Hi All, We hope everyone is staying healthy! With the cancellation of in-person school for the rest of the year it’s been a sobering week. We hope that your school, speech, and social skills are going well. Last week we encouraged you to look for signs of grief in your children. We encourage you to continue to closely monitor your child’s social-emotional health. Here are some great videos to lead conversations around the current situation:

Healthy Home Practices During COVID-19 How To Explain Social Distancing COVID-19 Social Story Germ Smart School Closure Social Story Why Can’t I Go to School? Social Story Read Aloud

Love, The Speahy Team

How To Help With Math At Home Getting ready to pull your hair out

trying to help your child with their

math homework. Look at this step by step walkthrough on how to

problem-solve helping your child with math.

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The Speachy

News

Week 4 April 10, 2020

Inside

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Zoom Office Hours with Cynthia Do you have an issue, questions, concern, or just want to chat? Teacher Cynthia is available for Zoom office hours daily from approx. 11am- 4pm. Please make sure to enter your full first name and last initial to the “name” pop-up box. Unknown names will not be admitted. Thank you! Zoom Link: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/313961325 Meeting ID: 313 961 325

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Financial Hardship Help

If you are experiencing financial hardship due to the coronavirus but wish for your child to receive speech therapy or academic training via telepractice, please reach out to us. We are committed to making sure as many clients as possible receive continuity of care during this uncertain time.

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Story Time with Speachy

Would you be interested in a daily “Story Time with Speachy”? It would be a 30-minute Zoom story time where we listen to a book and discuss it to encourage language. It would be limited to 4 children and at least one teacher. Price to be determined. Let us know your interest!

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Understanding The first and most important step is to understand what the teacher is asking your child to do and how they are asking them to do it. It could be the addition or division you are accustomed to but the teacher is asking your child to solve it a different way than you’re used to. Understanding how to solve it and why you are solving it that way will be the biggest help to your child. This may take a little homework on your end too. Your child’s teacher may have posted a video explanation or you can look one up online (Youtube). The most important thing is that you understand what you are doing, how to do it, and why you are doing it that way.

One of the biggest forms of frustration for parents is helping children with math homework. Here are some guided steps as to how to help your child understand and become independent with their math! If

you child continues to have issues contact their teacher or us here at Speachy for private tutoring. .

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Explanation The next step is to explain this to your child. Even if they feel like they know how to do it, explain why you are taking the steps to solve the problem and show them how to do it. If they are struggling with your explanation show them the videos you watched to understand. If they are still struggling, show them how to do it physically. This means using manipulatives (base 10 blocks, fraction blocks, Cheerios, beads, etc.) to show them what they are doing on the paper looks like. Physical representations of math and numbers are the greatest way for children to understand the math problem they are struggling with. (Look up: Visual representation of ________ on YouTube for examples). Show them the physical representation again and again until the child is able to do it independently.

How To Help With

Math At Home

Continued on page 5

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The Adventures of Shelton The Shark and Spiderman

While the kids are away, the toys will play! Shelton and Spiderman have taken this opportunity to explore

Speachy!

Can you figure out where they are?

Send us an email or letter telling us where they are hiding. Two lucky kids who send in the right answer will be randomly selected to

get a prize when we re-open! Good Luck!

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Practice After you ensure that you and your child understand how to solve the problems and why they are solved that way using a physical representation, its time to practice! Using a whiteboard or piece of scrap paper solve a problem using the number and the physical representation at the same time. Help the child do the problem. Each of you should have a job while solving the problem. If you and your child were able to do the problem correctly, watch your child do one problem independently. If needed, they can still use the physical representation next to the numerical representation to help them. If they solve the problem correctly, make sure they can solve the problem independently using only the numerical representation. If they struggle, go back a step and make sure the child can do that step independently. Independence Once your child is able to do one problem independently using only the numerical representation, slowly move toward complete independence. Start with giving them a few minutes to practice independently, check in, and then allow more independence for longer periods of time. It’s alright for your child to get a problem wrong here or there but make sure they are not consistently making mistakes or errors. They are now completely independent! Reinforcement The final step of helping children with math is not independence on math homework, but carryover into life. One way to ensure this is to reinforce this newly acquired math skill independence in another setting. This could

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mean a project, grocery shopping trip, or math game. One of my favorites are math game apps that allow a fun setting where children are still challenged to solve math problems. If your child struggles to solve math problems using physical representation after multiple explanations please contact your child’s teacher. Speachy offers tutoring in math and can help your child when they are struggling to understand.

Resources Kahn Academy Math Videos – Math explanation videos with current ways of solving. Types of Math Manipulatives – Most of these are available on Amazon or on this website. Virtual Manipulatives – Having trouble finding manipulatives? Try these online ones. Math Playgroup Math Manipulatives – These are a more interactive game-like manipulatives At Home Math Manipulatives- Need ideas for math manipulatives you have at your house? Printable Graph Paper- Graph paper is a great way to organize math visually. This includes printable paper and an online graph. Math Playgroup Math Games- Fun interactive games for specific skills. Math Games- These games are super organized by specific skills. Monster Math App – My favorite app for reinforcement math games.

Speachy Learning Center 1164 Chestnut Street Menlo Park, CA 94025

The articles from the newsletter are available in downloadable PDF from our website: speachy.com/covid-19-information