Book Club

Attention 5th and 6th graders!!!  We will be hosting our first ever book club here at tutoring in mid-January.  During the last week of tutoring, students will get to take home a book, read it over winter break, and be ready to discuss it during our book club meeting.  This is the book that we will read for our first meeting:

Greg Heffley is in big trouble. School property has been damaged, and Greg is the prime suspect. But the crazy thing is, he’s innocent. Or at least sort of.  The authorities are closing in, but when a surprise blizzard hits, the Heffley family is trapped indoors. Greg knows that when the snow melts he’s going to have to face the music, but could any punishment be worse than being stuck inside with your family for the holidays?

Heads up for Third Graders!

A recent study released by the American Educational Research Association, found that students who can't read on grade level by 3rd grade is four times less likely to graduate high school by age 19 than a child who does read proficiently by that time.  When you add poverty to that, than a student is 13 times less likely to graduate on time than his or her "wealthier" peer.

YIKES!!

I find this to be scary, sad, and somewhat true.  I know as a first grade teacher, that reading is EVERYTHING....that is practically all we do in my classroom.  But with large classroom sizes, little to no extra assistance, and many english-language learners, teachers' days are stressful and tough.

BUT, we students have the opportunity to receive extra reading support (like at CGTP), then we need to give them those opportunities as often as possible.  We should be creating more opportunities for students to read even after first and second grade.  When we know there is an at-risk reader on our hands, we must acknowledge that and provide high-success reading experiences for our students, along with reading instruction that showcases a variety of skills.  Skills that we have been testing our CGTP students on with the DORA tests (i.e. phonemic awareness, vocabulary, comprehension, etc.).  So, tutors, now that you have the facts (test scores, school grades, etc.), we have the tools at our center (resource room, and myself), let's come face to face with our struggling readers and send them into a reading momentum of success in order to get them to become on-level readers.

HELP!! With Everyday Math

Everyday Math....what is it??  This is a math curriculum designed by The University of Chicago that was designed to focus on real life problem solving that encourages students to explain and discuss their way of thinking.  Okay, so where are the instructions when it comes time to help your student with their math homework???  I have asked the same question myself, because this math series comes with little to no instruction on some of the daily home and study links that students have to complete for homework.  It is hard to know what they have done that day in school because their homework is jumbled with a variety of math problems and that can be confusing for someone who is with them only once a week.  So, I have gathered up some resources on the net to help anyone else out there who feels frusturated when it comes time to help with this particular math homework

http://www1.center.k12.mo.us/edtech/everydaymath.htm
A list of resources related to the Everyday Math curriculum

http://everydaymath.uchicago.edu/parents/homework_help/
Home/Study Link help for all grade levels

http://mathatube.com/everydaymath-motheds.html
A wonderful to learn the many methods of this program

http://www.norman.k12.ok.us/155/Math/EverydayMath.htm
Online demos for help with the methods

http://everydaymath.eanes.wikispaces.net/
Overall great website with lots of resourceful help

As I pop in and out of classrooms, feel free to stop and ask any questions you have about the homework or math questions.  I will do my very best to help, but I myself, find that seeking outside resources for this program seem to be a great way to find that extra help you might need.

Great Reading Ahead....

I have been seeing lots of tutors and students using our fabulous library in the resource room.  The books there are certainly for your use during your time at tutoring.  As you begin to get to know your student, guide them to choose books that are a good fit for their reading abilities.  Choosing books that fit their reading level (being able to read a full page without struggling with more than five words) will boost their confidence and comprehension skills.  Let your student choose books that they enjoy as well, and if it is too hard, share reading the parts of the story and take turns reading out loud to each other.  If your student is intimidated by seeing a lot of words on one page, have them use a sheet of paper to cover some words.  This way, they can focus on one area at a time. After looking over the DORA test, comprehension seems to be the category that students are having difficulty with the most.  Remember to always ask questions before, during, and after reading.  Create good conversation and help choose "just right" books and you are sure to see a pathway to great reading.

Sometimes our students need a little push in the right direction, and that direction could help make a significant leap in their reading skills!

Just a Thought

Are you practice good thinking skills habits with your student?  Check below to see if you are:

-Slowing down instruction

-Presenting your student with appropriate level work, not too hard but not too easy

-Sharing your thinking process with your student
-Finding multiple ways to solve problems
-Helping your student apply what he/she knows in new ways

By consistently challenging your student's their thinking process, you will help them to become excellent thinkers and learners.

Do Now

Our time here at CGTP goes by very quickly.  We need to use every minute up the best that we can.  I have noticed that many students are ready to start their homework right away, which is wonderful, but instead of jumping right into completing a homework assignment, challenge your student to a "Do Now" activity.  A "Do Now" activity is an engaging task ready for them the minute they sit down.  Before you talk about how your week is going, or when their next spelling test is, challenge them to a short activity that they can complete independently and successfully.   The activity should take no longer than a few minutes, but make sure it applies to something they are learning in school, or something you have talked about before.  Here are some examples of some "Do Now" activities:

*Correct the grammar of 3 silly sentences
*See how many ways studetns can produce the sum of 25
*Write a math problem and have your student illustrate it
*Give clues about a favorite TV show or movie and have your student guess what the answer is, then switch and you be the guesser while your student comes up with the clues.
*Write mis-spelled spelling words on notecards and hide them around the classroom.  Let your student find the words and correct them.

This is not required by any means, but just a way for you to connect with your student the minute they enter their classroom, a way to get their minds stimulated, so that you can ensure the rest of your evening will be successful and engaging.  Check out the weekly Tabletop News for more quick and fun activities for everyone!

WHAT IS DORA???

Now that the school year is in full swing, we will be asking that your student be tested in our computer lab in a reading (DORA) and math (DOMA) assessment.  We test all students at the beginning of the year and at the end to see the growth made throughout the year.  After your student finishes his/her test, they will come meet you with a report in hand.  That report is for you to go over and recognize the strengths and weaknesses of your student.  Some of you  might be wondering what all those little symbols and letters mean on the  report.  So here is the rundown on the categories being tested on for DORA:

HFW – High Frequency Words: score range is mid Kindergarten to high 3rd grade.
WR – Word Recognition: score range is mid Kindergarten to high 12^th grade.
PH – Phonics/Word Analysis:   score range is low Kindergarten to high 4^th grade.
PA – Phonemic Awareness:   scores as a percentage.
SP – Spelling: score range is mid Kindergarten to high 12^th grade.
VO – Word Meaning Sub-test/Oral Vocabulary:  mid Kindergarten to high 12^th grade.
CO – Silent Reading sub-test/Comprehension:  score range is mid Kindergarten to high 12^th grade.

and for DOMA:

Numbers Skills:   maximum score high 5^th grade.
Fractions Skills:   maximum score high 5^th grade.
Measurement Strand: maximum score mid 5^th grade.

The reports give further explanations on what each skill means and what your student knows and what you should be working on with them.  Use the reports as a tool, let them guide you this fall into setting attainable goals with your student, in hopes of skyrocketing those scores and helping our students become confident and excited learners!

Getting to Know You

This being the first week of tutoring, you will be wanting to get to know your student.  Even for those of you who might know your student from previous years, this fun activity that I tracked down on the web is sure to make your student smile and say "Cool!".


Since you will be catching up or getting to know your student these first few weeks, you might want to do some "getting to know you" activities.  Ask your student to guess how old you are (that is if you are comfortable doing so).  Then do the same for your student.  Ask if they can guess how old you are in days, hours, minutes, and seconds.  Then go to this site:

Click on this webpage and calculate each other's age down to the second as well as how long until your next birthday!!  You both will be sure to get a kick out of the numbers you will see.  Enjoy!

Looking Ahead

Welcome back veteran tutors, and hello new tutors!  I am Amy, Cabrini Green Tutoring's Educational Support Supervisor.  I am a first grade teacher by day and supervisor by night....otherwise known as Superwoman!  Not really, but I do spend a lot of time in the wonderful world of education, teaching, guiding, leading, listening, helping, etc.....it's a long list, but I love what I do!

I am here to bring you weekly tips and tidbits, resources and helpful information, for you to use throughout your time here at tutoring.  There is going to be a lot headed your way this year, and you too are going to need to be a teacher, an educator, a listener, a leader, a helper, etc....it's a big job, but you are going to love what you are about to embark upon.  Follow along with me during this year and let me help you.  Press the "follow" button on the left side of this page and get weekly updates from me about tutoring and teaching.  You never know what might strike you and help you along the way.

Last Week!!

I really cannot believe the end of the school year is here!  It always goes by extremely fast, and yes, I am ready for a bit of a summer break, but I know I will be looking forward to seeing everyone again in the fall.  There is always something nice about ending a year....you get to start fresh with a new one very soon.  I think this year was very successful.  Walking around and seeing how engaged everyone was when working together, the smiles on the students' faces when their tutors would greet them each week....these kinds of things are the reasons I enjoy being a part of this awesome program.  I truly believe that every student that walks through our doors has the potential to do something great, learn something new, and be whatever it is they want to be, and here at CGTP, that is what we do.....we open our students' eyes to a world of knowledge and guiding them to be the best they can be.....and that is priceless. 

I look forward to coming back next year and continuing this blog.  I am already gathering many ideas for new entries and hope to continue posting on topics that will help you and guide you throughout the year.  If you have anything you would like me to discuss on this blog or something you have questions about for next year, or ideas for workshops, please email me anytime at amycgtp@gmail.com.  Have a WONDERFUL and relaxing summer!

~Amy

Summer Reading Rocks!!!

I can remember as a child going to my local library and picking my summer book logs.  They had clocks on the front of the page, and for every hour I would read, I would color in a clock.  My mom would have to sign each clock verifying that I did read, and if I read a certain number of hours over the summer I would earn prizes from my library.  My friends and I would do this all summer long and look forward to turning in our book logs at the end of the summer to claim our prizes.  The great part about this program, is that it is still taking place at my same neighborhood library.

 Summer reading is crucial for all kids to continue their reading skills and keep their minds ticking during those long summer days.  Almost every library these days has some sort of summer reading program for kids, and I know Chicago libraries do too.    There are numerous opportunities throughout Chicagoland that offer great summer reading tips and programs for our kids, our job is to connect them to something.  Most schools send home information to parents about some summer reading programs in their neighborhoods, but let's reinforce this by giving our CGTP students some extra information to take home too.  What a great opportunity for you , as their tutor to have a special reading incentive program just between the two of you.  You could both see who can read the most books over the summer ( I know I would probably lose, but something like this might get me to even read more), your student would love the challenge to beat you at a reading competition.  Or find another way to make it more exciting for your student.  When you see each other again in September, there will be something even more to look forward to.

Check out some information about summer reading programs around the city and online:

http://www.chipublib.org/eventsprog/programs/kids_sumread.php

http://www.raz-kids.com/main/TeacherCorner/subpage/summer

http://www.scholastic.com/summerreading/index.htm

Take this opportunity to congratulate your student for all the hard work they have done this year.  By completing a summer reading program, not only will they feel ready for the next grade, but their minds will stay active and their reading skills will continue to improve all summer.  So as you wave your last goodbye to your student before summer break, don't let the reading stop at the door, we want to encourage our students to read for fun over the summer....all summer!

Kid-Friendly Search Engines

In keeping our students focused when internet browsing, I have some useful sites that are very kid-friendly.  Try these out the next you are browsing online at tutoring!

Kid Rex

 Ask Kids

 Yahoo Kids

Kids Click

These sites will also be located on the homepage of our Porta Portal for easy access while in the computer lab!

Dear Student.....

There are only three weeks left of tutoring.....three!!  Where did this year go??  I can't believe we are winding things down for the year and getting ready for summer....although the weather makes that hard to believe, but our students are already looking forward to those long summer days ahead.  It might be hard to get them to stay focused, especially as the weather hopefully turns nicer, so I thought this would be a great time for you and your student to talk about this past years happenings.  You could start by looking up information on important news events that have happened since October.  Make a list together and talk about your favorite ones (I know one of mine would be the Royal Wedding taking place on Friday).  Look back at their assignment notebook and see how their assignments have changed over the year and how their work has become more challenging.  Allowing a young learner to see their accomplishments and acknowledge all that  they have learned this year will bring a big smile to their faces, and yours too.  And last, I think writing an end-of-year letter to each other would be a great way to sum up the end of the year and let each other know your favorite parts together and how proud of them you are.  Taking the time to remember all that has happened since the fall will bring back great memories and help jumpstart great end-of-year discussions.

Word Helpers

What should you do when your student reaches a word in a story that seems challenging for them?  Don't just tell them what the word is....help them attack it and come to the end result on their own.

Here are a list of fun and funny ways to help student get through those tougher words, bare with me, these are silly:

1.  Chunky Monkey:  Look for small "chunks" inside bigger words 
2.  Stretchy Snake:  Stretch out the sounds in the words and blend them together
3.  Lips the Fish:  Get your mouth ready.  Make the beginning sound of the word
4.  Skippy Kangaroo:  Skip over the word and read the rest of the sentence, then try it again
5.  Flippy the Dolphin:  Flip the vowel sound.  If you tried the short vowel sound, try the word with the long vowel sound.  Which one makes sense?
6.  Fly Bye:  Look at the picture carefully.  Use the picture clues to decode tricky words

**I did not make these up, teachers have been using strategies like these for a long time.  These just make it a bit more fun to teach. :-)

Using Your iPod

I have noticed a handful of times students walking around with their tutor's iphone or ipod's in hand. Sometimes I see a game of Angry Birds or Tetris floating around on the screen, which is all fun and everything, but not so educational.  But, I totally understand....we are living in a digital native world.  Our students are not interested in looking at paper anymore, that does not hold their attention.  Think about it, we as Americans have access to A LOT of technology:

There are 240 million TVs in the U.S.; 2 million are in bathrooms.

Newspaper circulation is down 7 million over the last 25 years. But in the last five years, unique readers of online newspapers are up 30 million.

More video was uploaded to YouTube in the last 2 months than if ABC, CBS, and NBC had been airing new content (with no reruns) 24/7/365 since 1948 (which was when ABC started broadcasting).

MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube collectively get more than 500 million unique visitors per month. None of these sites existed in early 2003.

The computer in your cell phone today is a million times cheaper, a thousand times more powerful, and about a hundred thousand times smaller than the one computer at MIT in 1965.

-Lori Elliot "Teaching Smarter with SmartBoards"

One of the great parts about technology today is that it reaches all types of learners:  the visual learner, the auditory learn, and the kinesthetic learner.  I encourage you as tutors to bring in your laptops, ipods, ipads, etc. and let your students get to know technology today.  They might not have access to these cool "toys" at home or at school.  This is absolutely your choice, you do not have to bring in anything to tutoring, but as the days are becoming nicer and students are becoming more restless, having a tool that is eye-catching and engaging could make all the difference in your last few sessions together.  Check out these FREE applications for the ipod/ipad that you could download and let your student use as free time after their homework is compeleted:

• Everyday Mathematics® Addition Top It – McGraw-Hill School Education Group
• Everyday Mathematics® Beat the Computer™ Multiplication – McGraw-Hill School Education Group
• Everyday Mathematics® Tric-Trac™ – McGraw-Hill School Education Group
• Everyday Mathematics® Name That Number™ – McGraw-Hill School Education Group
• Everyday Mathematics® Monster Squeeze™ – McGraw-Hill School Education Group
• Everyday Mathematics® Equivalent Fractions™ – McGraw-Hill School Education Group
• Everyday Mathematics® Baseball Multiplication™ 1–6 Facts – McGraw-Hill School Education Group
• Everyday Mathematics® Subtraction Top-It™ – McGraw-Hill School Education Group
• Everyday Mathematics® Divisibility Dash™ – McGraw-Hill School Education Group
• McGraw-Hill K-12 eFlashcards – McGraw-Hill School Education Group
• Math Skills – Tellapallet
• Blackboard Mobile™ Learn for iPhone – Blackboard Inc.
• Free Graphing Calculator – William Jockusch
• Survival Guide – SusaSoftX
• Flashcards+ – Connor Zwick
• Learn to Read Body Language (Lite) – Feather & Moor, Ltd.
• Vocabology – ThatWith.Me, LLC
• NASA App – NASA
• HubbleSite – Stsci
• Glow Coloring – MobiTech 3000 LLC
• The IQ Test : Free Edition – Eknath Kadam
• BrainPOP Featured Movie – BrainPOP®
• How to Draw – Animals, Cartoons, Cars, .. – ArtelPlus
• Spelling Drills – Chesaning Enterprises, Inc.
• Youtube Videos for Kids – Kaya
• Pictorial – anwaltmap.de
• Free Graphing Symbolic Calculator – PocketCAS lite – Daniel Alm & Thomas Osthege

Spring Fever

With our first set of warm weather behind us, I think all of us would prefer to be outside rather than inside on these breezy spring days.  Just as the weather changes throughout the year, so does the school year, and with the end in sight, students will become restless and less focused then before.  Expect behavior to be a bit worse after Spring Break, so you must be prepared.  Try a few of these tasks below for an easy transition into spring with your student:

1.  Accept the behavior and move on.  Don't waste time challenging the behavior, encourage the child to move forward.

2.  Provide more rewards and make privileges easier to earn.  Emphasizing rewards will keep spirits high help your students feel successful, knowing they finished at their best!

3.  Allow for breaks.  Keep your breaks consistent and frequent as it will be hard to sit still when the sun is still shining at seven o'clock at night.

4.  Stay on schedule with what you're doing.  Just because the weather is changing, doesn't mean your routine needs to.  By staying with a routine you are letting your student know that school is not over and

4.    Set realistic goals.  Plan ahead for tests....it's easy to become lazier once the weather becomes nicer.  Break bigger assignments into smaller ones and leave extra room for things to get done.  Students might need more breaks, so better to plan ahead and plan for extra time.

5.  Find closure.  After spring break, students tend to tune out of school, especially this year with Spring Break being so late.  By helping your student find a sense of closure for the end of the year you are gearing them towards a successful end to a successful year.  Help them make plans for summer by setting goals for their summer vacation, make a list of all the milestones they have reached this year, or make a countdown calendar.  The end of the year can be very busy, so create a calendar of all the events happening the last two months.  Write down activites and circle important dates.  Show your student how to cross the days off as they end.  Before they know it, the end of they year will be knocking at their door!

So this year when spring fever shows up, remember there are ways to deal with this change by coping with the situation and making room for the new season to arrive (goodness knows we need it) and for another successful school year to come to an end.

Google SketchUp

For all those innovative kids out there (adults too), I recently came across this amazing FREE website called Google SketchUp.  It's a place where you get to use complete imagination to build and create models of pretty much anything you can possibly imagine!  I think this program is so great, and offers a real-world experience to hands-on designing and creating very simple designs to above and beyond what you could ever imagine.  The possibilities are limitless and that is so very cool!

Check out Google SketchUp's blog for further information and pictures of recent designs that others have created.

