Daily Tips for Families

Today's Tip for Families

12-10-2021

Use Teachers' Techniques at Home

Teachers use a variety of strategies to help students learn. In class, students do much more than just read textbooks and listen to lectures. Teachers form discussion groups, provide vivid examples and assign hands-on projects to make the information stick.

To use "teacher-approved" strategies at home, help your child:

Engage with the material. Ask her to tell you about it. Have her come up with a practical example, draw a picture or tell a story that relates to the material. You can even supply props. For example, to explain multiplication, she could show you how three groups of three chocolates makes nine chocolates. If your child is studying a new country, ask her whether she would like to visit it, and why. If she is reading a book, ask her what questions she would like to ask the author.
Think ahead. As your child gets ready to read a nonfiction assignment, encourage her to preview the headings, introductory sentences and picture captions. She can also develop a list of questions she thinks might be answered in the passage. Then when she reads the text, she'll have an idea of what could be important.
Organize ideas. Your child might create a simple outline of what she has learned. She could also create a “map” of the topic, by writing down a main idea in the center of a page with supporting details branching off. Just making a list of the key points can help her process the information.
Study flash cards. Help your child make her own flash cards. For spelling, she could draw a picture to symbolize a new word on one side of a card and spell the word correctly on the other. She can also make cards with math facts, with the equation on one side and the answer on the other.
Make a connection. Have your child consider how a topic relates to her life. How does the founding of the country, the function of her heart or the position of the sun affect her?

Brought to you by:

Webster County Schools

[School Success Ideas for Families]