What's the right size for my child's class?
Parents have an intuitive sense that the class should be small during the earliest years of school, from kindergarten through third grade. But class size is also very important throughout the intermediate grades. Ideally, a fifth-grade classroom should have fewer than 22 children, although 22 to 25 is an acceptable size.
Class size should be designed to allow plenty of individual attention. The more attention the teacher can give to each child, and the more experiences the teacher can help each child have, the better. As class size goes beyond 25 students, the potential for individual interaction decreases considerably.
How much time should my child spend on homework each night?
Homework is commonly assigned by teachers in the intermediate grades. While some teachers believe that homework is unnecessary, I believe homework can be useful, especially if it's interesting, goes beyond the daily school activities, and is aimed at deepening you child's understanding of what is being studied. A good homework assignment, prompted by a powerful question, might ask the student to interpret, synthesize, or reconstruct something (an idea or problem).
Homework assignments in the fifth grade might include:
Read the new story you wrote to your mother or father.
Read for 40 minutes on your own.
Think about words related to democracy or responsibility.
Write an essay about fairness or about ways to improve the school.
Scan the editorial page of your local newspaper and note the themes: economic issues, personalities, and world events.
A fifth-grader might also be expected to complete some mathematics problems or design a science experiment. But at this age homework should not take more than 70 minutes. If your child's assignments regularly exceed this limit--or if there's no homework--ask to speak with her teacher.
Should my child use a computer?
Many children today use computers at home at age 5 or 6, and a growing number of schools have installed computers in primary-grade classrooms. Much can be done with computers, especially in word processing, mathematics, model building, and problem-solving exercises. And some of the programs now available give children access to large museums and artistic collections, as well as to various archives and their documents. In addition, some video games emphasize problem solving and could be used in the classroom.
By fifth grade, children should be far along in their ability to use the computer for a variety of purposes. Parents should be attuned to their child's level of knowledge and skill regarding computers. If your fifth-grader is not a confident computer user, you should talk with his teacher.
When should my child begin studying a foreign language?
Some schools -- and the numbers are still very small -- begin foreign languages in the early primary grades, often in two-way bilingual programs. In such programs, half the children might be Spanish speakers, for example, and the other half would speak no Spanish. Each group learns the other's language.
In most schools that offer foreign language study for elementary students, however, such study usually begins in the intermediate grades. The United States is far behind most other industrialized countries in second-language programs. All schools should offer a second language at the intermediate level, if not before. Studying a second language not only provides valuable insights into another culture and enriches the child's world, but also greatly strengthens the child's understanding of his or her native language. Make sure that your child's school understands the importance of foreign-language programs.
Are field trips a good use of class time?
Fifth-grade children become more engaged in activities outside of school, such as field trips to museums, nature preserves, planetariums, craft centers, businesses, and service organizations. Some parents question the purpose of such activities and wonder what their children are learning from them. Parents may be concerned that children are missing the "real" education by visiting a museum when they should be having math class.
It's clear, however, that field trips do enhance classroom learning. A field trip to a museum or factory can make real and concrete what's being studied in the classroom -- it's one thing to read about dinosaurs and look at pictures of them and quite another to stand gazing up at the skeleton of a T-Rex. In fact, rather than worrying about too much out-of-classroom activity, parents should be concerned if their children seem to spend virtually all of every day within the confines of the school.
Reprinted from 101 Educational Conversations with Your 5th Grader by Vito Perrone, published by Chelsea House Publishers.
Copyright 1994 by Chelsea House Publishers, a division of Main Line Book Co. All rights reserved.
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