Pregnancy
Common Questions about the Fourth Grade
by Vito Perrone
Here are the answers to parents' most frequently asked questions about fourth grade:
Q: How much time should my child spend on homework each night? Q: Should my child be using a computer? Q: When should my child begin studying a foreign language? What's the right size for my child's class? Parents have an intuitive sense that the class should be small during the earliest years of school, from kindergarten through third grade. But class size is also very important in the fourth through sixth grades. Ideally, a fourth-grade classroom should have fewer than 22 children, although 22 to 25 is an acceptable size. Class size should be designed to allow plenty of individual attention. The more attention the teacher can give to each child, and the more experiences the teacher can help each child have, the better. As class size goes beyond 25 students, the potential for individual interaction decreases considerably. How much time should my child spend on homework each night? Most teachers do not assign much formal homework during the early years, but some homework could be useful, especially if it's interesting, goes beyond the daily school activities, and is aimed at deepening your child's understanding of what is being studied. A good homework assignment, prompted by a powerful question, might ask the student to interpret, synthesize, or reconstruct something (an idea or problem). Homework assignments in the fourth grade might include: A fourth-grader might also be expected to complete some mathematics problems or to collect specimens of water from various sources -- household faucets, ponds, puddles, and rain-- for a science experiment. But fourth- graders should not have homework that takes more than 60 minutes. If your child's assignments regularly exceed this limit--or if there's no homework--ask to speak with her teacher. Should my child use a computer? Many children today use computers at home at age five or six, and a growing number of schools have installed computers in primary-grade classrooms. Much can be done with computers, especially in word processing, mathematics, and problem-solving exercises. And some of the programs now available give children access to large museums and artistic collections as well as to various archives and their documents. In addition, some video games -- especially those that emphasize problem-solving -- could be used in the classroom. By fourth grade, children should be far along in their ability to use the computer for a variety of purposes. More on: Your Fourth Grader Q: What's the right size for my child's class?
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