Transition Points: Helping Students Start, Change, and Move Through the Grades

NYU Child Study Center

Introduction

As children progress through different grades in school they face different challenges. In addition to changing academic and social demands, students also experience physical and emotional changes. Although children are continually engaged in the process of adapting to new challenges, educators and mental health professionals agree that there are certain critical transition points which can be particularly stressful and require special support and understanding. Parents and educators can help children cope effectively with their varied school experiences in a number of ways.

What particular transition times pose specific challenges?

Preschool:

• Physical and emotional challenges: For many children, preschool requires the first prolonged separation from parents and other individual caregivers. Children may also be required to sit quietly for short periods of time at a table and listen to directions.

• Social challenges: The group nature of preschool means toddlers must learn to share activities, supplies, and attention, and relate to new children.

• Academic challenges: Preschoolers develop their listening, attention and memory skills by learning the names of colors and shapes, listening to and telling stories.

Early elementary school:

• Physical and emotional challenges: The transition to the grade school years may require moving to a new building and a longer school day. Learning to be a student also becomes important, involving adjusting to the routine and structure of the school day and the development of a sense of responsibility for completion of assignments and homework. Students face more structured, objective rewards and consequences for their behaviors.

• Social challenges: In the early grades, children are still adjusting to a world outside the home. They form new friendships, learn about teamwork and may find themselves developing special interests and skills.

• Academic challenges: Mastery of the fundamentals needed for the rest of their school careers is required. Children acquire basicreading and math ability; they learn computational skills, how to read words and how to read for meaning. They are required to answer questions about who, what, and where, which gives them information about character, plot and setting.  

Upper elementary school:

• Physical and emotional challenges: In the upper elementary grades (grades 4 and 5) more independent functioning is required. Differences among students become more apparent with regard to abilities, and given the increased demands on all fronts, new problems may surface or existing ones may be more difficult to handle.

• Social challenges: Children have the opportunity to expandfriendships, to work cooperatively with others, make their own social arrangements, join social groups outside the family, and plan independent activities. Cliques may form and bullies may cause difficulties, although these difficulties may happen at any point.

• Academic challenges: The academic emphasis is no longer on the acquisition of basic skills. Children are expected to be able to use basic skills to acquire information and solve problems, to be competent in reading comprehension, written expression, and knowledge in content areas.   Middle school:
  
  • Physical and emotional challenges: Some communities define a specific period of time as middle school; the span can vary from 5-8th grade or 6-9th and usually entails moving to a new school building. Many children, as in New York City, change schools at 6th grade; independent schools may keep students in one location through 8th grade. The challenge to educators is to help children in these in-between years. Educators are responsive to the concern, for example, that 7th graders have very different needs than 4th graders, and additionally, the younger, newly entering students are unprepared to deal with pressures coming from the older students. During this time, the onset of puberty necessitates changes in the teen's perception of his or her body and feelings about those changes.
  • Social challenges: In changing schools, students may be separated from friends with whom they have gone through the lower grades. In addition, the social context changes from the often supportive and individualized setting of a single classroom with a single teacher. Students have to adapt to a social climate that is usually more impersonal as they rotate through departmentalized classes with a number of teachers with different teaching styles and expectations. Peer acceptance becomes critical at this age as do other social pressures such as religious ceremonies (confirmation, bar mitzvah, etc.).
  • Academic challenges: More independence is now required. Children need to master several unrelated classes and assignments and utilize organizational skills, perhaps maintaining a daily or weekly planner for the first time. The exposure to diverse content allows them to integrate information from one content area to another, such as reading a book for language arts that directly influences their thinking on a topic in social studies.  
  • High school:
    
