Long ago Blood-eater was a dragon who lived on an island that was surrounded by monsters and volcanoes that spewed out lava. Blood-eater was a green villain who sucked blood from superheros. He saw police on his island and got scared but he remembered he could suck blood out of the police. Then the police shot the bullets that makes dragons good and he hugged the police. Blood-eater went back home to his island of monsters and waited until the good bullets wore off.
Ari (aged 8)
Filed under Childrens Story, Uncategorized
One night Snowy the chimp squeezed through the bars of the metal of his cage at the zoo. He felt happy because he escaped. As soon as he got to the forest he was climbing up trees very high so he could eat fruit. He made his house at the top of the trees. Snowy the chimp lived in the forest for the rest of his life.
Alex W (aged 8)
Filed under Childrens Story, Student's Story
In the middle of the ocean there was a pirate named Red Beard. He was alone. It was a stormy night when lightning struck and it hit the boat which sunk. Red Beard had a red beard and was feeling unsafe. He thought to himself “I should go home.” Because of the storm, his boat sank so he tried to swim. The tide was too rough for the pirate to swim.
Andy (aged 6)
Filed under Childrens Story, creative writing, Short Story, Student's Story
Not all dragons can fly but Felix was great at flying in fiery volcanoes. He loved to soar as high as he could above the lava spitting mountains and then he would plummet down in a lurch kind of way. One day he met an audacious boy who threw a spear at him that hit his wing. Thousands of angry environmental protestors, furious that Felix was hurt, came up the hill towards them and the boy hid behind the scared and injured dragon. Felix flew the foolhardy boy past the fiery volcanoes to safety.
By Geoffrey (aged 10)
Filed under Childrens Story, creative writing, Short Story, Student's Story
“Why am I the only person in this class who doesn’t get this?” Eventually they begin to believe “I must be a real dummy I just don’t understand why I keep getting this wrong!” Their self-confidence disintegrates and at times their behaviour will follow. After all “What is the point of turning up every day if I can’t learn this?”
What is happening with this student? What would happen if you saw the number zero as a one? For one thing sometimes five plus one will equal six and other times it will equal five. If you are in primary school and just learning about numbers and maths these things will make it confusing. You won’t understand why sometimes ten is ten and sometimes it is eleven. Everything will become an exercise in guess-work for you.
These students will also have trouble seeing decimal points, and fractions are just another language when your eyes skip over the line between the numerator and denominator.
That’s just maths. When they read “was” it becomes “saw” and whole lines are skipped because the eyes didn’t see the line to read it. By the time they are in Year 7 their reading comprehension is extremely low and there are gaps in their mathematics because fractions and decimals don’t exist.
Eye Tracking issues occur when the two eyes do not move smoothly and accurately across a line or from word to word. The student will often lose their place while reading, skip lines, misread short words as in “was” and “saw” and cut off the beginnings and endings of words.
Eye tracking issues are usually corrected by visiting a Behavioural Optometrist who tests for the condition and prescribes glasses that are worn until the condition is corrected. Normal optometrists do not usually check or test for this condition so if your student has glasses and their school work has not improved it may be time to visit the specialist.
Filed under Learning, Tuition Tips
…that most learners will forget the last four weeks of learning over the six weeks of Christmas break? Pretty much everything learned in November is lost by the time they go back to school in January/February.
Six weeks is a long break from learning and I doubt young minds require so much recovery time. I come from a sports training background and know that such a break from training for a sports person would be detrimental to their ability to perform. That is why professional sports people do not take a break, they alter how they train. That is also why we run holiday tuition programs for our students; to keep their minds prepared for the next year.
It is not just the Christmas holidays that causes a disruption to learning. There appears to be so many events during the year that prevent our students building up momentum in in their learning progress. We have public holidays (about 12 days per year), school holidays (about 12 weeks per year), student free days (at least one after every school break), athletics sports day, swimming day, excursions to …., school camps (1 or 2 weeks per year), …
So, why do our students attend tuition during the school holidays? Because their parents believe education is the best method to open the doors to opportunity as we move through life.
