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2019

Jul 23
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The 2 skills every primary school student needs to master

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The Victorian primary school curriculum is so jam packed that sometimes it can feel like there are endless topics your child needs to learn each year. From turning mixed number into improper fractions to endless lists of spelling words – it can be hard to know what primary school skills are the most important.

In an ideal world, your primary school child would remember and grasp the key concepts of every topic. But in reality, this is a huge expectation to place on children. To make things easier for your child, prioritising these two key areas will help them more seamlessly transition from primary school into year 7.

What are the two key skills every primary school student needs to enter year 7?

1. Times Tables

2. Reading

Times Tables

The times tables underpin so many topics in high school maths. For instance, turning mixed numbers into improper fractions, finding factors, all require quick recall of tables.

Maths is like building a house – the foundation must be secure to add later furnishings.

Using this example, consider times tables to be the foundation. If a child is still having immense difficulty working out their times tables in year 7 – the more advanced maths topics, covered in years 9, 10, 11 will cause immense difficulty for them.  

Learning tables is easier said than done, though. But it’s certainly not impossible. Here are some handy hints to help.

primary school

1. Repetition leads to mastery

Remembering tables facts takes a lot of time, effort and practice. For children with working memory problems, this is especially true.

To put tables facts into long term memory, your child will require a ton of deliberate practice.

For deliberate practice, sitting down and working through times tables drills each week will be a huge help. Have your child write down all the multiples of the tables first, before working through the worksheet.

2. Spaced Practice

Help your primary school child to do spaced practice – by doing a few tables drills across several nights per week. Spacing the information helps them to learn and for the information to be permanently stored in long-term memory.

Doing a little and often is the best bet to consolidate learning.

There are a variety of useful apps you can download which cover tables drills too. You could do fun activities like play basketball, and have your child take a shot at goal every time they get a times tables question right.

The idea is to keep learning tables fun and challenging for kids. Since children love YouTube, have them watch a few funny American teachers who have made viral times tables songs.

Practising the tables in a variety of ways will strengthen the brain pathways and help your child to remember.

3. Focus on one times table at a time

If you’re helping your primary school child at home, don’t try to cover all the tables at once. Help your child to master the two times tables first, before moving onto the 5s, 10s and 3s.

Once a child has learnt up to the 6s times tables, tables facts begin to repeat themselves. E.g. 3 x 7 = 21, Then 7 x 3 – 21 (repeated again in the 7s). Breaking down learning the tables into smaller, more manageable chunks will make the task of learning times tables less overwhelming for your child.

Starting with the 12s or 9s is likely to be overwhelming for younger primary school students and your child could lose a lot of confidence and morale if you start with the harder tables. Instead, focus on smaller numbers to begin with and work your way up.

primary school times tables

4. Link times tables to division

Primary school students need to link multiplication and division facts before they enter high school. They must understand that 3 x 8 = 24, and that we can use these numbers to divide as well, e.g. 24 % 8 = 3.

Practising times tables drills alongside division teaches children that multiplication and division facts are relate and fit together.

This will make adding, subtracting and dividing fractions much easier in year 7 when students must find factors.

primary school division

Reading

It is hard to think of a single high school or primary school subject that doesn’t require solid reading skills.

Students must read books, information reports, their textbook and make sense of and summarise huge swathes of text across English, Literature, History, Geography and maths.

If you child cannot read fluently or sound out words properly, they will find it incredibly hard to make sense of what they are reading and to do the required work.

Your child will be on the back-foot from the get-go in year 7 if they don’t have solid reading skills. intervening early and making reading an absolute priority in the primary years is essential.

1. Decoding words

Decoding words involves applying the phonics rules of English to correctly sound out a word. It requires knowing that certain letter combinations stand for one sound. A phoneme (sound) can be represented by 1, 2, 3 4 letter combinations.

For example, to read with confidence, your child must understand that “ci” makes the “sh” sound in the word optician – op-ti-ci-an. This is decoding in action.

