Behind the Scenes of Tutoring

Tutoring here at GiGi’s is more than just letters and numbers its about sounds and smiles too!

Here is a behind the scenes peek into a literacy session where a student is learning phonics and the tutor is utilizing the platform Raising Robust Readers.

Raising Robust Readers is a multi-sensory phonics reading program that we offer as part of literacy tutoring at GiGi’s Playhouse. It can be tricky when a student does not want to color,  does not want to hear me sing, does not always like the toys and items in the clue box and the student spends the session  signing “all done” so they can go play with toys in the Playhouse… does any of this sound familiar?

I am here to share an awesome activity with adorable pictures from one of our participants.

Lincoln is your typical 3-year-old. He has his good days and his not so good days. He has days where he is willing to do more and days where it takes more from me to get him to do things. Extremely typical right?

A little background information:

Lincoln is using a few words, he likes to move around A LOT, sometimes he wants to hear me sing and other times, NOT A CHANCE! He is highly motivated by muffins, loves his papa, he rocks his glasses and an adorable smile. If I am being honest, he has stolen my heart and if his mom and dad ever want a babysitter for him, I’m in. So, knowing all of this, I spend my planning time thinking about… Where is Lincoln at? What can Lincoln do? What do we want him to do? What difference can I make in the next 10-12 weeks? and through this thinking, I set high expectations. I made something that he had fun with, participated for 40 or more minutes and he accomplished a lot!

In this activity we practiced the letter P. I chose this letter because his favorite human, the one he calls of the fake phone (and real phone) and the one who he wants: Papa. We sang the Raising Robust Reader song for P. Lincoln was not a big fan of the clue box, but he loves to match objects to words.

We painted a pumpkin…

We practiced writing P in shaving cream…

and we had fun!

Now… I will tell you; Lincoln was not that excited about shaving cream… he was not sure he wanted it… it took him some time, but he warmed up to it, but when he signed all done, we stopped and cleaned up.

When choosing what sounds to work on with your student, think about ones that would be the most meaningful to them. Meet them where they are at. Incorporate things they love to motivate them to practice these sounds, communicate with you, have fun and learn!

Submitted by Jenn, Board Member & Tutor