Tutor Doctor

When Life Gives you Lemons; Teaching through the Summer Vacation

admin — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:08:53 +0000

Your student’s teachers will be the first to tell you that the summer vacation has serious effects on your child’s learning. While it’s good to take a break from the books, teachers often struggle for weeks to get those brains back in gear. Creating fun summer activities for your students that help them to exercise their brains is a great way to keep them on their game.

The lemonade stand is a fun way for your students to learn through the summer. It teaches a range of life skills and gets them to practice math all while having fun and learning the fundamentals of commerce. While you can teach a number of lessons through a lemonade stand, remember that its mostly about fun.

Spreading the lemon love

Start by working with your student to select a charity that they really love. Whether they need to raise funds for their Girl Guide or Boy Scout troupe, or they want to give the proceeds to a local pet shelter, together you can find a worthy recipient of your lemonade income that will teach your students about the importance of community and charity.

Marketing savvy

Once you’ve decided on a charity, the next thing you can teach is the fundamentals of marketing. Here you can discuss locations and why some would be better than others. Next, take on the lemonade stand itself. Discuss ways in which you can decorate your lemonade stand to attract attention. Get your students to make signs that advertise their lemonade stand, the charity they are supporting and the items that will be on sale. They can also make posters to advertise the lemonade stand in advance. Glitter, balloons, pictures and other decorative elements can help to add a creative facet onto your educational endeavor. Also discuss ways in which your students should greet customers and how they should help them.

Green your lemonade stand

This is also a great opportunity to focus on the environment. Make your stand and posters from recycled materials. You can use boxes from your local grocery store to create a store front and posters. Opt for biodegradable cups or plastic cups that you can reuse. Make sure that all the materials end up in the recycling once your lemonade stand is taken down.

Math Whizz

Keep lots of change on hand and let your students work out how much change each customer needs to get. They can also count the money to see how much they have made. This is a great way to get them to practice their math skills while having fun.

No Bake Recipes for Kids

admin — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:02:19 +0000

With summer vacation just around the corner, it’s a great time for some family fun. Learning to cook is a great summer activity for your students. Not only do they get to learn a valuable life skill, they also get to practice their reading, measuring and cooking techniques. Following recipes is good practice for science lab too! Here are some no bake recipes they can try on their own.

Chocolate ice cream sandwiches

1 pint chocolate ice cream, softened

8 Chocolate chip cookies

Chocolate sprinkles

Method

Place 4 cookies on a baking sheet. Spoon about ½ cup of ice cream onto each cookie. Make sandwiches by placing the four remaining cookies on top. Smooth out the sides by sprinkling chocolate sprinkles onto a plate and rolling the ice cream sandwiches in the chocolate sprinkles so that they stick to the sides. Place in the freezer for 1 hour. You can wrap the sandwiches individually in plastic wrap and keep in the freezer.

Cake Batter White Chocolate Fudge

2 cups and 2 Tbsp white cake mix

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup salted butter

1/4 cup milk

2/3 cup white chocolate chips

1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles

Method:

Spray an 8-by-8 baking pan with non-stick spray.

Mix together cake mix and powdered sugar in a large bowl. Cut butter into 4 pieces and add to cake mixture with milk (don’t mix them in, just add them on top). Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Take out of microwave and mix everything together. The mixture will be very thick, so younger students may need a little help here. Fold in white chocolate and sprinkles. Don’t mix it too much now or the sprinkles will start to melt.

Spoon mixture into the baking sheet and rub a spoon across the top to make sure that its level.

Place in the fridge for 2 hours. Cut into squares.

No Bake Lemon Cheesecake Squares

Ingredients

200g packet Rich Shortbread biscuits

½ tin condensed milk

1 cup coconut

60g butter (melted)

Rind of 1 lemon, finely grated

1 cups icing sugar

15g butter

Method:

Grease a cookie tin with butter or spray with a non-stick baking spray. Crush biscuits in a food processor. Add lemon rind coconut, melted butter and condensed milk. Mix well. Press into tray.

Sift icing sugar into a bowl and stir in butter. Add lemon juice from lemon one teaspoon at a time until the icing is smooth.

Spread icing over the biscuit mixture. Place in the fridge for 1 hours and then cut into squares.

This summer vacation, you can keep your students busy and help them to maintain their academic skills with fun cooking family time.

