What does this mean?

[Tabrett]

We are in RS math A. My 5yo dd was to do a small worksheet of addition. The type was very large print, the sheet was half a page and there were only 8 problems. I could see that my dd was starting to look like she was going to get upset when she saw the sheet. So... I cut up the worksheet so each problem was a strip. I put the strips in a pile and she very happily did one strip at a time, independently and was excited when she figure out the correct answer. She also gets this kind of look when doing ETC. Unfortunately I can't cut up ETC because it is front and back. I did cut up one page of ETC and she got confused by the stuff on the back side of the paper.

 

Is this a learning style issue? Does this mean she is visually over whelmed? What types of learning methods work best for a child like this?

[liltrees]

Great question....all I'm ears!:bigear:

[brehon]

Is this a learning style issue? Does this mean she is visually over whelmed? What types of learning methods work best for a child like this?

 

 

More than likely she's simply overwhelmed by the amount of stuff on the page. 5 is quite young. What a great idea cutting the problems into strips! I don't think that *in general* it's easy to determine learning styles in so young a child. Maybe someone else has better information on that.

 

What I might do is keep cutting up the problems (as far as I could) for RS and maybe fold a piece of paper in half to block sections of the page in ETC. Would that work for her? I do that with my kids when they seem overwhelmed at how much is on a page (regardless if it's actually alot of writing). They just move the folded page down as they get reach that area. Good luck!

[Bayt ul-Hikmah]

Maybe after she completes a cut-up RS worksheet, you could tape them back together or paste them onto a new sheet? This might help her see the amount of work she's capable of doing as well as what a full, completed math page looks like.

[Hillary in KS]

Yes, I think it was just being overwhelmed at the *amount* of work she saw on the page.

 

I LOVE the idea of taping up all the strips when she's done, to show her she did the whole page. That's a great idea! :)

[FO4UR]

I cut stuff up for my ds too. I think it's overwhelming both in the sense of "ALL that WORK!":svengo: and "where are my eyes looking now???":blink:

 

You could also take a colored pencil and circle the section she is to work on - and let her have a break before doing the rest. I like the idea of taping the strips, though. I'm going to try that one.

[Tree House Academy]

Even my 9.8 year old will moan and groan if the page seems too "full" of problems. I also notice he will work much more slowly through a full page than he will a page with fewer problems. It is not that he doesn't know it...he just gets the feeling he will never finish and he is overwhelmed. Sometimes, if it is something he knows, I mark out some of the problems. Other things, I may have him do half before lunch and the other half after lunch just to break it up a bit for him. These things have worked well for us (but he is also much older and is easier to reason with! LOL)