Quick Tips

Welcome families...

Within the Quick Tips page you will find quick strategies for a wide age range of students and content areas that you might use when your child needs support with an at-home learning task. Please check back often for updated strategies.

Quick Tip #6: Literacy and Math Resources

In collaboration with the Regional Educational Laboratory the Michigan Department of Education has created a series of easy-to-use guides to help families, after school providers, and other caregivers to support their children and students with early reading and early mathematics skills. Please access these great resources below.

Literacy Guides

Math Guides

Quick Tip #5: Michigan Learning Channel

What is the Michigan Learning Channel?

The Michigan Learning Channel (MLC) is a statewide public television partnership offering instructional content to support the education of students and to provide alternative resources for families and teachers. Designed to enrich school learning, the instructional content is aligned with Michigan’s educational standards and follows widely accepted sequences for mastering skills throughout the school year.

The lessons, generally about a half-hour each, are presented by a diverse group of educators, delivered as if the teacher is in a classroom setting. Nearly every program has supplemental educational activities and resources to build on the lesson.

This programming is being broadcast on special on-air channels established by each of the participating public television stations in Michigan. It is also available as a livestream and stored for on-demand viewing on a variety of digital platforms, ensuring accessibility to all students, teachers and families in the state.

All content is offered at no cost to schools, families and caregivers.

Quick Tip #4: Growth Mindset

One of the biggest factors that can impact a student’s success in school is their attitude, or mindset. Students often think that it is “bad” to make a mistake when they are learning and therefore get frustrated if they struggle with new concepts.

A person who has a fixed mindset will believe that certain things, like the ability to perform particular tasks or to learn new ideas, is predetermined and that it is impossible or nearly impossible to change that predetermination. A growth mindset is founded on the idea that the ability to learn is not set at a fixed level for a person and that having a positive attitude and putting in the necessary effort to learn something new can overcome existing or perceived barriers to learning. A growth mindset can be cultivated in individuals, and part of this approach includes viewing mistakes as learning opportunities and not as something bad.

Carol Dweck is a leading expert in developing and adopting a growth mindset, which can help all learners approach new concepts. This Edutopia article has several resources to help learn how to foster a growth mindset in your student: Resources for Teaching Growth Mindset.

How to Use Read_Write Google Extension.pdf

Quick Tip #3: Text-to-speech using Read and Write for Google

The Google Chrome extension, Read&Write, offers a range of powerful support tools to help all students gain confidence with reading, writing, studying and research by translating text-to-speech."

Access the PDF to the left titled How to Use Read&Write for Google Chrome Extension for Text-to-Speech for directions on how to access this resource on your student's Chromebook.

Quick Tip #2: Accessing Your Student's School Library

Daily independent reading is an important part of students becoming better readers. Students practice skills taught on their own in the text of their choice. Choosing books for independent reading should be exciting for students and we would like to encourage students to continue reading something of their choice each day.

Students can visit the school library to check out books both during in-person school as well as remote instruction times if we have them. Students have the opportunity to return currently checked out books and check out new books to continue their daily independent reading.

Please take a look at what the school library has to offer and see if you can find something new to spark your child’s interest and build up their reading skills.

A Media Specialists will be available to check-in and out books from the school library each school day during regular school hours.

If there is a period of remote instruction, elementary parents must sign-in their student in the main office and remain outside while the child visits the library.
Please call your child’s school directly to schedule a time to visit the library.

Quick Tip #1: Modeling

Modeling is a strategy that parents and teachers alike have been using for quite some time. From learning how to tie shoes to demonstrating a mathematical concept modeling is a go to strategy to support student learning. Modeling allows for students to experience what is expected of them and the steps needed to practice and learn new concepts. See the image below for quick ways to model learning for your child.