Can you recommend good website for grade 6 student?

[dora96]

Hi all,

   My son is having problem with his writing, writing essays, report, story, and program. He doesn't seem to know what to write. Even though, his teacher gives him a subject. He has problem to get the fact, detail or idea within limited time. I think his problem is his limitation on vocabulary, using imaginative sentence to give variation or make topic interesting.
 

    If you guys are still in the school, or school teachers, could you help us? If you know where to  find free worksheet to download maths, IQ test,  writing exercise, students' homework sample. Anything at all makes study interesting and encouraging. It will be great. 

[lostinidlewonder]

I use to tutor English and found most students are smart enough for it but simply do not know how to question what they read. They do not know how to interpret what they read in different ways, often they simply take things at face value and do not know how to "read into" the meanings behind the text.

They need to make a connection as to how reading something has an effect them emotionally or make them think about something in particular. They have to know what causes them to think this way or what would cause someone else to think this way. It can be a lot to ask of a little yr 6 student who is still developing emotionally.

It would be good to always ask, Why does this make you feel a particular way? Try to get them to read into texts, discover hidden meanings and be able to make logical reasons as to why the text they read causes them to think this way. They should also try to imagine what someone else might think.

Certain understanding of techniques used to construct texts that they need to develop such as Characters, Setting, Plot, Themes, Symbolism etc etc should be understood, as well they should develop some undertanding of words such as: contrast, marginalized, stereotype, ideology etc, these things are common terms used to analyse texts or any other type of media.

[dora96]

Hi Lostinidlewonder,

Your reply is very interesting. I only think that my kids learn something all these years at school. Surely they should be able to write something decent, they have their spelling test each week from year one to year 6, from simple word ( fat, rat, pat, bat) to more complicated word ( extremely, experience, excitement, existence). How much  they have absorbed, and how often they can apply or retrieve that knowledge or vocabulary to their writing. His English grammar is poor. He write a story, starting off once a upon time, using the past tense and suddenly he will use the present tense in the sentence. He is very confused

You state that their interpretation on what they read is taking at the face value and do not know how to dig deeper beyond the text. If my son is reading something funny or something interesting, he can retain his attention. At the moment, he is reading Mascot Madness! by Andy Griffiths. I don't know anything about this book, I presume something stupid and silly. However, if I ask him to read the newspaper. He is not always interested in knowing what is going on with world. He finds that extremely boring. Sadly I can't be very much help to him. I come from non  English speaking country. I find that I also have the same problem like my son, but he is born in Australia, speak and learn English. I think to express something is not always easy, if we don't have the habit of reading and writing all time. 

You said you used to tutor English, could you share your method to guild this young boy? If you he is your student now, what should you do to make writing interesting ?

[db05]

Hello,

at first I thought this topic was about Grade 6 piano, which I haven't reached yet. So it is grade 6 in school? Well, I am a college-level student who dropped out of school! 

Is his problem only in English, or does it include maths or even IQ? Even if it's only English, I don't believe someone who comes from an English speaking country cannot write about anything.

At that age, I was pretty good at maths and grammar but found it hard to construct sentences and paragraphs. I had to admit, either my tutor or my mom would do my sentences and essays throughout most of grade school! But I could write poetry, if I were in the mood. Grammar aside, let him find topics and genres that interest him. Unlike grammar, this cannot be taught in school, and I believe it is compounded when someone else chooses the topic for him. School teaches some things, but the children's interests vary, so it depends highly on the individual which information is retained. Throughout my school life, nobody really taught me how to study, only what to study.

My view is that things like grammar, maths and science are learned in school, but literature, arts and history are mostly learned elsewhere (at home, usually). What I mean is that the theory of things are either taught well in school, or not. If not, the best thing is to get a tutor to clear things up. But the application depends on the individual.

This is only my opinion, but for now I think you should dump the concept of "study" entirely. He is still very young! Let him have fun, reading and writing what he likes. Teach him how to make a journal where he could write anything he wants to, and then correct the grammar or spelling. I hate reading newspapers, too. Why not stories set in different countries or periods? Or watch a show/ movie and then talk about it. There are many ways... I don't know about websites (it's too recent lol), but I grew up watching my older brother play video games (particularly New Horizons) and learned a lot about English, Geography and Math. Most all story-based RPGs have money and stats in it, so there is always math and english at the very least.

Hope this helps!

[lostinidlewonder]

I remember in primary school I was quite bad at English, spelling, grammar etc. My teachers advice to me was to practice writing, so I wrote a book. I started writing it from grade 6 through to grade 12, it ended up being over 900+ pages long! It is still very interesting for me to read the fantasy story because I can see how my english improved along the way.

The best way to improve writing is to practice it. Just like piano, the best way to improve is not to read about it but to actually do it. Write short stories to start with, perhaps get him to write about his own life and family, or his favorite things. You should encourage him to be detailed in what he writes, that requires that you read his writing and then question what he wrote for him to encourage him to question his own writing and thus make improvements. It is the ability to question what is written that makes a good english student, of course as well as the basic grammar, spelling and structure of sentences/paragraphs etc.

I used poems to help with interpretation and reading "secret" meanings of text. Because poems are almost like the music of language it encourages us to find a personal connection with what we are reading, it encourages us to envisage things very fast. Poetry can be read at face value but often that is very dry and boring, if we can see deeper into the text we appreciate it more.

There is no right or wrong when it comes to reading into texts. There is only you trying to prove yourself, to lay out the evidence. With my english students I use to always say, "I don't believe you, you haven't convinced me that what you say here is true, you cannot expect me just to trust you." This encourages them to elaborate and try to persuade the reader of their work with evidence and a logic.

But as a primary student I would really aim to get them to be able to spell good, construct sentences and be able to read well. Writing essays, constructive critique of works and interpretations of texts usally is developed in highschool. The no 1 advice I can give is to get him to practice writing every day, even if what is written sounds bad don't worry. Simply write without trying to improve what you do. Your first draft should always be simply writing and not thinking about how to improve what you write. Then get him to go back and try to improve what he writes, that might require you to prompt questions with what is written. Don't give answers in English just ask questions constantly, that helps a lot more than simply telling them. Sometimes your questioning must go extremely close to an answer if the student cannot work it out, but you find eventually you questioning can become more vague and they do things more on their own.

Get to know the texts that interest your son, then you can try to encourage him to question why particular things interest him. Why does he find things funny, perhaps ask him has he ever seen that happen in real life before. Ask him what he would feel if it happened to himself or someone else. You can perhaps ask him to write something about the funniest things he has ever seen and why it effected him so much.

You should try to get him to critique anything he sees on television (movies, ads, news etc) or the newspaper. Not to take things at face value, perhaps he can realize that sometimes media aims to promote a certain value and attitude that may not necessarily be the "truth".

[dora96]

Wow you guys are so cool!. You see, I haven't been studying for a long time, left school at age of 18. However, I went back to TAFE when I was in the middle 20's working and studying at night. I am still playing and studying the piano. It makes me realize that playing piano is not just playing the music, but also able to write program note, study plans for students. Recently change a new piano teacher, she asks me to do the teaching diploma exam. It will better for me to make a teaching career, plus if I have the qualification extra money to further my study and my financial situation since I have so many mouths to feed.

Anyway, one thing is really freaking me out is written approx. 1800 to 2200 words of essay for teaching. I can see my son is facing the same situation. writing is not always easy, but last night, he said he loved writing, he had a quite good idea and imagination. He admitted that spelling is most his stumbling block. If he couldn't spell at the beginning of the paragraph, he would get so frustrated, and gave it up. To cut long story short. He wrote this last night. I just want to know you guys' opinion. He is in grade 6.

A silly story

Have you heard of the extremely silly boy? His name is very long and very stupid. His short first name is Fred and he lives in a tiny town called Fishing Hall in the middle of a big lake called Fishing Hall Lake
 
The house right at the very west of the town is Fred's house. The house is tiny and he shares it with his mum, dad and four brothers. Sadly he has no friends at all. He went to a school with very poor education. The other boys of school like nothing more than teasing Fred. He is so used to it that he feel lonely if they aren't teasing him but that will never happen. The worst of the boys is Billy Mcteaser, he will never leaves Fred alone even when at his house. He will be at the window teasing him. He likes school because he loves to learn but he can't remember anything.

One day after school, he saw everyone standing outside his house looking out over the lake at something in the distance. It was a big ferocious sea dragon! The other boys saw their chance to get of Fred forever, so they picked him up and threw him into the sea dragon. It swallowed him immediately. Then the sea dragon suddenly blew up, shooting Fred onto the small street outside his house.

To answer that question, you would have to go back a couple of hours early to lunch time at his really bad school. He had a foul chilly sandwich which he hated chilly so much. He put it in his pocket, when the sea dragon ate it screamed in pain.That's how Fred the unltra stupid boy became a hero.

This story has been edited for wrong spelling and punctuation , but the story idea and structure are original as he writes. Is it year 6 student will normally write this?

Thanks

[db05]

This is a very cool story! It starts with a question, has some descriptions, comedy, mystery, and a flashback toward the end. Very cinematic. I would make illustrations if I were him. I would do a few corrections:

A silly story

Have you heard of the extremely silly boy? His name is very long and very stupid. (Why not mention his complete name here for kicks?) His shortened first name is Fred. He lives in a tiny town called Fishing Hall in the middle of a big lake called Fishing Hall Lake
 
The house right at the very west of the town is Fred's house. It is tiny and he shares it with his mum, dad and four brothers. Sadly, he has no friends at all. He went to a school with very poor quality of education. The other boys at school like nothing more than teasing Fred. (The 2 last sentences show deep choice of words, imo.) He is so used to it that he feels lonely if they aren't teasing him, but that will never happen. The worst of the boys is Billy Mcteaser, he never leaves Fred alone even when at his house. He would be at the window teasing him. He likes school because he loves to learn but he can't remember anything. (Who? Billy or Fred?)

One day after school, he saw everyone standing outside his house looking out over the lake at something in the distance. It was a big, ferocious sea dragon! The other boys saw their chance to get rid of Fred forever, so they picked him up and threw him into the sea dragon. It swallowed him immediately. Then the sea dragon suddenly blew up, shooting Fred onto the small street outside his house.

Why did the sea dragon blow up? (Did the dragon blow up, or did he blow out the boy?) To answer that question, you would have to go back a couple of hours early, to lunch time at his really bad school. He had a foul chili sandwich, which he hated so much. He put it in his pocket, and when the sea dragon ate him, it tasted the sandwich and screamed in pain. That's how Fred the ultra stupid boy became a hero.

[dora96]

Hi dbos,

Thank you for giving your opinion, and taking time and effort to correct his work. It is very valuable to me as a mum. I also showed my son that someone in the cyder space reading his story. I am glad that it has put back his confident a bit and also it inspires me that how to approach his young kids again.

It is hard because when I was young, studying was totally different from nowadays. The technology changes, human interaction changes, the world also continues changing. I think you and my son are right comedy always will win the heart of the people. I think I am taking it too seriously.   He loves learning but I still think he is not taking too seriously. When should a kid start thinking  about his future, making goal for his life , what should he do?  I know some kids are very clear and ambitious about their lives, but mines are still day dreamer if they can.

I feel very frustrated sometimes, as parents give the best to my kids, but not always appreciated. The more I give the more misunderstanding, conflict and distance. The most common conflict. They said " I don't need your help" but they don't know how to deal with the homework". The more they said " I don't need help , the more desperate they are.   Maybe you can give me some advice how to communicate with my son more effectively. Especially, when I ask him to do his homework and present it in a reasonable manner.

[db05]

You're welcome. 

I'm afraid I'm not qualified to answer the rest of your questions. If I were, I wouldn't have my own problem with schooling, even when I'm studying music part-time. I am considered intelligent, but I have struggling since grade school. I don't know what's going to happen in the future, and i just stopped hoping for too much.

The problem with being a parent is that you automatically are the child's first "teacher". But the good thing is you love him, and (should) know better than anyone.

[momopi]

It is hard because when I was young, studying was totally different from nowadays. The technology changes, human interaction changes, the world also continues changing. I think you and my son are right comedy always will win the heart of the people. I think I am taking it too seriously.   He loves learning but I still think he is not taking too seriously. When should a kid start thinking  about his future, making goal for his life , what should he do?  I know some kids are very clear and ambitious about their lives, but mines are still day dreamer if they can.

I'm in my early to mid-20s (finishing uni  ) and even I myself notice changes in the educational system.

I think a lot of kids are too stressed. Schools are teaching too many things so that kids can pass exams (entrance exams, proficiency exams, aptitude exams, IQ tests etc). They -and we as well- are having information overload. We are forced to learn things we don't need just to pass certain exams that measures our worth.

But that's the way the system goes. We cannot just change it - esp if we don't hold some position of power and authority. I read your kid's work. I think he's okay. Maybe he needs to be more relaxed. Help him feel good about learning instead of feeling pressured. Sometimes, family creates the most academic pressure - at least in third world Asian countries where parents expect you to be the next breadwinner.

If he does well, praise him well. If he does not, just smile and tell him you'll help him understand and do schoolwork better.

Aside from websites, you can also find very engaging books and educational materials that you can use even when away from the computer.

I'm happy you are so concerned about your child. I hope you two will have a great family relationship.