********How Can I Best Support My Child?******
- If your child is having difficulty understanding a task, break down each part of the directions or questions. You can do this by defining unfamiliar words, including question and task words such as why, how, identify, analyze, explain, cite, evidence, compare, evaluate, summarize. Ultimately, these verbs tell the child what needs to be done.
- If your child is struggling with a math concept:
- Ask what strategies have you tried?
- Ask what do you think you could do?
- Draw pictures
- Define unfamiliar words
- Ask a friend over the phone/video for support
- Use Khan Academy to get a support lesson
- If your child is struggling with writing, have them use text-to-type or scribe for them to get their ideas started. Then ask them to edit the work using paragraphs, punctuation, spelling, transitions, evidence-based language, etc.
- If your child is in a funk (unmotivated), use these ideas to help him/her get started:
- Feeling off?
- What am I feeling?
- Where do I feel it in my body?
- If It could talk, what would it say?
- What might this be teaching me?
- What do I need right now?
- What tiny step can I take to meet my need to complete the task?
- Feeling off?
- If your child is stuck, remind them about the importance of Growth Mindset.
- Persevere - don’t give up
- Take a breath - Dig in - Dig deep - say I CAN DO THIS - push through it
- Visualize your brain getting a good workout - Yes, your brain actually exercises!
- Take a stretch break
- Do some jumping jacks (JJ), take a jog, do some push ups or sit ups
- Perform: I AM A STAR
- Curl up in a squatting ball then explode with all limbs (like a JJ)
- Yelling I AM A STAR over and over until you KNOW it and FEEL it :)
- Try a different strategy - what else do you know about the problem?