Hardest school year in elementary school?

[Anonymous]

My kid is seriously struggling with the work load in 5th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here.

My child's currently breezing through second grade, but PPs have made me worry. When does the school expect your child to have learned multiplication tables?
Do they even assign multiplication/division homework to practice?

In my kids' school, there was a big push for kids to learn multiplication facts by the end of 3rd grade and division by 4th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think for younger boys in the year, the hardest grade is 1st. Its a huge leap from K in terms of what is expected in terms of handwriting, reading, math concepts. Its a steep learning curve.

Yes, the classes get progressively harder in 3rd and 5th but in terms of contrast, its definitely between K and 1st.

I find this very try for my son, who has a Sept birthday.

[Anonymous]

K, by far. Coming from a play-based school with three outdoor recesses to having to sit still all day long and do worksheets and write "stories" was a huge transition. The teacher didn't have a single nice thing to say about DS. The later years, as the academics became more interesting and the students get more freedom and aren't herded around the school like cattle telling them to keep their hands to themselves, were much better.

[Anonymous]

K-more structured than pre-K, new school and new friends
1-new concepts, new responsibilities
3-new concepts, more responsibilities, more homework
5-bridge into middle school means everything is more

It’s just the way it is. Your child adjusts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here.

My child's currently breezing through second grade, but PPs have made me worry. When does the school expect your child to have learned multiplication tables?
Do they even assign multiplication/division homework to practice?

In my kids' school, there was a big push for kids to learn multiplication facts by the end of 3rd grade and division by 4th grade.

Many do them concurrently in third.

[Anonymous]

3rd. Teachers in our school said it was a marker on wether your kid was going to do well in their school career. We just thought it was a lot of work and are happy we got thru it. She is killing it in 5th, and I think its because of all the growing she did in 3rd.

[Anonymous]

For my kids it was 2nd grade. The room they were both in had horrible acoustics and the teacher was a screamer. For academics, we are still waiting for a hard year. Even the transition to MS has been a breeze.

[Anonymous]

It’s very teacher/school dependent.

At our school, everything is stepped up in 4th grade. The HW load is bigger, the expectations higher, the content more complex. Major social studies tests, lots of vocab work, regular essay writing and reports. The math is not overly difficult, but the other aspects of the curriculum make it a challenging year for students. 5th grade builds on 4th grade.

The hardest year for my youngest child was first and second because she was still a baby at heart and had a hard time adjusting.

[Anonymous]

Third grade for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which are the harder school years, such as amount of work given, difficulty of concepts to learn, etc?

thanks

None. Didn't start getting hard until middle school. My youngest is in 3rd, but so far so good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:K, by far. Coming from a play-based school with three outdoor recesses to having to sit still all day long and do worksheets and write "stories" was a huge transition. The teacher didn't have a single nice thing to say about DS. The later years, as the academics became more interesting and the students get more freedom and aren't herded around the school like cattle telling them to keep their hands to themselves, were much better.

These K responses make me feel better. My young Ker has been struggling. It's just a lot of for a little kid. She can already read pretty well, so I am not concerned about academics, but K expectations have her totally stressed out. It is a huge jump from her play based pre-K. If later grades are even more stressful, we're in trouble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:K, by far. Coming from a play-based school with three outdoor recesses to having to sit still all day long and do worksheets and write "stories" was a huge transition. The teacher didn't have a single nice thing to say about DS. The later years, as the academics became more interesting and the students get more freedom and aren't herded around the school like cattle telling them to keep their hands to themselves, were much better.

These K responses make me feel better. My young Ker has been struggling. It's just a lot of for a little kid. She can already read pretty well, so I am not concerned about academics, but K expectations have her totally stressed out. It is a huge jump from her play based pre-K. If later grades are even more stressful, we're in trouble.

We are having the same experience. And my daughter has nothing specifically bad to say about the school or her teachers. She seems very happy and well liked by her friends. Her teacher basically said she’s the perfect student. But some mornings she just doesn’t want to go. I heard her tell 2-year-old DS this morning that she hates school and it is the worst school ever. But I honestly just think she misses being home and is tired when she wakes up, and the thought of that long day ahead is just daunting. She always has a huge smile when I pick her up. I wish half-days were still a thing. I really do think as she gets older and they learn more content, plus as she needs less sleep and can have a little more time between getting home, eating, and getting ready for bed, things will improve.

[Anonymous]

Sixth for us. Teachers say they are getting them ready for middle school...so homework has tripled.

[Anonymous]

defiantly 4th grade with all the projects