Posts Tagged ‘writing’
Improve Learning Reading, Writing, Spelling, and Math Skills
October 28th, 2010
“FACT – It's Not Too Late...
Give Your Child A 2 To 4 Year Advantage
in Learning Reading, Writing and Math
In Just 20 Minutes A Day!”
Does your child struggle with learning reading, writing, spelling, or math? Do they have reading comprehension problems? Do they understand their homework? Do they do their homework with ease or do they take what seems like forever to get their homework done? If you have answered yes to any of these questions...you want to be on the FREE private training call: How to Help Your Child Improve Learning Reading, Writing, Spelling, and Math.Private Training Call reveals:
1. The 5 things you need to know to put in place to accelerate your child's learning reading, writing, spelling, and math in just minutes a day. 2. Secrets to this proven, easy to understand, Speed To Learning Program. 3. The power of understanding the underlying causes of your child’s learning reading struggles. 4. How to turn Your Child’s Life of Learning Struggles into a Life of Joyful Learning in just 20 minutes a day using Speed to Learning principles. 5. Great for all children, no matter what learning age they are at and especially effective for those children with learning disabilities such as LD, Dyslexia and ADHD.Improve Writing Skills with Specially Designed Graphic Organizers
September 28th, 2010Why Use Graphic Organizers to
Improve Writing?
Writing is the doing part of thinking. To create good thinkers we need to create good writers. One of the easiest ways to create good writers is to use graphic organizers. The use of fill-in-the-blank organizers helps to prevent the deer in the headlights look kids give you when staring at blank sheets of paper.How Do Graphic Organizers Work?
Using graphic organizers like those found in Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills make writing easy because all a student needs to do is to fill-in-the-blanks. These are specially designed for students with LD, dyslexia, reading or writing problems, or even gifted students that don't like to write. My students used to bring me in their webbing forms and they couldn't make heads or tails of them let alone use them to write a summary.How Specially Designed Graphic Organizers Help
I remember one student in particular, Adam. He was a junior in high school. He spent a lot of time on his webbing form and was quite proud of the fact that he was able to do it. However, now that it was done he had to use it to write a paper. He was stymied, stuck in his tracks. He had no idea how to use it. He couldn't tell what went with what. It was a mess. So, he handed me his webbing form, totally frustrated saying 'help' in a panic stricken voice because the paper was due the next day. We spent time going over his webbing form, rewriting it in a linear fashion, showing connections so he could actually make sense of it. Then he was able to turn the new form into a fill-in-the-blank essay with the forms that are in Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills. That is why these graphic organizers are specially designed with the end use in mind. Even if you struggle with reading or writing skills, these graphic organizer forms make your life a lot easier. Eric Jensen, author of Brain Based Learning, (1997) states that up to 87% of students do NOT learn from hearing alone. He goes on to state that we under-utlilize our visual system when learning. Using graphic organizers will increase student's learning. Through visual and kinesthetic methods you’ll increase student performance and writing skills. Do yourself a favor and start using these specially designed graphic organizers from Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills today.4 Activities to Improve Reading Skills (Part 4 – Writing)
August 9th, 2010Improve Reading Skills Part 4 - Writing
As a parent you have a large responsibility. You need to not only care for your child, you also need to watch over their education and be sure they learn with ease. Reading, writing, and spelling can be difficult for many kids. But as a parent, you do have the power and ability to help your kids improve reading, writing, and spelling skills. Now what I mean here is that you as a parent can help your child improve reading skills whether they have an identified learning disability, dyslexia, ADHD, are falling through the cracks or are gifted.4 Easy to Implement Activities to Improve Reading Skills
Their are 4 easy to implement activities that each take just a few minutes a day to improve reading. 1. Improve reading fluency in 5 minutes a day 2. Improve spelling and learn the 8 ways we put letters together to make words 3. Improve reading comprehension by playing a reading comprehension game 4. Improve writing skills using specially designed graphic organizers I've already talked about how you can help your child improve their reading fluency in just minutes a day. I've already talked about how you can help your child improve their spelling skills in just minutes a day. And, I've talked about how you can help your child improve their reading comprehension by playing a game with them. so, today I’m going to talk about the fourth activity which is helping your children improve their reading – and that is by helping them with their writing skills.The 4th Activity to Improve Reading Skills
