Try Studying With Graphic Organizers

Need to organize information from class so you can learn it in a hurry?  Try a graphic organizer. This highly-visual method of studying works well for chapters that have subheadings and many smaller skills or sections.  It’s also a great way to show how information is interconnected.

Try a web organizer to go over material from a chapter in your text.  Put the chapter title or topic in the center, then make a branch outward for each subtopic or subheading.  Put details about each of those on branches, including names of important events, problems and solutions, formulas, and so forth.

Once you have created the web organizer, make another copy.  Cut it apart and try to reassemble it like a jigsaw puzzle.  Use a blank copy of the same organizer and try to recreate the web from memory.  Engage your brain in the learning process, and you will have more success on your exams this year!

Does Your Child’s Reading Measure Up?

How is your child’s reading?  Are you sure that he or she is reading as well as needed for grade placement?  Too many parents assume that reading skills are developing normally, only to find out that skills are far below grade level when the grades start to drop.  Now is a great time to make sure your student is reading as expected.  Here are some warning signs that shouldn’t be ignored:

• Reluctance to Read: Reading is generally a fun activity for children and youth.  If your student protests picking up books on a regular basis, this should set off your warning bells.
• Slow Silent Reading Pace: Silent reading should be faster than oral reading.  If your child seems to be lagging when reading silently, it’s time to check reading skills.  Think about how long it takes your student to read a book for a book report, or the length of time required to complete content reading assignments.
• Avoidance Behaviors: Does your child complain of headaches whenever asked to read?  How about putting required reading off until the last possible moment?  These can be signs of a reading problem.
• Poor Test Scores: Children with reading problems often do well on homework scores but fail tests miserably.  This can be due to having ready help with reading directions and problems on homework assignments that is not available in test situations.  Some children even convince their parents to study with them orally and families become very confused when the test scores don’t seem to match the effort put into studying.
• Difficulty with Written Expression: Reading and writing are so closely tied together that if your student is having trouble putting ideas into words on paper, chances are good that there are reading problems, as well.

Do any of those warning signs sound familiar?  If so, there are some simple ways you can find out if your child is reading at the level expected for his or her grade placement.

• The Five-Finger Test: Choose a book that is labeled to be at your child’s grade level.  Many newer fiction books have grade level designations listed.  Open the book to a page in the middle with lots of words and few or no pictures.  Have your child read aloud from that page.  Keep track of the words that are misread, stumbled over, or hesitant.  If you count five or more words on the page that are difficult, that grade level of text is likely too difficult for your reader, and you should have a teacher or reading specialist investigate further.
• Oral Reading Fluency: Choose a book at your child’s reading level.  Choose a passage from the middle of the book and count the words.  You’ll want a passage of around 250 words.  Have your child read the passage and time his or her reading.  Note how far he or she read in one minute.  Use the chart below to judge if your child’s reading rate matches other students of similar age and experience.

Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) Target Rate Norms

• Retelling Stories: Another sign of successful reading is the ability to retell and summarize the text.  Have your child read a story and tell you what happened.  See if he or she can get most of the main events in the retelling and in the right order.  There should be a beginning, middle and ending to the story.

If you see signs of trouble, try the quick assessments mentioned above.  If the quick assessments indicate problems, seek out a teacher, reading specialist or a tutor to do a more extensive and detailed evaluation.  Don’t let your child fall further and further behind!

Plan Now for Summer Learning

Only a few more weeks of school in many areas, so now is the time to plan for summer learning opportunities.  Teachers the world over know that the extended vacation over summer might be fun, but it’s downright damaging to many kids’ academic progress.  Don’t let your child lose ground this summer!  Keep learning alive by turning on the brain power for a little while each day.  Here’s how:

