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Personalized Math Tutoring Fuels Dreams to Be a Pilot!

By Eric Steckel
May 16, 2024

How Your Support Turned Adrian’s Math Challenges Into Visions of Flying

Children often dream of taking flight and soaring through the clouds. For Adrian, it’s more like an obsession.

When the third-grader joined Path2Math this year, he was nearly two years behind in math. Like many children, he was reluctant to participate in the “Math Club.” Math tutoring challenged him to work on a subject he knew he struggled with. It was hard work, and despite our best efforts, it’s not always fun to work on subjects that are so challenging.

One day, his tutor, Mr. Jim, took a break from math and asked him, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

“I want to be a pilot,” Adrian answered.

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Just like that, a connection was made. “You know, pilots need to perform a lot of math to fly a plane,” Mr. Jim said. As a pilot, he would know.

“A simple question revealed a shared connection that ignited Adrian’s interest in learning math.”

Since that day, Adrian has found a reason to want to learn math and has advanced nearly two grade levels. Mr. Jim shares some of his knowledge of piloting with the youngster, which encourages him to work harder at the difficult equations.

The power of personalized math tutoring is the relationship between student and tutor. A simple question revealed a shared connection that ignited Adrian’s interest in learning math. Tutoring is not always a straight line. With patience, care, and interest from the tutor, children will soar in school. And Adrian might just soar through the clouds!

A young child is looking for you to make a connection so they can soar in school … and in life!

Tutor a child! Yes, I can embrace a child in a
circle of care!

 I want to tutor a child in reading or math!

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Aurora’s Trick to Learning Multiplication

By Eric Steckel
May 14, 2024

Harnessing Out-of-the-box Thinking Encourages Her to Learn Math

There are days when the children make us smile in wonder.

Aurora, an eager second-grader in Path2Math, loves the IXL learning program. She often works on math at home, so it’s no surprise that she is making significant progress.

“I’m looking at the clock because each number is like counting by fives!”

A few weeks ago, Michelle Hutcherson, Path2Math program manager, began working with Aurora on multiplication. The young girl had recently learned to tell time. As they worked together on multiples of five and ten, Aurora seemed to look up in the air before answering each problem. Michelle finally asked her why she kept looking at the wall.

“I’m not looking at the wall,” she said in her sweet little voice. “I’m looking at the clock because each number is like counting by fives!”

Will you complete HER Circle of Care?

Through one-on-one reading and math tutoring, and family support, you will nurture an eager child in a circle of care so they may succeed in school.

Yes, I want to uplift a child in school today!

Michelle was amazed. “That made my day! I was blown away at her method of learning, which was perfectly spot-on!”

One-on-one, high-impact tutoring can reveal each child’s unique learning style. By encouraging and harnessing a little out-of-the-box thinking, children are supported in their learning, and that encouragement fills them with hope and confidence.

When we witness children making those connections by themselves, it makes us smile in wonder and pride.

Your support ensures children are nurtured in a circle of care where their unique learning styles can flourish!

Tutor a child! Yes, I can embrace a child in a
circle of care!

 I want to tutor a child in reading or math!

I want to fund Children Rising tutoring programs!

Brighter Paths: Personalized Tutoring Illuminates Wilma’s Reading Journey

By Eric Steckel
May 2, 2024

Your Support Sparked Creative Solutions to Conquer Reading Challenges

Wilma is a bright third-grader making incredible strides in her reading journey. Thanks to the nurturing guidance of Succeeding by Reading tutors Merrie Dillow and Barbara Thompson, Wilma is not just overcoming hurdles but blossoming into a confident reader.

When Wilma started personalized tutoring with Merrie and Barbara, she was reading in the pre-K Orange Zone. She struggled with identifying letters and their corresponding sounds, which are the phonetic building blocks of reading. In most cases, children learn this before kindergarten.

Will you complete HER Circle of Care?

Through one-on-one reading and math tutoring, and family support, you will nurture an eager child in a circle of care so they may succeed in school.

Yes, I want to uplift a child in school today!

Wilma is an English language learner. Her mother also struggles with reading. Wilma was excited to receive an extra Orange Zone workbook to bring home so she could practice with her mom. “I taught my mom everything I know!” Wilma proudly shared.

Navigating challenges with creative thinking.

“We experienced one stumbling block in her learning that impacted her self-confidence. It had to do with letters that sound differently in Spanish than English. G, H, and J don’t sound the same in Spanish,” Merrie explained. “It took me a while to understand and narrow down the problem and solve it.”

The solution? Flash cards with pictures!

Clinic coordinator Pia Dandan suggested creating index cards with pictures that helped Wilma associate the different sounds with the appropriate letter. For example, a picture of a little girl jumping helped Wilma remember the J sound.

“Once she could remember the sounds, she leaped that gap in phonics, and to my surprise, she knew a lot more than I understood! It was like one thing kept her from moving forward on our timeline. She had a lot of skills already in place, but we couldn’t understand that because of this stumbling block.”

Wilma’s progress has come in leaps and bounds.

After struggling for months in the Orange Zone, Wilma quickly advanced to the next level “with flying colors.” She is now on to three-letter and short vowel words and reading at an advanced kindergarten level.

Although Wilma has a long literacy journey to get to grade level, her renewed self-confidence has spurred her on. “She is eager to participate. It flows more easily. She’s not fighting something anymore,” Merrie said.

Your gifts to Children Rising enable us to continue providing personalized tutoring and family learning support, uplifting one precious child at a time.

Tutor a child! Yes, I can embrace a child in a
circle of care!

 I want to tutor a child in reading or math!

I want to fund Children Rising tutoring programs!