Best Mother’s Day Gift Ideas for Students

admin — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:44:42 +0000

Mother’s Day is on Sunday, May 12^th and, as a student, you probably don’t have much free cash to show your mother a little appreciation on her special day. The good news is that Mother’s Day isn’t really about spending money so much as it is about showing your mother that you really appreciate all the things she does for you. When it comes to Mother’s Day, it’s the sincerity and the thought that counts. Here are some really great ways to show your mother a little love on her special day.

Keeping it Clean

While doing chores that you are already responsible for doesn’t count, you can do work your mother would normally do to make her life easier. Do the laundry, wash her car, clean the house or do all the cooking for a week. Giving her a break will not only make her day, it will also give you an idea of just how much work she puts in to her family and her home.

Summer Picnic

With exams and end of term stress, most of you have not yet been able to enjoy the warmer summer weather. Plan a picnic with your family so that you can all spend some time together. Take your mother to the park or to another great natural setting. Make a lunch or dinner for the family to share including all her favorite foods. Pack some outdoor activities such as soccer or baseball for added family fun.

Family Entertainment

If you mother likes going to the movies or the theatre, take her out to see a show on Mother’s Day or stay at home and watch her favorite movie with her (even if it’s not your favorite movie!) You can make some popcorn and prepare all her favorite snacks too.

Dinner El Fresco

If you are planning to cook your mother a special meal for Mother’s Day, then take it outside! Dinner on the roof, in the garden or in the park is a great way to make a family meal even more fun. Play charades after dinner or bring a board game that you all enjoy.

Putting in the time and effort to do something different for your mother is what will make Mother’s Day special for her. Making a cake, creating a card, writing a poem or cooking a special meal is a fool-proof way of showing appreciation on her special day. Your mom does so much for you and she really deserves a little bit of creativity and imagination this Sunday.

Exams: How to Keep Calm and Carry On

admin — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 14:00:55 +0000

As exam season approaches, most students experience heightened anxiety. Compounded by lack of sleep and pressure to perform, exam stress can be your worst enemy and prevents you from performing at your peak. While it’s a fact that your grades will be better if you are calm during exams, its often easier said than done. If you suffer from exam stress, then here are some practical ways you can regain control.

It’s all in the Planning

Part of the reason you feel nervous when taking exams is because you don’t feel prepared. If you plan ahead and ensure that you have enough time to study for your exam, this won’t be a problem. Start early and give yourself tons of time to study. If you feel confident in your knowledge and abilities, you will be able to perform at your peak.

Ask your teacher for previous exams so that you can practice. This means you can also get accustomed to the way in which your teacher asks questions. Ask your tutor to help with your exam preparation. Your tutor can identify gaps in your knowledge, help you to create a study schedule and go through old exam papers with you.

Get enough Sleep

Don’t stay up late cramming; lack of sleep will lead to poor brain performance. Getting your eight hours is the best way to ensure that you are able to use the higher cognitive functions when you are writing your exam. If you are having trouble sleeping, try exercise and drink lots of water. Avoid stimulants like coffee and sports drinks, and eat a healthy diet.

On the Day

Don’t leave home late – ensure that there is no pre-exam rushing around. This only adds stress that you don’t need. Leave home with tons of time to spare. If you arrive early, walk around and breathe deeply. You can say hi to your friends, but avoid talking about the exam.

When you get your exam paper, read all of the questions and don’t worry if there are some you aren’t sure of. Decide how much time you are going to spend on each question so that you don’t run out. Now start with the easiest questions first. This will help to build your confidence and get your brain working.

After the exam is over, try to forget about it. Don’t go over the answers with your friends and get worried about what you did or didn’t write. Instead, go home and relax. The exam period is a long one and you don’t want to stress yourself out about exams you have already written. Focus instead on the exams that you still have to write.

Relax, you’ve Got this!

Your greatest enemy is often yourself. If you start thinking negatively or start to worry that you don’t have enough time, are going to fail or wish you had started earlier… Stop! I know it sounds easier than it actually is, but negative thinking will have a negative effect on your exam results. If your brain gets on the hamster wheel of doubt and negative thoughts start going round in your head, get up and go do something fun. Take a walk, visit a friend or go for a run. Moving around and distracting yourself will help you to focus. Now replace that negative thought with a positive one. Every time you catch yourself thinking: “I’m not going to make it”, replace that with something positive. After all, you got this!

Learning opportunity: Hand-written Thank You Notes

admin — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 19:39:41 +0000

The holiday season is an especially fun time for students, but parents might be scrambling for things to keep them occupied over the holiday break. Keeping their brains busy is a great way to keep them mentally prepared for the new term. Writing thanks you notes not only helps to establish ties with family and friends, it perpetuates a wonderful Christmas traditional and teaches valuable lessons in the process.
Sure, emails and text messages may be quicker, but nothing shows appreciation quite like getting a hand-written message in the mail. If your students enjoy receiving mail, you can carry on the writing tradition by getting them pen pals in exotic locations.
Start by recording all the gifts your student receives over the holidays. Get them to keep a record of who sent the gift and what they sent. This is great practice for recording results in the lab or remembering to keep records.
Don’t ask your students to write all the thank you notes at once. Such a mammoth task will most likely put them off doing it again in the future. Instead, do one or two notes together every day.
Let your student pick out the thank you note stationary, or let them decorate cards with stamps, scrapbooking supplies or pictures that they can draw or paint.
Thank you notes are short, so your student gets to practice neat handwriting; an invaluable skill that will stand them in good stead when writing exams.
Thank you notes also teach the art of good manners and diplomacy. If your student masters these skills, they will be able to navigate social and (later in life) professional circles with ease. Good manners set you apart from the crowd and effective networking is what makes for a happy, well-adjusted adult.
Encourage your students to write just three to five sentences and to use their imaginations and sense of humor. This will mean that writing the notes is a fun activity rather than a chore. Handwriting notes causes students to pause between writing words and this means they have the time to explore new ideas and styles.
It may seem old fashioned, but a hand-written thank you note is a wonderful way to express appreciation for the thoughtfulness of a friend or family member. It can also be a math exercise as you ask your student to calculate how many stamps and envelopes you need, how much it will cost to send the notes, and how much time it will take to write all the notes.
Thank you notes are a great holiday tradition that should be preserved. They have the power to teach a number of valuable lessons and will help your student to appreciate all that they have received and show their appreciation in a meaningful way.

Flu-busting foods: Keep your student flu-free this winter

admin — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 18:09:56 +0000

Flu outbreaks in schools are common as students gather in close proximity. Of course you teach your students to wash their hands regularly and to shield their mouths when coughing and sneezing, but this may not be enough to protect them from seasonal flu. Another way to prevent them from getting sick is to bolster their immune systems. To this end, make sure that they take a regular vitamin supplements and make sure that they also eat lots of these immune system-friendly foods.
Probiotics
This is the good kind of bacteria that aids in digestion and with the absorption of nutrients in the body. Probiotics are available in fermented foods like natural yoghurts and probiotic drinks. Supplements are available too. Probiotics reinforce the strength of intestinal walls and boost immune systems.
Ginger
Ginger has anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties and also helps to settle stomach and prevent nausea. Ginger also has the same pain-relieving properties as over-the-counter pain medications. You can add ginger to fruit salads, soups and stir-fries or slice it thinly and steep in warm water to make a tea. Add honey for added anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties.
Chicken Soup
This really does work! Studies have shown that chicken soup has other benefits beyond rehydration and nutrition. Not only does chicken soup have mild anti-inflammatory properties, it is also thought to improve the ability of cilia, the tiny hair-like parts of the nasal passages, to protect the body from bacteria and viruses. Add garlic to your chicken soup to improve its healing powers. Garlic stimulates your immune system and has anti-microbial properties.
Leafy Dark Green Vegetables
Spinach, kale, collards, Swiss chard and other leafy greens are excellent flu-preventers. Packed with vitamins A, C, D, K, B1, B2, B6, and minerals such as zinc, iron, selenium, magnesium and copper, leafy greens are a great option for improving the immune system.
Sweet Potatoes
These tasty tubers are packed with beta carotene which can also be found in carrots. When absorbed into the body, its converted to vitamin A which helps neutralize toxins and combats respiratory infections. Sweet potatoes also combat free-radicals and this helps to boost the immune system.
Citrus fruit
Enjoy an orange or a grapefruit, or sip juice if you are not up for eating. The vitamin C in citrus fruit helps to boost the immune system. It’s a great preventative measure too as vitamin C helps to boost cell integrity so that they are more able to withstand germs and viruses.
To improve your immune system, avoid sugary or processed foods and always include seven fruits and vegetables in your daily diet. Drink fruit juices and green tea to boost your system and combat free radicals. Preventing illness is easier than you think and is just one of the plethora of positive benefits of eating well and exercising regularly.

Holiday Season Cooking Class

admin — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 20:10:18 +0000

Teaching your students to cook is a valuable life skill to pass on and a great family fun activity. Gingerbread people are a holiday tradition that helps your student to learn to bake, measure and follow written instructions while giving them the opportunity to exercise their creative side. Gingerbread people also make great gifts from young students to friends and family members.

When students follow recipes, they get invaluable practice that will stand them in good stead in the lab. Scientific experiments are very much like recipes. Students learn to read the instructions through from start to finish first. Then follow each step. They also learn to measure and add ingredients one at a time, just like they would in a scientific experiment.
Students also learn how to follow a recipe and basic baking terms like stirring, folding, sifting etc.

Here is a basic gingerbread recipe:
Ingredients:
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup unsulfured molasses
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Method:
Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. In another bowl, beat the sugar and butter together until creamy. Add the egg and beat for another 30 seconds. Add molasses and beat for 2 minutes. Add vanilla and beat for 30 seconds.
Take one cup of dry ingredients at a time and add them to the butter mixture. Every time you add a cup of dry ingredients, stir until well mixed. When you have added all the dry mixture, stir until you have a stiff dough. Use your hands to roll the dough into a big ball. Press down with your palm onto the dough to flatten it. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly flour your countertop and your rolling pin. Roll out the dough until 1/8 inch thick. Use cookie cutters to cut out your gingerbread people. Place on a greased baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes.

Take the cookies out of the oven and let them cool completely. Now decorate with icing and candy.

You can use the same recipe to make gingerbread houses. Put the dough on floured parchment paper and then roll it out. Cut out squares or rectangles that are the same size for the four walls and two sides of the roof. Bake in the same way and leave to cool. Use icing sugar to secure the four walls to each other and then put the roof on. Decorate with candy and icing sugar.

Best Educational Gifts 2012

admin — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 20:05:27 +0000

The holiday season is nearly upon us and if you have younger students on your shopping list, you may be wondering what to get them. There are a

n incredible range of gifts that are both fun and practical. Buying toys that help students to learn is money well-spent. We have a selection of suggestions to help you find a toy that make this holiday season a memorable one.

Elenco Snap Circuits Green – Alternative Energy Kit
This is part of Elenco’s Snap Circuits learning kits. With these kits, students can learn about electronics by creating their own electronic items in a safe environment. The Alternative Energy Kit teaches students about the various alternative energy options and allows them to experiment with each one. This incredible kit comes with 40 different components including a solar cell, an FM radio, a rechargeable battery, a windmill and an analog meter. With all these components, there are 125 different projects for your student to create. This is a great way to learn about energy and its environmentally-friendly alternatives.

LeapFrog LeapPad2 Explorer
The world’s number one learning tablet just got a whole lot better! This is a robust tablet that teaches through games. Students can tilt, turn and shake the tablet to make gaming more interactive. The LeapPad 2 has a front and back camera and a video recorder and a Cartoon Director app so that your students can make their own movies. The tablet comes with 5 apps: Pet Pad, Learning Songs, Art Studio, 1 app of your choice and more can be downloaded too. Students learn new skills in subjects like reading, art, languages, culture, geography, science and math.

Educational Insights GeoSafari Talking Electron Microscope
The talking microscope teaches younger students the basics of biology. They get to learn about viruses and bacteria while exploring the human body. They learn more about the plant and animal kingdoms too. The microscope features a high-resolution LCD screen and includes 180 images for students to study. The microscope is easy to use and robust to boot. It’s perfect for students eight years and up.

Star Theater 2: Home Planetarium
Now you can project the constellations onto your student’s roof and spend every night sleeping under the stars. This tiny projects places hundreds of planets and stars to help your students learn to identify constellations and planets in the night sky. Its interactive meteor maker means that you can create realistic shooting stars on command. Now you can have the entire solar system in the comfort of your own home.
When shopping for gifts this season, you can look online to find a plethora of really fun educational toys that suit your student’s interests. Learning through fun is the most effective way to get students to explore their world.

