Welcome

80% of skills that your child will learn and use throughout life are developed before your child’s fifth birthday. Therefore, preschool plays a crucial role in the development of your child’s mental growth and personality. By the end of preschool, your child should have fairly developed motor skills, such as the ability to walk, run, jump, clap, build with blocks, zip up zippers, draw and color (without merely scribbling), and handle scissors.

He or she should also be socially and emotionally developed to the point where he or she is able to be away from parents or primary care givers for 2-3 hours without getting upset. He or she should be potty trained by the end of preschool, be able to get dressed alone, be able to brush his or her teeth, be able to play well with other children, recognize authority, display self-control, and stay on task. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel welcome to discuss your child’s progress with one of the expert staff at Alpha Tutoring Services.

By the end of the year, your kindergartener should have a handle on things like sharing, following rules, and taking turns. He or she should be able to hold a pencil correctly and spell his or her first and last name. Numbers 1-20 should be recognizable, and basic shapes like square, triangle, rectangle and circle should be identifiable. Short sight words should not be too challenging at this point. Kindergarten is a crucial year in child development— if you have any questions or concerns, please feel welcome to discuss your child’s progress with one of the expert staff at Alpha Tutoring Services.

By the end of the year, your 1^st grader should be able to work on academic tasks independently, especially at school. He or she should be able to follow directions, complete homework, and sit in a chair for long periods of time. He or she should be able to problem solve and plan ahead, and get along well with others. Basic math skills such as adding and subtracting up to 20 should not be terribly difficult.

Reading three and four letter words, including those with silent e’s, should come easily. He or she should know how and when to use capitalization and punctuation in sentences. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel welcome to discuss your child’s progress with one of the expert staff at Alpha Tutoring Services.

By the end of the year, your 2^nd grader should begin to reason intelligently and concentrate for extended periods of time. He or she should know the difference between right and wrong, and should be able to make connections while comparing and contrasting ideas. He or she should be able to recognize misspelled words, and should have doubled his or her vocabulary since first grade. He or she should be able to read fluidly with correct expression, and should be able to use a dictionary.

In terms of math, carrying and borrowing should not be too difficult, as well as the beginnings of multiplication. He or she should be able to tell time. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel welcome to discuss your child’s progress with one of the expert staff at Alpha Tutoring Services.

By the end of the year, your 3^rd grader should be able to cooperate with other students to complete projects. He or she should be able to understand how choices affect consequences. By now, he or she should be able to write neatly in both print and cursive, as well as read longer stories and chapter books. More complex vocabulary should be acquired by this stage, and he or she should be able to use prefixes and suffixes to identify unfamiliar words.

He or she should be able to multiply and divide large numbers by single digit numbers, as well as have the multiplication and division tables 0 – 12 memorized. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel welcome to discuss your child’s progress with one of the expert staff at Alpha Tutoring Services.

4^th grade is a very important year for many students. It is often considered the beginning of the end of childhood, especially since your child will hit a double-digit age. By the end of this year, your child should be able to read aloud and silently at a fluid pace with high accuracy. He or she should be able to apply knowledge of word origins, derivations, synonyms, and antonyms.

He or she should be able to multiple and divide by two digit numbers and demonstrate a working knowledge of story problems. By fourth grade, he or she should also be able to add and subtract fractions with common denominators. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel welcome to discuss your child’s progress with one of the expert staff at Alpha Tutoring Services.

By the end of the year, your 5^th grader should be able to discern main ideas and concepts presented in texts, and support conclusions using examples. He or she should be able to distinguish facts from opinions and spell grade level words both aloud and on paper.

He or she should have a grasp of percents, decimals, and fractions with uncommon denominators and be able to work successfully with mixed numbers. By now, he or she should be proficient at multiplying and dividing multi-digit numbers by other multi-digit numbers. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel welcome to discuss your child’s progress with one of the expert staff at Alpha Tutoring Services.

6^th grade often represents the first year of middle school for many students, so it is important to be understanding when it comes to adjustments, especially academically, if your student is at a new school. By the end of the year, your 6^th grader should be able to determine the meaning of an unfamiliar word if it is used in a significant sentence or paragraph. He or she should be able to identify how a theme is developed in a story and derive conclusions based on given information in texts.

In terms of math, he or she should have a strong grasp on multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, mixed numbers, and the significance behind negative numbers on a number line. He or she should understand how to apply algebraic order of operations to solve math problems and be able to compute the mean, median, and mode of data sets and story problems. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel welcome to discuss your child’s progress with one of the expert staff at Alpha Tutoring Services.

By the end of the year, your 7^th grader should be able to clarify word meanings through the use of definitions, examples, restatement, or contrast. He or she should have a grasp of analogies, metaphors, and similes in prose and poetry. Being able to identify and trace the development of an author’s argument and point of view is also key, as well as being able to analyze the characters in a story.

He or she should be able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide rational numbers and use exponents with whole numbers. He or she should also be able to factor in order to find common denominators, and solve multi-step math story problems.  At this point, he or she should be able to understand and use coordinate graphs to plot simple figures. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel welcome to discuss your child’s progress with one of the expert staff at Alpha Tutoring Services.

8^th grade can be a challenging year for some students since it marks the transition from a secured social niche into the world of peer pressure and high school. Cases of “eighth grade-itis” are not uncommon especially in the spring, so it is very important that academic expectations are set and verbalized. By the end of the year, your 8^th grader should have a grasp of analogies, metaphors, and similes in prose and poetry. Being able to identify and trace the development of an author’s argument and point of view is also key, as well as being able to analyze the characters in a story. He or she should be able to read fluently and fluidly at grade level.

In terms of math, eighth graders may be placed in pre-algebra or algebra depending on their performance in the 7^th grade. Regardless, your student should be able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide rational numbers and use exponents with whole numbers. He or she should also be able to factor in order to find common denominators, and solve multi-step math story problems. He or she should be well versed in negative numbers, including the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of negative numbers. He or she should be able to understand and use coordinate graphs, as well as the basis behind algebraic variables and expressions. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel welcome to discuss your child’s progress with one of the expert staff at Alpha Tutoring Services.

9^th and 10^th grade mark the first years of high school and a deluge of social changes for your student. It is of utmost importance to be patient with your child during these years, since adjustments will be large and unfamiliar. Many students tend to fall behind during the first semesters of ninth and tenth grade for this exact reason, so tutoring at the school or with a private company might be considered if your child is prone to distraction or is overwhelmed by high school.

By the end of ninth and tenth grade, your student should have a working knowledge of all classes he or she had been enrolled in. He or she should be able to debate intelligently and explain concepts. If you notice that your student is struggling with C’s and D’s in one or more of his or her courses, tutoring is strongly advised. Many students tend to “give up” if a strong academic basis is not established during the first two years of high school. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel welcome to discuss your student’s progress with one of the expert staff at Alpha Tutoring Services.

11^th and 12^th grade can be a difficult time for students. These years mark the end of childhood, and pressure about the future accumulates. Many students are preparing for the SAT or the ACT at this time, or applying to colleges and universities. By the end of these years, your student should have a strong grasp on the English language, as well as reasoning skills and the ability to write a coherent essay.

He or she should have a working knowledge of mathematical concepts learned throughout school and should be able to explain these concepts to younger students. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel welcome to discuss your child’s progress with one of the expert staff at Alpha Tutoring Services.