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Kump Education Center has room for a few more fourth- and fifth-grade students in our Targeted Tutoring program designed to focus on basic skills each student needs to improve after two years of interruptions in the school calendar. Parents and grandparents looking for tutors to help their children develop the basic skills needed to be successful in school may send an email to heatherbiola@yahoo.com or call 304-621-3757.
This free Targeted Tutoring service supported by Citizens Bank of West Virginia is available from 3-5 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from Feb. 1 through April 15. Parents will need to provide transportation, and each child will be given a referral from for their teacher to suggest what skills that student needs most. We hope tutoring will boost scores on achievement tests students take in the spring and that the skills they develop will be stronger when they start middle school.
Regular readers of this column know it has been devoted to describing some of the best methods for developing reading skills over the last few weeks, but I have not suggested what can be done to increase math skill. Most students who have been referred need help in math more than reading at fourth- and fifth-grade grade levels.
More math knowledge is expected in grade schools these days, and many students feel overwhelmed after they have missed so much time in school during the pandemic. At this level students are working to master multiplication tables, work with fractions, understand percentages, use measurements, measure angles, recognize geometric shapes, and much more.
Grade school students also have to be able to meet the challenge of using their math skills to solve word problems. That is where good reading comprehension really counts too. Students need to be able to see what math operations a problem requires them to use. Is it necessary to add, subtract, multiply, divide, or work with fractions to solve the problem at hand?
Our Davis & Elkins College tutors are very capable of offering help with math because they are science majors, and they have learned how to use math as they prepare for careers in various scientific fields. They have made good suggestions about using flashcards to reinforce multiplication and exploring some science exhibits that we have at Kump Center.
These tutors are great models for our elementary students because they are creative and energetic, and they break all the old stereotypes. Clearly these young women disprove the idea that girls can't do math. Our male tutor is a good example of an athlete who believes that kindness is important and bullying is not a good way to persuade people.
It is a privilege for me to be able to work with these fine young adults, and it gives me hope that the best values of our society will survive this pandemic.