1. Take play to the next level. Most play activities are really learning activities in disguise.  Board games use a host of math and reading skills.  Cooking can lead to science experiments.  Even watching a movie can be paired with reading the book of the same name.  At least once each day this summer, help your child make academic connections and use reading, math, science and social studies skills related to recreational activities.
2. Set aside some daily work time. Each day, plan thirty to sixty minutes of review time.  You can use a commercial workbook or two that cover areas of weakness, or grab one of the titles that reviews the previous grade material or previews academics coming up next fall.  You also can design your own program.  The internet is filled with great educational activities that you can cobble together to keep your child entertained as well as academically fresh.
3. Read and respond to books. Make sure at least part of each day is spent with a good book.  If your school does not offer an age-appropriate reading list, check with your local librarian or bookstore worker for title suggestions.  Many libraries and bookstores also try to encourage reading by offering prizes or even free books in exchange for completed reading logs from kids and youth.  And don’t stop with simply reading the books!  At least half of the time, find a way for your child to respond to what has been read.  This can be a traditional book report, a multi-media presentation, a poster, a discussion, a book review, a diary that a character might’ve written, a play or skit, or any other method of having the student recall and analyze the text.
4. Build logic and planning skills. Very few families don’t take any trips or outings at all during the summer.  Your child will exercise brain power if you put him or her in charge of planning all or part of the excursion.  Young children can plan and pack for picnics.  Older kids can use maps to choose routes to destinations, calculate gas mileage and make a budget.  Not only will you be keeping the brain exercised and active, but you will be nurturing important life skills.
5. Take advantage of summer programming. You’re not alone in this endeavor.  Countless organizations around the country want to help you exercise your child’s brain.  Many programs are free or low-cost, and designed with parental convenience in mind.  Check libraries for summer reading program events.  The bookstores often offer programs for children.  Hobby stores generally host craft classes.  The local parks department, YM or YWCA, and other civic organizations run day camps.  Scouting programs abound.  Community colleges and museums host summer events.  Check your community calendar and local bulletin boards for more ideas.

This list just scratches the surface.  It’s really not hard to prevent your child from vegging in front of the television or computer for three months.  Just a few activities each day can make a world of difference when school rolls around again in the fall.

Study Tips for Final Exams

Whether it’s the end of the semester or the end of school, middle and high school students (and even college students!) need to be preparing for exams.  Probably the most common study strategy, cramming, is also the most ineffective one.  Cramming is the practice of leaving everything until the last minute or even the night before the test, and then putting in a marathon of study time.  I’ll say it one more time: THAT DOESN’T WORK!!

Instead, studying is actually a daily (or at least weekly) process.  Ideally, it should start when the class does, but don’t panic even if you’re just now realizing that the exams are looming in your future.  These tips will work if you allow even a few days or weeks to get ready for your tests, but they are best used throughout the time you’re in school.

–>Tip #1:

Engage your brain.  If you ask questions before lectures, read the assigned text ahead of time, and make a mental effort to remember the information, you will find that it’s easier to remember!

–>Tip #2:

Organize your notes.  Yes, you should be taking notes from lectures.  Yes, you should also be taking notes from the text that you are assigned to read.  Then, instead of relegating those notes to a file somewhere and trotting them out when you want to cram, take an extra step and combine them.  Write up a third set of notes that contains all of the information from both the reading and the lecture.  You’ll be processing the info in a new way and cementing it into your head.

–> Tip #3:

Make your own study guide.  Back in middle school, most students relied on the teacher to hand them a study guide.  This study guide generally showed them what was going to be on the test and what the teacher thought was important to learn.  Once students hit high school, they should learn to create their own study guides, writing down definitions, statistics, main ideas, important people and so forth.  Create the study guide as you go through the class, or in a pinch, go back over your notes and the readings and create the study guide as a means of preparing for the test.

–>Tip #4

Teach someone else.  Form a study group and discuss the information.  Verbalizing it and helping someone else learn is a great method of learning the information yourself.

–>Tip #5

Study in small doses.  Work for fifteen to thirty minutes at a time, then take a break.  Your mind will be more fresh for absorbing information and ready for a new round after doing something different for a while.  If you stare at the same information hour after hour, your brain will sort of shut down and it won’t do you any good.

–>Tip #6

Study in the format of the test you expect.  Many people make the mistake of simply reading information over and over again and expect to have the answers for the test.  Instead, spend most of your study time giving information out instead of taking it in over and over again.  This means setting up questions that you answer, matching games to play, and so forth.  Try to adjust the activities to the type of test you expect: write paragraphs about information if you think it will be an essay test.  Play matching games if the coming test will be multiple choice or matching.  Try questions to answer with a couple of words if you expect a short answer type test.

If you study effectively, you’ll have greater success with your academic pursuits, and your grades will increase!