Tutor Tuesday
Caroline Read - Making Learning Fun!
As a Specialist Tutor for Dyscalculia, I believe that every child should be able to make progress in Maths if they get the right support to enable them to become confident learners.
There are many different reasons why children may struggle with Maths ranging from misunderstanding key concepts during early numerical development to Specific Learning Difficulties such as Dyscalculia.
I believe that everyone can become a Mathematician but the journey that is taken to become a confident learner may differ from that of others.
I have had the benefit during my career of being able to teach a wide age range - from Engineering Undergraduates through to Nursery and Reception children who are just starting out on their journey. As a result, I have an understanding and an appreciation of the difficulties that children may encounter during their different stages of learning.
In more recent years my focus has been upon early Mathematical concepts and the difficulties that children may encounter when learning the all-important foundations of Mathematics. Addressing difficulties and misconceptions as early as possible is crucial to enable future progress to be built upon a solid foundation. I currently work both within schools and as a private tutor providing specialist teaching to both Primary and Secondary aged pupils. As I am level 7 qualified and a BDA Approved Practitioner for Dyscalculia, I also offer Dyscalculia screening to assess for the risk of Dyscalculia and to inform individual teaching plans.
The most important part of my lessons is to ensure that the learner is engaged and having fun! For this reason, games are an essential ingredient in my lessons. Here are some of the games that I enjoy with my younger pupils…
Domino Fishing…
Catch a fish and match the numeral to the wooden dominos. Dot patterns are a great way to gain an appreciation of magnitude. Matching to numerals helps the learner to understand the magnitude represented by the numeral.
Odd Socks…
Roll the dice and count out the socks onto the line. Is there an odd sock? What does the Numicon tile look like? Make it competitive by collecting any odd socks and seeing who has the most odd socks at the end of the game
Teen four in a row…
Teen numbers can be tricky to learn. Numicon is a great tool to help visualise the structure of a ten plus ones. Players choose a Numicon tile from the feely bag and place it next to the ten tile to make a teen number. The player then places their counter on a matching teen numeral on the game board. The first player to get 4 counters in a row wins.
Website www.readmaths.co.uk
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