Teaching your Child Study Skills

As I get to know your children, I will try to incorporate more and more study skills elements and lessons to our daily routine but it would help if you did the same at home. The following article may help you get started.
Your child has a better chance of succeeding in Middle School if she/he masters school survival skills now. Here's how you can help her get organized and learn to study effectively.


Does your child know how to study for a test?
While many teachers spend some class time teaching study skills, students often need more guidance than they get in the classroom. In middle school, there's more homework, it becomes more difficult and it requires analytical skills your child may not have developed yet.
The study skills your child needs to do well on her test on Friday are the same ones she will need to succeed in middle school and beyond: getting organized, taking good notes and studying effectively.
As your child moves toward independence, she's/he's less likely to ask for your advice. She will need to go through some trial and error to come up with the strategies most compatible with her learning style. And you'll want to encourage your child to take responsibility for her/his own school work. You can help her by monitoring homework, asking questions and helping her evaluate what works for her/him — and what doesn't.

Helping Your Child Get Organized
Getting organized is crucial for your child, "And the key is parent involvement."
Some tips to help your child get organized:
'Did You Do Your Homework?'
Parents need to ask more questions than this one, teachers advise. How much should you help with homework?
Monitor homework but remember it's your child's homework, not yours. You can help by asking questions that help guide your child to his own solutions. Some examples:
What information do you need to do this assignment?
Where are you going to look for it?
Where do you think you should begin?
What do you need to do next?
Can you describe how you're going to solve this problem?
How did you solve this problem?
What did you try that didn't work?
Why does this answer seem right to you?
Tell me more about this part? Provide a place to study.
It doesn't have to be a desk. "A kitchen counter is a great place, especially if mom's in the kitchen cooking."
The desk or table surface should be big enough so that your student can spread out papers and books. Make sure essential supplies such as pens, paper and calculator are close by. Have good lighting and a sturdy chair that's the right height available.
Help your child develop a system to keep track of important papers.

Make sure your child has — and uses — his /her assignment notebook. Help your child get in the habit of writing down each daily assignment in each subject and checking it off when it's complete.
Encourage your child to estimate how long each assignment will take.
He/she can then plan a realistic schedule, building in study breaks after subjects that are most challenging, and allowing for soccer games and band practice. Helping your child keep track of time spent studying — rather than staring at a blank page — will help him/her think about how he's/she's using his/her time. If he's/she's spending too much time on a subject that might be a signal that he needs extra help or tutoring.

Help your child break big projects into smaller ones.
A big research project will seem less overwhelming and will be less likely to be left until the last minute if it's done in manageable chunks, each with its own deadline.

Communicate with your me
If your child is struggling with organizational skills, please let me know and we can meet to talk about what might be causing the problems and brainstorm approaches to solve them.

Studying for Tests Studying for tests is a skill.
For struggling students, it's a mystery.

Parents can help their children manage their time and attention — which means turning of the cell phone, the TV and the iPod.

Some tips to remember in helping your child:
Rereading isn't the same as learning.
"Reviewing alone is not enough, reflecting on what she/he has learned along the way adds to learning. Thinking of potential essay questions and outlining them or working out the challenging math problems helps me learn how to apply the material so that I do not blank when I see the questions on the test.

There are other ways your student can practice active learning — highlighting his notes, using Post-its to mark key textbook passages, making study cards, and mapping and diagramming concepts.
People are productive at different times of day.
Some people focus better in the morning, others at night. Help your child find the times that his efforts will be most effective.

Sometimes we just have to memorize.

Help your child make the most of his time.
If she/he carries a review sheet or book along with her/him, sitting in the doctor's waiting room or waiting out a traffic jam can be productive study time.

Make sure your child knows the basics:
I will post a blog with the skills students at your child's grade level are expected to have. Middle school students are generally expected to have learned basic multiplication and division facts, for example. If your child can't quickly recall them, it is likely to hurt her scores on math tests. I will keep you posted.


Reflect on what works:
Some questions you can ask your child: How do you know when you've studied enough? How did you keep yourself focused? How much time did you plan to spend and how much did you actually spend? How would you do this differently next time?

Help your child de-stress:.
Good study skills can help reduce anxiety, and so can relaxation exercises and regular physical activity. If your child seems unusually anxious about tests, talk to him/her about it. If the work seems too difficult for your child or the workload too great, contact me as soon as possible.
Have a great weekend,
Mrs. Papp

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