Tutoring

[LadyAberlin]

I will be tutoring a soon to be 4th grader this summer in reading math and writing. Does anyone have suggestions for what curriculum would be the best to use in a tutoring situation for those subjects?

Thanks

[Mommy2BeautifulGirls]

However, I am not planning on using a curriculum for it.

 

My neighbor said that the school her kids go to is offering a summer math packet to anyone who wants it for their kids. You might want to see if there is something like that available to the kid(s) you will be tutoring.

[LadyAberlin]

So what are you going to do for reading. Just have them read and then ask questions? I so used to using curriculum that I'm not sure whatto do. I normally tutor math, I'll check into those packets. Thanks

[SonshineLearner]

I don't have a curriculum for you, but if it were me doing this, I'd practice with flash cards.....every day few days...increasing the "families".... I'd also sing the skip counting for those families....

For reading, I'd start at the beginning.... I'd have them go through the different sounds...and teach some rules about when the vowels say their names...Put together the 3 and 4 letter phonograms...

Of course, this depends on how many hours you have...and what level they are at...

Carrie:-)

[Free Indeed]

I will be doing the same this year. For reading we are going through the Ordinary Parents Guide, and then doing tons of reading aloud. For math, I am using Singapore.

[Mommy2BeautifulGirls]

However, her comprehension is not very good and she does not particularly like to read things on her own. Her mother thinks that vocabulary might be the biggest part of why she does not have good comprehension or like to read.

 

I'm going to start by having her fill out a learning style profile. (That way I can help her find some other forms of reinforcing things she learns in school next year.) From there I'm going to try to figure out where her independent reading level is and try to find some books that she might like. I'm going through Best Books for Kids Who Think They Hate to Read right now and jotting down some that I think she might like. I will read them, too, so that I can work on her comprehension with her.

 

She also takes too many notes while in class and while reading nonfiction, so we're going to work on some simple outlining. I think I'll start out with WTM guidlines for 5th grade until she gets better at just picking out the one thing that is the most important. I'm hoping that we can progress enough in that department that she goes into 8th grade close to where she should be.

 

I also want to do some simple narrating exercises with her, like I do with my own daughter. Since she has probably not ever done it before, I figure I will just start out small with just a couple sentences and let her lead the way.

 

For the most part, it's going to be a "we'll see how it goes" kind of thing. But that's my basic goal list for you.

[SonshineLearner]

 

She also takes too many notes while in class and while reading nonfiction, so we're going to work on some simple outlining.

 

 

 

She might also like to learn outlining IEW style. It makes it easier to take your notes, process them, and develop your own work, instead of "copying". You don't write down whole sentences...you write down 3 or so words..per line on your outline. There's more to it...but that's a little bitty start:-)

 

Carrie

[LadyAberlin]

My oldest is 5 so I don't have alot of experience with this age. I've tutored a lot of highschoolers especially in math. I haven't met them yet but the mother has a very strong accent and is difficult to understand. I tutor 2nd and 5th grade kids who are from Nigeria right now and they are the ones that gave this lady my number so I wouldn't be surprised if this family is Nigerian as well. So I don't know if I'm dealing with language issues with the little girl yet or not. My other students I've used Singapore CWP and Key to... So I was looking at Key to for her as well and possibly CWP. I was also looking at Wordsmith Apprentice for writing and maybe select a book to read and I could get a guide to go long with that. My 5 yr old likes to listen to chapter books so hopefully I can pick one that he would like for me to read aloud as well. i might have to think about OPG or something if it really seems her phonics skills need work. Would something like ETC work for tutoring phonics?

[lgm]

For math, it would depend on the objective. Is the student missing concepts and wanting to solidify K-3 math, or is the student wanting to get ahead?

 

 

If it's solidification, I'd consider Houghton Mifflin for at-home practice sheets:

http://www.eduplace.com/math/mw/practice/lp_3.html along with word problems from Singapore and the child's state tests,

but I'd step through the major concepts with no curriculum, using whatever worked with the learning style. HM does have ELL sheets.

 

If the objective is getting ahead, I'd use Singapore Math starting where the placement test puts the child.

[LadyAberlin]

That site looks great. Thanks! I just spoke with her mom this morning and they have been in the states for about 4 or 5 months. They are Nigerian, but they have spent the last 5 yrs in Oman where the little girl attended a American/British international school. He mom said she is working just below grade level. She said that she is slow on math fact recall but if you ask her to write down the math facts she gets them 100%. I personally am not really concerned with that. I'm not the fastest when people ask me on the spot either. That was the way most of my calculus classmates were. It seems to be a common trait with those that end up being very good at higher level math. Is there anything to do other than flashcards to help work on a faster recall of the facts. She struggles with word problems so I will probably do singapore CWP with her. Does anyone know if school districts teach grammar? The mom didn't know what grammar was or nouns or pronouns and so she didn't know if it was taught. I'm going to try to contact the school district tomorrow.