By the time they start year 7, your primary school child should confidently be able to read the more complex symbols (graphemes) and the corresponding sounds that go along with these.

This way, your child will be able to focus on more high order reading skills, like comprehending the meaning of the texts they are reading.

2. Comprehension skills

Comprehension is truly the reason for it all. It is why we read – to learn, to make sense of and to understand what the author is trying to say.

Comprehension is about being able to find meaning through reading. Comprehension involves extracting meaning from text using knowledge of words, concepts, fact and ideas.

Good writers write to entertain, to persuade or to inform. Understanding what the text’s purpose is allows your child to summarise information, take good notes, answer questions and to construct meaning.

3. Improved Vocabulary

Children who read regularly and read for pleasure have a much wider vocabulary than students who do not read regularly. In fact, this difference starts at the very beginning of school.

If a child was read to every day as an infant – they will have been exposed to 290,000 more words by age 5 than those who don’t regularly read books with a parent or caregiver. These children are likely to pick up reading skills more quickly and easily in primary school.

This difference in the number of words a student knows and is exposed to, compounds throughout primary school. There can be a huge difference in the number of words known by year 7 and the gap between the language-rich and the language-poor grows over time.

A wider vocabulary equates to general world knowledge and greater intelligence.  

primary school reader

Better Writing Skills

A wider, richer vocabulary helps a child write more interesting sentences. Writing essays and narratives will be easier for your child – as your child has a bank of words in their memory to draw from to make their sentences more detailed.

For example, instead of writing “The man was very sad,” a child with a strong vocabulary may write “The tired, miserable man was grief-stricken.”

Good writers regularly add to their writing descriptive adjectives and adverbs. Reading regularly will expose your child to many different words which will have the benefit of improving their narrative and persuasive writing skills as well.

primary school

Conclusion

Making the transition to high school is a big step up, socially and academically for many children in year 6. Forming new routines, making new friends and the demands of the school curriculum all dramatically increase in year 7. Your child will go from being the top of their primary school school to being a small fry in a big school again.

To make the transition easier, focusing on the two core skills of reading and times tables will help your child to tackle the academic challenges of year 7 confidently.

Mar 11
0

6 Tips for Boosting your child’s working memory

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Quick facts

  • Working memory refers to working with information stored in short-term memory.

  • It’s keeping in mind anything you need to keep in mind while you’re doing something.

  • Kids use working memory to learn and complete tasks.

  • Working-memory boosters can be built into your child’s daily life.

Working memory refers to being able to use and manipulate the information that short-term memory stores. It’s a skill kids need and use to learn. 

It’s needed for tasks like following directions with multiple steps or solving a maths problem in your head.

Learning Works uses strategies like this to boost working memory in kids and teens. You can help your child improve this executive function at home by building some working memory boosters into his or her daily life.

Work on visualisation skills

Encourage your child to create a picture in his or her mind of what has just been said. For example, if you have told your child to make their bed in the morning, have them come up with a mental picture of what their room should look like when they have finished cleaning. This works really well for maths problems too. If your child needs to use comprehension skills to work out whether a maths problem is a take away or an addition problem, visualising the story will help them work it out.

Have your child teach you

Being able to explain something to someone else means a child must have made sense of the information and mentally filed it. If your child is learning a new skill, like how to do maths a certain way, ask him or her to teach it to you. Even if you know it, your child is getting an opportunity to use the information right away, rather than waiting to be asked. Teachers use this strategy all the time by putting students into small groups and pairs.

Encourage active reading

There’s a reason stationary at Officeworks is so popular! Colour coding text, underlining and highlighting can help kids keep the information in mind long enough to answer meaningful questions about it. Talk with your child out loud and ask questions about the taught material to reinforce what they are reading. Taking notes is another useful tool. Regular active reading can help to strengthen the neural pathways that form long-term memories as well.

