Spotlight on Special Needs:
Comic Strip Conversations
There are many great resources for parents and children out there who may struggle with a type of special need. Special needs can vary from struggling with telling time to struggling with reading. Special needs can be in the area of academics or non-academics. Some special needs are social, emotional, and academic. Because there is such a vast array of special needs, we like to spotlight resources we think would be helpful depending on the family’s situations. We’ve highlighted one great resource below.
Resource: Comic Strip Conversations
What Is It?
Much like the Social Stories we discussed in an earlier post, comic strip 
conversations are ways for children to talk through a situation. This could is a situation that involves others and usually a social scenario such as ordering in a restaurant or making friends. A very common use is when discussing how to deal with a bully in your school. Comic strip conversations give the child the words to use in the situation. He or she may also use them to describe what is happening in the situation right now so the adult can understand how to help him or her. You could also talk through future situations.
The use of color to express emotion in Comic Strip Conversations is essential and one that is used within the framework of the comic strips. It can be very impactful for the children.
Who Would Use It?
Comic strip conversations can be used for any level, but if the child is developing them himself, he should know how to read and write. Of course, for younger children, you can always read and write for them. Most often they are used by psychologists or teachers when working with children on social issues.
Where Can I Get Them?
Have you used Comic Strip Conversations before? Let us know how it went by leaving your experience and ideas (and URL!) below.
Tutor Doctor provides in-home, customized tutoring for students of all academic abilities. We serve families in Raleigh, Apex, Cary, Durham, Chapel Hill and surrounding areas. Read more about our tutoring process here.
Jen Benoit, MEd, has enjoyed using Comic Strip Conversations with students over the years. She has found some great new resources by doing the research for this article.
What is the Common Core?
Resources for Parents
Today, the buzzword on the educational street is Common Core Learning. Many parents see it as the newest trend, but don’t quite know what it is. Essentially, North Carolina has adopted (as almost every other state has) the Common Core Learning and has already begun changing and implementing the courses at each level to reflect Common Core Learning. Changes will continue to be made each year to various parts of the curriculum as the state refines the changes. As your children continue to move through the public schools system in the state, reading up on Common Core Learning may be a great idea.
Remember that as the Common Core is examined and implemented in North Carolina, things will continue to change and develop. If you have questions, here are some helpful ideas:
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Be sure to attend any Common Core explanation meeting given by the school or district.
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Ask your child’s teacher how this is affecting the classroom now.
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Meet with the school’s guidance counselor or administrator to discuss future changes that may impact courses needed/taken for college entrance.
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If your child attends a charter or private school, ask if they are planning to implement Common Core and how that will affect the school and subjects.
Do you know of a great Common Core resource? If so, leave it below (with the URL) in the comments section to share.
If your student is having difficulty acclimating to the new course of study, see how Tutor Doctor can help. We provide in-home, private tutoring to Raleigh, Cary, Chapel Hill, Apex, Durham, and surrounding areas. Read more about our process below.
Spotlight on Special Needs:
Social Stories
There are many great resources for parents and children out there who may struggle with a type of special need. Special needs can vary from struggling with telling time to struggling with reading. Special needs can be in the area of academics or non-academics. Some special needs are social, emotional, and academic. Because there is such a vast array of special needs, we like to spotlight resources we think would be helpful depending on the family’s situations. We’ve highlighted one great resource below.
Resource: Social Stories
What Is It? Social stories are a way for children who struggle socially to read about and even act out appropriate responses to social situations at home or at school. These stories can also be about other life skills such as going to the dentist or checking out a book from the library. It is helpful to use these stories before the event occurs or after the event does not go well. In the social area, it gives the child words and options to use when she is having difficulty with coming up with her own.
Some common social stories are about:
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Washing Hands
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Using the Bathroom
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Brushing Teeth
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Taking Medicine
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Using a Tissue
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Getting a Haircut
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Clipping Fingernails
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Washing Hair
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Taking Turns
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Playing with Friends (in school and at home)
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Sharing
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Shopping at the grocery store
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Going to the bank
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Eating out
See what Carol Gray, who pioneered the idea of Social Stories has to say about them.
Who Would Use It? The great thing about social stories is that anyone can use them. Primarily, they are used for children with Asperger’s Syndrome or children with autism, but they are often great for entire classes, particularly in the younger grades including preschool. Social stories can also be used for students in the upper grades and even adults.
Where Can I Get Them?
There are many free resources to look at social stories that are prewritten, but I often encourage the families I have talked with about this to look at examples and write their own. Each dentist is different, for example, and your child may want to know what will happen at your particular dentist. You can easily write the story in a Word document (and add clip art) and then review what will happen with your child through the book.
