Reply to DD 5th grade - math troubles

Forum Index » Schools and Education General Discussion

Reply to "DD 5th grade - math troubles"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What should I do? Get her a tutor, have her go to one of the centers? Or just talk to her teacher to see how I can help at home? It's the first time, I'm dealing with this. [/quote]

Step one is to breathe. You are a parent who is involved enough to notice, and proactive enough to be planning to do something about it. With this as a foundation you can't go far wrong and your DD will be alright.

When you say math troubles, what do you mean? Is the issue poor grades? She consistently shows lack of understanding? She actually tells you she does not understand or feels lost?

Start by talking to the teacher. What has the teacher noticed? What are your daughter's strengths and weaknesses in math? What does the teacher recommend for kids with those weak areas?

Next, taking her personality into account, consider whether it would be helpful to talk to your daughter. What does she think about her math class this year? What parts are interesting? Boring or bad? What is something she feels like she understands pretty well? What things are confusing or hard?

Whether or not you have gathered feedback from your dd, grab a copy of the math curriculum for grades 4 & 5. For each of the concepts/skills, see what evidence you have of your daughter using those skills. Do graded assignments show whether she has or hasn't mastered each thing? If there isn't available evidence of the skills, ask questions or do activities or as a last resort  casually ask your dd to work a few problems in each area. Do not tell her exactly what you are assessing because she will stress out about whether she is behind/stupid/bad, just tell her you want to see which parts of math she could use more practice in.

If you find that she's weak on more than a few fourth grade skills before you have gotten to the rest and fifth grade, take a deep breath and know that this is not uncommon and since you're catching it early your dd will be fine. Get the lower grades' curricula and gently investigate until you find the furthest point at which your dd has firmly mastered everything. You will start remediation from there.

If she's solid on most of fourth grade and the weaknesses start late in the 4th grade curriculum or somewhere in the 5th, make a note of what skills she most needs to practice.

Now, take stock of what you know about how dd learns best. Does she prefer workbooks? Does she learn well from textbooks? One on one in person instruction? Do things that feel like school stress her out and she only really absorbs things if it is a more casual/playful approach to teaching?

If she only needs mild remediation of fifth and late fourth grade skills, consistently using math games or apps might be enough.

If she hasn't absorbed much in a year or two, try her on something like Kahn Academy.

In either case, her teacher may also be able to recommend her for tutoring through the school (depending on what programs are available at your school).

I would not spend much money on a tutor in the above two scenarios until you've tried free methods for a month or two without noted improvements.

If she seems very behind, you may need to either teach her yourself, get her a tutor, or talk to the school about assessing her for specific math-related learning challenges. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics