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Upper Elementary Grades (4-6)

Developmental Characteristics in the Upper Elementary Grades

The Fourth Grade Child:

 

Will probably be:

  • Insistent on his/her independence
  • More self-contained and self-sufficient
  • Interested in factual material
  • Extremely interested in peers and teamwork
  • A worrier/complainer of small discomforts
  • Self-centered

 

Will probably have:

  • Great physical energy
  • Passing curiosity about sex
  • Great variety of interests
  • Sense of humor
  • Strong and impressionable sense of justice
  • Started a collection
  • Desire for a pet
  • Desire to participate in some community activity

 

Family Activities that Support Learning for the Fourth Grader

  • Explore as much of California as possible through travel, videos, books, and family stories
  • Support your child’s activities outside of school; for example, scouts, athletics, band, etc.
  • Encourage older children to teach their younger siblings to play board games, cards, etc.
  • Make sure your child gets enough rest and has the proper nutrition
  • Emphasize safety as your child becomes more independent in areas such as bicycle/traffic rules, and contacts with strangers
  • Watch weather reports on television with your child
  • Encourage your child to select more sophisticated literature on library visits, e.g. biographies, plays, adventure stories, etc.
  • Make up math word problems based on household activities
  • Consider your child’s academic and cultural interests when choosing gifts
  • Institute a family reading hour during which time everyone reads something

The Fifth Grade Child:

 

Will probably be:

  • Relatively more free from disease than at any other growing period
  • Normally slow and steady in growth in height and weight
  • Interested in factual material
  • Showing better command of time
  • Able to concentrate for longer periods
  • Pleased with adults
  • Increasingly aware of and concerned about personal ideas and beliefs
  • Extremely interested in and loyal to groups of friends, clubs, etc. of his/her own gender
  • Able to assume responsibility for personal needs in dress and grooming
  • Beginning to struggle between ending childhood and beginning adolescence

 

Will probably have

  • Increasing interest in organized games and team play
  • Passing curiosity about sex
  • Urge to earn money
  • Great variety of interests
  • Well-developed sense of humor
  • Strong and impressionable sense of justice
  • Interest in collecting
  • Desire for a pet
  • Desire to participate in a community activity
  • Increased strength and resistance to fatigue
  • Beginning interest in opposite sex
  • Need for special friends
  • Tendency to separate work from play

 

Family Activities that Support Learning for the Fifth Grader:

  • Subscribe to a kid’s magazine or book clubs
  • Explore as much of the US as possible through travel, videos, books, and family stories
  • Give your child more responsibility for money and ways to earn it
  • Involve your child in deciding on his/her responsibilities around the house and ways to contribute to the family
  • Encourage your child to read to and tutor younger siblings
  • Discuss your favorite authors with your child
  • Encourage your child to read varied books
  • Discuss movies and television programs in terms of characters, plot, setting, theme
  • Listen carefully when your child talks to you
  • Help your child with research for school and personal interest projects while still encouraging him/her to work independently
  • Create estimation problems in every day life such as how long it takes to drive 100 miles
  • Practice mental math with your child
  • Actively support your child when he/she wants to explore science at home through activities such as model building and “kitchen chemistry”
  • Discuss safety issues when using tools and equipment
  • Help your child stick with an activity when he/she is frustrated or having difficulty

The Sixth Grade Child:

 

Will probably be:

  • Able to concentrate for longer periods
  • Resentful of being told what to do
  • Increasingly aware of and concerned about the personal ideas and beliefs of others
  • Having strong urges to conform to peers
  • Ready to challenge knowledge or adults
  • Able to assume responsibility for personal needs in dress and grooming
  • Eager to earn money
  • Critical of his/her artistic productions
  • Developing a sense of humor
  • Joining clubs
  • Increasingly able to separate work from pay
  • Able to gain satisfaction in his/her ability to achieve
  • Struggling between ending childhood and beginning adolescence
  • More interested in peer group than family

 

Will probably have:

  • An interest in religion
  • Cravings to be alone for long periods of time
  • An interest in the world around him/her
  • More freedom from disease than at any other growing period
  • An interest in factual material
  • An interest in organized games and team play
  • An interest in collecting
  • An interest in the opposite sex
  • Increased strength and resistance to fatigue
  • Desire to have a pet

 

Family Activities that Support Learning for the Sixth Grader

  • Involve your child in local community drama or other fine arts opportunities
  • Encourage your child to be active in school clubs and activities
  • Read aloud and discuss your favorite forms of literature with your child—a favorite poem, humorous section of a novel, news article, etc.
  • Share your favorite author and discuss why he/she is your favorite
  • Use the Internet to access information
  • Involve your child in planning a family vacation, including the estimation of costs and mileage, geographical and historical points of interest to see, planning an itinerary, etc
  • Point out influences of ancient cultures in everyday life, including words with Latin roots, references to Greek or Roman mythology, food, etc.
  • Consider a science set as a gift
  • Encourage local and critical thinking to solve problems