Although the school year is winding down, there are some things parents need to think about now, that are important to their child’s education next year and beyond. Oxford Learning presents this handy list:

Request a teacher

Schools are presently matching students and teachers for the next school year. To request a specific teacher, speak with your child’s current classroom teacher now, then put your preferences in writing in a letter to the principal. Some schools (but not all) will do their best to grant these requests, when possible.

Separating kids

If you feel strongly about separating your child from another student, you should share this concern now with your child’s current teacher. You might request that your child be in a different class, away from a friend she’s talks with too much in class. Or if your child and another child really don’t get along at all well, you may wish them separated.

Curing “Spring Fever”

Although school is finishing, this time of year can be quite busy with music recitals, sports banquets and more! Try to keep your child focused on giving their best effort at school to the very last day. Stick with your child’s regular after-school routine, including expecting that homework is being completed and school project deadlines are being met. If your child is showing signs of stress (not eating, not sleeping or irritability), speak with your child about ways to deal with the pressure.

Handling your child’s final report card

When your child presents his final report card, look carefully at each grade and compare final marks to previous grades. Read teacher comments for additional information about your child’s progress and behaviour. If you don’t understand something, contact the school immediately because teachers remain at school for a few days after classes end.

Praise your child for a great report card, but don’t get visibly upset over a less-than-perfect report card. Instead, talk about the progress that’s been made during the year and make goals and plans to do better for the next grade.

Make Time Over the Summer for Learning

There are lots of methods for kids to improve learning skills during the long summer holiday so they can return to school with added confidence. In addition to swimming lessons, soccer camps, etc., look for learning camps and programs that are run by libraries, colleges or universities, or by tutors such as Oxford Learning (please click here for more information on our summer programs). Just a few hours of learning each week over the summer will keep your child’s mind and learning skills sharp, ready to learn from day one when classes begin again.

It’s inevitable that your child will be involved in a group project at least once during his/her schooling. Unfortunately, it’s also inevitable that once a group project is assigned, not everyone will do their part, causing stress for all those involved. In the interest of arriving at a result that everyone can be proud of, here are some tips for parents and kids to prevent and solve the most common problems of group projects:

Make a Project Charter

Before students begin, it’s important that all members of the project team plan how they’ll work by setting some parameters, such as:

• Project objective (such as, “To make an exciting, informative six-minute presentation about alternative energy sources”)
• Meeting schedule (how often team members will get together to work on the project, when and where they’ll meet)
• Contact details (phone numbers, addresses and email addresses for all team members)
• Group dynamic (such as, everyone will sit in a circle and get a turn at having their opinion on each idea that’s offered)
• Problem management strategy (what will happen if someone doesn’t attend a team meeting, do an assigned task, or meet a deadline)

Each team member should get a copy of the Project Charter. Explain to your child that he/she can and should be flexible, but that agreeing on some things on paper can save time later when the teams needs to focus on the work of the project.

List and Assign Tasks

Team members must determine what needs to be done. If the project is designing a poster, the tasks could be writing the words, developing a design concept, drawing or using a computer to create the poster artwork, getting the poster laminated, creating and writing the presentation of the poster in-class, etc.

Once everyone agrees on all the tasks that need to be accomplished, assign responsibilities. Discuss what tasks each person is interested in, and what skills/talents/resources they can bring to the project. Divide boring or unwanted tasks that no one wants to do, between several team members. If someone want to try something new, partner that person with someone else who has experience. This alows people to develop abilities in the group, while still creating a successful project.

Next, work backwards from the final deadline and assign deadlines to each team member for each task to be completed.

We also recommend choosing a leader for the project team. The leader will be in charge of supervising that everyone is completing their tasks by the deadlines. The leader should be someone who is liked and respected in the project group, and who has the maturity, authority and intelligence to lead. If no one else volunteers, encourage your child to take charge. He/she will gain important leadership skills that he/she can use all through life.

Reinforce the Social Aspects of the Project

Group projects can become stressful and dysfunctional when team members don’t have the manners to respect each other. Encourage all team members to:

• Listen without interrupting when others express ideas
• Encourage less forceful team members to express opinions
• Keep a positive attitude about the project and the team
• Support team members who are struggling by helping them
• Not gossip about other team members
• Be understanding and not take it personally if someone else’s idea is chosen over theirs

Having a great memory can help your child do better in school and on tests and get better grades. Here are 10 ways that you canuse to help your child improve his/her memory, including remembering facts, concepts, ideas, formulas and more:

