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Answers From The Teacher My third grade daughter is behind one whole grade level in reading. What can I do at home to catch her up? What are some ways to help her gain the skills she needs? First check with her classroom teacher to see that she is receiving all the help that she is entitled to at school. Remedial reading programs during school hours or before or after school programs are important and successful ways to get your child the help that she needs. You could also ask about "academic intervention" services, although the program name may be slightly different in your school district. Of course, you should be reading with your daughter every day, including the weekends. Reading at home can include all sorts activities from her reading recipes to you as you cook or bake, to sitting down and reading the newspaper every day together. Look at photos in the paper and read the captions. Discuss what’s going on in the pictures, then read You may also want to use the Internet to locate good reading web sites. You can find an entire list of reading web sites by searching under the heading "reading." A current favorite of mine is www.starfall.com. It’s a fun web site that encourages children to read and practice their phonics skills. Sit down together at the computer and search for web sites that your daughter will enjoy. Spend a few minutes choosing favorites together. There are so many choices of web sites that you can avoid the ones that aren’t to your liking while book marking the ones that become favorites. Finally, show your daughter that reading isn’t just a chore. It’s a skill that she’ll use every day for the rest of her life. My son’s math teacher gives him a "problem of the week" where he has to solve a given problem and explain his answer. It’s meant to be a family activity, but I think I might be helping him too much because sometimes he has no idea what to do, so I wind up telling him how to do it. How much help is too much? The "problem of the week" can be an excellent way to get involved in your son’s education. I wouldn’t worry about helping your son too much because it sounds as if the assignment is designed to include family input. Often the objective of a "problem of the week" assignment is to exercise problem-solving skills which often include applying several strategies before you find the correct solutions. I’m guessing the teacher wants you to sit down with your son and discuss the material together so that you can help him discover the solution. A good discussion once Send questions to: Answers from the Teacher, P.O. Box 54, South Egremont, MA 01258. Questions may also be emailed to ateacher@bcn.net.
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