Home Work Tips

Parents and Students:
5th grade is an important year for building homework routines that will be helpful in middle school. Please read the following guidelines and work together.

Daily homework is meant to be practice of concepts and skills learned during class time. We will always go over homework so that students understand their assignments. Long-range projects give students experience in time management and organization--skills essential to success in middle and high school. The amount of time spent on homework will vary with each student however it should not exceed 60 minutes. If you have concerns about the amount of time your student is spending on homework, please let us know.

Note: Many students participate in a number of extra-curricular activities. School assignments must be the priority. Again, learning to effectively manage time and work is invaluable!
1) Find a quiet, well-lit place for doing homework.
2) Develop a homework routine (start homework at the same time each day--earlier in the day is better than waiting to start until after dinner).
3) Plan your time!

Parents can help by having daily conversations with students about planning their time when doing the daily homework. For instance, before a child begins homework, a parent can have the child show him the homework he must accomplish and give the parent an idea of how he plans to accomplish it (how much time he plans to spend on each homework item, and so on). Parents can help make adjustments. Then, let the child get started on his or her own.

Parents are a resource: children can read to you, ask you for clarification, have you check something for accuracy, and so on. However, it is important for students to do the work on their own. This practice of planning time, working, asking for help, and acknowledging accomplishments is of vital importance in readiness for middle school and life in general.
4) Get enough sleep. It's impossible to stay focused during the school day (for the entire day) and to maintain that focus through homework without getting enough sleep. 5th graders should be in bed at 9:00 pm in order to be ready for the next day.

Search Engines for Kids

Tek-Mom Search Tools for Students is your "one-stop-shopping" site for links to many different search engines including Yahooligans!, Ask Jeeves for Kids, KidsClick!, AOL@School, and Education World. It also includes links to search engines for science, history, reference (encyclopedias, dictionaries and thesaurus, rhyming words), biographies and authors, and maps.
These sites are "kid-friendly," but (as always) parents need to be with their children whenever children are on the Internet.

Library and Other Resources
Welcome to the White House - Learn about the President, the White House, and link to the White House Kids site.
Welcome to NASA - Browse the National Aeronautics and Space Administration site.
Fibonacci Numbers - Learn about Fibonacci Numbers and nature, and try one of the investigations.
Scholastic News - Read some of the articles of the day.
Explore the States - Learn more about each of the United States of America. You can also learn about amazing Americans, jump back in time, and join America at play.
http://www.familyeducation.com/subchannel/0,2794,66-192,00.html- ready made homework.