1. Make certain your child really understands the concept or formula he/she is required to memorize. Understanding a subject means that he/she is halfway to remembering it. Encourage your child to ask questions in class when he/she is unsure of an idea or fact.
2. To remember something such as a name or math formula, exactly, word for word, get your child to make a rhyme or song from the information. Because humans are wired to remember music and its associations, setting facts to music can help children remember them.
3. If they aren’t already, help your child become interested in the subject they need to memorize. Check out books, stories, videos, movies or music on the subject. Or visit a museum or gallery. If your child gets interested in the material he/she is learning, he/she will surely remember it more easily.
4. Make sure the first thing that your child studies is the thing(s) he/she wants to remember the longest.
5. Whenever possible, encourage your child to use mental images to help him/her remember information. Suggest that your child close his/her eyes and get a picture in his/her mind of how the information looks in the textbook or notebook. Ask your child to visualize the notes on the page and see key words that he/she has underlined.
6. Have your child make his/her own examples and illustrations. When your child creates his/her own system for organization (using specific colors for headers, making numbered lists of facts to be memorized, putting information into charts and graphs, etc.) he or she will be more likely to remember the information.
7. Teach your child use a specific picture to represent an idea or concept. Another way is to create a mind map of various ideas and how they relate to one another.
8. Have your child make a list of key words to explain an idea or subject. Then, form associations among the items they need to memorize. The more distinct the associations, the easier they’ll be to remember.
9. Encourage your child to explain the information he/she is memorizing to a parent, sibling or friend without referring to notes. Make it a challenge to see how much he/she can remember. Then go back and study the information again and again to memorize it totally.
10. Your child should study notes by reading them through from start to finish, then focusing on the parts that he/she doesn’t know as completely.

“Why don’t you listen to me?”

It’s a lament that’s often heard from children and their parents. Effective communication helps kids and parents develop confidence, self-esteem, and achieve good relationships with other people. Here are some tips from Oxford Learning on getting everyone in your family to listen:

• Teach your child to listen. Gently touch your child before you talk to him or her and say his or her name.
• Speak in a quiet tone of voice, even whisper so your child has to work a little to listen.
• Look directly at your child when you speak, watching his or her eyes so you can tell that he or she understands. If your child is little, bend or sit down and get down to your child’s size.
• Practice listening and conversing. Discuss with your family what you see on TV, hear on the radio or see at the park or store. Speak with your kids about their school and friends.
• Respect your child and use a courteous tone of voice. If you speak to your child as you would a friend, he or she may be more likely to seek you out as a confidant.
• Catch your child being good and praise him or her for cooperating with you or siblings, for being courteous, for doing chores or completing homework unprompted, or for doing other little things that you might be tempted to take for granted. Praise will help build your child’s confidence and reinforce communication. Unkind words can tear down your child, teaching him or her that he or she just isn’t good enough.
• Use conversation starters that invite your child to say more about an incident or his or her feelings. Say things such as “Tell me more,” “No kidding,” or “Really!”
• Say “I love you.” Your children will never be too old to be told that he or she is loved.
• When your child wants to talk to you, give him or her your undivided attention. Don’t read, watch TV, fall asleep or busy yourself with other tasks. Likewise, when you want to speak with your child, demand the same courtesy by asking that he or she stop whatever else he or she might be doing and listen to you.

Regardless of whether you’re writing the SAT, the ACT, or another important test or exam, here are several important tips from Oxford Learning and the American School Counselor Associationto help you achieve your best score:

Get your tools together

On the evening prior to the test or exam, gather all the tools needed: the admission ticket and a valid form of photo identification (for the SAT and ACT), several sharpened #2 pencils, an eraser, a calculator with fresh batteries (for the SAT only), a watch, and a high-energy snack.

Sleep on it

Hopefully, you’ve already done the hard work of studying. The night before before the test, the best thing to is to get a good night’s rest. You’ve read and re-read the content and perfected the skills. Now it’s time to get calm, rested, confident, and ready to write.

That layered look

The temperature in testing rooms can vary from too warm to too cool, and you need to be comfortable to do your best. Be prepared by dressing in layers so you can add or remove a layer or two if necessary.

Get there early

You don’t want to stress yourself before the test by getting there with little time to spare or not being able to find the test location. In fact, you may wish to visit your test location before test day to confirm that you know where you’re going.

Budget your time wisely

Because each SAT and ACT question is worth the same number of points, you should try and allot the same amount of time for each question. If a question confuses you, don’t panic. Progress to a question you can do, and come back to more difficult questions if you have time at the end of a section. And don’t fret about experimental questions on the SAT and ACT. They can be well-hidden and scattered throughout the sections. Doing your best on every question is the best strategy.

Beware of traps

On the SAT, obvious answer choices early in a set may be correct. Obvious choices near the end of a set are often booby traps.

Take a guess

On the SAT, if you can eliminate one answer choice, you should always guess. The test penalizes you 1/4 of a point for multiple-choice questions. Therefore. if you eliminate one wrong answer choice, your odds of success are better than the penalty of failure. The more wrong answers you can eliminate, the better that ratio shifts in your favor! And, you should always guess on grid-ins, since a wrong answer and a blank answer are scored the same.

On the ACT, there is no penalty for wrong answers, so never leave a question unanswered.

Fill in carefully

When completing the answer grid, make sure you’re filling in answers next to the right numbers.

Relax

Your attitude and outlook are most important to how you perform on test-day performance. Be confident and do your best.

Get help if you need it

If you needs help preparing for the SAT or ACT, remember that Oxford Learning can help. To find out more about our innovative SAT Plus program that prepares every student to get the highest test score, plus teaches advanced learning and study skills to succeed in college or university, please click here.