NWR: Elementary Teachers

My niece is in first grade and is having a little trouble. Realistically she should have waited another year before starting first grade, but it is too late now. The teacher has recommended tutoring but the tutoring is out of my sister's price range. She is hoping to do it herself, but is at a loss. Does anyone have any tips on how to help a six year old with reading, writing, and math?

I went to Barnes and Noble yesterday and bought some level one reading books, but I am not sure if there are other things she can do to help my niece.

TIA!

I'm not an elementary school teacher BUT I teach elementary level Spanish. I have seen that having children read aloud to pets is a great way to help them gain confidence in reading, as for math I would say ask for extra practice, buy books that have an answer key in the back so your sis can ck the answers. As far as writing, have her write a letter together about as many fun and interesting things you can think of. Have one be to santa, one be to an imaginary friend, one to the teacher . . .
I would ask the teacher or the school if there is funding for the school to set-up tutoring at no cost to the parent. Some schools do offer it, ask the principal or superintendant.
Good Luck!

Start from the beginning... make sure she can recognize all letters and sounds. Start exposing her to site words such as the, is, are, our, etc. You can look up the 1st grade dolch sight word list... try this website:

SIGHT WORD LIST

When sounding out new words, make sure to run your finger underneath each letter to sound it out. This only works for regular words- this does not work with sight words. I like to put sight words on index cards and practice them that way. You can say the word... spell it out... then say it again. A lot of repetition works!!!


As for Writing- practice writing stories. One day I went to the park.... First I blah blah blah.... Then I blah blah blah.... Last I blah blah blah... by doing this you also practice sequence... what happens 1st 2nd and last.

For Math, at this age they are still on the concrete level. Use objects to show Math problems. You can use hairclips, paperclips, whatever... if they can touch them and count them- its great. Some of my kids still need to draw circles. This works. When subtracting make sure to X out the circles. Do not draw tally marks- it becomes confusing to them.... trust me, I've seen the confusion with the tally marks at this age lol.

Okay now that I wrote a novel- I hope this helps!!! lol

For math, I would buy those counting kittens or bears (you can get them online or at teacher supply stores-Staples might even have them in the teacher supply section) and have her count them, then count how many red, blue etc. Then you can start adding - put one red one next to two red ones and ask her how many there are altogether, etc. Have her practice modeling addition problems with the bears or kittens and writing the number sentences that go with each-i.e. 4 + 1 = 5 etc. When she has mastered that you can go on to subtraction...give her groups of the bears and have her count them, then take some away and ask her how many are left, etc.
I just have to say that It's so hard for everyone when schools socially promote students...it's hard for the student, the teacher, the parents and in your case, the aunt!! I wish schools would wake up and stop doing it. Anyways HTH and GL