    • Physical and emotional challenges: For most, the move to high school means a move to a new building, with a greater number of students, new teachers, a new principal, new expectations, and a new, more rigorous disciplinary system. In addition, the adolescent also has to cope with the developmental task of establishing independence from the family while at the same time maintaining family connections. At this stage of life, parents have less direct input into school activities and academic decisions.
    • Social challenges: Establishing new social connections, balancing work and social life, and, for some students, managing a part-time job, are some of the new demands faced by students entering high school. Pressure to experiment with or engage in alcohol, drug, and sexual activities is also often increased.
    • Academic challenges: Students are expected to have developed an assertive and efficient learning style, and good study and organizational skills. The transition into high school means entering into an academic environment which assumes that the student can take responsibility for decisions regarding academic tracks and course selection. The pressure of what to do after graduation and for many, college decisions, is also present.

How to help children through their school grades

Children have many milestones as they develop into young adults. These milestones sometimes pose physical, emotional, social, and academic challenges. Learn more by reading articles on specific challenges that transition times pose, what parents can do to help, and a developmental progress reference chart.

Introduction

As children progress through different grades in school they face different challenges. In addition to changing academic and social demands, students also experience physical and emotional changes. Although children are continually engaged in the process of adapting to new challenges, educators and mental health professionals agree that there are certain critical transition points which can be particularly stressful and require special support and understanding. Parents and educators can help children cope effectively with their varied school experiences in a number of ways.

What particular transition times pose specific challenges?

Preschool:

• Physical and emotional challenges: For many children, preschool requires the first prolonged separation from parents and other individual caregivers. Children may also be required to sit quietly for short periods of time at a table and listen to directions.

• Social challenges: The group nature of preschool means toddlers must learn to share activities, supplies, and attention, and relate to new children.

• Academic challenges: Preschoolers develop their listening, attention and memory skills by learning the names of colors and shapes, listening to and telling stories.
• Early elementary school:
  
  • Physical and emotional challenges: The transition to the grade school years may require moving to a new building and a longer school day. Learning to be a student also becomes important, involving adjusting to the routine and structure of the school day and the development of a sense of responsibility for completion of assignments and homework. Students face more structured, objective rewards and consequences for their behaviors.
  • Social challenges: In the early grades, children are still adjusting to a world outside the home. They form new friendships, learn about teamwork and may find themselves developing special interests and skills.
  • Academic challenges: Mastery of the fundamentals needed for the rest of their school careers is required. Children acquire basic reading and math ability; they learn computational skills, how to read words and how to read for meaning. They are required to answer questions about who, what, and where, which gives them information about character, plot and setting.  
  • Upper elementary school:
    
    • Physical and emotional challenges: In the upper elementary grades (grades 4 and 5) more independent functioning is required. Differences among students become more apparent with regard to abilities, and given the increased demands on all fronts, new problems may surface or existing ones may be more difficult to handle.
    • Social challenges: Children have the opportunity to expand friendships, to work cooperatively with others, make their own social arrangements, join social groups outside the family, and plan independent activities. Cliques may form and bullies may cause difficulties, although these difficulties may happen at any point.
    • Academic challenges: The academic emphasis is no longer on the acquisition ofbasic skills. Children are expected to be able to use basic skills to acquire information and solve problems, to be competent in reading comprehension, written expression, and knowledge in content areas.  

Reinforcing Writing Skills for Back to School

Kindergarten   Have your child draw a picture, then write a sentence telling about the picture. Help him write the sentence, or write it for him if needed. Then read it together.
Read a book together, then have your child draw a picture of what happened in the beginning, middle, and end. Guide her to write a sentence about each picture write about each picture, ask questions such as, “Why did you like watching the monkeys at the zoo? What did they do that was funny? What happened when the zookeeper gave them bananas?”
Second Grade   Help your child find a friend, relative, or even a neighbor to be a pen pal. Encourage him to write or email regularly. For a fun twist, have your child to imagine he is a favorite book or movie character. You can write letters to the character, and your child can write back responding as he thinks the character would. This is your big chance to ask Superman what it is like to fly, or find out how princesses walk without breaking their glass slippers.
Encourage your child to keep a journal to record the fun things he is doing while away from school. The journal can also include lists of books he read, movies he saw, places he went, and friends that visited. These lists are great story starters when your child wants to write a longer piece, but is having trouble deciding what to write about.
Third Grade    Going on vacation? Help your child research your destination, then write about what he wants to do or see there. For example, if planning a trip to Florida, your child might write about visiting a theme park, watching the sunset at the beach, and touring Thomas Edison’s home. Remind your child to include reasons explaining why he would like to do each thing on the list.
Chose a topic to write about, sit with your child, and write your own stories. Stop every few minutes and share what you have both written. Then, add more to the stories. When you read your story aloud, it models good writingfor your child, and sparks ideas that he can add to his own writing. Be sure to praise and encourage your child by saying, “That’s great! I had forgotten that Spot went swimming in the lake during our picnic. How about when Dad fell in trying to get him? I’m going to add that to my story, too.”
Fourth Grade
    National Board certified teacher Erika Acklin suggests, “Leave notes around the house on post-its. Have your child respond to the note with a note of their own. You can ask more personal questions that might be more difficult to discuss face to face.”
Have your child keep a vacation scrapbook where she can write the events of each day. Leave room to add postcards, photos, and other memorabilia once you return home.
Fifth Grade
    After a trip to the movie theater, have your child write a movie review, then share it with friends and family to persuade them to enjoy the same film. He can also write book reviews explaining why this was or was not a worthwhile read.
Help your child create a family newsletter. She can write articles telling about your weekend camp-out, her sister’s dance recital, and little brother’s progress in swimming lessons. Those book and movie reviews would be a great addition to the newsletter as well. Print and mail the letters to family and friends, or share them using email.
In addition to these activities, help your child become a better writer by making sure he reads every day. According to literature teacher Tara Barbieri, “Reading helps to build essential vocabulary, and students who read often are usually the best writers.”
Diane Milne taught elementary school for 12 years. She is currently a freelance writer and has worked with educational publishing companies such as The Learning Source, The Princeton Review, and Kaplan K-12.

Christmas Traditions Around The World 2015: How They Celebrate In Germany, France, Mexico And Other Nations

Christmas Traditions Around The World 2015: How They Celebrate In Germany, France, Mexico And Other Nations

nlike so many other holidays that are specific to individual countries — Thanksgiving in the United States, Bastille Day in France — Christmas is a tradition that can be seen across the globe, with children of many cultures waiting on the night of Dec. 24 for their own version of the fat man in the red suit. Christmas is celebrated both as a religious holiday, when Christians attend midnight masses and sing songs celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and a secular holiday, filled with rushed shopping and plenty of eggnog to go around, leaving a lot of room for a wide group of people to find their place around the holiday season.

While many symbols of Christmas are associated with the United States — Charlie Brown’s not-such-a-bad-little tree, Rudolph’s shiny red nose, running over someone in Toys “R” Us to get the last doll on the shelf — many Christmas traditions have their origins elsewhere, especially in Europe. These traditions have been modified, adapted or just plain ignored throughout the world.

Germany: The ultimate symbol of Christmas is, of course, the Christmas tree, which has its origins in Germany. Bringing evergreen trees inside during the winter had long been a winter tradition and by the 1820’s, the tradition had made its way to the United States by way of German immigrants in Pennsylvania.

In some homes across Germany, parents are known to decorate a specific room in the house for Christmas, but lock it up so the children of the home can’t see it, according to the BBC. The parents then ring a bell and the children are allowed to go in and see for the first time.

France: The French are known for their love of extended dinners of some of the world’s greatest dishes and Christmas is no different. The big dinner in France is actually held on Christmas Eve, and is known as Reveillon. The meal can last up to six hours, and is a sacred tradition around France. Great care is given to the decorations put on the long table, and the menus vary across France. While Parisians are known to dine on luxurious dishes such as oysters, foie gras and caviar, residents of Alsace and Burgundy take a route more familiar to Americans with a stuffed turkey often seen as the dinner centerpiece.

Ethiopia: Ethiopians actually celebrate Christmas later than December 25. Following the Julian calendar, Ethiopians host Christmas celebrations Jan. 7 each year, a day that typically starts with a fast, according to One.org. A church service is then followed by a feast quite different than what is typically seen in the United States. The meal involves stew and sourdough bread most of the time, and most families in Ethiopia actually don’t exchange gifts, but instead fill it with games and sports.

Argentina: Fireworks and balloons are at the center of it all during the Christmas celebration in Argentina. Children delight in the fireworks most of the time and at night, Argentineans are known to light the inside of paper lanterns and release them into the sky, speckling the South American night. Children in Argentina put their shoes out to get gifts in them. Some children have adopted this old tradition for modern times, placing their shoes beneath a Christmas tree instead. 

Mexico: Piñatas hold a special place in the Mexican consciousness during Christmastime. Piñatas can be filled with everything from wrapped candies to fruit, and are often shaped as the Star of Bethlehem, which helped the Biblical Magi to find Jesus on the night of his birth. “It’s not really Christmas time until I’m surrounded by hundreds of [star] piñatas,” Joshua Cruz, a third generation piñata maker in Mexico said to the Christian Science Monitor.

BY ADAM LIDGETT

Winter Solstice 2015: 5 Facts To Know About The First Day Of Winter

BY ELIZABETH WHITMAN @ELIZABETHWHITTY ON 12/20/15 AT 12:11 PM

The winter solstice is the shortest day and the longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Above, a reveler wearing a golden cape celebrates as the sun rises during the winter solstice at Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain in England Dec. 22, 2014.PHOTO: REUTERS/DYLAN MARTINEZ

Days before each Christmas comes the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the longest in the Southern Hemisphere. Here are five must-know facts about the solstice, why it occurs and its history.

1. When is the winter solstice? In 2015, the winter solstice arrives Monday at 11:48 p.m. EST. It represents the first day of winter. After the winter solstice, the days grow longer in the Northern Hemisphere and shorter in the Southern Hemisphere.

2. What is a solstice? A solstice is an astronomical event that happens when Earth's axis, which is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees, is at its maximum in leaning either toward and away from the sun. In contrast, an equinox occurs when Earth's axis is simply perpendicular to the rays of the sun. The following diagrams can help you visualize the difference:

Summer solstice is when the Earth reaches a point in its orbit when its axis is inclined toward the sun. See diagram.

On equinox days, Earth's axis is not inclined toward or away from the Sun (see diagram). 

3. What's the history of winter-solstice celebrations? Different cultures, peoples and societies have celebrated the winter solstice for thousands of years. The pagan holiday of Yule falls on the winter solstice, the Romans had a weeklong feast known as Saturnalia (named for the god Saturn), and the Celts threw parties and had animal sacrifices. Because the days of the year grow longer after the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, these celebrations were hopeful, marking the return of the sun.

4. Who celebrates it? Druids and Wiccans celebrate Yule by decorating their homes in red, green and white, by exchanging gifts, and by lighting Yule lights. Druids often mark the holiday by watching the sun rise at Stonehenge in England. Other celebrations are held at ancient sites elsewhere, such as Peru's Cerro del Gentil pyramid.

5. How many hours of daylight are there during the solstice? It varies. Alaska has about three hours 45 minutes of daylight, while the continental U.S. can see a range from fewer than 8 1/2 hours to more than 10 1/2 hours.

The History of Christmas tree

The evergreen fir tree has traditionally been used to celebrate winter festivals (pagan and Christian) for thousands of years. Pagans used branches of it to decorate their homes during the winter solstice, as it made them think of the spring to come. The Romans used Fir Trees to decorate their temples at the festival of Saturnalia. Christians use it as a sign of everlasting life with God.

