determine how variables impact experiments and develop the skills needed to analyze and interpret data.  Students will then launch into using these skills with the weather and biomes units.  Take time to ask your student what they are doing in science each week.  Ask them to explain to you what they are trying to find out and what skills are needed to complete the experiment or research.

 

As you are no doubt aware, fifth grade is a lot of work as students are readying for middle school.  There are huge changes as they are developing academically, organizationally, and emotionally.  I appreciate any help you can provide, as we partner to help your student grow.  If there are any specific areas I can be of help, please feel free to contact me.

Mr. Robert James

5th Grade Teacher