Chunk information into smaller bits

Give multi-step directions one at a time. Running through the 5 activities your child needs to get done will simply overload their brain and mental capacity. Keep this in mind when you need to give your child multi-step directions. Write down the things you would like them to do or give them instructions one at a time. Your can also use organisers and mind maps to help your child break larger projects and assignments into more manageable pieces.

Make it multisensory

Processing information using different brain pathways can help information convert into long-term memory. Some kids learn best with information they hear. Others may find it easiest to learn by seeing something. Using multisenosyr techniques helps your child to engage more than one sense at a time, increasing the likelihood that they will keep the information in mind long enough to use it.

Write tasks down so your child can look at the instructions. Say them aloud so your child can hear what is expected of them. Play down ball or dance while you discuss a topic. Expanding teaching beyond listening and seeing stimulates new pathways and opportunities to remember.

Make connections to previous information

Help your child form connections that mentally join the information he or she is learning. For instance, mnemonic devices are one of the best ways to teach your child to spell tricky words. A mnemonic device is a memory tool that helps a person to remember larger bits of information—or tricky-to-spell words—with something easier to remember such as a phrase or rhyme.

For example, spelling the word dessert could be taught using these fun trips.

  1. There are two ‘ss’ in the word dessert for two scoops of ice-cream
  2. Desserts spelled backward is stressed – and maybe you eat dessert when you’re stressed.

These associations make it more likely that the information you are teaching your child will stick.

Key Information

  • Visualising is a great working memory booster
  • Mnemonic devices and fun sayings help to improve working memory
  • Using multisensory strategies activates multiple brain pathways – increasing the chance your child will remember
Feb 25
0

How can I help my child learn their times tables?

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Learning times tables is one of the most important maths skills kids need to master in primary school.

Lots of kids struggle to remember their times tables. Being able to quickly remember times table facts and apply them to a problem is essential if a child is to confidently approach maths. Times tables underpin so many maths processes. 

1. Start with the easier times tables – we start with the twos

Getting the twos right establishes a pattern of understanding how one column of a table moves up one number at a time, and the other in multiples. So, if your child is having trouble with tables, time taken to build confidence with the 2 times table will often be the key to learning the rest.

And if they learn them easily, the pattern can be a springboard that will make tables pretty straightforward up to twelve times – and beyond.

2. Hang up a times table poster on the toilet wall

Hang up the chart in a place your child will see it regularly – the toilet is one example. That way, every time they visit this room they will be exposed to the tables.

fun ways to teach times tables chart

3. Teach your kids some tricks

One of the great things about maths is that it’s full of tips and tricks – and times tables are no different. Our favourite trick involves using your fingers to figure out nine times tables.

Start by spreading all 10 fingers in front of you. To figure out 9×1, put your left pinky down. What are you left with? 9 fingers! For 9×2 put your left ring-finger down. What are you left with? 1 finger and a gap followed by 8 fingers or 18.

This trick works up to 9×9 (8 and 1 or 81). That said, when teaching children these tricks, encourage them to ask why these techniques work and the mathematical reasoning behind them.

4. Listen to some fun songs

fun ways to teach times tables demaio song

What’s a great way to get information stuck in someone’s head? Yep, that’s right! Catchy music! We recommend checking out videos made by Youtuber, Mr.DeMaio, an American school teacher who uses clever parodies of pop songs to teach kids their times tables.

Our favourite is definitely his cover of Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson’s song Uptown Funk which aims to teach children their three times tables.

5. Make a multiplication wheel

One for the creative kids. Children start this activity by drawing the centre of the flower, in which they write the times table out. They then draw 12 petals around the centre, with each petal containing the numbers 1 through 12.

The last step is to draw another set of 12 petals which contain the answer to the centre number multiplied by the petals.

6. A pack of cards

Take out the aces and Kings, count Jack as 11 and Queen as 12, and you can practise the full range of tables by dealing your child two cards and asking them to multiply them.

7. Relating multiplication to addition.

Children begin laying the foundation for times table work in prep when they skip count in twos.