The fourth activity to help your kids improve reading skills is to help your kids learn how to take notes with the graphic organizers found in Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills. These fill-in-the-blank graphic organizers make note-taking, paragraph writing, and essay writing easy. As a parent, I hated watching my son struggle with a writing assignment. I’m sure you feel the same way. One of the best things I found to do to make this note-taking and paragraph writing or even essay writing easier was to create graphic organizers that were easy for him to fill in. Then he wasn’t staring at a blank sheet of paper anymore. It was so much easier for him to fill in the blanks and within about 10 minutes he’d have his notes done. His life became easier and my life became easier too. We didn’t have the ‘homework wars’ going on anymore. You know, I’ve had students bring me their notes over the years that they had done in class when they needed help writing their paper from them. The sad thing was, they couldn’t make heads or tails out of their notes even though they used a ‘webbing’ system when they did them. The notes were just too hard for them to follow. That is why I created the graphic organizers the way I did, so students whether they had perception problems or not would be able to utilize the notes they took. It isn’t enough to take the notes. You need to be able to utilize them after you’ve taken them. Donna Walker Tileston, author of What Every Teacher Should Know About the Brain states, “Approximately 87% of learners either need to see the learning or do something with it. Using visuals with the learning will help students take in the information more efficiently, but even more important, it helps them to develop their own methods for organizing content.” Using pictographs, charts and graphs, graphic organizers, and note-taking models is the way to do this. So, give the graphic organizers from Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills a try. I created them in such a way that once he filled them out he’d actually be able to use them for study guides or for help in turning notes into paragraphs or rough drafts into final copies.Struggling With Note-Taking, Reading Comprehension & Listening Comprehension?
July 30th, 2010Bonnie, I found you through Youtube and am intrigued by the 10 Minutes to Better Study Skills! My home-schooled daughter is 16 and dual-enrolling in our local community college and currently in her first class. She is struggling with note-taking! She also took the SAT in June and scored poorly in the reading portion, especially the "passage" reading. I'm beginning to make the connection with these two problems... there seems to be a struggle, for her, in pulling out keys points in a written document, or passage, and in an oral lecture. She tends to want to write down too much from a lecture and gets overwhelmed when given a passage to read with questions to answer, especially when timed. For writing assignments, she is gifted in vocabulary usage, spelling and grammar, but the process of writing becomes a long, drawn-out process. She wants to "hover" over a slew of ideas but struggles to land the plane. When she does land the plane, it will take hours. Will your book and the forms therein help us? Karen McGoldKaren, There is a direct connection with the ability to pull out the main idea and important details and note-taking. You want to be sure the notes you take are meaningful and when you don't know how to quickly pull out that information from either reading a passage or listening to a lecture, you are 'sunk'. That is one of the specific reasons I designed the graphic organizers in Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills in the manner that I did. These forms not only help you with note-taking, they also become a 'study-guide' for you when you are reviewing the material or answering the questions at the end of a section or chapter. They can also be used to learn how to take notes while listening to a lecture or presentation. The graphic organizer fill-in-the-blank forms are designed specifically with your daughter in mind. Another product that will also help her is our game the Comprehension Zone because it teaches you specifically how to pull out the main idea, details, and sequence what you read or listen to in a game format. It can be played for both reading or listening comprehension. Playing with the skill, practicing the skill through play, and then utilizing the Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills will go a long way in teaching her those missing skills. Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET http://bonnieterrylearning.com
Sloppy Handwriting? Quick Teaching Handwriting Tip
March 4th, 2010
I have had several questions regarding teaching handwriting or penmanship. There are several things you can do to help your child with sloppy handwriting. One of the most basic tips for teaching good handwriting or penmanship is to hold the pencil correctly.
I never imagined all the different ways kids could and do hold their pencils until I started seeing how they actually held them. I know when I was learning to write we actually had handwriting as a subject and my teacher put great emphasis on correctly holding the pencil.
Some kids have more trouble than others with handwriting. Doing any kind of fine motor work will actually help, since handwriting is a finemotor skill. But one of the critical things to promote good handwriting is to actually teach our kids how to hold their pen or pencil correctly. This will help them to write their letters with greater ease.
Watch the video for how to hold a pencil and to see what I consider one of the best aids in doing that.
Trust this is helpful,
Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET
Writing Problems, Dysgraphia, and Learning Writing Skills
November 11th, 2009
This comment was just left by trexpaddock after viewing the following video. I wanted to go into more detail for you on this post.
It is difficult to tell if you don't understand learning disabilities well, or are just 'dumbing down' the material to the point it becomes confused.
Hi Trexpaddock,
I do try to make things clear and somewhat simplified - rather than speaking in technical terms.