[ElizabethB]

My oldest is 5 so I don't have alot of experience with this age. I've tutored a lot of highschoolers especially in math. I haven't met them yet but the mother has a very strong accent and is difficult to understand. I tutor 2nd and 5th grade kids who are from Nigeria right now and they are the ones that gave this lady my number so I wouldn't be surprised if this family is Nigerian as well. So I don't know if I'm dealing with language issues with the little girl yet or not. My other students I've used Singapore CWP and Key to... So I was looking at Key to for her as well and possibly CWP. I was also looking at Wordsmith Apprentice for writing and maybe select a book to read and I could get a guide to go long with that. My 5 yr old likes to listen to chapter books so hopefully I can pick one that he would like for me to read aloud as well. i might have to think about OPG or something if it really seems her phonics skills need work. Would something like ETC work for tutoring phonics?

 

I've found that Webster's Speller works best with ESL students, the accent pattern arrangement is so helpful for them.

 

The new guide I've written for working quickly through Blend Phonics to transition into Webster adds in syllables gently, making a nice transition.

 

It's linked from my tutoring page:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/howtotutor.html

[ElizabethB]

However, her comprehension is not very good and she does not particularly like to read things on her own. Her mother thinks that vocabulary might be the biggest part of why she does not have good comprehension or like to read.

 

 

While some of my remedial students read so poorly that their parents and the schools knew there was a phonics problem, most of my students were thought to have comprehension problems by their parents and/or the school.

 

I would give the MWIA to be sure there is not a hidden phonics problem. Give her the MWIA II. If she is reading the phonetic words more than 15% slower than the holistic words or misses any phonetic words (a well trained 1st grader should not miss any, actually) she needs some remedial phonics work and work on automating phonics and overcoming sight word habits with nonsense words.

 

Here's my test page with the MWIA:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/readinggradeleve.html

 

Also a page I wrote about why students trained with sight words don't like to read called "Why Johnny Doesn't Like to Read:"

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/aliterate.html

 

And a blog post by an inner city school teacher who also does remedial work about why she believes that most comprehension problems are decoding based, here's a quote from her post about how reading comprehension is tied to decoding problems:

 

I often hear teachers say they have students who are "great decoders" and "poor comprehenders." I decided to investigate this phenomenon. I waved some $50 bills at a teachers' meeting and offered $200 to anyone who could find such a student for me who was NOT clearly an ELL case or a student with cognitive challenges.

 

Her colleagues could not produce a single student!

[lgm]

He mom said she is working just below grade level. ...She said that she is slow on math fact recall but if you ask her to write down the math facts she gets them 100%.... Is there anything to do other than flashcards to help work on a faster recall of the facts..

 

I would interview her to see what she's thinking when she is asked a fact. At this age/grade, unclassified at/above grade level rising 4th graders should be using number bonds, doubling strategies, associative and communitive properties, factors, and showing understanding of what multiplication is, not skip counting, using finger tricks, recall of something rote memorized, or adding up from a known fact. If she's not quite there, she'll need a week per family on the strategies for that family. Also check her mental math with addition and subtraction..she needs to be fluent with double digit addition in order to get the upper levels of the multiplication tables in quickly.

 

 

To practice for speed, the best I've found is the card game war. Mom can slip a deck in her purse and they can play whenever they are waiting somewhere (three times a day, about 5 min each time worked for the two motivated students I tutored at this level). Shuffle, deal all cards. Each player turns over two and announces product. Kiddo should be thinking out loud when she sees her cards and start by saying the number sentence..2X2 is and supply the answer. If it's a higher one that she's using a strategy on, she should vocalize the strategy ...soon she'll get to the point where she doesn't need to and just knows it. Mom should be aware of the strategies and check dd on them, but be patient as the processing occurs. Start with a deck that has the cards for just the known facts and the fact family that she's working on.

 

Salute is also a fun card game.. takes two players and an audience. Shuffle, each player takes one card without looking. Still without looking, each holds their card up to their forehead and turns & faces the audience. Audience tells them the product of their two cards. Each player looks at the other and figures out what their own card must be. Keep card if successful, put in discard pile if not...winner has most cards at end of allotted time if a winner needs to be determined.

 

Does anyone know if school districts teach grammar?..

 

Yes, but what it taught in what grade depends on the district and state objectives. I go with the state objectives, since they'll be taking the state exams.

Edited June 8, 2009 by lgm

[Mommy2BeautifulGirls]

I would give the MWIA to be sure there is not a hidden phonics problem. Give her the MWIA II. If she is reading the phonetic words more than 15% slower than the holistic words or misses any phonetic words (a well trained 1st grader should not miss any, actually) she needs some remedial phonics work and work on automating phonics and overcoming sight word habits with nonsense words.

 

Here's my test page with the MWIA:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/readinggradeleve.html

 

 

Thank you so much! I'll give her that.