A bright and articulate 8-year-old, Jacob shifts uncomfortably in his seat when his teacher announces that they’d be taking turns reading aloud. “Maybe if I ask to go to the bathroom, I’ll miss my turn,” he thinks. Jacob has a high vocabulary and his teachers frequently tell him how smart he is, but…
Most reading experts agree on one thing: To comprehend what they read, students must have strong decoding skills and adequate oral vocabulary. A child must be able to accurately decode every word on the page, and know what each of the words mean. Unfortunately, many students who can decode well and understand words still…
“It was fine.” “We didn’t really do anything.” “It was okay, I guess.” Students can be notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to sharing how their day at school was. It can be hard for parents to glean how things are really going: did your second grader eat their entire lunch? Is your…
Many students can grasp addition and subtraction problems using maths manipulatives. But take away the concrete objects and their understanding seems to disappear. Manipulatives are a very helpful visual representation, but maths students of all ages need to learn to visualise what numbers mean as well. Mathematics is cognitive processing, or thinking, that…
For many students, back-to-school season comes with the promise of a fresh start and another fun and successful year of learning. They eagerly fill their backpacks with sharpened pencils and notebooks for each subject. But for students who struggle in school, their bags quickly get weighed down with anxiety, stress and waning self-confidence as another…
Students with decoding issues, including dyslexia, can be easy to spot. They often miscall words (e.g. breakfast as “basket”); their oral reading is slow and “choppy;” and spelling is tough to master. It is important to identify these students who struggle, so they can get the help they need. Unfortunately, there are many students…
If you are dreading a repeat of last year’s manic mornings, it may be time to change up your family’s routine. Below, explore ways to make school-day mornings better. We’ve included tips for how you can encourage your child to make mental pictures of everyday tasks. The imagery-language connection is key to good thinking and…
If you’re like most parents, you’ve spent some time the last few months with your family, relaxing and enjoying your time together. Now, with a new school year on the horizon, your child may be less than excited. He or she may be feeling stressed about the increased level of academics this year. Struggles…
While you’d like your son or daughter to disappear into the land of Narnia or be swept up in a Harry Potter spell while reading, the reality may be the opposite of this for your child. In fact, they might even say they hate reading and when they finally sit down with a book, you…
