First Grade

Over the past couple of years, I have had the honor and delight of spending most of my time with junior high and high school-aged students, tutoring them through a variety of their classes. I have enjoyed sharing my enthusiasm for many subjects with them, but the subject that the majority of students want assistance with is math. I am aware of how math builds through the years, and I know the skills the students will need as they continue their studies. That knowledge has made it all the more fun to be tutoring a first grader this summer.

Every week I get to pull out math manipulatives, pattern blocks and games and use them to prepare this young boy to think well, enjoy the math process and be prepared for what comes next. I realize that the patterning skills he is using will be helpful when he begins algebra years down the road. Understanding shapes and how they work together will help with geometry. But most of all, he is finding out
that learning is fun, and that will carry him down the road best of all.