Yesterday, just before our quick quiz a fifth grader expressed concern. "Mrs. Choi, I feel a lot of stress around quick quizzes. I was wondering if we could not take quick quizzes any more or if we could have longer time to do the quick quizzes."
The short answer is no. No, we can't avoid stressful situations. We need to develop strategies that help us tackle daunting challenges. We must place ourselves in situations where we become frustrated so that we learn how to manage our frustration in order to persevere and work hard.
I suspect that some fifth graders are anxious about being away from home when we go away on the farm trip. One way to help fifth graders cope with this stress is to do practice farm trips. Maybe your fifth grader's practice farm trip is sleeping over at a friend's house.
If your fifth grader is stressed about going on the farm trip, consider practice farm trips with other families in our community. Maybe there is a group sleepover or just a couple of students at a sleepover. You can make it as tongue in cheek as you like; I find fifth graders appreciate the over-the-top role playing that might come up in such a rehearsal.
