How can you tell if your child is ready for kindergarten? What is the social scene like in each grade? How do you get an answer to the question, What did you do in school today? How much homework should your kids really have? In What Really Happens in School, parenting expert Ann LaForge answers all these questions and more, relaying the most up-to-date information on what kids do in school and how they develop year by year. Replete with first-person accounts from teachers and parents, this comprehensive guide shows parents how children develop in each grade from kindergarten through grade five.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Imagine how stressful and overwhelming it would be to switch jobs every year. That's what it feels like for your elementary school student who tackles different tasks and expectations with each new grade. Fortunately, author and parenting expert Ann La Forge knows how to help your child through these annual transitions and hurdles. Offering advice from teachers, principals, school psychologists, and parents, La Forge's brightly written guidebook, What Really Happens in School, is destined to become a dog-eared classic.
Chapter by chapter, grade by grade, La Forge explains what the most important subject is for each grade and why (such as learning to read for first graders and getting organized for fourth graders). She offers grade-specific tips for helping children with homework. Thankfully, La Forge also emphasizes the emotional and social tasks of each grade, letting parents know what to expect and how to help children develop healthy relationships. In her final section, La Forge offers endearing anecdotes and sage advice, such as how to set up a homework station, get your child prepared each day, talk with a teacher, and bring math into everyday life. She even addresses the greatest challenge of all: how to get your child to tell you what really happens in school. --Gail Hudson
From Publishers Weekly
LaForge (Eating: Win the Food Wars; Tantrums: Secrets to Calming the Storm) delivers what so many parents need. From the introduction onward, she hammers home the message that parents must make the commitment to be involved in their children's schooling. Set up for easy browsing, the book consists of 40-page chapters on each grade from kindergarten through five, discussing in detail such subjects as what children are like, what they should know and what to expect both in the classroom and on the social scene. LaForge uses ample illustrations from her own experience as a mother of three as well as from other parents and a host of nationwide educators. Readers in need of quick answers can turn to the chapter titled "All Grades: The Ten Best Ways to Help Your Child Succeed in School." Number one is to "encourage reading in any way you can," and LaForge offers concrete suggestions on how to do so based on children's ages and developmental milestones. A short chapter on "Special Concerns" gives pointers on dealing with giftedness, learning disabilities and a child's refusal to go to school. Lists of resource organizations, books and articles make this thoroughly argued volume even more serviceable.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Required reading for all parents of school-age kids.,
This review is from: What Really Happens in School: A Guide to Your Child's Emotional, Social, and Intellectual Development, Grades K-5 (Paperback)
While I have read many parenting articles and several books since my eldest child was born seven years ago, I've not found any material as valuable as this book. LaForge provides a very accurate (based on my experiences to date) picture of what kids learn in grades K through 5, as well as an on-target portrayal of how they act and what their concerns are. The balance of parent and expert comments is perfect and the way the book is structured makes it very reader-friendly. This was well worth the investment and I know it will be a help as my sons move through the school system.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A good overview of elementary education today,
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This review is from: What Really Happens in School: A Guide to Your Child's Emotional, Social, and Intellectual Development, Grades K-5 (Paperback)
As the father of a three-and-a-half year old daughter, I became curious about what awaited her in a little over a year to come. Having been a child myself, don't you know, I thought it would all seem familiar, especially since I'd taught reading classes to elementary school kids for several years. I have to admit I was more than a little surprised and shocked at the changes that have taken place since I was in elementary school in the late sixties and early seventies. My overall impression is that teachers are pushing the kids way too far, and way too fast. When I read that some fifth-grade teachers are actually requiring 5-12 page research papers, I knew something was wrong. As a reading teacher, I was also dismayed at the intense push to begin reading in kindergarten, at a time when many children's brains are simply physically incapable of reading. We need to go back to starting in first grade when almost all kids are mentally ready, and then just reinforce basic skills and the joy of reading with passionate intensity for the first three years. However, none of that has to do with the quality of this book; indeed, Ann Laforge has simply alerted me to make my own preparations for how my daughter, and my unborn son, will deal with elementary school as it is being taught today. I'm very glad I read this book, if only for the fact that it woke me up to how much parenting itself has changed since I was a kid: I still can't help but laugh whenever I hear the phrase "play date"; I realize that we often don't live in the old neighborhoods jammed full of kids, but when did it become necessary to schedule our kids' playtime, for pity's sake? All this obsession with pushing and pushing our kids into regimented activities just scares the hell out of me. On the other hand, parents who provide no guidance or structure at all scare me even more. LaForge provides a guide to the middle ground of moderation, and I'm grateful.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good basic resource for parents...,
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This review is from: What Really Happens in School: A Guide to Your Child's Emotional, Social, and Intellectual Development, Grades K-5 (Paperback)
This book, while not filled with new and ground-breaking information, does provide parents with important information about what lies ahead for their children during their elementary school years.As a mother of two children in this age group, I have done a lot of work discovering on my own much of the information in this book. I only wish someone had given me this book when my eldest turned three! So for me, some of this information was redundant, but for a new parent this would be a great gift. The book is organized well, with each grade having its own chapter. Each chapter includes an overview of the grade, a description of a typical child of that particular year, what each year should know when entering school, what will typically be covered during that year, the most important subject that year, and so on. Most importantly, the book gives a parent an idea of what to expect, within the limits of regional and school-type boundaries, from a given year. All in all this book is worth having, especially for those whose children are making the transition from home or preschool to more formal education.
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