The breakdown I was referring to between the brain and the hand is actually called finger agnosia. It is written about in the book Windows Into the ADD MIND by Dr. Daniel Amen. Finger agnosia is when a person struggles with the mechanics of writing or when you try to write your brain becomes scrambled. Common symptoms of finger agnosia include:
- Messy handwriting
- Trouble getting thoughts from the brain to the paper
- Staring at writing assignments for long periods of time
- Writing sentences that don't make sense
- Frequent spelling and grammatical errors
- Many erasures and corrections
- Timed writing assignments are particularly hard
- Printing rather than writing in cursive.
- Print as often as possible
- Learn to type or use a computer
- Try out different types of pens and pencils - also different types of pencil grips
- Break down assignments and long reports into parts (an easy way to learn how to do this is by using Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills
- Write an outline of the assignment to help keep you on track - use graphic organizers that are in Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills
- Write down your ideas before worrying about spelling and grammar
- Whenever possible, dictate your answer or report first
- Use a binder/organizer to keep your writing assignments together
- Modify writing workload
- Avoid timed situations; give tests orally if necessary
- Avoid having other students grade your work
B & D Reversals Are Causing Spelling Problems – What Do I Do?
October 29th, 2009
Ashlea S. writes:
We have a 7 year old who is in second grade and is having a difficulty spelling. Her spelling used to be great and she didn't have a problem with it until this year. She wants to write her b's as d's and her d's as b's. It's become very difficult to try to get her to focus on the word she is doing because she keeps trying to remember the word she did before it. What do you suggest we do to correct this so that she can start spelling the way she used to?
B and D Reversals is common for 1st graders. This is part of learning to write letters correctly. Think about it, the letters 'b', 'd', 'p', and "q' are just flipped around from each other. There is no 'form or shape constancy'. It is not like a shoe is a shoe is a shoe, no matter what the direction it is, even if it's upside down. Learning the direction of letters can be a bit daunting. Remember, it is a learned skill. Most children are able to remember the different directions of the 'b' and 'd' and 'p' and 'q' by the 2nd or 3rd grade.
Knowing this about B & D reversals should ease your mind a bit, BUT, I still would not totally ignore it. Instead I would use a quick method to show her that she has her b's and d's on her body. I do that with the aide of 'b and d' poster and stickers. I don't think they are up on my site yet, but they are available. The poster is $5.00 and the stickers (10 of them in the pack) are $5.00. A story also comes with them.
You can order them by calling 530-888-7160 between 9 am and 4:30 pm Pacific Standard Time.
For other spelling help, check out the videos I have posted on my blog...
Spelling Problems? Learn How to Make Spelling Easy
Spelling Problems? What is the Cause and What Do I Do About Them?
Teaching Reading: The Short Vowels to Dyslexics, ADHD, & Homeschooling Kids
Hope this helps.
Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET
Dyslexic, LD, ADHD, & Gifted Kids Improve Comprehension Skills By Game Playing
September 24th, 2009
Kids with dyslexia, LD, and ADHD are not the only ones that struggle with reading comprehension. Even gifted kids have been known to struggle with reading comprehension.
How many times have your kids re-read the same pages in their textbook, searching for the answers? Your kids may have even flung their book down or at you in frustration? That may be because no one actually ever taught them the skill of reading for meaning, and a result, reading assignments are hard for them.
Teaching the skills of reading for meaning, teaching reading comprehension skills, doesn't have to be daunting. In fact, what if you could play a game as a family and in the playing your kids could actually learn how to read for meaning? That is what the kids in this family are doing. Watch the video of this family playing The Comprehension Zone. They are learning how to find the main idea of what they read. They can also play to find details of what they read or sequence what they read while they play.
Hope this has been helpful!
Be sure to leave a comment below and a question to your right!
Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET
Improve Study Skills and Note Taking With Graphic Organizers
September 4th, 2009
Note Taking and learning study skills doesn't have to be hard. I know you might be rolling your eyes at that statement, thinking: "Right - Bonnie has got to be kidding!" But, I'm not kidding. I do know almost every time I used to ask my kids to take notes they dreaded it. In fact, they often just stared at blank sheets of paper, totally frozen, not knowing where to start.
What would it be like if your kids started taking notes from their books confidently and independently, without complaining! That's what happened after my kids started using the graphic organizers from Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills. They are specially designed with the end use in mind, so that even kids with dyslexia or a learning disability, or ADHD could use them with ease.
Watch this video of kids using the specially designed graphic organizers from Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills. They decide which form to use with their assignment. You'll see how easy it can be as well as learn other uses of the graphic organizer forms!
Hope this has been helpful. Please leave a comment below or a question to the right.
Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET