Did you know about this?

So, people, get started on those college applications! Good luck! When you think you are finished writing up your essay, set it aside for a day or two so you can reread it over and catch any mistakes, grammar errors, words that does not fit as descriptive in a sentence and more. Have someone else take a look, a set of fresh eyes can possible see something you have may missed.

October 23rd is Ankeny's schools report card day!

Contact: Dr. Dennis Shaw, Center Director
Huntington Learning Center of Ankeny
515-965-3860
ShawD@HLCmail.com

Ankeny.HuntingtonHelps.com

Questions to Ask About Your Child’s First Report Card of the Year

Ankeny, Iowa. October 2017– It’s the start of a brand-new school year, which will be full of new adventure for your child. Soon, you’ll receive his or her first report card—an official status update on how things are going. “Parents should take this first ‘check-up’ of the year as an opportunity to open the lines of communication with their children and their children’s teachers,” says Doctor Dennis Shaw of the Ankeny Huntington Learning Center. When the first-semester report card comes home, what should you address during those conversations? Here are several questions to ask:

Questions for your child

1.      How has this year gone so far? Give your child a chance to talk about the first couple of months of the school year candidly. How does your child feel about the teacher, each subject and any homework and tests?

2.      What are you proud of? Allow your child to ponder what has gone well this year as a result of his or her efforts. Perhaps there will be one or more classes where the grades were hard earned and a few that came much easier. This insight will help you understand your child’s journey to date and what concerns he or she has that weren’t on your radar.

3.      How do you learn and study best? Before offering your own observations and ideas about how your child learns most effectively, ask for his or her opinion. Be sure to talk about how this year is going and if your child is noticing any changes in his or her most useful study and learning methods.

4.      What do you want to change going forward? Bring this up after reviewing the report card together. If your child received a poor grade, it’s understandable that you might want to lay out a game plan to fix it, but let your child talk first. What does he or she think is the best course of action?

Questions for your child’s teacher

1.      What are my child’s strengths and weaknesses? You have your own thoughts, but it is invaluable to understand the teacher’s ideas about your child’s areas of strength and areas to improve upon. This gives the teacher a chance to talk about your child’s performance compared to grade-level expectations and how he or she is staying on track thus far in the year.

2.      How would you describe my child as a student/learner? The more you know about your child’s learning preferences, tendencies and methods, the better equipped you will be to offer support at home. Ask the teacher what he or she sees in the classroom as far as the environment and types of lessons that seem to “click” with your child the best.

3.      Where would you like to see my child make changes? This question should hopefully open the conversation to your child’s working habits and demeanor in the classroom. Whatever adjustments the teacher brings up, make sure you ask for suggestions on how best to proceed.

4.      What can I do to support your efforts? It’s always helpful to get an understanding from the teacher as early in the year as possible of the role you should play in your child’s education. Ask about tips for approaching homework time, what the appropriate level of involvement is and how you can stay in touch with the teacher for your child’s benefit.

Before any conversation about the report card, Dr. Shaw encourages parents to write down their own list of questions, springboarding from the above topics. “All parents have a unique perspective of what their children need to work on, so it’s a good idea to keep that big picture in mind when communicating both with their children and the teachers,” he says. “Parents can keep those conversations focused and constructive by spending time in advance putting any issues or concerns down on paper.”

If the first report card of the year brings up issues that are of serious concern, call Huntington at 515-965-3864. We can develop a customized, one-to-one plan of instruction to help your child address any problems big or small and make this a great school year.

About Huntington

Huntington is the tutoring and test prep leader. Its certified tutors provide individualized instruction in reading, phonics, writing, study skills, elementary and middle school math, Algebra through Calculus, Chemistry, and other sciences. It preps for the SAT and ACT, as well as state and standardized exams.  Huntington programs develop the skills, confidence, and motivation to help students succeed and meet the needs of Common Core State Standards.  Founded in 1977, Huntington’s mission is to give every student the best education possible.  Learn how Huntington can help at www.huntingtonhelps.com. For franchise opportunities please visit www.huntingtonfranchise.com.  

