Wee Pip Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Once they hit about 5th gr, it seems the fill in the blank style questions get harder, and more dependent on going back through the text to find the answers. Dd is not adjusting well to this. I noticed that she struggled with BJU science because of this, and I grew weary so we dropped it. We took up Time 4 Learning for the past 2 months. She spent about 2 weeks going through one of the chapters for social studies, took the test yesterday and tanked. 48%. I told her to go back through the text (mind you, its a lot of text to go through), which she didn't do. She hastily took the test again and got 45%. She doesn't care at.all. (This is my hard to motivate child). I'm not sure how to help her. I'm thinking about just pulling texts off of the internet, finding some questions for her and then telling her to go thru the texts with a highlighter to find the answers. Would this be helpful? Is there another way to help with the fill in the blank issues? I have to admit; I'm having trouble finding the answers, too - but I'm not the student, I have a baby to manage, and I'm just skimming the text in an effort to help her. I've also been thinking very seriously about ditching all fill in the blank type curric and just focusing on writing summaries (we are sorta behind on writing, too). But I know she is going to need to know how to pull info from text as a real life skill, and the texts she'll need to pull from are just going to get harder and harder (high school and college - eek!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LindaOz Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Maybe it would help to give her a general idea of where in the text an answer is (I know, it requires pre-reading for you....:tongue_smilie:) so that she is not too daunted by having to reread everything to find an answer. For example, she reads question 1 and you tell her that the answer is somewhere in the first two paragraphs but then require her to read them to find the answer. If she still can't find it then have her read the two paragraphs aloud. It's amazing how reading something aloud can help things become clearer :001_smile: As she gets better at this you can give her wider clues as to where to find answers. Another thing that may help is to have your dd read the questions before reading the text. Then she is at least a little aware of what she is looking for in the text. Just some thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam L in Mid Tenn Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Finding answers and filling in the blanks is a study skill that should be taught. Sit with her and find the answers together. Different children learn to do this at a different pace. My girls seemed to be able to master the skill rather quickly while it has taken my boys a few years to do it well. Finding answers and filling in blanks is an important study skill that does need to be mastered, but keep that skill separate from understanding the material being read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wee Pip Posted February 6, 2011 Author Share Posted February 6, 2011 Alrighty, I'm bringing back the science workbook:) It's good fill in the blank practice. Love the suggestion to have her read aloud from a few paragraphs that have the answer. I may read aloud too. It doesn't hurt if we both read aloud and go thru it a few times to find the answer. It's a good skill to have, so I think we'll be working more diligently on this. Thanks for the suggestions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FriedClams Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 I also suggest the Critical Thinking Company's Reading Detective book. It's pretty tough but focuses on skills that will make finding info for various types of tests easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 I think some of this depends on how well the questions are written. When I was teaching in schools, I often saw some of these fill in the blanks that were very poorly done. For example, many words could have fit the blank and made sense for the topic, but it was clear that they only wanted the word that had been used previously in the text. Or, it would be a random word out of a sentence instead of a word that was meaningful to understanding the topic. Or it would be a sentence so vague that it was unclear what word could fit there unless you happened to remember the particular sentence it had copied the text. I don't know the particular program you're talking about, so I may be completely off in pointing this out, I just find that fill in the blanks are often one of the most poorly written components of curricula I've looked at. Being able to look back through a difficult text and find specific information is an important skill though, as is figuring out from context what is being asked. I'm less sure that finding the specific adjective used to describe something is an important skill if you can remember the meaning. Again, take what I'm saying with a grain of salt if you're happy with the program and the questions it asks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 I've also been thinking very seriously about ditching all fill in the blank type curric and just focusing on writing summaries. Even though you are busy, I suggest that you read the material aloud to her and discuss the important points. Then I agree with your idea about having her write a summary, but before you send her off to do that, sit with her and help her prepare an outline. Be sure that you start with a small section of the text rather than a huge long chapter so that you don't overwhelm her. By reading the material aloud and sitting and discussing it you are accomplishing several things. You are showing that *you* think both the material and her schoolwork are important enough that you are spending your limited time doing it with her. It gives you a chance to thoroughly read the material so you are aware of how interesting it is and what is important. Also, I firmly believe that discussion is a critical tool for processing information. And in your discussion with her you can find out how well she understands the material and you can clear up any misconceptions before she does the summary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxbridgeacademy Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 My DS has issues with reading for content. I really think this is one of those things that some can be born with the natural talent, others have to spend a lot of time learning the skill. It took me a couple of years to realize he just didn't understand. What we do is: He reads the pages out loud to me, we stop at the section breaks, and he repeats info he's "gleaned". If he forgot something, I point it out(literally on the page). This helps him a lot. Yes it requires my time and energy, but I hope that as he gets older we can skip the read "aloud" portion, then even later the go over it part. Learning this way is good for future study habits. Read/Review/Read again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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