Social Media takes Social Learning to a Whole New Level

admin — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 20:11:58 +0000

Social learning has been getting a lot of attention lately, but it’s actually been around since the 1970’s when Albert Bandura suggested that learning is a social activity. When harnessing this theory to effect change in the classroom, teachers can use social media to create a wider conversation and include other influential players. If used correctly, social media can be a real asset when teaching through social learning.

As parents you have already experienced social learning as your young students mimic your behavior and learn from your actions. What social learning suggests is that students learn through observing the behavior of others. This can either alter their own behavior or they can learn lessons cognitively without changing behavior. Either way, the learned behavior is reinforced when it produces the desired effects.

What this means is that our educators and tutors are still mentors and models, but they are required to relinquish some of their authority to the community of learners With social media, this community is not restricted to the students in the classroom, but can also include students from around the world and all the resources that the Internet makes available. Now we have an entire network of teachers, tutors and learners all contributing to our body of knowledge and sharing their experiences.
While social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest can provide a wealth of learning opportunities, they can also serve as distractions that eat up an enormous amount of time without contributing anything to your student’s body of knowledge. This means that social media can be a blessing or a curse and needs to be managed carefully to achieve the desired results.

This means that teachers and tutors need to outline lesson plans, goals and guidelines to direct social media actions. Social media is a wonderful tool to use in social learning, but it must be structured in order to be effective.

Students learn more when there is a human connection to their content. This means that they are more likely to remember an exciting video on a lab experiment than if they read the experiment in a text book. Social media also caters for all learning styles thanks to its multi-media capabilities. Students can talk to other learners, tutors and teachers, read blogs, watch videos and study graphics. No matter what kind of style your student responds to, they are bound to find the information they are looking for in a format they like.
Social media also caters to students of different learning speeds. The faster they learn, the more there is for them to discover. Students who work quickly have an endless wealth of resources to explore on the internet.

Social media gives active learners the opportunity to explore and discover. They can work as fast or as slowly as they like and interact with their community and with the information in a format that suits them best.

Things about gifted children that you didn’t know

admin — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 14:35:15 +0000

It’s difficult to define exactly what ‘gifted’ is. In the U.S., gifted children are seen as those who have the potential to perform exceptionally in five areas: general intellectual ability, specific academic aptitude, creative or productive thinking, leadership ability or visual/performing arts. This definition is so general that it leaves the identification of gifted children and their education up to the various states they live in.

Some states have tests and criteria in place for the identification of gifted children and programs to help them succeed while others do not. Whether a gifted child is identified as such and put in an academic program that fosters their gifts is largely a geographical potluck. Gifted children who are not identified rarely succeed and there is a large percentage that drop out of school altogether.

Giftedness is not easy to identify: Although gifted students may have the aptitude to excel, they may have trouble communicating or taking tests. Although some tests do exist to measure giftedness, the information may not be presented in a way that the gifted child will be able to process. Gifted children are not just regular children with a high IQ; they need special nurturing to fulfill their potential.

Gifted students are not all geeks, nor are they all socially inept. Gifted students come with every physical and personality trait imaginable. There is no set of characteristics that define giftedness, which is why it is so difficult to identify.

Gifted students will not succeed on their own. Just like any other student, gifted students need guidance and nurturing. While some claim that in age of austerity and budget cuts, it’s not possible to continue funding special programs for gifted students, these programs remain essential to the success of gifted students.
Our ability to guide and develop the talents of gifted students is one of our most valuable intellectual assets. Gifted children do require special programs, but their contribution to society makes their development worth every cent. Gifted students are not the vestige of the wealthy and many families are simply not able to provide the specialist education that their gifted students need without state funding.

Early detection of gifted students is possible. Most states only start testing for gifted students when those students have reached the third grade. However, the National Association for Gifted Children is able to start testing in the pre-kindergarten phase. The sooner giftedness is detected, the more support we are able to provide and the greater the gifted student’s potential for success.

Gifted students provide an exceptional rate of return for the financial investment made in them by the state. Programs for gifted students need to be expanded and testing methods refines so that gifted students are given as great an opportunity for success as possible.