Nobody is really sure when Fir trees were first used as Christmas trees. It probably began about 1000 years ago in Northern Europe. Many early Christmas Trees seem to have been hung upside down from the ceiling using chains (hung from chandeliers/lighting hooks).

Other early Christmas Trees, across many parts of northern Europe, were cherry or hawthorn plants (or a branch of the plant) that were put into pots and brought inside so they would hopefully flower at Christmas time. If you couldn't afford a real plant, people made pyramids of woods and they were decorated to look like a tree with paper, apples and candles. Sometimes they were carried around from house to house, rather than being displayed in a home.

It's possible that the wooden pyramid trees were meant to be like Paradise Trees. These were used in medieval German Mystery or Miracle Plays that were acted out in front of Churches on Christmas Eve. In early church calendars of saints, 24th December was Adam and Eve's day. The Paradise Tree represented the Garden of Eden. It was often paraded around the town before the play started, as a way of advertising the play. The plays told Bible stories to people who could not read.

The first documented use of a tree at Christmas and New Year celebrations is argued between the cities of Tallinn in Estonia and Riga in Latvia! Both claim that they had the first trees; Tallinn in 1441 and Riga in 1510. Both trees were put up by the 'Brotherhood of Blackheads' which was an association of local unmarried merchants, ship owners, and foreigners in Livonia (what is now Estonia and Latvia).

Little is known about either tree apart from that they were put in the town square, were dance around by the Brotherhood of Blackheads and were then set on fire. This is like the custom of the Yule Log.. The word used for the 'tree' could also mean a mast or pole, tree might have been like a 'Paradise Tree' or a tree-shaped wooden candelabra rather than a 'real' tree.

In the town square of Riga, the capital of Latvia, there is a plaque which is engraved with "The First New Year's Tree in Riga in 1510", in eight languages. You can find out more about the Riga Tree from this website: www.firstchristmastree.com

A picture from Germany in 1521 which shows a tree being paraded through the streets with a man riding a horse behind it. The man is dressed a bishop, possibly representing St. Nicholas.

In 1584, the historian Balthasar Russow wrote about a tradition, in Riga, of a decorated fir tree in the market square where the young men “went with a flock of maidens and women, first sang and danced there and then set the tree aflame”. There's a record of a small tree in Breman, Germany from 1570. It is described as a tree decorated with "apples, nuts, dates, pretzels and paper flowers". It was displayed in a 'guild-house' (the meeting place for a society of business men in the city).

The first first person to bring a Christmas Tree into a house, in the way we know it today, may have been the 16th century German preacher Martin Luther. A story is told that, one night before Christmas, he was walking through the forest and looked up to see the stars shining through the tree branches. It was so beautiful, that he went home and told his children that it reminded him of Jesus, who left the stars of heaven to come to earth at Christmas. Some people say this is the same tree as the 'Riga' tree, but it isn't! The Riga tree originally took place a few decades earlier. Northern Germany and Latvia are neighbors.

Another story says that St. Boniface of Crediton (a village in Devon, UK) left England and travelled to Germany to preach to the pagan German tribes and convert them to Christianity. He is said to have come across a group of pagans about to sacrifice a young boy while worshipping an oak tree. In anger, and to stop the sacrifice, St. Boniface is said to have cut down the oak tree and, to his amazement, a young fir tree sprang up from the roots of the oak tree. St. Boniface took this as a sign of the Christian faith and his followers decorated the tree with candles so that St. Boniface could preach to the pagans at night.

There is another legend, from Germany, about how the Christmas Tree came into being, it goes:

Once on a cold Christmas Eve night, a forester and his family were in their cottage gathered round the fire to keep warm. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. When the forester opened the door, he found a poor little boy standing on the door step, lost and alone. The forester welcomed him into his house and the family fed and washed him and put him to bed in the youngest sons own bed (he had to share with his brother that night!). The next morning, Christmas Morning, the family were woken up by a choir of angels, and the poor little boy had turned into Jesus, the Christ Child. The Christ Child went into the front garden of the cottage and broke a branch off a Fir tree and gave it to the family as a present to say thank you for looking after him. So ever since them, people have remembered that night by bringing a Christmas Tree into their homes!

