3rd

5th Observation Guide

Physical Development
3rd grade (8 year olds)
o Pencil grasp same as adults
o Full of energy
o Do things in a hurry
o Need physical release through time to
play outdoors
o Somewhat awkward
o Visually focus well on near and far objects
o Can copy from the board
o Often experience a growth spurt
o Restless
o Love group games on playground
o Play hard and tire quickly
Physical Development Strategies
o If not able to grasp a pencil properly, may
still need a pencil grip to correct their
grasp
o Provide short exercise and play breaks to
help concentration
o Lead whole class games such as tag and
soccer since 8 year olds gravitate toward
same-gender activities

4th grade (9 year olds)

o Overtly tight pencil grasp
o Better coordinated
o Like to push physical limits
o Tire easily
o Complain about aches, pains, injuries
o May twist hair, bite nails or purse lips to
relieve tension
o Able to copy from board, recopy
assignments and produce beautiful drafts
o Have trouble staying within boundaries
o Boys love to roughhouse/tumble/wrestle
o Restless, cant sit still for long

5th grade (10 year olds)

o Desperately need outdoor time and
physical challenge
o Rapidly growing bodies, large muscles
developing quickly
o Able to focus on board and close-up work
o Enjoy tracing and copying
o Ready to use compasses, protractors,
rulers and templates
o Muscles for jumping, running and other
big movements developing quickly

o Provide practice with a variety of fine

motor tools and tasks (weaving, knitting,
carving, drawing)
o Build frequent movement into activities
o Structure lessons that balance sitting and
listening with active participation
o Alternate quiet times of focused,
individual work (such as reading
workshop) with more active hands-on
periods (such as a science lesson)

o Snacks and rest periods benefit their

rapidly growing bodies
o Provide fine motor practice like making
maps and drawing cartoons
o Provide plenty of practice time with new
tools like protractors and compasses
o Extra recess and play time are a must
o Provide opportunities for group games,
relays, group initiatives, class outings,
ropes courses, clubs, team sports and
other organized activities

Comments:

Cognitive Development
3rd grade (8 year olds)
o Limited attention span, but become
engrossed with activity at hand
o Industrious, impatient
o Full of ideas
o Work quickly and take on more than can
handle/have trouble knowing limits
o Can use math manipulatives to explain
thinking and problem solving in concrete
ways
o Begin to master handwriting, handcrafts,
computers and drawing
o Enjoy responsibility, but do not always
successfully complete tasks
o Product and process matter
o Usually organize work well
o Show interest in rules, logic, how things
work, natural world, and classification
o Can handle increasingly complex tasks,
but tire easily
o May give up but soon want to try again
Solve math problems using all four
operations

4th grade (9 year olds)

o Industrious
o Serious
o Intellectually curious
o Less imaginative than at 8
o Beginning to see bigger world
(fairness/justice)
o Able to manage more than one concept at
a time
o Trouble understanding abstractions
(large numbers, long periods of time, vast
space)
o Show more interest in details
o Often ask, Why do we have to do this?
o Look hard for explanations of facts or why
things happen the way they do
o Work extensively with word problems
o Compute with money, begin to learn
about decimals
o Practice multiplication tables
Care very much about final product

5th grade (10 year olds)

o Good at memorizing facts
o More able to think abstractly
o Enjoy rules and logic
o Good at solving problems
o Enjoy collecting, classifying, and
organizing
o Can concentrate for long periods
o Highly productive with schoolwork
o Conscientious with homework
o Pay close attention to form, structure,
directions and organized activities
o Love geography (state capitals), world
records, facts abut sports and TV, and
activities requiring memory skills

Cognitive Development Strategies

o Provide geometric solids, math counters,
rulers, balance scales and other
manipulatives
o More short assignments rather than a few
long ones
o Allow students to study fractions by
measuring, weighing and doing some
paper and pencil tasks
o Provide opportunities to explore
geometric patterns constructed with
pencil and paper
o Use games as a way to practice math
strategies
o Provide strategies for cutting down work
into bite size pieces
o Homework assignments under 30
minutes long and limited in scope and
expectation



Comments:

o Provide homework related specifically to

the next days work
o Provide many opportunities to practice
test-taking before state testing
o Model and role-play to defuse test anxiety
o Provide a lightness in classroom to
balance the seriousness of nines
o Establish daily routines and schedules
o Model expectations

o Allow for work on collections and science

and math projects
o Use choral reading, singing, poetry and
plays
o Breaks are essential to allow students to
bounce back from fatigue and do more
school work
o Teach about ways of organizing the world
(phylum and genus, attributes to describe
different phenomena)

