Some specific things that you can do to help your child include:
- Check your child’s planner and backpack now and then. The planner should
be filled out for every subject every day, and the backpack should be neat
and only contain items that must come to school.
- There should be no loose papers in a backpack or binder. Every paper has
a specific place.
- Check the teachers’ web sites regularly, especially if your child has not
been bringing any homework home.
- Ask your child on a DAILY basis for papers that have been sent home from
school. Communications from the teacher, school or district are not sent
home according to a schedule. At the beginning of the year, there are
papers being sent home each day.
- Encourage your child to have study buddies (a peer with whom he/she can
study)
- college and high school students are expected to challenge and assist each
other, and this is a good habit to start now.
- Read the Weekly Cupertino Middle School Bear Bulletin.
- Stay in contact with your child's teachers: email, notes, phone calls.
- Give your child a quiet, distraction-free study area and a regular study
schedule.
Needs and Characteristics of Young Adolescents
Young adolescents:
* Experience irregular growth spurts in physical development.
* Experience fluctuations in basal metabolism causing restlessness and
listlessness.
* Have ravenous appetites.
* Mature at varying rates of speed.
* Highly disturbed by body changes.
* Are highly curious.
* Prefer active over passive learning experiences.
* Relate to real-life problems and situations.
* Are egocentric.
* Develop the ability to analyze complex thought processes.
* Are often erratic and inconsistent in behavior.
* Are highly sensitive to criticism.
* Are moody, restless, and self-conscious.
* Are optimistic and hopeful.
* Are searching for identity and acceptance from peers.
* Are rebellious toward parents and authority figures.
* Are confused/frightened by new school/social settings.
* Are fiercely loyal to peer group values.
* Are often aggressive and argumentative.
* Need frequent affirmation of love from adults.
* Are idealistic.
* Have a strong sense of fairness.
* Are reflective and introspective in thoughts and feelings.
* Confront moral and ethical questions head on.
* Ask large, ambiguous questions about the meaning of life.
From Advisory Middle Grades Advisee/Advisor Program by Imogene
Forte and Sandra Schurr.
