Tips for 5th grade success

MATHGAME.COM

It’s easy to help your 5th grader achieve success if you have a few basic ideas about how to stay on top of lessons and everyday tasks. It is important to keep open and frequent communication with your fifth grader. Being aware of what he or she is learning and what kind of homework is required is just the beginning of helping him or her rise to the top. You can help your 5th grader become successful with a few easy tips.

1.  Learn everywhere. Encourage learning with every activity you do – ask open-ended questions and encourage well-thought-out responses. Ask questions about what your student is learning in different subject areas, and encourage him or her to share homework topics and projects with you. Create an environment at home that is conducive to learning and studying; be sure that your student has a quiet place to work, proper lighting, and whatever resources are needed to perform at his or her best.

2.  Every day reading. Encourage reading and all kinds of learning in any way possible! Take your 5th grader to the library, set aside reading time at home, and encourage your student to read directions, recipes, lists, or whatever you have to read. Challenge your child to read a variety of books. Then talk about the plot, the characters, and other parts of the narrative to help assess learning and comprehension. Also, try some fun   word games online to help reading speeds!

3.  Every day math. Use mathematical language whenever you can, practice math facts and concepts at home, while waiting for the bus or even while setting the table for dinner.  During the summer, make sure your child keeps reading, practicing and engaging.  Make up your own math activities, encourage your student to play free math games online. You can even try an old style favorite video game with a twist, likeMath Pac-man. Making math fun is a great way to engage your student in the learning process!

4.  Practice practice practice! Make every effort possible to ensure that your student is present and alert for the classroom lessons, especially for math class. New math concepts are introduced every day, and one lesson builds on the next. Help your student master the basic concepts before moving on to higher-level thinking content. Math games are a great way to practice and stay sharp!

5.  Open communication. Encourage your 5th grader to ask questions about what he or she is learning, and make sure that he or she understands mistakes before moving on to other topics. If needed, help your child find a study partner or friend who can help explain things better. And, be sure to keep communication open with your child’s teacher. It’s important for the teacher and parent to talk frequently about the student’s progress; everyone should be on the same page about the child’s skill level and ability to learn.

6.  Homework. Last but not least, when it comes to time for homework, make sure your student does all of the homework that’s been assigned. If he or she is struggling, make time to help. Homework is one of the best ways to practice concepts and master the material. Encourage your student to show his or her work and check the answers a second time.

Tips to Educate Your Child

Parents can use the following tips to educate your child (2-3 years).

Make Your Child A Good Listener
Before you give the instruction or talk to your child, it is best to reduce the distraction from her. Before you talk to her, you can call her name to get her attention. Only begin to talk when she has eye contact with you. Remain eye contact all the times when you speak to her. While you are reading to her, you can ask simple questions such as "Where did the boy go to?", or "When are they coming back?"

Develop your child's basic knowledge and expression skills
You can help your child learning colors, numbers, concept of sizes, concept of space and place through games, actions or talking. You can try the following methods:

Use blocks to teach your child to learn colors
Get her to speak out the colors of different blocks. Or, find the block with the specified color. You can also ask her "What color is this block"

Establish the foundation on numbering
You can get her to give you one object. When she understand the concept of 'one', you can continue to get her to give you more things. You can encourage her to count her five senses, arms or legs, toys or even the cars on the road.

Teach your child the concept of size
You can let your child use the crayon to draw on the paper with different length of lines or different size of circles. Or you can use the clay to make different sizes of balls. You discuss the size of objects such as "Giraffe has a long neck and tortoise has short leg", "Get me that long rope", "where is your short pants?"

Teach your child the concept of space
To teach the concept of space, you can design some activities to be participated by her. For example, prepare a big box, let your child stand inside and outside the box or walk around the box. You can play the bubble with your child, while your child is playing the bubble, ask her to observe which bubbles are falling in front and which are falling behind. Which bubbles are close to you and which bubbles are far from you. Which bubbles are flying high and which bubbles are flying low.

Develop your child's memory skills
You can improve your child's memory skills by teaching your child about a rhythm, a short poem or a song. After repeating few times, you skip the last word without saying it out. Encourage your child to speak out that missing word. Slowing increase the number of skipped words. Finally, see if your child can say out the whole sentence. After repeating this exercise several times, you child can quickly memorize all the contents. This is a good way to learn a language and pronunciation.

Reinforce your child's newly learned words and concept
When your child just learn a new concept or word from the story, you can reinforce using natural way. For example, after reading a book about the bread. Next time when you pass by a bakery shop, you can bring your child into the bakery shop and if possible, let her look at the process of making the bread.