©2017 Huntington Mark, LLC. Huntington Learning Center®, the three-leaf logo, and 1 800 CAN LEARN® are registered trademarks of Huntington Mark, LLC. Each franchised Huntington Learning Center is operated under a franchise agreement with Huntington Learning Centers, Inc.

Month of October Learning Disabilities Awareness Month

"In observance of Learning Disabilities Awareness month, Huntington's own Dr. Mary Rooney shares tips for breaking screen addiction habits in children with ADHD."

https://huntingtonhelps.com/resources/adhd-blog/screen-addiction-in-kids-with-adhd

5 Tips to Write a Great College Application Essay

Contact: Dr. Dennis Shaw, Center Director
Huntington Learning Center of Ankeny
515-965-3860
ShawD@HLCmail.com

Ankeny.HuntingtonHelps.com

5 Tips to Write a Great College Application Essay

Ankeny, Iowa August 20, 2017– If you’re the parent of a college-bound student, you know well all that goes into the college admissions process. From taking the SAT or ACT to the researching of colleges, there’s a lot to do in a relatively short amount of time. But what about the application essay? “If the college to which your teen is applying requires or strongly recommends that he or she write an essay, there are a number of things your teen can do to put his or her best foot forward,” says Dr. Dennis Shaw of the Ankeny Huntington Learning Center. Here are five tips:

1.      Put thought into choosing the right topic. Most colleges’ essay prompts are open ended, as admissions officers generally hope that students will give good thought to selecting a topic that shows who they are and what they are capable of. Encourage your teen to be authentic and introspective, to think about what he or she is proud of and passionate about as well as life experiences that have required your teen to work harder, overcome setbacks or change. Remind your teen that the goal isn’t to impress the college with a laundry list of achievements, but rather, to present oneself in a way that is different than what the admissions officer would find on a transcript.

2.      Follow the directions. The essay is your teen’s chance to engage in thoughtful self-expression, but it isn’t the place to ramble about why a college is your teen’s dream school or explore tangents about his or her life or feelings. Remind your teen to carefully read and ponder the essay prompt given by the college. Don’t disregard any instructions. If there’s a word count, stick to it. If specific questions are asked, be sure your teen submits something that answers them.

3.      Create a detailed outline first. Rarely do words flow together to create a compelling essay without sufficient planning. Your teen must spend time creating an outline with a beginning, middle and ending. The outline should include good examples and clearly show how the essay will move from start to finish. Before your teen starts writing, have him or her review and edit the outline if needed. Are there gaps in the story? Is the main takeaway of the essay clear from the outline?

4.      Allow plenty of time for multiple drafts. It’s understandable that your teen might be focused on preparing for the SAT or ACT and narrowing down colleges and universities of interest, but it’s critical to allow time to craft a well-written essay—and revise it. If an application is due January 1, a sample timeline might be creating the outline by November 1, first draft by November 10, second draft by November 20 and final draft in early December. This allows your teen time to set the essay aside for a couple of weeks and read it with fresh eyes (and proofread and fine-tune if necessary).

5.      Edit like a pro. Speaking of drafts, your teen might question the suggestion that an essay requires rewriting several times. Yes, it’s true. A great essay takes writing, revising and revising again. Encourage your teen to do the obvious—proofread for errors and edit wordy or confusing sections—but a great self-editor should ask questions while reviewing as well, such as:

·         Does the essay hook the reader from the very start?

·         What’s the point of the essay and did I capture it effectively?

·         Is any part of the essay too long or too rushed?

·         Is there a clear conflict that caused me to change in some specific way or take a new path?

·         Did I achieve the desired tone for the essay (moving or humorous, for example)?

·         Does the voice sound and feel like me?

·         For each and every sentence, could I say it better or more clearly?

The college application essay is the chance to show an admissions officer who your teen is as a student and a person—beyond his or her transcript and test scores. It’s a personal statement that should come from the heart and share with the college to which your teen is applying why he or she would be a great fit as a student there. Your teen should be sincere and articulate and remember that a college’s goal in requesting supplemental essays from applicants is to give them the chance to tell the college something about themselves. This is a powerful opportunity—encourage your teen to put his or her best foot forward.

About Huntington

Huntington is the tutoring and test prep leader. Its certified tutors provide individualized instruction in reading, phonics, writing, study skills, elementary and middle school math, Algebra through Calculus, Chemistry, and other sciences. It preps for the SAT and ACT, as well as state and standardized exams.  Huntington programs develop the skills, confidence, and motivation to help students succeed and meet the needs of Common Core State Standards.  Founded in 1977, Huntington’s mission is to give every student the best education possible.  Learn how Huntington can help at www.huntingtonhelps.com. For franchise opportunities please visit www.huntingtonfranchise.com.  

©2017 Huntington Mark, LLC. Huntington Learning Center®, the three-leaf logo, and 1 800 CAN LEARN® are registered trademarks of Huntington Mark, LLC. Each franchised Huntington Learning Center is operated under a franchise agreement with Huntington Learning Centers, Inc.

4 Homework Tools to Keep Children on Track

4 Homework Tools to Keep Children on Track

Homework is a great way to reinforce what children learn in the classroom and provide opportunities to practice skills independently. Unfortunately, it can be a source of stress for many children—especially those who are naturally disorganized and tend to “spin their wheels” at homework time. Luckily, there are lots of aids that will help keep children on task and focused on what they need to accomplish. Here are some of Huntington’s tried-and-true homework tools for students:

Homework completion chart – Perfect for younger children who do not get a lot of homework but still need a simple way to mark off when they are complete with it, a homework completion chart teaches children good habits like writing down assignments and managing their tasks. Your child can keep this chart on hand during homework and check off subjects as finished. Here’s an example of what this chart might look like:

Week of: February 12

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Math	X
Spelling	X
Reading	X

Subject homework checklist – For children who struggle to keep track of multiple subjects, a weekly “by subject” homework checklist is a good way to keep tabs on what they need to do each night and what is coming up. One week’s sheet should list out each subject (math, reading, science, etc.) and have five boxes underneath for the days of the week. One subject would look like this:

Subject: Math

Day	Homework
Monday	Workbook p. 12-13 Read Math text p. 25-27 Review today’s notes	X
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday

Daily assignments sheet – For those who like having the “big picture,” the daily assignment sheet is an invaluable tool. You can make copies for each day of the week. The idea is to get your child into the habit of recording to-dos at the end of each class and using that as his or her guide at homework time that night. Here’s an example:

Date: Monday, March 10

Subject	Assignment		Anything coming up?
English	Read text Chapter 2 Worksheet		Test Friday Report due March 22
Math	Text p. 14-17
Science	Read text Chapter 3 Review notes from today		Quiz Thursday on Chapter 3
History	No homework, but study flash cards		Test Thursday
Spanish	Worksheet		Paper due March 25

Project plan – For times when children have bigger projects to work on over the course of a few weeks, it’s a smart idea to break up the assignment into manageable tasks with deadlines. Encourage your child to create such a project plan as soon as the project is assigned. There are many ways to create a project plan, but here’s one possible structure:

Class: Social studies

Assignment or project: Research paper

Task	Start date	Deadline	Done
Select topic		October 1
Create outline	October 2	October 4
Research sources	October 5	October 6
Narrow down to best materials	October 7	October 7
Revise outline	October 8	October 8
Rough draft	October 10	October 12
Brainstorm visual aids	October 13	October 13
Draft #2	October 14	October 15
Choose visual aid and start collecting materials	October 14	October 16
Draft #3	October 16	October 17
Finalize visual aid	October 17	October 18
Finalize report	October 18	October 19
Proofread final report	October 20	October 20
Turn in paper		October 21

One of the keys to homework success is to stay organized, and charts and checklists help children do just that. In combination with use of the day planner, have your child try a few different methods and tools to discover what helps him or her be the most successful. Embracing such methods will give your child a sense of responsibility and ownership, help him or her stay focused on what he or she must do and when, and put those goals front and center.