Supporting Student Success: Academic Guidance for Parents, Families, Caretakers, and Communities (Third through Fifth Grade)

Supporting student learning is a shared effort between caregivers and educators. Many things can influence how students develop, learn, and perform in school. A strong support system can make a meaningful difference in their success. This guide provides ideas and questions to help strengthen the connection between home and school, helping students receive the support they need to thrive. To get the most from this resource, think about how the suggestions fit into your daily routines and conversations. These prompts can spark meaningful discussions with your child and their teachers.

About This Guide and the Colorado Academic Standards

This guide was developed by academic content specialists at the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) with input from CDE’s Office of Family, Community, and School Partnerships, CDE’s Office of Migrant Education Program, and other family and student advocacy groups.

The Colorado Academic Standards and Essential Skills provide educators with a road map to help students find success in college, careers, and life. The essential skills, as outlined in Colorado law, include creativity, problem solving, social and cultural awareness, civic engagement, character and leadership, and the use of technology to gather, evaluate, and communicate information. The best place to learn about what your child is learning is from your child’s teacher and school. The standards are written for professional educators and your child’s teacher can help you understand what the standards mean for your student. In Colorado, teachers and schools make decisions about the materials, methods, and courses used to help your student reach the goals described by the standards.

If you want to learn more about Colorado’s standards and access other guides, contact the academic content specialists in CDE’s Office of Standards and Instructional Support.

Arts

The visual and performing arts standards reflect the knowledge and creativity required to produce a work of art. Students are expected to study art in different forms, such as dance, theatre, music, and visual arts, and participate in each by creating, performing, and presenting art while responding to the art of others and making connections between works of art and the world around them.

Ways You Can Help Your Student at Home

Students in grades 3-5 are surrounded by art in the videos they watch, the music they hear, and the play that they experience with friends and family. Helping your child grow as an artist can be as simple as helping them see art in their everyday world and encouraging them to sing along, draw pictures, and act out stories. Here are some suggestions for helping your child create, enjoy, and perform art:

• Practice different drawing techniques like shading, perspective, and proportions.
• Combine different materials to create collages or textured artwork.
• Take pictures of small figures or objects in slightly different positions.
• Take a trip to a local art museum or explore virtual tours of famous museums online.
• Watch live music or theater performances at a local venue or enjoy street performers in your community.
• Use different objects and materials around the house to create sounds.
• Write a simple song together with lyrics and a melody. 
• Use your smartphone or tablet to film a short movie. 
• Find and learn a simple dance routine online or create your own. 
• Act out different words, phrases, or characters using only movement and facial expressions. 
• Watch videos of musical performances together and talk about what you hear.

Tips for Successful Communication

You can help your student succeed by communicating openly with them and their teachers. Here are some suggestions.

Humanities

The standards in the humanities promote effective communication and understanding diverse perspectives. The content areas of reading, writing, and communicating, social studies, and world languages are essential in a well-rounded education that develops skills like using language, problem solving, civic engagement, and cultural awareness.

Ways You Can Help Your Student at Home

Students in grades 3-5 strengthen their reading and thinking skills through humanities. Students learn about communities and cultures, studying history, geography, language, and what it means to be part of a community. They continue to build language skills, connect ideas across subjects, and expand their understanding of different ways of life. Here are some ways you can help your student explore the humanities at home:

• Create a book about countries in the world with images and captions describing their languages, people, famous landmarks, and more.
• Find a recipe and make a shopping list with words and images of ingredients for a traditional dish from another culture.
• Identify places/areas in Colorado that are significant to Indigenous peoples.
• Encourage your student to research a topic. Encourage them to ask questions like what, when, where, why, and how to explore more. 
• Ask questions and suggest thinking about where the answer might be found.
• Build vocabulary through game play, watching movies or documentaries, reading to them and/or having them read to you, while riding in the car, or shopping for items.
• Set aside time for you and your student to write about real or fictional experiences.
• Develop a habit of summarizing stories, episodes from their favorite TV program, a scene from a movie or video, and/or conversations you have had with them.
• Write letters, emails, and thank you notes which include grade-level vocabulary and exhibit correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation. 
• Listen to audio books of familiar stories in another language.

Tips for Successful Communication

You can help your student succeed by communicating openly with them and their teachers. Here are some suggestions.

STEM

The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) standards emphasize the importance of real-world applications, critical thinking, and problem-solving. Computer science focuses on computational thinking, systems, programming, and societal impact. People use mathematics to reason with numbers and shapes and their representations to make sense of their world. Science is a process that is used to address real world problems and make people’s lives better by applying authentic science and engineering practice.

Ways You Can Help Your Student at Home

Students in grades 3-5 make connections between different subjects as they refine their skills by working with algorithms, analyzing data, and exploring technologies. They focus on key operations to tackle challenges and engage in hands-on investigations that deepen their understanding of natural phenomena and systems. This integrated approach shows how problem-solving in one area often relies on concepts from another, helping students apply their knowledge to real-world scenarios. Here are some suggestions for helping your student engage in STEM:

• Cook with your student and let them help measure ingredients.
• Divide chores into small steps to make cleaning easier for your student.
• Ask “How do you know that?” to help your student think more deeply. 
• Provide time to play with toys or items they can use to build/create.
• Talk about different jobs and how the skills they’re learning now could be useful in the future.
• When there’s a problem, give your student time to come up with different ways to solve it. 
• Guide your student to ask questions about things they are curious about.
• Name the science that your student is engaging in while you are completing everyday activities such as cooking, cleaning, organizing objects by their properties, etc.

Tips for Successful Communication

You can help your student succeed by communicating openly with them and their teachers. Here are some suggestions.

Wellness

The wellness standards promote holistic well-being by focusing on personal health, financial literacy, and physical education. The health standards emphasize emotional, social, and physical health, while personal financial literacy teaches students about money management and decision-making. Physical education (PE) promotes healthy lifestyles, physical literacy, and personal responsibility. Together, these standards help students develop essential skills for navigating today’s world and leading healthy, fulfilling lives.

Ways You Can Help Your Student at Home

Students in grades 3-5 explore setting wellness goals and ways to improve or maintain physical, social, emotional, or financial health. They learn problem-solving, decision-making, financial habits, and effective communication skills while engaging in conversations about body changes, healthy relationships, and ways to earn and save money. Here are some suggestions for helping your student engage in wellness:

• Set a goal and create a plan around one aspect of your physical, social, emotional, or financial wellness.
• Talk about different aspects of wellbeing or wellness.
• Write a list of five things you can do to help your mind and body relax and practice two of them.
• Model and discuss thoughtful decision making and reasoning behind decisions.
• Talk about the changes their body will go through as they grow. 
• Ask your student to share ways they communicated with or connected with someone at school that day. 
• Help identify ways to earn money (for example: chores, making and selling a product, etc.).
• Open a bank account with your student. Make a short-term savings goal with your student and make a plan on how to reach it.
• Discuss trade-off decisions with your student by using real-life examples, such as: “If we buy this cereal, then we can’t buy the waffles,” or “If you save this money now, you’ll have more choices later.”
• Participate in movement or physical activity with your student and discuss how they felt before, during, and after the physical activity.
• Create an indoor or outdoor obstacle course and move through it using various movements.
• Discuss and participate in dances or sports that are part of your community and discuss what makes each unique.
• Establish healthy habits for physical activity such as tracking the amount of time spent exercising daily.

Tips for Successful Communication

You can help your student succeed by communicating openly with them and their teachers. Here are some suggestions.