Filed under Learning, Posts, Tuition Tips
There are five essential nutrients for effective brain function, and this includes memory. Many teenagers are low in iodine, as can be said about the general population. It is readily found in some seafood but if you do not eat seafood then you must obtain it from another source.
Decades ago the government placed iodine in table salt so that inland populations may have a non-seafood source of the nutrient. If your family eats salt then it may be beneficial to purchase iodised salt. Other nutrients are omega-3 (from oily fish), iron (meat), zinc (almonds) and the B vitamins.
Two herbs gaining respect for their ability to aid memory are Ginkgo biloba and gotu kola. Ginkgo increases blood flow and fluidity to the brain and improved circulation aides brain function.
The quality of food is so important. We do no good for our children when we give into their tantrums for low nutrient junk food. Be parents to your children now and their friends when they grow up.
Filed under Learning, Nutrition & Study, Posts, Tuition Tips
…that most learners will forget the last four weeks of learning over the six weeks of Christmas break? Pretty much everything learned in November is lost by the time they go back to school in January/February.
Six weeks is a long time to have a break from learning and I doubt young minds require so much recovery time. As I come from a sports training background I know that such a break from training for a sports person would be detrimental to their abilities and performance. That is why professional sports people do not take a break, they alter how they train.
I have witnessed the downfalls in people achieving weight loss because they cannot gain any momentum on their weight loss program. There was always something preventing them getting up a full head of steam on their weight loss project; birthdays, work functions, anniversaries, weddings, parties, etc.. It may be the same for our students in the education system. There appears to be so many things that prevent our students building up momentum in their learning progress; public holidays (about 12 days per year), school holidays (about 12 weeks per year), student free days (at least one after every school break), athletics sports day, swimming day, excursions to …., school camps (1 or 2 weeks per year), …
That is why we run holiday programs for our clients. To us learning is so important to the development of the child that we give tuition hours away to ensure our students return to school not having forgot what they learned in the last month and a half of school but are advanced on what they know.
Filed under Learning, Posts, Tuition Tips
Having a properly fuelled student goes a long way to producing good academic results. There are times a student will come to our tuition room tired and unmotivated. They are slow in movement and slow in thought when the previous week they were lively, animated and full of beans. How has such a difference come about in such a short time?
My first question to afternoon students is, “When did you last eat?”, whereas my second question is, “When did you last have a drink of water?” Lack of food (fuel) and lack of hydration are two factors that will bring about that feeling of being tired. Consuming water and a healthy snack before settling down to working the little grey cells will go a long way to helping a student concentrate during study time.
This week we will look at B vitamins and their role.
The chief function of B Vitamins is to act as spark plugs for the body to assist in converting glucose into energy for fuel. They are also vitally important for the functioning of a healthy nervous system and in helping to promote relaxation in stressed individuals. Very few vitamins are found in a packet of potato crisps and a can of coke. A person will literally obtain more miles out of a banana than soft drinks and chips.
Filed under Learning, Nutrition & Study, Tuition Tips, Uncategorized
Your car will not run without fuel and neither will your body, including your brain. Too often the last decent meal a student has before they attend our Tuition Room after school is breakfast – and it shows.
The inability to concentrate, feeling listless, unenthusiastic and headaches are all signs of insufficient nutrient intake. The body begins to slow down by mid-afternoon after a day of high activity and very little nutritious food.
The best way to maintain high-energy output is to ensure a nutritious breakfast, a healthy lunch and perhaps morning and afternoon tea. A healthy round of vegemite sandwiches with a glass of water or milk will ensure the B Vitamins for energy production are in the body to spur the brain into motion
Filed under Learning, Nutrition & Study, Posts, Tuition Tips
XtraMile Tuition Strategies (North Brisbane) - 0415 049461 