Before starting to learn their times tables, children should be familiar with addition principles. To master their tables, children need to learn that 2 x 3 is the same as 2 + 2 + 2.

Drawing groups of numbers helps to cement the idea that multiplication is simply repeated addition.

This also teaches kids why they are learning in the first place. It gives them a context for their learning – rather than just doing it because the teacher says so. It shows them in a concrete way that it saves time.

Happy multiplying!

 

Feb 07
0

Dyslexia tutoring, Learning Works – improving self esteem

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Through our dyslexia tutoring at Learning Works Geelong, we see many children who have low self esteem.

Children with specific learning disorders, like dyslexia and learning disabilities have spent many years at school feeling “stupid.” Their self esteem is at an all time low.

We see many children for dyslexia tutoring at Learning Works who do not value themselves, believe they are capable or feel important. 

From a young age, children compare themselves to their peers in social areas, like their ability to make friends, their sporting talents and their skills in the classroom.

Children with learning difficulties and disorders are particularly at risk for developing low self-esteem. Consistently receiving bad grades, not “getting” the content in class and finding school work really tough, can have dire consequences for your child’s self confidence and self-belief.

There is a general agreement that children with special needs have lower self-esteem and self-concept than those without learning difficulties. Their academic achievement is generally lower and children with learning difficulties are less likely to have been accepted by their peer group and are sometimes bullied. Around half of all children we see through our dyslexia tutoring Geelong services have been teased and many have had experiences with teachers who are ignorant of, and who do not acknowledge the existence of dyslexia.

Vicious Cycle

Many children with learning disorders have been struggling in school without adequate interventions for many years before they are formally diagnosed or something is done. A diagnosis for a specific learning disability is typically made when there is a significant gap between the child’s IQ score and their results in a specific area. Therefore, a child with a specific learning disorder or difficulty has put up with many years of feeling inadequate, labelling themselves internally as “slow” or “dumb.”

Children we see for dyslexia tutoring at Learning Works feel “disappointed, frustrated, fed up, ashamed, depressed, angry and embarrassed,” by their difficulties. They question what the point of trying is when they find everything takes them much longer to grasp.

After many years of schooling where their hard efforts have not been recognised, a child with a specific learning disorder many fall into a trap of learned helplessness, developing an attitude that they shouldn’t bother trying anymore, because they always fail.

Your child with a specific learning disorder will likely feel confused, discouraged and worn down by the demands of school and their inability to “get it,” and understand aspects of learning like other children.

For some children, it is easy to see how they get into a vicious cycle where they give up trying with literacy skills because they haven’t had success, widening the gap between their school performance and the performance of others in their class.

The toll of low self-esteem

Children with low-self esteem, will not advocate for themselves and their learning needs properly. They may have trouble gaining the confidence they need to face their specific learning disorder.

Low self-esteem is also at the root of other concerning problems. The “secondary” symptoms of dyslexia and other specific learning disorders can lead to mental health problems, like anxiety and depression in children and a lot of acting out at school as a coping mechanism.

  • Repeated failure can lead to feelings of anger, severe anxiety and sadness
  • Children with low self-esteem can lose interest in learning and school
  • Friendships can suffer as frustrated kids seek attention – even if it is negative. Children with low self esteem in certain areas (such as reading) are at a higher risk for disruptive behaviour such as conduct problems and hyperactivity in the classroom
  • Many children with low self-esteem develop poor coping methods to deal with the challenges they face everyday – like quitting tasks and avoiding school.

Dyslexia has been associated with depression, anxiety, lower self-esteem, attention deficits and often, behavioural problems.

Labelling

After a diagnosis, many children we work with for dyslexia tutoring at Learning Works feel relief, as they now have an understanding about why their child found learning in certain areas so challenging. Some children and families however, have the opposite reaction and feel more stigmatised and see themselves in a more negative light after a diagnosis and label is given.

