Study Skills Information and Links
A Year of Transition and Independence
Fifth grade is a transitional year. Students are learning to be more independent and that they must be active in their learning activities. Fifth grade subjects are much more content-heavy than in the lower grades. The amount of material the students will be expected to understand, recall, and use increases significantly. For this reason, students must actively work with the new material. They must study. What Does It Mean To Study? To study does not mean to simply reread material. It is an active process of working with and organizing what we learn into meaningful chunks that are easier to remember. There are many effective ways of doing this, but the most effective method of doing it varies depending on a person's own learning styles. To help students in identifying the best study habits for themselves, we will be learning and practicing different study methods in class. However, students must use these skills and methods, discover which ones work best for them, and continue to use them on their own both in the classroom and at home. How Can Parents Help? Parents can help greatly with the acquisition of these new skills by reinforcing the need to actively work with newly learned material (with study cards, graphic organizers, notebooks, memory aids, etc.). This reinforcement at home helps greatly because it is a repetition of what we are stressing in class. It also helps to discuss with your child what methods we have gone over in class and which of those methods they feel have given them the best results and which ones they feel help them the most. Actively thinking about what and how we learn makes us better, more active students, and allows us to own the learning process. |
Helpful Links To help parents and students find what habits/routines/methods work best, the following links provide hints and advice about studying and learning new material. 10 Habits of Highly Effective Students by Education Corner The Guide to 5th Grade by Scholastic 10 Good Study Habits to Help Your Child Succeed In the New School Year by Sylvan Learning Tips for Remembering from How To Study Test Taking Strategies, Skills, and Techniques Six Steps to Smarter Studying by Kids Health Discover Your Learning Style by Education Corner |