I met with Poppy last night for the first time since we returned from Vietnam. Her family was so busy while we were there that she and I only got a chance to meet twice to go over her packet of work, so I expect that she returned to school a little behind. But her literacy is developing well. She continues to miss just a couple letters on any spelling test, and her errors are easily remidied. She is currently reading two grade-level novels, one of which we shared a chapter of last night. I got to hear her read aloud and also to hear a couple of her tellbacks of what I read aloud.
Just before we left for Vietnam, Poppy's mom, Millie, got a note from Poppy's teacher that Poppy needed to improve her math skills. She is good at math facts, but mas not mastered fractions or long division at a 4th grade level. I suspect that it has not been explained well enough to her, as I've found that to be the case with some language concepts this year. So for the last seeks or so, Poppy has been participating in some after-school group tutoring provided by that same teacher, a long-term sub who kept calling Poppy by the wrong name when we met for a conference during the winter.
I'm good at math, but I don't teach it. And Millie is a math whiz! I've seen her add up a stack of numbers in her head and calculate percentages on top of percentages. She's got a good head for business math too. But Millie works long days, seven days a week, and parents aren't always the best tutors for their own kids. So recently, I was at the nail shop, and Millie asked me if my son's girlfriend, Elsbeth, could tutor Poppy in math. Beth has experience working with elementary kids, including as a paraprofessional, and she has good math skills. I bought them some workbooks, and Beth has been tutoring Poppy a couple days a week. It's a relief to Millie, and it gives Beth some extra gas money.
Last night, we were all at the salon, and I asked Poppy if I could look through her backpack. She nodded. I checked out her worksheets and homework from the past month or so, and found a handout on writing a standard, five-paragraph essay: intro, body, body, body, conclusion.
"Are you learning about writing essays?" I asked.
I expected just another nod, but at this, Poppy looked up from her iPad and said animatedly, "Yes! Do you think you could help me write a conclusion?"
Oh, boy, can I! I think that was the first time that Poppy herself actually asked me for help.
"Yes, of course," I said. "In fact, I teach a whole class to grown-ups about how to write conclusions, and I could share some of the same skills with you." I explained that instead of just helping her with this single conclusion, I can actually show her a few strategies that she can use over and over again. I read over her handout, her prompt, and her one-page-plus-a-paragraph essay waiting a conclusion.
Here's what her prompt was, what the handout said, what she wrote about, and how we addressed it: