Families—Here are four simple things you can do to help your fifth grader succeed in school.
Take 5 minutes to check their Assignment Calendar. When you get home from work, make them show you their calendar to see if they’ve completed each task–and hold them accountable if they haven’t. (You don’t even need to assess quality—just make sure they’ve done their work.) The kids who typically have the most success are the ones who face consequences such as loss of electronics when they don’t complete their tasks on time.
Set a bedtime. Whenever I survey my students, the results are clear. The most successful students all go to bed by 9 pm. By contrast, the kids who struggle the most don’t have a specific time and consequently stay up way too late. Experts say pre-teen kids need ten hours of sleep per night, so make your kids hit the sack early. It’s healthier for them and it gives you some quiet time for yourself.
Use an alarm clock. Move it across the room from where your 5th grader sleeps. Make sure he or she has to get out of bed to turn it off. If you’re at work when your student needs to get up, call them on the phone to verify they’ve done it…and have consequences if they haven’t. Important things happen in our classroom beginning right at 7:55 am!
Send them to class. We want kids to stay home when they’re truly sick, but we want you to push them to attend the rest of the time. Tiredness, a birthday, or non-illness aren’t good reasons to miss class. By pushing kids to maintain a schedule now, they’ll develop positive habits that will better equip them to succeed as an adult.
Notice some themes here: accountability, consequences, and sleep. Parenting is tough—but if you’ll do these five minutes tasks, it’ll be easier for you and better for your student. Thanks!