Reading in 20 Minutes! (Reading Tutoring)

This is a shorter reading tutoring class meant either for the little ones who can't sit for 30 minutes and focus on reading.....or for those wanting to get a short amount of help daily.....or weekly.....like supervised reading with corrections and help from a teacher.....or additional help, as included below. 

NOTE: For a 30...45...or 60-minute class, please ask me about scheduling a listing for those times (30 min/$30.....45 min/$45.....60 min/$60).....or you can sign up for two (30-minute) back-2-back classes, which allow for a 15-minute break in between. I am also open to changing times/days for tutoring to fit your schedule....if I can. I also teach on other platforms but I'm sure we can work out a time that works for both of us if you don't see one on my schedule. Thanks!

INFORMATION: I'm open to following a text-based reading program for parents who would rather have that but it's not necessary when building the foundations from the well-researched science of reading. I use highly-researched and proven methods to assess and help students master those important reading milestones. 

First, for early readers (K-3rd usually) I use some assessment lessons to determine what they need help with and where they are in the foundations of reading. For older readers who are interested in improving comprehension and also learning tips on how to answer the questions....learn about and find the author's purpose.....come up with conclusions......find the main idea/theme/supporting details, vocabulary development, etc.....I have reading materials available to assess them with and figure out the best level for them. 

Based on assessing their current ability, I will use my lessons, and/or other lessons to target those areas. Students who are beyond the foundations of reading levels, which are usually students in grades 4th through adults, could also bring a book they're reading in school if desired, so I can help them with fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, etc......and their homework related to that text. That's up to the parent. Otherwise, I have the texts to use with these older students. 

As we continue on, we will be working on any skills they may need from those foundational building blocks......or the higher level areas if they're above the foundations of reading. For students who are in the foundations of reading level though, we will be doing skill work based on what they specifically need, during our classes. There is a whole science behind this way of teaching the K-3rds, called Differentiated Reading Instruction. It has been very successful both in statistical studies and in my own teaching experiences. 

Outschool Note: Any books a student brings to class must follow Outschool's guidelines so please make sure they are unbiased, secular, inclusive, and represent diverse viewpoints fairly and accurately. For more information, please refer to Outschool's guidelines. 

For older students who have all the foundations of reading down, usually taught in grades K-3rd, please see the bottom of this section. 

For younger students: Due to my experience.....and maybe an odd brain..... lol :-) .....I see patterns as students read. Then, I not only make the corrections and comments during the lesson, and have some quick mini-lessons on things they missed or don't know.....but I also plan lessons for future classes based on those areas they need help with. The main struggles with reading come from specific "steps" every student needs to learn in order to build the foundation to read well: 

1. Basic Alphabet Knowledge, which is learning letter names and sounds. 

2. "Letter Patterns" are the patterns letters make together which I help students recognize so that it will help increase their vocabulary and reading speed (ex. cat/pat/fat, bit/pit/sit, bug/rug, tug, etc....). I also have some literacy classes, involving rapping and singing nursery rhymes and then creating new ones of our own with specific letter patterns that help with this (ad/id/ud, etc..._), if you'd like to look at those classes. They also have words with some digraphs and blends in them, too! 

3. Blends/Digraphs/Diphthongs & Vowel Teams/R-Controlled Vowels: 

"Blends" are consonants that have letter combinations like "tr, st, pl" where you can hear each sound as you're blending them.

"Digraphs" are letter combinations that only make one single sound when blended together, like "ch, sh, th." 

"Diphthongs/Vowel Teams" make one sound for each letter which then changes into a second sound when blended together like, "ea, oa, ie." 

"R-Controlled Vowels" are when the r follows a vowel and makes it so the vowel is no longer short or long but a different sound entirely, due to the r controlling them. 

4. "Vowel Consonant e" are words that consist of long vowels written with one letter (not a vowel team) followed by a single consonant, and a silent e. It is also known as “Magic e" or "Silent e" (ex. wade, rude, eve, hide, etc...). 

Once the K-3rd students have those beginning skills down well, we would then work mostly on reading fluency, vocabulary and comprehension skills to reinforce what they've learned so we can strengthen them so they will be reading for what they're asked to do in 4th-12th grade, and beyond. Although they touch on things briefly, like the main idea, supporting details, etc....before 4th grade, it accelerates greatly in all the nonfiction texts they will read as they get into 4th grade and higher.

For the upper-level readers....often 3rd/4th grade through 12th...and any K-3rd students who have a solid foundation on their reading skills (see above)...... there will be additional areas to cover, like the "schwa" sound, vocabulary extension, multisyllabic decoding, and many different aspects of reading comprehension. Although foundational steps are taught in grades K-3rd, many older students are missing some of these, which I can help assess them for as they read. For these older students, if they need homework help with literacy, they can bring a book they need to read in school anyway, so I can help them with their skills, fluency, and comprehension as they also get their homework done. Fluency is the student's ability to read words correctly and automatically....and with the appropriate level of expression, while comprehension deals more with the meaning of the text and subtext. With reading comprehension, we work more on vocabulary expansion; using context clues to figure out meanings, and making inferences based on their prior knowledge so they can connect to new knowledge, as they read....and many other factors. 

This is a 20-minute class for grades K-12th.

For new bookings, it would be helpful if you could send me a message, before the day of our first class, letting me know about your goals are for your child (reading comprehension, learning to read/get better at reading, learning the alphabet, etc...) and the level they are at already (above grade level...on level....below level, etc...). If you really want to book them the same day as their first class, I can get appropriate materials together to make that happen but....I would recommend a few hours' warning since I also teach on other platforms and may not see it in time to be as ready as I would like to be if it's a last-minute booking.

I also tutor Math (Pre-K through 7th). Any time I have open for Reading Tutoring can be changed to Math tutoring....and vice versa so....just send me a message and I will change the listing. Thanks!