18 posts tagged with Education
Most 5th graders memorize PEMDAS in a day. The trick that drops scores on state tests isn't the rule — it's nested parentheses, brackets, and braces. Here's how to teach the nesting so it sticks.
5th graders meet volume for the first time. The standards expect students to BOTH count unit cubes AND apply V = l × w × h. The bridge between the two is where most teaching fails. Here's how to build it.
4th graders learn long division procedurally and then lose half the word-problem points because they don't know what to DO with the remainder. Three rules — keep, drop, round up — cover every state test item.
5th graders are expected to fluently add, subtract, multiply, and divide both fractions and decimals. Two specific misconceptions cause most of the lost points on state tests. Here's what they are and how to fix them.
Part A / Part B questions trip up strong readers more than they should. The reason isn't comprehension — it's that students answer Part B without re-checking against their Part A answer. Here's the habit that fixes it.
3rd graders confuse main idea with supporting detail more than any other reading-comprehension mistake. The 'whole passage test' is a one-question habit that fixes it.
4th graders meet algebraic thinking for the first time through multi-step word problems with variables. The biggest gap is between word-problem reading and equation writing. Here's the habit that closes it.
4th graders meet large numbers and rounding for the first time at the same time. Here's the one underlying rule — the times-ten relationship from 4.NBT.A.1 — that makes everything else in the unit click.
5th grade figurative-language tests don't check every device equally. Here's the six that come up most often, the most-missed category, and the in-context practice habit that lifts every score.
State tests at 5th grade score narrative writing on four dimensions, not one. Here's what each dimension is really asking for — and the 5-minute pre-writing habit that pulls every dimension up at once.
Part A / Part B questions are the format 4th graders meet most often on state tests, and the format they trip up on most. Here's why the two-step structure feels harder than it is — and the explicit teaching move that fixes it.
3rd graders consistently get elapsed-time word problems wrong by counting tick marks instead of measuring spaces. Here's the 3-box method that fixes it permanently, plus a free first-look at a 40-problem practice packet.
Past perfect, present perfect, future perfect — every 5th grader on a state test will see them, and most don't really get the difference. Here's the time-line method that teaches all three in 20 minutes.
3rd graders learn division with remainders, then meet a state-test question about cars-needed-for-students and don't know to round up. Here's how to teach the 'real-world remainder' move so they get it right every time.
4th grade ELA tests check comma usage on a small, predictable set of patterns. Here are the four rules students actually need to know — and the one (commas with introductory phrases) that students miss most often.
Fractions on a number line is the single hardest skill on most 5th grade state tests. Here's why students get it wrong, the three diagnostic patterns to look for, and ready-to-print practice that targets the exact misconceptions.
Everything you need to know to start a profitable tutoring business in 2026. From niche selection and legal setup to marketing strategies and scaling tips for education entrepreneurs.
How tutoring centers and private tutors should structure their websites to earn parent trust, rank for local searches, and turn visitors into enrolled students.