For some free social stories, you can go to these resources and view, save, and print the stories.
Do you have a social story that works well for you? Leave your thoughts (and URL!) below.
Tutor Doctor provides in-home, customized tutoring for students of all academic abilities. We serve families in Raleigh, Apex, Cary, Durham, Chapel Hill and surrounding areas. Read more about our tutoring process here.
Jen Benoit, MEd, has successfully used social stories with many types of children and classes. Sometimes they are verbal and sometimes on paper. Helping a children learn and prepare for a change or new experience is very beneficial.
Ideas and Activities
to Celebrate Easter
Celebrating Easter is fun and even personal for many families and classrooms! We’ve put together a list of helpful craft ideas and fun learning sites that you can use from preschool up! We’ve brought you ideas from Easter Egg Hunts all the way to Inspirational Ideas! Click on the name below to bring you to the idea. We have done our best to include only free ideas and printables. See what you think!
Egg Hunt Ideas
Easter Basket Ideas
Easter Crafts and Coloring
Easter Games
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Pin the Tail on the Bunny – this is no longer available to see on Pinterest, but the idea is to draw a large bunny outline on butcher paper, hang it on the wall and give children a cotton ball with rolled tape on it. Blindfold the kids and let them try! You might want to mark an X on the spot where the tail would go!
Preschool and Kindergarten Activities
Elementary Aged Activities
Inspirational Easter Ideas
Do you have a fun Easter idea or printable? Leave your idea (and URL!) below to share.
See how you can take items around the house and use it for learning in our free download below.
Jen Benoit, MEd, enjoys holidays with her family. She and her husband, Tim, co-own Tutor Doctor – Tutoring in the Triangle, that provides reading tutoring as well as other types of tutoring to Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Cary, and the surrounding areas.
Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day
with Free Activities
Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and Green is fun for many families and classrooms! We’ve put together a list of helpful craft ideas and fun learning sites that you can use from preschool up! It’s a great time to have a scavenger hunt, search for green footprints and in general…have fun while learning! Click on the name below to bring you to the idea. We have done our best to include only free ideas and printables. See what you think!
Preschool Learning
Kindergarten and Up Learning
Crafts and Other Fun
Do you have a great St. Patrick’s Day Activity? Leave your comment (and URL!) below.
See our free downloads available for families and teachers. Tutor Doctor provides in-home tutoring to Raleigh, Apex, Cary, Chapel Hill and surrounding areas.
Jen Benoit, MEd, enjoys using scavenger hunts with students to work on reading and comprehension. She is excited to use one with her son during this upcoming St. Patrick’s Day.
Celebrating Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss’ Birthday on March 2nd!
Dr. Seuss is celebrated in many different parts of the world on his birthday. Here are some great ideas for celebrating with everyone! These can be done in-home, in a classroom, or for a special event. We make every effort to link you to activities that are free or almost free so check out all that we have below!
Preschool Learning
Learning for Elementary-Aged Children/Classrooms
Crafts
Games
Free Printables
More Ideas
Check out our Dr. Seuss Board on Pinterest. Great ideas and even food ideas! FYI, many links on Pinterest for Dr. Seuss printables may lead to bad links becuase of publishers asking folks to remove their home made items. So, don't be surprised if you can't find the item posted on Pinterest when you click it. As of today, all of the above links work and take you to a Seuss idea/printable. Happy Seussing!
Do you have a Dr. Seuss Activity you’d like to share? Leave your idea below if you dare!
See our free downloads for families and educators! Check them out by clicking the button below.
Jen Benoit, MEd, has spent over 20 years in education and she loves teaching about rhyming with Dr. Seuss! She co-owns Tutor Doctor-Tutoring in the Triangle with her husband serving Raleigh, Cary, Apex, Chapel Hill, Durham and surrounding areas.
Valentine Math
"Adding" Ways to Use Hearts on a Special Day
As we think hearts and valentines today, why not make homework time a little special? Try adding hearts and stickers to enjoy learning while celebrating. See our Valentine Math ideas below.
Pattern Practice
First, try practicing patterns with those great valentine stickers. Practice ABAB, ABB, ABC, and many more patterns. Don't know what those are? Just ask your student!
Playing Card Addition
Then try doing some addition with playing cards...that's right...heart playing cards. Put counters (like the hearts you see here from the dollar store) onto the two first numbers to add them together. OR you can just use the heart playing cards alone. Add the counters together and get an answer. Choose the answer card from the rest of the playing cards and put the counters on them to check. Great activity for homework time!
