Looking ahead toward high school
When planning early elementary lessons, we focus on reading and math facts, because we know your future third and fourth grader will be so much more successful and peaceful with those skills nailed down. In the same way, when planning late elementary and middle school work, we think ahead to what they will face in high school and how they can prepare in advance. Some things that come to mind are writing, factions, note taking, figuring out the main idea of a reading, and just stamina to tolerate longer assignments, longer spells of physically writing, and a longer attention span for reading. All these skills come up in late elementary and middle school, but your child might not have the vision to see what they are building toward.
Writing! Your student will be writing essays in high school. The standard essay most students use is the five paragraph framework: an introductory paragraph with a thesis statement, three supporting paragraphs which connect to the thesis, and a concluding paragraph which ties everything neatly together. While in late elementary and early middle school students will be doing some paragraph writing, and the goal is to teach them the thought process of the five paragraph essay. You can help your child succeed later by keeping this general outline in mind. A strong paragraph has a structure: five sentences, each one paralleling a paragraph in the later full essay. If you are working with them on writing assignments in this age group, try and keep most of your support toward big picture writing structure and not style or detailed grammar. Later, when they are learning the full essay, some concepts that tend to be difficult, such as writing a thesis statement, will be familiar.
Fractions! I know your fifth grader hates fractions and thinks they are pointless, since they can just do everything in decimals and use a calculator. I also know that you are TIRED of arguing with a fifth grader and they are starting to convince you that it might be easier to cave in and let them do the minimum. I also know, and you’ve probably forgotten, that fractions come raging back in high school and this time they aren’t just numbers, they have letters in them too. Algebra. Starting from the very beginning of Algebra 1 there are fractions. Students will need to add and subtract them (remember the common denominator?), multiply and divide them, eliminate them altogether, and be smooth at understanding the connection between a fraction and division (they’re the same! They just look different). Believe me. You do not want to be sitting with an extremely frustrated 14 year old dealing with variables and have to give a rudimentary fraction lesson. Just learn the fractions in fifth grade. No matter how frustrating it is, it will be so much more frustrating in 4 years.
Note taking/main idea. I think sometimes once grown ups know how to do a thing they forget that there was a time they didn’t know how to do it. Boiling something down to the important parts is not an automatic skill, but they will be so much further ahead in high school if they can take notes from a lecture or a reading. One easy thing to do in late elementary is just ask them to tell you whatever they just read. So they read a passage in science all about the different types of clouds and which ones indicate rain or thunderstorms. You can ask what the article was mainly about, and if they just tell you something about thunderstorms you know you have an opportunity! At that point I would probably ask about a different type of cloud and talk about that, and then maybe say something like, “so was it about the differences in types of clouds?” As they get older you can work on more layers, “so was it about the three main types of clouds, cirrus, cumulus, and stratus?” Getting them thinking this way will really help them make a mental map of information and be able to access it again later. It’s a powerful habit to reflect back after a reading and try to organize it, even mentally.
Stamina. The area I see the most opportunity for stamina is physically writing. Your late elementary kid might get tired easily writing, so try and encourage them to stay focused a bit longer than is comfortable. In high school, kids that tire easily might avoid showing work in Algebra just to avoid more writing. This choice makes it harder to be accurate and leads to mistakes and frustration. They might take fewer notes, write one word answers instead of sentences, resist working in free work time at school, and any number of other subtle writing avoidant behaviors. Watch your elementary school child for signs of writing fatigue. It you see it there is a huge opportunity to change their life in high school by helping them increase their stamina now. Maybe they just need encouragement, or maybe you need to get advice from the classroom teacher. Some kids need actual writing therapy. Whichever situation you’re in, solving it earlier is much much easier than dealing it when the work load is so much bigger in high school.
Kids keep us pretty in the moment, and it can be hard to see the big picture when daily life is so full. However small changes in elementary school can have big impacts later on.
Begin with the end in mind.
--Steven Covey: Seven habits of Highly Effective People, Habit 2