Want to do some preparation for the upcoming school year? Check out these tips and concepts to help prepare your child for success.
These skills were identified based on the Georgia Standards of Excellence. These are only suggestions and students will not be expected to know all of this information at the start of the school year. Teachers will meet students where they are and move them towards more growth.
English Language Arts
With parent/caregiver support…
Read independently and expressively grade level text
Identify main idea and key details of a literary text
Distinguish own point of view separate from the narrator’s, characters’, and author’s point of view
Write narrative, opinion and informative pieces that are well-developed and organized with a clear beginning, middle and end
Use and explain the purpose of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs
Ensure that subjects and verbs agree and that pronouns and their antecedents agree
Use correct punctuation and capitalization in writing and spelling patterns and rules when writing
Understand vocabulary used for figurative language
Compare and contrast themes, settings, and plots of stories
Use information from illustrations to understand the text
Compare and contrast most important points and details in two texts on the same topic
Mathematics
With parent/caregiver support…
Create and solve addition and subtraction problems within 1000. Ask what strategies they use to solve the problem.
Fluently multiply and divide within 100
Solve two-step word problems using all the four operations
Sort shapes into different categories by attribute
Solve real world and mathematical problems involving the perimeter of polygons
Tell and write time to the nearest minute
Measure elapsed time intervals in minutes
Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of time intervals in minutes
Practice measuring items to the nearest 1/2 and 1/4 inch
Measure and estimate weight and volume of different objects
Science
With parent/caregiver support…
Describe physical attributes and properties of rocks and types of soils
Explains how water and/or wind have made changes to soil and/or rocks over time
Describes what conditions are needed to form fossils and interprets how fossils help explain past organisms and environments
Uses tools (ex: thermometers) to demonstrate the warming effects of sunlight on various materials
Identifies and differentiates between plants, animals, and habitats found within geographic regions of Georgia
Collects information about sources and effects of pollution on plants and animals
Communicates solutions such as conservation of resources and recycling of materials to protect living things
Social Studies
With parent/caregiver support…
Describes the three branches of national government and the three branches of state government and explains the main responsibility of each branch
Explains the necessity of respecting the rights of others, promoting the common good, obeying reasonable laws, and the importance of participating in public life
Explains government provides certain types of goods and services and pays for these through taxes
Locates major rivers and mountain chains of the United States on a map
Locates and describes the equator, prime meridian and lines of latitude and longitude on a globe
Locates the regions where American Indians settled in North America; compares ow America Indian cultures used their environment; explains why America Indians lived where they did; describes modern America Indian contributions to art and literature
Describes the reasons for the exploration of North America; describes the accomplishments of John Cabo, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, Hernando de Soto, Christopher Columbus, Henry Hudson, and Jacques Cartier; describes how explorers adapted (or failed to adapt) to their environments; describes cooperation and conflict between European explorers and American Indians
Identifies why the New England, Mid-Atlantic and Southern colonies were founded; compares and contrasts life in each of those colonial regions; describes colonial life from a variety of different perspectives including large landowners, farmers, artisans, women, children, indentured servants, enslaved persons, and America Indians
Defines and gives examples of the four types of productive resources (natural, human, capital, and entrepreneurship)
Gives examples of interdependence of consumers and producers
Wellness
With parent/caregiver support…
Recognize unsafe practices and situations
Works cooperatively with peers to solve problems and conflicts
Understands personal and general space
Demonstrates the ability to travel in different pathways, speeds, and levels
Describes the positive relationships and feelings when participating in physical activity
Understands how moderate and vigorous physical activity affect the body (heart rate, breathing, etc.)
Accepts and respects differences in abilities in self and others.
Print and Play Activities
Additionally, here are some standards-based math learning games parents can print and play with their children.
Using a deck of cards, here’s an activity you can play at home to reinforce computational fluency and mental math.
Multiplication Flip: Start by removing the face cards (king, queen, etc) from the deck. In this game, use the value/number on the card. Aces have a value of one. Then, divide the cards evenly among 2 players. At the count of 3, each player flips over the top card in his/her deck. The first one to multiply the 2 numbers correctly and share the product wins the cards. The player with the most cards wins. You can play an addition and subtraction version also. In the addition version, on the count of 3, each player flips over 2 cards to create a 2 digit number. The two sets of two-digit numbers must be mentally added together. In the subtraction version, on the count of 3, each player flips over 2 cards to create a 2 digit number. The smaller two-digit number of the two sets of numbers must be mentally subtracted from the larger number.