Valentine Syllable Sort
Use some Valentine bags or containers to sort syllables. Label the containers 1, 2, and 3. Count the number of syllables you have from Valentine objects you have around OR you can use these syllable cards from Pre-K pages. Then put the object or card into the labelled Valentine bag or container. Try clapping the syllables and counting them together.
Heart Measuring
Finally, try measuring some Valentine hearts. Many children enjoy cutting out hearts.
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Draw a straight line across the heart and use the objects to "measure" the heart from one end of the line to the other.
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You can use candy hearts, paper clips, candy kisses or anything you'd like as measurement tools. We used tiles that we had in our schoolroom.
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This is great to take with you to the restaurant when going out, too! Try predicting how many it will take before and the concept of halves when you get to the end of the line.
Enjoy all these fun Valentine activities! We wish everyone a wonderful Valentine's Day and don't forget to shop those after-Valentine's Day sales for some great learning tools to use for next year or even this week!
We love looking for the following things:
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Valentine pencils and markers for crafts.
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Valentine crafts.
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Valentine mailboxes for sorting different colors and other things.
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Valentine stickers and stamps (great for patterning)
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Valentines (can play mail carrier with them!)
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Valentine books/videos (keep them or donate to your child's classroom)
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Small erasers, etc that can be used as counters when doing math.
What is you favorite Post-Valentine learning tool to buy? Share your Valentine learning tools and ideas below.
Learn how to repurpose puzzles and other toys to help your child learn. See our free download below.
Jen Benoit, MEd, is a big fan of repurposing holiday items the next year. She enjoys using Valentine's items to inspire learning with younger (and older!) children. She and her husband, Tim, co-own Tutor Doctor - Tutoring in the Triangle serving Apex, Raleigh, Cary, Durham, Chapel Hill, and surrounding areas.
Writing Prompt Wednesday
Free Story Outline Graphic Organizer
Writing prompts are pictures or statements (finished or unfinished) that help students develop the skill of writing.
Once a student looks a picture or hears a written prompt, the student is usally instructed to write a paragraph or story related to the prompt. Many students find this stressful and don't know where to start. A graphic organizer is a way for students to brainstorm and organize thoughts so students who are not sure where to start have a place to go.
See our Writing Prompt Pictures below.
As you can see, these pictures are rich in color, and have a location along with an animal. If these pictures don't inspire your student, feel free to use other picture prompts. These were from my own collection. I'm sure you have many to use as well!
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Using the Story Outline Organizer, the student can visually work at creating various parts of the story.
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He or she fills in the different sections of the graphic organizer with phrases and words.
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Then he or she will turn those phrases and words into a story.
So, now it is your student's turn to use this writing prompt for a descriptive writing exercise.
Get and use our free download below. You get a formatted sheet with further instructions that you can use today with this picture writing prompt or your own. Just click on the picture below.
Happy Brainstorming!
What graphic organizers have you used? What would you like to use? Leave your comments below.
Jen Benoit, MEd, enjoys the writing process and has used graphic organizers often with her students. She co-owns Tutor Doctor - Tutoring in the Triangle providing private, in-home tutoring to Raleigh, Cary, Apex, Durham, Chapel Hill, and surrounding areas.
This blog post was featured on
Celebrate Valentine’s Day!
Ideas and Activities to Learn While Celebrating!
Helping children celebrate Valentine’s Day is a fun adventure for the whole family! We’ve put together a list of helpful craft ideas and fun learning sites that you can use from preschool up! Great for studying and homework time, too!
Because there are quite possibly a MILLION Valentine ideas out there (and just on Pinterest!), we are putting together only a few categories of ideas we wanted to highlight. Our other criteria was that it could be done last minute for those of us parents who are too busy to plan so much for Valentine’s Day! Not all of them are quick and easy, but we tried! Just click on the titles and see more about the great idea.
Preschool Learning
Montessori Work including sorting and pouring activities for Valentine’s Day. From The Work Plan. We are big Montessori fans because it brings hands-on work to children rather than just worksheets...that have a place as well. It's nice to have a balance!
Valentine Listening Hearts from Tutor Doctor – Tutoring in the Triangle: Yes, that’s our popular activity that takes little set up time.
Learning for Older Kids/Classrooms
February Find-It Shaker – Put Valentine or Unit vocabulary/spelling words into this shaker. This post from Sunny Days in Second Grade has a free printable for this activity!
A Light Table Valentine – Make salt designs for Valentine’s Day with instructions on how you can make a DIY Light Table! Wow! From Sense of Wonder Blog.
Crafts
Felt Fortune Cookies – OK, these may take a little more time, but you can reuse them year after year and they are classy and cute!