Learning Works sees children for dyslexia tutoring who blame themselves

Attributions are the reasons or explanations your child will give for their performance or the performance of someone else. Children who have learning difficulties are more likely to view any success they have as a result of luck and to attribute failure to a permanent problem within themselves. In other words they blame themselves for any failures. This can set up a feeling where children think there is nothing they can do that can change the situation so they give up trying at all.

The basic issue for teachers and parents of dyslexic children is to break this circle and start to change a child’s behaviour and experiences. Our job is to help these children see themselves more realistically, to raise their self esteem and self-belief in themselves. It is important to give verbal or written feedback in a way that attributes success to internal controllable factors such as the effort or imagination that a child has put into a piece of work.

Learning Works dyslexia tutoring can enhance self-esteem in children with dyslexia

The question is how can teachers and parents change a dyslexic child’s view of themselves and make a difference to change their life?

Children with dyslexia and other specific learning disorders often lack the hope that the future will be any better that the present. They feel they’re the only one with the problem. Our aim with dyslexia tutoring at Learning Works is to be the one person who stood by a struggling child, believed in them, and gave them the strength and courage to keep trying.

Speak to your child’s teacher about creating a friendly learning environment for your child

There are many benefits of increasing teachers’ knowledge of the social side of school. 

  • Every child needs to feel competent – why would a child want to go to school if the teachers only focused on what he didn’t do well? Talk to your child’s teacher about their specific learning disorder and self-esteem issues. 
  • Make sure your child feels safe at school and secure in their classroom and in their teacher’s presence.
  • Ensure there is good communication between your child’s teacher and yourself.
  • Use multi-sensory learning techniques at home so the dyslexic child can learn more efficiently.

Encourage your child’s interests

Find your child’s area of strengths. Figure out how your can use your child’s strengths to increase his or her feelings of competence.

Finding an activity they enjoy and that they are good at can help your child discover their strengths and keep their academic struggles in perspective. If you child is a gun at football or likes gymnastics or even computer coding, encourage them to pursue that so they can bolster their self-confidence in other non-academic avenues.

Praise your child’s approach and efforts—not just the end result.

Find something praiseworthy in your child – Be generous with your praise. Rather than just focusing on the outcome – praise the hard work that your child put into their work. Acknowledge the way your child tackled challenges – this teaches them that they’re capable of overcoming obstacles.

Find ways to praise your child for working hard on their school work and for the effort they are showing. Even if they are significantly below their peers – they are trying. That attitude is something you want to foster in your child.

Find examples of successful people with specific learning disorders

Knowing there are successful people, including athletes, celebrities and entrepreneurs with learning and attention issues who faced similar struggles can also be a source of inspiration. For example, actor Daniel Radcliffe has said that doing stunt work for the Harry Potter movies helped him overcome some of his struggles with dyspraxia.

Key takeaways

Helping your child develop positive self-esteem is possible. Being supportive, encouraging your child to have interests outside of school and being involved in your child’s learning are all ways to improve their skills.

No child will change until the adults in their lives have the courage to change – how we interact with them, and how we teach them. Contact us about our dyslexia tutoring at Learning Works to see how we can help your child today.

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References:

  • Mark E. Boyes, Bree Tebbutt, Kathryn A. Preece and Nicholas A. Badcock, Relationships between Reading Ability and Child Mental Health: Moderating Effects of Self‐Esteem, Australian Psychologist, 53, 2, (125-133), (2017).Wiley Online Library
  • Emily M. Livingston, Linda S. Siegel and Urs Ribary, Developmental dyslexia: emotional impact and consequences, Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties, 10.1080/19404158.2018.1479975, 23, 2, (107-135), (2018).
    Crossref
  • Tiina Turunen, Elisa Poskiparta and Christina Salmivalli, Are reading difficulties associated with bullying involvement?, Learning and Instruction,10.1016/j.learninstruc.2017.05.007, 52, (130-138), (2017).
    Crossref
  • JONATHAN GLAZZARD, The impact of dyslexia on pupils’ self-esteem, Support for Learning, 25, 2, (63), (2010).
    Crossref
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