April Said:

Fifth grade trouble with reading?

We Answered:

I'd recommend you find stories they enjoy reading. You should read them with the kid out loud so the learn to read faster and pronounce the words. You should also practice some vocab with them so the recognize words better. Once they get comfortable at a level of reading, make it progressively hard. Patience is key so don't give up so quick.

Janet Said:

Want to do an "inferencing" lesson for an observation by principal..Any ideas? Elementary Level?

We Answered:

To introduce inferencing, you can show pictures of different types of people doing different types of things. I usually use pictures from magazines.

I show the picture to the class and ask them to make an inference about who the person is, what his or her personality may be like, what he or she is doing, etc. The key is to support the inference with factual observations, so I make my students also write down a fact from the picture that helps them make that inference.

This activity usually helps them understand what an inference is, but you will also need to connect it to whatever reading you are doing that day. I would have predetermined questions for the reading that emphasize making inferences.

I did this activity with 9th graders, but I think 2nd graders would be able to handle the activity.

Good luck.

Steven Said:

Does a private elementary school have any obligation to renew your enrollment?

We Answered:

Private schools are just that, private. As such, they can have different criteria for enrollment than do the public schools. They can limit the school to all boys or all girls. They can limit it to children of one faith. They can also limit it in regards to academic criteria. That is all legal.

When this school says, "she does not work fast enough in the class" I would take that to mean that she is slow comprehending what is being said and/or done. She may have to ask a lot of questions for clarification and that slows the class down. As with any school, a slower child can slow the teaching and as a result, the faster kids get bored.

You have several ways to handle this problem.

One is that you can ask she be held back a year so she has more time to mature. This would be very reasonable if she is one of the youngest kids in the class. Holding her back would make her one of the oldest kids in the new class but the additional year might help her keep up. You could argue that by them not telling you she was having a problem until it was too late to apply elsewhere, they have put you in a very difficult situation. You could say that your lawyer thinks they could have handled this better but by them agreeing to hold her back, they will show that they are not unreasonable and are willing to work with you. (get the word "lawyer" in there somehow.)

You can put her in public school. Since you yourself said she was in an "excelerated" (sic) school, a school that goes on a more average pace would probably be more her speed. Most of the US presidents went to public schools so they can not be all that bad.

Antonio Said:

Well my mom understands my homework but gets so frusterated when i ask her for help on it!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

We Answered:

If you have dyslexia, you have to get certified by teh school, who then can make accomodations for your problems.

The think is the teacher should also see this is happneing to you and needs to step in to make the distinction between a lazy student and a struggling student with a mental condition

Martha Said:

I have problems with reading comprehension does that effect me understanding computer programming?

We Answered:

not likely
how are you at solving word problems?
Good math scores is a good indicator that one may do well in programming - not because there's a lot of math - but because of the 'way of thinking' - some get it but some ought to change their majors.
I don't know how you did in math - you answer that to yourself.