May 2008

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

* Introduction

* Welcome from Norman Tonelli, L.M.H.C.

* Article

 

Introduction

 

Welcome Melissa Provost

           

Tonelli Learning Center welcomes Melissa Provost as a tutor at our new satellite center located at Giguere Gymnastics in Cherry Valley.  Melissa is a sixth grade teacher at West Brookfield Elementary School and resides with her family in Leicester.  She’s an excellent addition to our tutorial staff and brings with her an abundance of enthusiasm and professionalism.

 

 

Welcome from Norman Tonelli, L.M.H.C.

 

Dear Parents:

 

I, Norman P. Tonelli, promise to deliver on the following message:  As the owner and director of the West Brookfield counseling and the Tonelli Learning Center (TLC), I will continue to listen to you, the parents, intently.  I will see to it that both your child’s needs and your needs as a parent are respected as well as understood.  I have hired professionally credentialed, friendly, and supportive professionals.  We will not stop at simply educating your children, but we will inspire in them a love of learning and self-appreciation.  I stand on my reputation as a child and family therapist in private practice for 20 plus years.  I promise to deliver the same personalized and energetic service that I have given my clients all these years, to this new educational endeavor.

 

Thank you,

Norman Tonelli LMHC

 

Owner and Director of the West Brookfield Counseling Center and the Tonelli Learning Center

 

 

 

Article

 

Fact Master

Author: Jacquie McTaggart

Flashcards are a traditional and effective method for practicing math facts, but with a little ingenuity they can also be fun! We've provided you with a printable page of addition and subtraction flashcards for your second grader. (Just click here), stick some oak tag in your printer, cut out the individual cards and you ready to rock and roll. But keep this in mind: a child who is struggling with learning the basic facts should never be asked to “study this whole set of flashcards until you know them.” It is simply too overwhelming. So, what's the best way to use these flashcards with your child? Here's a guide:

Click here for addition flashcards

Click here for subtraction flashcards

Success Tips:

• Initially, work on addition facts through ten. When your child is quick and confident with those facts, introduce the subtraction facts through ten. Then move to addition facts between ten and twenty, and finally the subtraction facts through twenty.
• If your child already has a base of knowledge, start there and proceed slowly – never adding more than ten new cards at a time, and being certain to mix the new with the old. For example, let’s say your second grader knows his addition facts through 6 very well, but stumbles after that. Show her the 7 fact cards (1 + 7, 7 + 2, etc.), discuss them, mix them up with the facts she has mastered, and when the “new” answers become automatic (see process that follows), add the 8 fact cards.

Process

• Encourage your child to practice the flashcards independently (with only a few new ones added) and to let you know when he thinks he’s a FACT MASTER.
• Try to make the FACT MASTER check pleasant and non-threatening. Show her one fact; if she answers correctly within a second or two, she puts the card in her pile. If her answer is incorrect or too “late,” put the card in your pile. Compare size of piles at end of game. Offer encouragement if she’s not quite there yet, or whoop and holler if she’s ready to add more facts to her study pile.

Culminating Activity:

• When your child is proficient enough (at whatever level she’s working on) to be called a FACT MASTER... celebrate! Make a large notice (with bright markers) for the refrigerator that says, for example, “Mary is a subtraction FACT MASTER through twelve." When Mary nails thirteen, make a new sign and post it. And while you’re at it, give yourself a pat on the back. You deserve it.

 

Jacquelyn McTaggart taught lower elementary children in Minnesota and Iowa public schools for more than four decades. She is the author of "From the Teacher's Desk", a humorous book about parenting practices that help a child become the best he can be.

 

 

OPEN HOUSE

 

TONELLI LEARNING CENTER INVITES YOU TO JOIN US FOR AN OPEN HOUSE OF OUR NEW SATELLITE OFFICE

 

LOCATED AT:

Giguere Gymnastics

148 Main St. (Rt. 9), Cherry Valley, MA

 

Monday, May 19, 2008          6:30pm – 8:30pm

              - OR -

Wednesday, May 21, 2008     6:30pm – 8:30pm

 

SEE YOU THERE!

 

 

TALK TO US ABOUT OUR MONTHLY PAYMENT PLAN

 

CALL OR E-MAIL TODAY FOR YOUR FREE SESSION.