In Germany, the first Christmas Trees were decorated with edible things, such as gingerbread and gold covered apples. Then glass makers made special small ornaments similar to some of the decorations used today. In 1605 an unknown German wrote: "At Christmas they set up fir trees in the parlours of Strasbourg and hang thereon roses cut out of many-coloured paper, apples, wafers, gold foil, sweets, etc."

At first, a figure of the Baby Jesus was put on the top of the tree. Over time it changed to an angel/fairy that told the shepherds about Jesus, or a star like the Wise Men saw.

The first Christmas Trees came to Britain sometime in the 1830s. They became very popular in 1841, when Prince Albert (Queen Victoria's German husband) had a Christmas Tree set up in Windsor Castle. In 1848, drawing of "The Queen's Christmas tree at Windsor Castle" was published in the Illustrated London News. The drawing was republished in Godey's Lady's Book, Philadelphia in December 1850 (but they removed the Queen's crown and Prince Albert's moustache to make it look 'American'!).

The publication of the drawing helped Christmas Trees become popular in the UK and USA.

In Victorian times, the tree would have been decorated with candles to represent stars. In many parts of Europe, candles are still used to decorate Christmas trees.

Tinsel was also created in Germany, were it was originally made from thin strips of beaten silver. But when plastic/man made tinsel was invented, it became very popular as it was much cheaper than real silver and also lighter to go on the tree!

One legend says that the Christ Child first made tinsel by turning spider's webs into silver after taking pity on a poor family that couldn't afford any decorations for their Christmas Tree!

Because of the danger of fire, in 1895 Ralph Morris, an American telephonist, invented the first electric Christmas lights, similar to the ones we use today.

In 1885 a hospital in Chicago burned down because of candles on a Christmas Tree! And in 1908 insurance companies in the USA tried to get a law made that would ban candles from being used on Christmas Trees because of the many fires they had caused! So we have to say a big thank you to Ralph Morris for making Christmas safer!

The most lights lit at the same time on a Christmas tree is 194,672 and was done by Kiwanis Malmedy / Haute Fagnes Belgium in Malmedy, Belgium, on 10 December 2010!

Many towns and villages have their own Christmas Trees. One of the most famous is the tree in Trafalgar Square in London, England, which is given to the UK by Norway every year as a 'thank you' present for the help the UK gave Norway in World War II. The White House in the USA has had a big tree on the front lawn since the 1920s.

The record for the most Christmas trees chopped down in two minutes is 27 and belongs to Erin Lavoie from the USA. She set the record on 19th December 2008 on the set of Guinness World Records: Die GroBten Weltrekorde in Germany.

Artificial Christmas Trees really started becoming popular in the early 20th century. In the Edwardian period Christmas Trees made from colored ostrich feathers were popular at 'fashionable' parties. Around 1900 there was even a short fashion for white trees - so if you thought colored trees are a new invention they're not! Over the years artificial tress have been made from feathers, papier mâché, metal, glass, and many different types of plastic (I've got a couple of inflatable trees!).

The tallest artificial Christmas tree was 52m (170.6ft) high and was covered in green PVC leaves!. It was called the 'Peace Tree' and was designed by Grupo Sonae Distribuição Brasil and was displayed in Moinhos de Vento Park, Porto Alegre, Brazil from 1st December 2001 until 6th January 2002.

In many countries, different trees are used as Christmas trees. In New Zealand a tree called the 'Pohutakawa' that has red flowers is sometimes used and in India, Banana or Mango trees are sometimes decorated.

You can decorate an online Christmas Tree in the fun section of the site!

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