Tye Dye Valentine Hearts (made from coffee filters…easy!) From Mom to 2 Posh Little Divas
Crafts for Older Kids
10 Valentine’s Craft for Older Kids from Kitchen Counter Chronicles Also includes a secret message valentine!
Food Ideas
No Bake Heart Oatmeal Cookies – Great recipe and just use heart shaped cookie cutters sprayed with non-stick cooking spray
Valentine Printables
Secret Message Valentines from Better Homes and Gardens. Quick and easy and I’ll bet you have the things in your house to do it!
Science Ideas for Valentine’s Day!
Do you have a Valentine Activity you’d like to share? Leave your idea below (with a URL if you have it!) and share the love!
Do you want to see our free downloads for families and educators? Check them out by clicking the button below.
Jen Benoit, MEd, has spent over 20 years in education and her Valentine’s Folder is still bursting with the handmade Valentine’s from students over the years! She’s looking forward to celebrating with her husband and son. They co-own Tutor Doctor-Tutoring in the Triangle serving Raleigh, Cary, Apex, Chapel Hill, Durham and surrounding areas. Read more about them here.
Note Taking 101
Methods That Work for You
Taking notes is a vital part of every student’s success. But what is the best method? In short, the method that works for you is the best! See some of the suggested methods below. Remember, there is no one correct way to take notes and you might want to incorporate several different types depending on the subject matter.
Did you miss our first Note Taking 101 - Tips for Success? Read it here!
Talk back to textbook – Cris Tovani, in her book chapter It’s not too late to be smart..,” explains that “talking back” or interacting in some way with the text is the most helpful for many if not all students. You may use many methods to do this, but find a way to interact with the text information.
Two Column Notes – This is a method that requires students to respond to prompts after dividing their notebook paper in half. On one side, they respond to a prompt that makes sense to the passage and on the other side, they reflect on the whys or somehow interact with the information in the text. See the chart below.
What is important?
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What is trivia?
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What does the author say?
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What does the author mean?
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The heading for this section is...
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A better heading would be...
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This quote...
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makes me think...
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The most important sentence in this section is...
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because...
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This paragraph...
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could be summarized as...
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The big idea is...
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The details are
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The problem is asking me to...
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The most important words in the problem are...
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This concept...
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Looks like this (illustrate)
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What the character did (summarized below)
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is/is not what I would have done because...
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This event...
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is more significant than others becuase...
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This happened...
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because...
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I think the author has a bias...
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because...
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| Source of chart: Overcoming Textbook Fatigue |
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Teacher formatted notes – These are notes given to you by the teacher in the form of outlines or Powerpoint presentations. Basically, these teachers are giving you the notes you need for the class. So you can just sit back…right? Wrong. You should be using the margins and white space in these given notes to make notes of your own to help you understand the concepts. Make sure you understand the points the teacher is making in the notes.
Webbing – Webbing is using circles and lines to create relationships between concepts. You essentially create a web like structure to help understand what is happening with the information. You can use this Read Write Think Webbing Tool free online when helping create webs for study purposes.
Combination Notes – This is where you merge the written notes with visual notes. You have one side of your paper for written notes/ideas and the other side for visuals that accompany those concepts. This way you are recording the concept in two forms and it is more likely to stay in your mind one of those ways than the other.
Final Tips:
Verbatim notetaking is the least effective way to take notes – Trying to get word for word notes is not only impossible during a class or reading, but it is showing that you do not know how to pick out the major points. Be sure you can tell what is major and what is minor.
Notes should be a work in progress – As you continue to move through a chapter or lecture, continue to add, cross off, highlight, and change your prior notes. Don’t take notes on the chapter then go to class and listen to the chapter lecture using two different sets of notes. Use the first set from the book and add on/change from the lecture.
What are notes good for? – Your notes are really to be used as study guides for your tests. You should be able to take the notes from the book and lectures (because you have the main points down!) and use them to study. Don’t just study the notes, but they should be a critical piece of your studying.
Make it visual – Highlighting, capitalizing, making pictures, timelines, webs, etc really add to the study value of notes so be sure to make things into a visual form (much more memorable!) as you take notes.
Resources
Do you have a method of note taking that you prefer? Share your ideas with us below!
Are study skills becoming a stress point for your student? Do you think your child may need a tutor? If so, get our free checklist download for your use. We provide in-home tutoring to Cary, Apex, Durham, Raleigh, Chapel Hill, and the surrounding areas.
Jen Benoit, MEd, is an avid visual note taker. You will see her notes filled with pictures, highlights, and even Post its!