There is no doubt that the pandemic has left many students feeling behind. This impact has been most profound for younger students, particularly those in the elementary levels. These students’ needs for in-person learning during early formative years of their education is paramount.

A common occurrence that we have seen amongst younger students, particularly those in Grades 1 and 2, is that they are significantly behind when it comes to their reading and writing. In large part due to the pandemic, these students have spent significant and critical part of the past two years outside of the classroom and in an online environment. Given their age, it is understandable that they have significantly fallen behind.

We have seen students as a result fall behind in their reading and writing skills. For these age groups, we have seen students who are behind even for basic reading. This not only impacts their language skills, but also all other classes including Math that require reading and writing.

Below are some recommendations for parents who are working with students:

  • Parents spending time reading to their children every night, ideally 25 to 30 minutes. 
  • Working on the sounds of words and reading words one by one as one, connecting the words with letters in the alphabet
  • Associating words with shapes and figures
  • Working through workbooks, such as English Smart Grades 1 and 2. Having students work through exercises including tracing letters and words, writing words, reading short sentences and passages, and writing sentences suggesting their comprehension of their reading
  • Having students write small sentences, including copying sentences from a text if needed. It is important to read the words as they write it.
  • Associating letters with various words, with the aim of expanding students’ vocabularies.

We hope parents find these tips helpful. Here at Prepsmart, we have helped our students build and improve their reading and writing skills following these approaches.

In our tutoring programs, we have been working with parents and students in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) to help them navigate the learning challenges during the pandemic.

Sincerely,

Prepsmart Tutoring Team