Elementary Learning Program

Our Elementary Learning Program is for grades 1 through 5 and will strengthen your student’s core skills in math, reading, and writing throughout the year. Your student can start at any time in the academic cycle, and a great starting point is during their summer break.

Students meet twice a week, like Kumon and Mathnasium, but General Academic surpasses these and other services as students meet privately with one of our brilliant tutors and follow our expertly crafted curriculum.

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Format and Cost

We begin with an in-person diagnostic at our office, which lasts between 30 and 60 minutes depending on grade level. This diagnostic will be scheduled directly with you after we discuss your student’s needs and goals.

Our program is designed to be engaged in year-round and is structured as:

  • 8 sessions over a 4-week period at our office
  • sessions are scheduled twice a week and students meet with their tutor for 1 hour each time
  • 30 minutes for math and 30 minutes for reading and writing in each session
  • homework is assigned after each session

Each 4-week period is:

  • $600 for 8 one-hour sessions
  • invoiced prior to the beginning of each 4-week period

To ensure schedule integrity and consistency with the same tutor, we strongly recommend that the days and times of these sessions remain the same throughout the program.

Curriculum Highlights

Our Elementary Learning Program tutors have experience with and are specifically trained to work with grade 1 through 5 students to:

  • work ahead and challenge their skills
  • supplement and reinforce class material
  • remediate weaknesses and help them reach their full potential

  • Math – fluency with number sense up to 120, measuring tools and analyzing different lengths, money fundamentals, place values, basic fractions, word problems, and simple data analysis
  • Reading – fluency in reading stories and short paragraphs, sight words, challenging words, and reading comprehension, such as identifying main ideas, characters, and plots
  • Writing – develop handwriting, spelling (written and spoken), and oral skills while teaching grammar, sentence structure, and the writing process

  • Math – fluency with number sense for double-digit numbers, basic multiplication, perimeter and area of shapes, money fundamentals, data analysis, fractions, and word problems
  • Reading – fluency in reading stories and short paragraphs, sight words, challenging words, and reading comprehension, such as identifying key details, recounting stories, and identifying different points of view 
  • Writing – write pieces in different literary styles such as persuasive, narrative, and informative paragraphs; plan drafts, use linking words, and write a concluding sentence or paragraph; recount experiences and gather information from sources to answer a question

  • Math – fluency in multiplication, division, metric system fundamentals, estimation, adding/subtracting/comparing fractions, comparing and classifying polygons, data analysis, distributive and commutative properties, and word problems
  • Reading – develop accuracy and fluency with reading texts; recount stories, including identifying the main idea and explain how it is conveyed through key details; answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text; and determine the meaning of words using context clues, distinguishing literal and nonliteral definitions
  • Writing – write in persuasive, informative, and narrative styles developed with facts, definitions, and details; distinguish between points of view; strengthen command of standard English conventions; conduct short research projects; write over both short and extended periods of time

  • Math – fluency in double-digit multiplication, long division, basics of decimals, money amounts as decimals, multiplying and dividing fractions, data analysis, word problems, measuring angles, symmetry, unit conversions, and basic geometry including area/perimeter of triangles/squares
  • Reading – fluency with making inferences from details and examples in a text; describing in depth a character, setting, or event in a story; learning to identify the overall structure of texts, including chronology, cause/effect, and comparisons; and using context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding
  • Writing – produce clear and coherent writing that is appropriate for particular tasks, purposes, and audiences; conduct short research projects; explain ideas, concepts, and events in a text, including what happened and why based on specific information in the text; develop and strengthen writing as by planning, revising, and editing

  • Math – fluency in comparing decimals through addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division; finding least common multiple and greatest common denominator; order of operations; solving algebraic equations; working with 2D and 3D shapes by classifying them and finding the perimeter, area, and volume; working with data through bar graphs; dot plots, and frequency tables; working with coordinate planes; and word problems
  • Reading – fluency with making inferences, points of view, and story elements from details and examples in a text; answer challenging questions to demonstrate understanding of a text; use context clues to discern the meaning of unfamiliar words; and solidify understanding of figurative language and differentiate from literal language 
  • Writing – produce clear and coherent writing that is appropriate for particular tasks, purposes, and audiences; write using transition words and phrases; summarize and paraphrase information; use appropriate writing structure for persuasive, informative, and narrative pieces; and develop a thesis statement

FAQs

Our amazing tutors have all scored in the top 5% on their SAT/ACT, are charismatic, and have been extensively trained to help students of all grades, motivation levels, and educational goals. Our tutors are a mix of current undergrads or recent graduates from Rice and comparable universities. Our goal is to have your student work with the same tutor throughout the program so that they can fully understand your student’s needs and progress.

Your student meets privately with one of our ELP tutors, so we are able to cater to their specific weaknesses and strengths in math, reading, and writing while developing independent learning and critical thinking skills. We move at your student’s pace and do not rigidly restrict how they progress through our curriculum and materials. Other services meet in a group format with inconsistent instructors, focus too heavily on rote memorization, and force students to follow a specific path through their program.

Our tutors use guided questions to help your student find correct answers on their own, and the question-and-answer model in our curriculum helps them grow as learners and builds their confidence. Our students are also encouraged to familiarize themselves with multiple avenues of finding solutions, which allows us to accommodate students of all personalities, levels, and preferences.

We have carefully created our curriculum from national and state standards, such as Texas and New York, to ensure that the concepts we teach match what they are learning or will learn in school and in a challenging way. We use manipulatives for younger grade levels to provide a hands-on experience with math concepts, and we have curated and crafted worksheets, passages, and writing prompts for their sessions and homework. Grade 5 lessons, materials, and tests are all housed in Piqosity, which currently includes education and test prep content for grades 5 through 11.

All kinds! We have structured our program to help a wide variety of interests and goals, including:

  • students who want to work ahead and challenge their skills, such as a first semester 2nd grader working through second semester content or jumping into 3rd grade content
  • students who want to reinforce or dig deeper into what they’re learning in school
  • students with foundation issues who need to remediate missed or previously learned content

Yes, the content and practice they work through will benefit these standardized tests, but we do not work through specific practice for these exams as part of the curriculum. However, we do work to improve your student’s test-taking skills, including time management and engagement with word problems and reading passages, since they will have to tackle these exams and others (such as the ISEE, SAT, ACT) throughout their academic career.

To ensure focus, access to manipulatives, and full support from our team, these sessions must be held at our office.

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