February – HEART NOTABLES

February 28, 2014

Logistics

• There are no school holidays in March.
• Stay in touch with your HEART Coordinator if you have schedule changes so that we can ensure that you are not rescheduling for a testing day or field trip.

Tutoring Tips

• Review Past Concepts – It’s time to check whether your student remembers what he/she learned in past concept notebooks. Your HEART Coordinator will provide you with a worksheet in early March to test whether your student needs extra practice with concepts from earlier this year. It will take 5 – 10 minutes for one (not both) of the student’s tutors.
• Preparing for Lessons – As a reminder from beginning of year orientation, here are some options for preparing:

o Use the take-home check out notebooks OR arrive early to tutoring and read the lessons in advance of picking up your student.

o Skim the whole notebook when you get to a new concept level in order to have the big picture in mind.

o The cover page of each concept book gives helpful tips and tells how your student will be assessed on the skill.

•  Pace of Lessons – In most cases (not all cases), students should be able to get through all Activities in a Lesson within one thirty minute session. If you and your student are consistently moving through less than 1 full Lesson per day, check with your HEART coordinator to see if the slow pace might be hindering your student’s retention.

•  Tips by Level

o For students in Place Value and Multi-Digit Addition: Make sure students are using their Strategies to 20 to add single digits rather than reverting to counting!

o For students almost finished with Combos to 10: Pick up “Number Arrangement Flash Cards” in the hanging files as an additional way to review all focus numbers at once. These are written into the next concept level (Strategies to 20) but are also good practice for recognizing parts of numbers for students still in Combos to 10.

•  Behavior Management: Specific Positive Reinforcement – For the handful of students whose focus level and behavior is inconsistent, be sure to point out specific, observable things they are already doing well or that you want to see more of, whether small (sitting up straight, speaking clearly) or large (asking questions to learn more; trying again when they do not get the answer the first time).

o Example 1:

Not specific: “Great job on that question.”

Specific: “I like how you used your pencil and paper to organize your thoughts

o Example 2:

Not specific: “Please focus.”

Specific: “Let me see you sitting up in your chair, with your eyes on the activity for the next 3 problems.” (High five, quick break, or positive acknowledgement should come after the 3 problems, if the student complies with your request!)

More Resources

• Follow articles and postings on HEART’s Facebook Page, Linked In Page, and Twitter account (@HEARTTutoring).