Teacher Peas: 5th grade help needed!

I was terrified to teach in 5th grade. I had started in preschool, then went to 1st grade, then 5th.

I LOVED IT!!! 5th graders want their teacher to like them too. They just need to you show that you care in a little different way than the 1st and 2nd graders. Greet them at the door each morning, individually. Check-in with them. Establish classroom rules with the students and explain your reasoning. Then stick to them.

As for books, my 5th graders (hell, my high schoolers) loved for me to read aloud to them. They loved the short picture books. Skippy Jon Jones was a huge hit with the 5th graders. We also read The Pagemster, read and did a lesson with Miss Ellanous... ack it has been 9 years since I taught 5th grade so I am drawing a blank.

Remember that while they are too cool to do some things, they still like doing others. Give them a chance to do them without feeling silly.

Good luck! I loved 5th graders

I taught 1, 3, 4, 5, & 6th. Fifth grade is by far my favorite. If they are the oldest grade in the school, they can be more challenging than if it is a k-6 or a k-8 school though.

My favorite educational books were The First 100 days by Harry Wong and Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov. One is for organization and the other is for instruction. As with all grades, the most import thing you do starting the first day is build relationships. On that first day, you will have a couple of kids who will try to establish dominance. Don't let them do it. I would just say that they aren't allowed to do that and if they do it again, and then I would say the consequence. You just need to be one step ahead of them at all times. Make sure you know in your head what you will do. If you falter with a class of thirty ten and eleven year olds, they see it as a weakness and will try it over and over.

I kept a list of names in my desk and chose two each day. I made sure that I made connections with those two kids beyond the normal teaching day. After three weeks, I knew I had made a strong contact with each one. Older kids respond better to you if they know you care about them, and it is so easy to spend too much of your time with high achievers and naughty kids. (Those nice, middle of the road kids really can get left out.)

The Pagemaster was a book I read starting the first day of class. I loved the characters and gave voices to each one. The kids always loved it too.

Public speaking should be started by now if it hasn't already. Give your kids short poems to memorize every three or four weeks and present them to the class. No opting out. Sometimes your low kids are great public speakers and this is a great element for them to shine. I started with fun Jack Prelutsky and Shel Silverstein poems and we worked up to Casey at the Bat, Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, and Jabberwocky.

Have fun, get to know them, and take no prisoners.

I cannot stress this enough for all teachers.

5th grade was the year my son's school required a planner. I was so excited he was going to learn about this valuable skill. However, that never happened. They never discussed it. I tried to, but knew if the teacher had pushed it he would have put in an effort. None of the 5th graders used their planners.

So, I'm wondering if the age is right for this and if so, can there be a way to help and encourage them to learn this skill.

I did encourage my son every year to try to get on board with planning, but I never saw much success. He is getting ready to go off to college, and he recently asked me to try again to help him with this. I was thrilled. He had all of the unused planners I tried to push on him. The one that ended up making the most sense to him was a teacher style one that had a weekly spread broken down by subject. I've got my fingers crossed that he will follow thru.

ETA Congratulations on your new job. Hopefully having a job in place will make you even more excited about your new life path.

New age groups are always scary. I hope you find that you love 5th grade. Don't let the rumors of all the teachers quitting - sometimes it just happens that way... and you get a brand new crop of 5th graders not the ones from last year anyway.

I’ve taught 4th, 5th, and 6th. I love the older kids. I currently teach 6th grade math.

Are you departmentalized or self-contained? 5th grade is a pretty stressful year for students in Texas since it’s an SSI year and kids “have” to pass the math and reading STAAR and they take science for the first time too.

I suggest you read up on Restorative Practices, specifically circles. I’ve been doing circles weekly in my 6th grade math classroom and have seen such a great change in my kids, my relationships with them, and my discipline. My school is beginning Capturing Kids Hearts which is focused on relationship building. I like to use circles to get to know kids but also teach them to deal with the stresses they face. They would be a great way for your 5th graders to work through the stress of the year.

If you are teaching math, you must read Mathematical Mindset by Jo Boler. She also has a great website you can check out. She seriously changed the way I teach in so many ways.

If you are teaching math and want some more specific ideas, please feel free to message me.

Good luck!

Now that's a great idea! I'm going to file it away in my "ideas" notebook for the next time a teacher leaves me bad plans. Or worse, no plans. 

I love the idea of a class president for a week but please make sure that it doesn't become a popularity contest in who gets chosen. My dd's 6th grade teacher had a citizenship program where kids voted for the monthly winners (I think 3 kids per month, but not positive) which was supposed to be based on certain citizenship criteria. It was a big deal to be chosen. Parents of the chosen kids came for the announcement and parents were encouraged to take their child out to lunch that day. Each child could only be chosen once and the teacher listed who had not been chosen on the board when it was time to vote. I think the kids had to write something nice the child did when nominating someone for the award because the teacher read those things when giving out the certificates.

It was a nice thing in theory, but it ended up with the popular kids winning at the beginning of the year, with less popular kids voted as it went on, and only 3 kids not getting to win. I volunteered a lot and happened to be there for the final one and I'll never forget the look on those 3 faces when the last parents came in for the awards and their parents were not there. They were never chosen and the year was up. Afterward the teacher commented to me that he knew those 3 kids were never voted to win and he kind of shrugged it off as a life lesson for them to be kinder in the future. I realize not everyone wins things and if more kids had not been chosen it might not have been so hard. I knew those kids well and they were not bad kids, more impulsive, which they had difficulty controlling, but I think they probably worked harder each day than the other kids that things came easily to and it would have meant so much more to those kids to be chosen than most of the other kids. My dd probably doesn't remember when she was chosen, but I know she would have remembered not being chosen and it would have put a big shadow over the whole year.

Perhaps the teacher chooses based on something special she sees the child doing or a name is drawn or the kids can write how a classmate helped them with something and the teacher picks from those....

I hope you have a wonderful year!

that teacher was an asshole.
Take the number of kids divide it by the number of weeks, buffet in a couple for transfers and you make sure everybody gets picked.

I'd rather the teacher and/or students doing an "I caught you".
Have students and the teacher write different good things they catch their classmates doing and then the teacher picks a couple a week.
I caught you...
Sharing supplies
Smiling when you came in
Pick up a piece of trash
Answer a question
Draw a good picture

It allows for all different kinds of talents, efforts, and behaviors to be recognized

We used planners for our fifth graders for the last 20 years.  We put it up on the screen for the kids to copy.  Whether or not they finished and turned in the assignment or not, we all wrote it down.  They had a place to check if it was already turned in.  A few kids who didn't do their homework had to have it signed, but most kids didn't.  Our kids started using planners in third grade, so by fifth grade it was just same ol.  Yes, a ten year old can handle this task.  It can take some extra work if it is the first year, but it is such an easy thing for a fifth grader to copy what the teacher wrote on the doc camera.

Many thanks to you too 950nancy.

cindytred I know the ELA teachers at my school and my DH who teaches high school English all love the book The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller. DH is doing a book study on it this summer and my ELA partner read it a few years ago and sung its praises.