Holiday Math Tutoring

Become a Super teacher with Super Teacher Worksheets!

I'd like to thank Tim, the creator of SuperTeacherWorksheets.com, for passing his site over to me. As a teacher [on hiatus] and a tutor, I am always hunting for websites that offer free or paid subscriptions with an extensive library of printables. I have always used edHelper.com but you have to pay to the worksheets. At STW.com, everything is FREE!

Here is what you get:

• hundreds of printable reading, grammar, math, spelling, handwriting, and puzzle worksheets
  
  
• complete spelling curriculum for grades 1-4
  
  
• monthly contest with great prizes
  
  
• teaching tips with lesson ideas, activities, and tips (ex. "back-to-school lesson" ideas; fun ways to teach fractions; Tips for student teachers; etc.)
  
  
• new worksheets added each week
  
  
• worksheets designed with room for kids to write and age-appropriate font sizes
  
  
• worksheets closely tied to real school curriculum
  
  

This site is great for teachers, tutors, families and home school parents. View samples below:

Search for Tutors Online

Searching for a tutor who offers training in specific and sometimes less common subject areas can be a difficult process. If you look at tutoring flyers that hang around your town, the majority of them are for Math or SATs. What about Writing? Science? Computers? Even Home School? Turn to Tutor Match for help.

At TutorMatch.com, parents and kids can search for tutors for all subject areas and grade/education levels. Each tutor profile includes location, experience, area of expertise, price range, and education level.

And tutors, join now with a FREE membership or upgrade to Premium for only $29 a YEAR(such a good deal!) and get your listing at the top of the search and make yourself available for more than 1 subject.

Search now and spread the word about TutorMatch!

Multiplication Train: Learning Times Tables

At around grade 4, children either love or hate multiplication tables. While small numbers are pretty easy to multiply, once you pass 5, it gets hard and very frustrating and usually that is around the same time you'll see your one time A student start to drop to the Bs, Cs and even Ds and Fs.

There are no easy solutions to mastering multiplication, but instead of drilling your child to the point that they give you a blank look as you hold up another card, take the cards to the floor and get them moving...your child that is.

I did the "flash card train" with one of my tutees who is a rising 6th grader. At the end of our sessions when we had a few minutes left, I would take the flashcards and line them up like dominoes from the table into the living room. My tutee then followed the flashcards reading the problem and telling me the answer as she made her way to the end. Every time she got the answer wrong, she had to start over again. You can eventually make the train longer. You'll surely get a smile or laugh from your child because it's actually kind of fun.

After doing the train for a few sessions, only include multiplication cards with the 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9s. Don't bother using a lot of the 0, 1, 2 and 3 cards. Perhaps throw in an easy one in the middle of the train to boost confidence, but you want the child to have as much exposure to the trouble numbers as possible.

GEPA Prep at Home

If you have an 8th grader in New Jersey, he or she is probably in the midst of GEPA preparation in Math.  The GEPAs are Grade Eight Proficiency Assessments that are sometimes used in addition to grades for high school math placement.  They can be a big deal for some students who are borderline in their course.

You might be asking yourself, "how can I help my child prepare for the GEPAs?"  Well you don't have to be a math whiz to help you child in one aspect of the tests.  Your child will encounter word problems that require written explanations and reasoning to support the numerical answer.  At home, you can do this by giving your child a basic math problem (that you know the answer to) and asking them to write as detailed an explanation as possible to support their answer.  Yeah, they might moan and groan, but you are helping them prepare...no matter how easy the problem is. 

To access more GEPA prep problems, click on any of the links below:

• Freehold School District
• Egg Harbor Township School District
• K-12 Partnership Program

Great moments in the life of a tutor

As a teacher, you hope that you motivate at least 1 child to engage in math on his or her own. I had a 'pat on the back' moment last night when I was out tutoring one of my middle schoolers.

A few weeks ago, I started using my extra time to give this boy some "Math Magic" problems because I could tell that he had a strong mathematical mind up there (but laziness was keeping his grades from climbing). After that first night, he asked for them every week and last night he showed me his book of Puzzle Logic that he picked up at Barnes & Noble. I was very proud of him for purchasing a math related book.

There are many benefits to giving your children logic puzzles as extra math work. The thought process involved in solving logic or math puzzles will help them approach more challenging math work in the future. Problem solving is very crucial both in math and other subjects.

Here are some fun math puzzle books (that would make good stocking stuffers):

• Math Magic for your kids
• Sip and Solve: Logic Puzzles
• Travel Math Puzzles
  

Old material is still quizzable

To better test your child's math retention and skill, give them mini quizzes that contain problems from a few chapters back. Since math chapters build on previous skills, you don't want children to lose their ability.

For example, if the topic is adding and subtracting fractions, here are some skills you can quiz them on:

• basic multiplication and division
• listing multiples of numbers
• factoring numbers

If your child is studying decimal operations, quiz them on:

• rounding to different place values
• front-end estimation
• identification of decimal place values (what is the tenths place, hundredths?)

When I tutor, I take extra time to give my students a mini quiz to test skills that they may have had trouble with in the past. For example, one of my students has trouble with her basic multiplication skills (she's in 5th grade), so when there is a few minutes left in our session, I'll giver her an assortment of problems to do and then I'll grade it.

Now, it always helps to approach these mini quizzes with a sense of humor. No kid wants a quiz at home, but if you approach it with a good attitude and laughter, they will be more likely to play along and do the task. I have found that works well because the student sees me as helpful and not forceful.