Posts

R-U-B-Y

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 Hello again, folks! I hope you are enjoying your summer! It's been pretty nice here, all in all. I love warm weather! I love to sit out in the sun and read!  But, enough about me.  I tutor a little girl named Ruby, who is only three years old. She is still learning to identify the letters of the alphabet, and while we do play a matching game with all the letters, I'm really focusing on the letters in her name. R-U-B-Y.  I show her a letter and ask her what it is. I show her an R and she says A. So I show her what an A looks like and then show her the R again. I tell her it's the first letter of her name (which I have done many times, telling her it's an R.) I ask her what letter it is, and she says B. So I show her the B. I tell her it's a B. Then I show her an R again. I say, "It's the first letter in your name. R for Ruby." Then I ask her what comes next, and she says "woo" (U.) I show her the U and put it next to the R. Then I point to th...

Spelling with popsicle sticks (or tongue depressors)

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I like to keep changing up the games that the kids play, so they don't get bored with any one particular game. Using tongue depressors with letters on them gives the kids a challenge to spell some of the words on their "word list," words they are learning how to say correctly. Sometimes I set my timer on my phone for 5 minutes to see how many words they can spell in that amount of time, or I'll set the stopwatch to see how long it takes them to spell a predetermined number of words that I've picked out.  For example, Elliot is learning to spell "no," "it," "big," and "at." Elsie's words are "there," "who," clip," "end," "saw," etc.  And then there's Robert. He is ten years old and I need to give him 9th grade words for his lists.  Right now he's learning how to spell "inhibit," "nemesis," and "rhapsody." I also treat them as vocabulary wor...

Parade! (Belated from the Fourth)

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 One of the boys that I tutor, along with several girls that I help teach in Kids' Church, were part of the Fourth of July parade this year! One of our church members was so kind as to let us use (he drove) his antique truck pulling a trailer that the kids could decorate and stand in to throw candy. We were in the annual town photo, then headed a few blocks away to where the truck was waiting. We had decorated it the day before, so I'm thankful to God that we didn't have any moisture during the night to mess things up!  The kids had so much fun throwing candy (and eating it!) after we had to wait in the trailer for 45 minutes for our part of the parade to start moving! We ran out of candy, generously donated by our church members, two-thirds of the way through the parade. I don't know if it's because the kids were throwing too much at a time, or if we just didn't have enough candy. I think we didn't have enough candy, because we separated it all into separat...

Increasing in Reading Skills!

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 The students that I tutor are at various stages of learning to read. I have a four-year-old, a seven-year-old, and an advanced ten-year-old. I also have a three year old who is just beginning to recognize the letters of the alphabet. She is so cute! She says "woo" for the letter U. She's really good at reconizing the letter B, which is in her name, Ruby. Unfortunately, I didn't get her on video today. Maybe next time.  I did, however, get clips to show you the varying levels at which they are learning. I just started teaching Elliot short words, as he knows all the letters of the alphabet, and knows how to spell and recognize his name.  Elliot, age four: (copy and paste link to browser to view video) https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1CeSHDeFhR/  Elsie is reading first-grade level books, and is learning to read words with letter combinations like "th" and "cl", etc. Sometimes she reads a word and adds a letter sound to it when the word doesn't ...

Growing Up

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 Three years ago, there was a girl who I used to tutor in middle-school level spelling. She was a fun, spunky girl who really only put up with her spelling lessons. But she was improving. She enjoyed reading aloud to me as well. (She is the girl who was reading "Mine" in an older post.) Well, after I stopped tutoring her, I would see her around town from time.  Just the other day, I saw her at a convenience store, and she saw me and excitedly said hi. (Her was dyed blue, as always.) She told me that she got a job as a lifeguard and swim instructor! I asked her how old she was now, and she said fifteen. Almost old enough to drive! Time does go by quickly!  When I would take her and her younger sister to the store, and my passenger side window was open, she would climb in through the opening, smiling, and saying "This is the only way to get in!" I had a video of her doing this, but alas, I can't locate it. Bummer. But I do have some pictures to share.  We loved go...

Catching Bumblebees

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This actually happened back in May of this year. I'm just getting caught up. 😊  Not all of my job as a tutor/paraeducator has been about learning lessons for education. Some of it has been unexpected opportunities to interact with students and create memories. On my second day in a row as a sub paraeducator at one of the schools in town, I was on recess monitoring duty. I saw a girl sitting on a bench by herself. I asked her if she was okay, and she said her legs were just tired. I tried to think of something to say to encourage her. I noticed bumblebees flying around and landing on clover blossoms at the edge of the playground area. I asked her if she had ever caught a bumblebee. Surprised, she said no. So I taught her how to crouch down and cup her hands over a bumblebee that had landed on a blossom and hold them there until she could feel the bee tickling her hands, trying to fly away. Then I told her to let it go. She was hesitant at first, but I encouraged her that the bumble...

Word Matching Game Video

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 I periodically play word (or letter) matching games with the kids using words (or letters☺) that they're learning. It not only helps them in reading, but also tests their ability to remember where the matching cards are. I played it today with a three-year-old who I am teaching letter identification. She won the matches, but I had to help her with identifying most of the letters. She really knows "B" and when she sees a "T" she says "tutor Tia!" But she doesn't know that that letter is called a "T." We're working on it.  I also play math matching with the fourth grader that I tutor, using one card with a multiplication problem on it, and the answer on another. He has to figure out if the math problem goes with the answer.  I just recently played the matching game with a 7-year-old who is really learning her words quickly. She's a lot of fun to work with, and is enthusiastic about learning to read short stories. Here's a video...