In order to earn that trust, your fifth grader will have to step up and be able to accept responsibility for his mistakes, become a little more dependable and start understanding that that “fair” doesn’t always mean equal. There are a number of cognitive skills that will help your child stay in the game, including the ability to argue more logically and with more poise. This is a great skill for more expansive writing. Your child may also be beginning to see multiple sides to an issue, giving her a better opportunity to come up with multiple hypotheses for science projects. Their abstract thinking skills are also improving just as they need to be able to at more complicated types of math like algebraic concepts and long division. This year, your child should be able to begin the more complicated task of completing an activity that requires both physical and cognitive concentration. (For instance, reading music and playing an instrument or remembering and performing a specific play in football.) He will also begin to incorporate feedback, both internal and external, into his movement patterns in smaller ways than before.