Language and Literacy Development

3rd grade (8 year olds)
o Like to talk and explain ideas
o Begin to read independently an doing
simple independent assignments
o Use rapidly expanding vocabularies
o Tend to exaggerate
o Listen well, but have so many ideas they
may not always remember what theyve
heard
o Can learn cursive
o Love to practice handwriting, but often
produce sloppy work
o Write lengthy stories with more
descriptive language
o Tend to provide too much detail
o Beginning to understand importance of
making drafts and revising
o Ready to learn compound words,
dictionary use and alphabetical order

4th grade (9 year olds)

o Love descriptive language, word play, and
new vocabulary
o Sometimes revert to baby talk
o Enjoy exaggeration, dirty jokes, graffiti
o Can master cursive
o Reading to learn
o Explore poetry seriously
o Develop dictionary skills
o Frequent episodes of writers block
o Ready for emphasis on revision process
o Ability to absorb teaching about
descriptive writing, character
development, plot, cohesiveness and
believability
o Fewer mistakes with spelling, ready for
weekly spelling tests
o Master basic capitalization and
punctuation

5th grade (10 year olds)

o Listen well
o Voracious readers
o Expressive, talkative
o Like to explain things
o Can pay attention to spelling, dictation,
and penmanship at once, but may be
sloppy while learning to integrate all
o Enjoy reading independently
o Enjoy comic books
o Ready to write lengthy chapter books,
longer poems, first research paper
o More use of dialogue and humor
o Enjoy learning how to spell difficult
words
o Fluent cursive
o Master multiplication table
o Do double digit division
o Solve word problems

Language and Literacy Development Strategies

o Group work keyed to ability level and
o Reading groups
interests
o Provide assignments with beginning
o Design projects to spur childrens interest
research tasks and use of related reading
in reading and to let them show
material
comprehension
o Read-aloud, take volunteers
o Read lengthier chapter books with more
advanced themes to students

Comments:

o Trade books centered on themes

o Indulge in students desires to devour
books
o More independent reading and fewer
book projects
o Provide opportunities for students to
work extensively with decimals/fractions

Self-concept, Identity, and Motivation Development

3rd grade (8 year olds)
4th grade (9 year olds)
o Adjust well to change
o Complain about hurt feelings
o Bounce back quickly from mistakes or
o More individualistic
disappointments
o Often worried or anxious
o Want approval from teachers and peers
o Impatient
o Like class projects/traditions that build a o Very self-critical
sense of unity
o Need teachers sense of lightness and fun
o More interested in fairness issues and
to relax
may argue about them
o Tend to give up on tasks/fragile sense of
o Enjoy stories that concern fairness and
competence
justice

o Enjoy studying other cultures
o Feel a strong sense of inferiority when
accomplishments dont come quickly


Self-concept, Identity, and Motivation Development Strategies
o Drafts of work as well as beautiful,
o Be patient and clear when giving
finished work should be displayed so kids
directions or setting expectations
see range of effort required to reach
o Encourage students to try tasks theyve
mastery
given up on again
o Have students graph or chart their
o Laugh with students
progress in certain areas
o Provide redirection and encouragement

Comments:

5th grade (10 year olds)

o Take pride in school work
o Happy and flexible
o Satisfied with own abilities
o Enjoy being noticed and rewarded for
efforts
o Quick tempers, but problems usually
quickly and easily solved

o Use noticing language

o Education about the human body, sex,
childbirth and child rearing (according to
curriculum policy) can be more effective
now, before self-consciousness about
bodies kicks in

Peer Relations and Moral Development

3rd grade (8 year olds)
o Love to socialize
o Enjoy sharing humor
o Love group activities and cooperative
work
o Prefer working/playing with peers of
same gender
o Form larger friendship groups
o Want peer approval
o Work best in groups at tables or pushed-
together desks

4th grade (9 year olds)

o Complain about fairness issues
o Critical of others
o Sullen, moody, aloof, and negative
o Like to work with partner of their choice,
usually same gender
o May begin to form cliques
o Can work in groups but may spend more
time arguing than working
o Like to negotiate
o Development of peer importance and
group solidarity

5th grade (10 year olds)

o Enjoy family, peers, and teachers;
generally content
o Friendly, quick to anger and to forgive
o Work well in groups; enjoy cooperative
and competitive activities
o Enjoy clubs, activities, team sports
o Usually truthful
o Developing more mature sense of right
and wrong
o Highly sensitive to and able to resolve
questions of fairness/social issues
o Eager to reach out to others
o Can help elevens and twelves in
cooperative pursuits

Peer Relations and Moral Development Strategies
o Change groups frequently throughout the o Club activities
o Group activity, whole group cohesion,
year
o Emphasize cooperation over competition
and collaborative learning


o Teach peer mediation and conflict
resolution
o Provide social interaction practice with
teams, groups, games and competitions
o Help students reach out to others through
tutoring younger children or other
community service

Comments: