Using Let's Go Learn Assessments to Guide My Summer Tutoring

I've been wanting to write this post for some time, but the month of May got a little crazy as the school year ended.  Today, I wanted to show you how I am using my assessments from Let's Go Learn to guide my summer tutoring plans.  My cutie pie student came to me needing help with mostly math and some reading.  We started with the ADAM K-7 mathematics assessment during her spring break.  Immediately after she finished the assessment, a detailed report and summary were ready for me to review.  I shared the results with her parents and began a plan for the remaining part of the school year and the summer.

So Much Useful Information

The red lines in this summary tell us where my cutie pie student is struggling and the green lines show where she is close to grade level.  All together, we learned that she is performing at a mid first grade level.  She is attending third grade next year.  We have a lot of work to complete this summer, but she is motivated to learn and loves coming to tutoring.  In the upper left hand corner is a summary of her scores including her grade level performance in each strand.  So much good information!  (click on the image to enlarge)

Identifying a Visual Spatial Learner

I also discovered that my cutie pie student is a visual spatial learner.  We'll be working on building numbers with play dough to help her keep her numbers written correctly.  As I've worked with her this spring, I observed that she would reverse some of her letters and numbers.  For example, she wrote 01 for 10.  When I told her to look at it again, she told me, “No–it's a ten!”  She stood up from her seat and walked around to the other side of the table to “show” me that her perception was correct.  A classic example of a visual spatial learner.  To learn more about visual spatial learners, be sure to watch my free webinar here.

Organizing and Planning our Progress

For my cutie pie student, I took all the strands that she is struggling with and added them to an Excel spreadsheet that had the months of the summer on them.  In August, we'll reassess to see what kind of progress she's made during our time together.  I also added to the spreadsheet, the programs and resources I plan on using.  Some of them are my own, but many of them are from other teacher authors. (click on the image to enlarge it)

How my hour with this student will go this summer:

9:00 am – 9:10 am:  Warm up activities like–Estimation Station or PlaceValue Task Cards (freebie)

9:10 am-9:40 am:  Work on money, time, and place value with addition and subtraction.

Resources:

What time is it Mr. Wolf? (freebie)

Buzzing by 10's (no longer available)

Seasonal Bumps (freebies)

Stacy's Super Market

Daily Math Puzzlers (see also my post about this awesome resource)

Pizza Pie and the Number Line ( freebie)

Common Core Assessment Pack Grade 2

9:40 am- 10:00 am:  Work with play dough and read a chapter book together

Teaching Her to Work Independently

One of my goals with my cutie pie student is to teach her to work independently.  When she gets a worksheet in her hands that has a lot of words on it, she immediately turns to me and says, “I don't know what to do.”  I want her to learn how to read directions and hunt for clues as to what she needs to do.  We have lots of work to do, but I am confident that she will make great strides this summer!

 How do you prepare and plan for your summer tutor students?  Comment and let me know!  I would love to read about your methods.