Shelfari

Check it out!!!  Look to your left.....notice anything new??  Yup, my very own bookshelf!  Well, actually it's the blog's bookshelf, but I created it and added books of my choice, sort of like my very own library!  The books on my shelf  are currently books reccommended by the Chicago Public Libraries, as some of the very best books published for kids in 2010.  I will continue to update my shelf with more outstanding books in time to come, but you can do the same!  How fun would it be to create a Shelfari with your student!  You could make a shelf of books you have read together, or books you hope to read together, or some of your favorites when you were growing up.  Again, another tool for you and your student to use together to make reading more fun!  Enjoy!

GOOD words

"How was your day today?"

"GOOD"

Ummm.....how many of you get this response from your student when you ask them how their day was, or how they are doing???  I get about 29 "goods" when I greet my students at the door every morning. It seems that this is a pretty popular word in our students' vocabulary and we need it to go....NOW!  So here are some words to bring to your student's attention from time to time.  Why not teach them one each week!

wow, terrific, beautiful, brilliant, marvelous, sharp, wonderful, splendid, super, superior, clever, smashing, sensational, great, tremendous, remarkable, stunning, outstanding, exceptional, amazing, fantastic, spectacular, excellent, fabulous, superb, breath-taking, astonishing, grand, impressive, astounding, magnificent, incredible, significant, noteworthy, notable, extraordinary, stupendous, dazzling.

Watch Our Words

 Happy and enthusiastic students give us a far better learning environment, therefore we need to be mindful of the words we choose to use during our time with them.  We might say things like:

"This looks hard" 

   Don't plant seeds of doubt, instead use words that apply to them, like "let's tackle this together", they will stay more focused this way.

"You won't like this assignment" 

Never predict that a student won't like an assignment, we want them to like it. When predicting something negative, students will usually prove you right.  So make it a big deal of how important the material they are working on is and how it will help them later down the road.

"You don't have enough time to finish this"

 You have now given your student a reason to close their books and minds and get ready to go home.  Try to plan your evening out where you get the amount of work done that seems resonable.  If you don't get to everything its OKAY, they can do the rest of their homework at home.  But if you leave a piece of work unfinished, it is much harder to get back to and can be frusturating.  Always start with the most important items first.

Our words need to be positive and productive and they will be if we keep our actions motivating and uplifting.  A "can do" approach is always the better way to go!

Red Rubber Ball

Last week, I gave a writing workshop to third through sixth graders.  I based the workshop on creative writing and how to bring that into our student's lives.  There is so much stress on proper writing in schools, using correct grammar and punctuation, writing for fluency, etc.  All great things and certainly necessary, but somehow the fun of writing gets a back seat and students learn to write because they have to and not because they want to.

A friend passed along a book to me that really inspired my workshop.  The book is called "Rules of the Red Rubber Ball". 

Written by a man named Kevin Carroll, he has inspired many through his "red rubber ball" theory, implenting the idea that you can do anything you want as long as you follow your dreams and discover your passion.  This book reminded me of how important it is to let kids be kids and give them their chance to find their "red rubber ball", whether it be writing, basketball, or singing, that door has to be open and able for their passion to be found.

Young writers will not exisit if we don't show them the path to creative writing, writing for pure enjoyment, anytime, anywhere.  If the only writing experience they have is in their classrooms at school, practicing for the ISAT, then how will they ever know what its like to write for pleasure?  How will they know if writing is their passion?

I ended the workshop by giving each student a journal and stressed how important it is to write each and every day, even if it is a little something.  Daily practice is essential to improving creative writing skills and tutoring can be a great place to let that happen.  If you would like a journal, please come see myself or Jenny, we will be happen to pass one along to you. 

So if you get a chance to get your hands on a copy of the book I mentioned above, please read it.  I promise it will open your eyes to the importance of being young again and finding a dream that is yours to be proud of.

Word Power

Vocabulary words helpd kids read better, learn more and succeed on tests.  A good vocabulary can also help your student in writing and speaking.    Strengthen their word power with some simple games:

*Take turns flipping through random pages of a dictionary and choosing words to act out.  If your student brings their reading books to tutoring (the ones they use at school), a lot of the time their will be a dictionary or thesauraus at the end of the book.  This would be good to use as these are words they are seeing and using in school.

*Make a bingo board using words your student is learning in school.  Write the definitions on slips on paper and have them use pennies or erasers to cover the words on their BINGO boards.  This works better when playing with multiple people so grab the group next to you and test out those vocab. skills together.

*Make crossword puzzles

*Choose a theme, like Spring, but don't tell the other players.  Write down as many words as you can about Spring for one minute.  Then use a thesauraus and write down more words about spring for another minute.  After each player has written down their "themed" words, read them aloud and guess what each other's themes are.

*Challenge your student to use one vocabulary word in conversation throughout the evening.

Don't forget to check out the word of the week on the left side of the blog for more vocabulary fun!

Test Time!

Number 2 pencils are sharpened, scantrons are being passed out....sounds like testing time to me!

This week, third through eighth grade students will be taking the ISATs (Illinois Standard Achievement Test).   The ISATs are used not just to see individual strengths and weaknesses, but also to compare students among their peers as well as monitor schools and districts yearly progress.  Bottom line, these tests are important and there are some things you can say to remind your students of before the big day:

1.  Get a good nights rest.  A well rested student makes for a more successful test-taker
2.  Eat a healthy breakfast.  Lots of protein, little sugar.
3.  Read.  Skip.  Spend.  Read the directions and each question to the very end.  Skip any questions that stump you and come back to them when you have time.  Spend any extra time checking over your work.
4.  Encourage students to ask their teacher questions about anything that they don't understand.  It never hurts to ask.
5.  Remind students to attend school on the days of testing and to arrive early if they can. 
6.  Students might be feeling nervous, anxious, and also a little pressure to do well.  Some might need some relaxation tips to calm them down at times.  Show them how to stop and take some deep breaths or close their eyes and visualize a happy place, like the beach or Disney World.
7.  Be positive.  Let them know you are proud of them.  Remind them that they are smart and that you have confidence in them to do their best.

Managing Your Time

These long winter days can make coming to tutoring after a long days work feel long and boring, especially when it is dark and cold outside.  But really, by the time you arrive to tutoring, find your student, get to the classroom, put your coats and bags down and get settled in your chairs, there might be only an hour or an hour and fifteen minutes left to get some work accomplished.  That is not a lot of time, especially when you only see your student once a week.  That hour is so very important and you should be utilizing your time together to the fullest.

Always begin your session by focusing on the most valuable activity first.  Maybe your student needs practice on their multiplication facts.  Take five to ten minutes and work on that math area, then begin on something else.   There is always SOMETHING that you could be working on together that focuses on a goal or skill that your child is working towards.  Their homework should reflect what they are learning in school as well as skills that they should be focusing on.  Practicing those skills before beginning homework together, can make doing the homework a bit easier and less stressful. 

Maximize your time to the fullest.  Use each minute productively but allow time for brief mental and physical breaks, like getting some water, playing a game, or using the computer lab.  This can restore energy and help make the rest of your time together working more efficient.  We all need that extra burst of energy at this time in the evening.  By using your time wisely, you will also be teaching your student responsibility.  We all have to maintain balance in our lives with work, family, friends, etc.  Show your student how to do the same, even if it is only for an hour.

Helping a Struggling Writer

During the first week of March, I will be presenting a writing workshop each night.  The workshop will be a fun and interactive time to discuss and practice creative writing.  But before we can get to the creative stuff, we need to get our students writing.  YUCK!!!  That is usually what comes to my mind when I have to teach writing....I really don't like it.  I don't know why, but teaching kids how to write is not an easy task, especially when they don't like to write.  So how do you get them to want to write???  Well, you can't make anyone do something they don't want to do, but take these ideas into consideration when your student just feels like giving up:

1.  Share other writers' struggles.  Show how real authors have had their own hard times when it comes to getting words down on paper.  You could check out an author's webpage online and read about their journeys as authors.

2.  Have students read eachother's work and comment on it.  Peer feedback can be a lot of fun and also comforting for students at the same age level to help one another.

3.  Find something positive within their writing.  Maybe it's great sentence structure, or a fine use of adjectives.  Find the good and highlight their strengths.

4.  Partner younger students with older ones.  As older students help their younger partner, they might see ways to improve their own writing.  And of course the younger students love to learn from their older peers.

5.  Publish.  Get on the computers and type up their writing!  Publishing is a satisfying conclusion to the end of the writing process.

Just Right

Hopefully you and your student are on the path to a happy learning session when you come to tutoring.  I also hope that you have been reading together.  Not just reading homework assignments or math problems, but actual books that you can discuss together.  Whether it is choosing a book from our library or even if your student brings in their own story, there are a few ways to identify if the story your child chooses is fitting for them.  We all like to choose things to read that interest us (hence our genre labeled library) and that should certainly be a part of the reading process, but sometimes these choices don't always fit the child the best when it comes to independent reading.  It is great to read together and who doesn't like to be read to, but as teachers and leaders we want to guide our students to become the best independent reader that they can be and choose books that are "just right" for them.

If a book is too hard for the student read, the student will give up and abandon the book.  If a book is too easy, they are not being challenged.  If a book is "just right", a student will feel confident as a reader and enjoy what they are reading.  I like to use the five finger rule:

1.  Pick a book and turn to any page of the text and have your student begin reading
2.  Each time they come to a word that he or she cannot prounounce or understand, put up one finger.
3.  When you reach the end of the page, how many fingers are you holding up?  If you are holding up five or more fingers, the text is too difficult for them to read at this time.  Choose another one.

We want to hear our students read fluently, and of course we want to challenge them, but better have them be comfortable and excited to read rather than stumbling over every word.  Think about Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  "Just Right" fits us the best as it did for Goldilocks.  Help your student be choosy about what they are reading for fun.  If you would like further information on this to keep in your student's folder, come see me, I have a great packet just for you!  Go for a goal of trying to read together each time you see each other.  Even just for ten minutes, a little reading goes a long way!

Simplify Dividing

I get lots of questions throughout the year regarding multiplying and dividing.  Knowing multiplication and division facts are crucial in understanding word problems, fractions, and multi-step problems.  Many students find division more challenging than any other math concept.  Here are some tips that can help your student feel more confident when dividing:

-Practice with objects.  Use anything from pencils, to dice, to snacks, and decide how many each person in their family would get if you were to divide them equally.

-It is important to keep the columns of numbers straight when working on long division.  Use graph paper to stay organized when working with lots of numbers.  Once the problem is solved, have your student transfer it to their homework paper.  Staple the graph paper to the homework and I bet their teacher would love to see that extra hard work!

-Create a sentence for the steps to doing long division.  Like, "Does Mary Sing Bad?"  (divide, multiply, subtract, bring down).  This will help in remembering the steps when computing those long problems.

-Play games using decks of cards.  Old School games like WAR, can be turned into math games by simply multpilying or dividing the cards when turning thme over.

Make sure your student's practice time is being used to the best of its ability.  Make it fun and simple and you will soon see progress towards those right answers!

Give me an "R"!

When I was a tutor at CGTP, I had a sixth grader who came to tutoring with a very messy binder that housed all her classwork and homework.  Not only did this disastrous notebook bother me (maybe because I am a bit of a neat nut) but my student could never find her work or notes.  It usually took ten minutes just to get her assignment out for the night because she had no idea where it was.  So, I decided to get my student organized.  We cleaned out her folders, threw away the papers that she no longer needed, assigned her folders for different subjects, and made sure her assignment notebook was in plain sight for her to write down her homework and projects.  I asked her to try and keep her binder as organized as it was that day for the next time we were to meet.  Well, it took a few times, but she finally came to tutoring with an organized binder, and when she did, we celebrated!  She was so excited to show me her clean and organized binder after numerous times of me checking and still seeing a mess, that this time was different, and we were both very proud.

At the beginning of the school year, when you first met your student, you both set goals together.  Goals that you could strive for achieving throughout the year.  Maybe it was to bring up a reading grade or study harder on spelling tests.  Those long-range goals are important, but so are short-term goals.  Short-term goals can help build responsibility and lead to those longer-term goals.  My short-term goal for my student was to come to tutoring with an organized binder, simple for me, but it wasn't an easy task for her.  When she finally came with a great looking binder, I knew that she had achieved her goal and taken on the responsibility of keeping herself organized.

Consider asking your student to set a goal just for today.  By choosing one small goal to achieve in that short period of time will set your student up for success.  A small goal might be remembering to put their name on their paper or keeping track of their pencils.  Focusing hard on one task for one day may help him or her remember it again for tomorrow and put a strong focus on taking charge of their own learning.

Step Up With Reading!

Here at CGTP, we have many opportunities for and your student to read together.  We have a wonderful NEW library in the resource where you can check out books together, and build up your reading log.  If you don't know where your reading log is, you can find one on the small rolling cart outside of your classroom.  They are in a folder labeled "Reading Logs".  Logging the books your student reads is important in understanding what he/she is reading, and what kind of books they are choosing.  Is your child choosing books too easy, or hard for them?  Are they choosing books for certain interests?  Learning about your student's reading styles and interests will help better your understanding of their skills, as well as create better questions for you to ask them while they are reading.

Our library is organized by book genres.  We have three different color bins:  RED, which holds chapter books, BLUE, which holds Fiction books, and GREEN which holds non-fiction books.  Each bin has a label on the front of it with a code.  The code will help you find books and put books away in their proper places.  They look like this:

You can check out the books and take them back to your classroom, or find a special reading spot on our floor, but please make sure you sign the books in and out on the clipboards attached to the games bookcase.  This will help all of us keep track of who is borrowing the books.

Now that you have chosen a book to read, start reading with a positive attitude.  It is great to suggest books that match his/her reading skills.  But let your student pick what to read, even if it seems "too easy".....we want them to enjoy what they are reading.  And if your student is bored with a book, don't make them finish it, go and choose another story.  Also, link books to other interesting materials, including magazine and newspapers.  If you read a story about dogs, bring in an article about dogs from the paper.  That will spark their interest even more and relate their reading to real-life experiences.  Help your child build comprehension by asking questions about the story, before, during, and after reading.  Show interest in your child's answers and opinions.

If you have any questions about our wonderful library, choosing books, or helping your student with a specific reading skill, please come find us, that is what we are here for!

Aim High

I have recently been reading an educational book about different techniques that put students on the path to college.  I don't usually pick up books like this to read, but as I was reading, I came across a few techniques that strive to promote higher levels of student acheivement.  

You have been setting expectations with your students since your first session with them.  Setting high expectations is key for high student achievement, even for those who do not show successful achievement.  So how do you demonstrate high expectations if you haven't already?  Take a look at these techniques that will help you do so and create a more challenging learning environment for your student:

1.  Don't Opt Out:  Don't let your student say those three ugly words to you, "I DON"T KNOW".  That is not going to cut it here at CGTP.  Your student is trying to avoid what he/she thinks they don't know.  If you let your student get away with an "I Don't Know" kind of answer, then they are going to expect to get away with that.  This technique works best when working with more than one student, but once a student knows the right answer, have them repeat the answer back to you, to ensure they were listening.

2. Right is Right:  Okay, so you've got your student answering questions and they are "almost right" but not 100% correct.  We want to get our students used to answering with an all the way RIGHT answer.  You can help them do that by saying things like " I like most of that" or "Can you develop further?" or "That's a great start but there's a bit more to it than that".  Using positive language to get your students a few steps further in their understanding will lead to much greater success.

3.  Stretch It:  When students get an answer all the way right, you can STRETCH it even further. 
Ask how or why, ask for another way to answer, ask for a better word or some evidence as to how they know that.  Learning doesn't end with a right answer, reward these answers with follow-up questions that extend knowledge.

4.  Format Matters:  They are learning to write in complete sentences, but they aren't always speaking them.  Yes, this can be a touchy subject, but what are your students going to do when they have job interviews or college applications to fill out?  Correcting slang, syntax, and grammar is a must and you can practice this by having your students use complete sentences when speaking answers to you.  It's not what students say that matters, but how they communicate it.

Be a leader who expects great things, and great things you will see!

These techniques comes from the book "Teach Like A Champion" by Doug Lemov.

MOTIVATION

"For what is the best choice, for each individual is the highest it is possible for him to achieve." -Aristotle

Does your student ever say the words, "I'm not interested"??  Maybe they don't actually say that, but their actions might.  Lack of motivation makes students hard to understand, reach, and teach, which can make us feel angry and helpless.  What can you do, as their tutor, to influence them and guide them out of this "uninterested" state?

These students might believe they can't succeed, which is why unmotivated students choose to do nothing.  To reach these students we must find a way to help them experience success and feel that they belong.  Doing so, will require much insight and patience, because it will not be a fast change.

First off, you must believe that these students are motivated, because all students are, in their own way.  Thinking they are lazy is not going to help get the results you want.   Maybe they really believe that they cannot perform the task being asked.  They are more likely to change if you can show them that they can by providing them opportunities to prove you right.  The more they see themselves succeed, the quicker their motivation will change.

Secondly, get to know what your students' interests and strengths are.  You must determine how you will gain the students respect and trust and understand where they are coming from.  Talk to them, ask questions about school, their friends, and LISTEN.  Bring in articles about topics that they might be interested in.  That can lead to great discussion and allow them to feel comfortable opening up to you.

Third, less is more.  Don't move through a subject or school topic too quickly, you will lose the student and that could result in frustration.  Make changes to assignments to fit the curriculum to the student.  Forcing the student to always fit the curriculum makes changing the behavior more difficult. Maybe its only doing half of their math homework and coming back to the rest at a later point in the evening.  Spending too much time on one topic can create anxiety and aggravation, and not to mention boredom.

Lastly, do not think their behavior is anything against you, it has all to do with the student.   With perseverance from you, reinforcing your belief that they CAN succeed, and some patience, you will see that change is right around the corner.

So, to go with the theme of this entry, the word of the week is......

MOTIVATION

  ambition, inspiration

Eat Your Words

Each week I will be attaching the word of the week to a blog posts on Monday. 

Learning new words will help build vocabulary, brighten reading skills, and even stimulate higher order thinking.  Words of the Week can also offer up many activities for you and your student to partake in together:

-Use the word of the day to build discussion together

-Write a paragraph about what that word means to you

-Keep a tally and see how many times each of you can use the word throughout your tutoring session

-Look up the antonyms and synonyms for the word

-Write each WOTW (word of the week) on a notecard, hole punch, and put on a key chain.  Keep the words in your student's folder and review each week. 

-Once you have collected all of these fabulous words, get online and create a WORDLE together.  Print in the computer lab and save it as a "word" of art!  Check out my wordle below:

So, for our very first WOTW, our first word is:

superfluous

  going beyond what is enough or necessary : extra

For You

Hello All!  And welcome to our brand new CGTP tutor blog.  This blog is intended to be a great place for you to come and gather tips, resources, and advice for you and your student.  Now that the holiday season is behind us, and there are still many snowy, cold days ahead, I feel that it is necessary to provide your student with as many engaging learning opportunities as possible.  Because there are so many resources out there, I hope to narrow down that search for you and provide you with some great support that is geared specifically for our program and our students.  Remember, you are a super hero, you are making a difference in these children's lives, so make the most out of your time here with them. This blog is FOR YOU, and I am excited to introduce you to some exciting learning opportunities ahead.  I plan on posting about twice a week, so press the follow button to the left, add us to your blog list, and enjoy the blog!

~Amy