Tutoring Sessions Tutor Tots provides reading fluency, reading comprehension, grammar, and writing sessions that follow the curriculum requirements. All sessions are individualized to meet the needs of the student.
Curriculum Fundamentals for All Grades We focus on reading fluency (reading out loud with guidance and feedback) to assist reading. We work on vocabulary because studies show that when students truly understand the words, they become automatic recall for them. We teach comprehension strategies (analyzing, summarizing, question asking, inferences, parts of a story literary devices, et cetera), and how to extract answers from the reading passage and put those thoughts down on paper. Grammar is also an important part of the curriculum such as suffixes, prefixes, complete sentences, parts of speech, et cetera. We also focus on reading cultural text forms, letters, narratives, persuasive texts, informational reports, poetry, book reviews, graphic texts, and biographies.
For the composition or writing portion of the curriculum, we work on writing tasks such as paragraph, essay, formal letter, informal email, narrative, persuasive, informational, poetry, book review, comic strip, and biography writing.
Of course, school homework is the priority, and we only implement our session work when the student does not have any school homework to complete. How We Help Struggling Readers A portion of the Foundations of Language section of the new Ontario language curriculum covers phonemic awareness and word-level reading and spelling using phonics, orthographic, and morphological knowledge. If your child is struggling to decode words, we can help using this method. Although just introduced in 2023 as part of the new language curriculum, the phonics-based approach to reading has been around for many, many years. We have 25 years of experience using this approach, and we are excited to see that it is now part of the new language curriculum.
What happens to students who have difficulty reading? The answer is they start to fall behind in school because the reading material gets more difficult as the grade increases, resulting in an unrewarding reading experience. The cognitive resources a student needs and uses to recognize a word leaves little left for comprehension, so the meaning of the reading passage is lost.
Also many struggling readers start to lose their confidence. They start to ask themselves why others "get it" and they don't. They start to recognize they are not doing as well as others, resulting in less hand raising in class and withdrawing themselves from anything that involves participation. Alternatively, they start lowering their expectations for themselves, in an effort to protect themselves from poor grades. They will say, "I'm not good at reading." These words become a "defence mechanism," protecting them from any poor grades they may receive, but these words can also create a barrier to learning because students no longer have higher expectations for themselves. For some students, when they reach this point, pushing them beyond this newly-acquired comfort zone can be very difficult.
It actually may come as a surprise to learn that reading is actually not a natural process and that written language is a code. In fact, only 1-7% of students figure out how to decode on their own (G. Reid Lyon, Why Reading is Not a Natural Process). Knowing how to decode is essential, in order for students to become fluent readers or to understand what they are reading. For those students having difficulty reading or writing, we teach them how to crack the code-we teach them systematic phonics. We teach them how to connect the sounds to the letters to decipher words. We show them how to blend the phonemes and graphemes to get them reading and writing. Cracking that code will help students develop more confidence and feel more empowered. *The sessions with struggling readers will also incorporate the reading fluency, reading comprehension, spelling, grammar, and writing skill requirements of the curriculum to help students meet grade-level goals.
Math Sessions
Tutoring Sessions Tutor Tots provides math sessions that follow curriculum requirements. Due to the fact that we know what students are expected to know at their grade level, we can help students improve their math skills.
Curriculum Fundamentals for All Grades From single digit addition to the Pythagorean Theorem, we ensure that students are focusing on the math skills and concepts required for their grade level.
How We Help Struggling Math Students Studies have shown that most students consider math to be the most difficult subject. The issue with math is that it takes a lot of patience and persistence. Math topics need to be reviewed and studied continually. Math is not about "brainpower" but is more about "staying power." It's about persisting with the topic until it is understood. Unfortunately, when it comes to understanding the math topics, often time will run out and the teacher will have moved on to another topic. Math is cumulative. It's like a stack of building blocks. You have to understand one topic in order to "build upon" the next. Studies show that students in middle school with C's in math have learned about half of what they need to know for high school.
At Tutor Tots, we strive to ensure that students understand the key concepts outlined in the curriculum requirements for their grade level. We introduce different strategies and hands-on manipulatives, as well as the use of many different resources to improve their math skills. If a student is not meeting their grade-level requirements, with regard to a particular skill or concept, we go back to the basic skill or concept and build from there. We teach the "why" in math to help students understand the logic behind the math formulas and repeatedly model a skill that the student may struggle with to assist them with mastery of that skill. We always focus on their strengths so that they are continually receiving positive reinforcement.
Of course, school homework is the priority, and we only implement our session work when the student does not have any school homework to complete.
Self-Confidence
The words we use have a direct effect on the students in our care. Positive language can lift students to their highest potential while negative words can tear them down. At Tutor Tots, we use words that are affirmative and empowering.
We focus on building self-confidence, teaching students how to handle setbacks and how mistakes are just another opportunity to learn. We don't use "no" when a student gets an answer incorrect. We use phrases such as "You are so close. Why don't you try again." When we ask students how they would go about solving something and they are close but not quite there, we might say, "I see (I like) where you were going with that. How about we try this." When a word is hard to decode, we let them know that it is a hard word, so that they don't feel they are not smart enough. Most of all, we celebrate their achievements-the little ones and big ones.
Science shows us that struggling students develop poorer habits and spend a lot of time engaging in negative self-talk. We work hard to help students replace poorer habits and negative self-talk with better habits and more positive thinking by giving students the "yes" they have been looking for.
All children need is a little help, a little hope, and people who believe in them.