What are some things I can have my student do during free time?

Question

I am tutoring a 5 yr old boy in reading and writing and he is extremely unmotivated. I don't want to give him tangiable rewards because I made that mistake before and he kept expecting them.
So this is what I was going to do for the 1 hour:
Give him free (2 mintues) every 20 minutes during each transition.( Remember he is a kindergarter and their attention span does not exceed 20 minutes! )
The following things for him to choose from would be:
Drawing
Coloring
Tic Tac Toe
Read a book of his choice
Get up and walk around
Tell me a joke/quick story

Can you think of anything else ???

Answer 1

puzzles, building blocks, or legos

Answer 2

I'm not sure why you're tutoring a 5 year old to begin with. As long as he knows his ABC's and can count and color words he's at a good beginning Kindergarten level.

You must remember kids come to school on such varying levels! Some can read and some can't even read their own name. Some know the letters and some can tell you the letters, names and sounds they make. Some can write sentences and some don't know how to form any of the letters. I honestly don't know how K teachers do it. I'd die.

No wonder he's not motivated to do reading and writing...he's 5!

Now, maybe the case is that he's advanced and is being tutored to help him stay above the average. Keep him from falling behind. In that case: he could be bored and unmotivated because the materials or activities are not interesting to him. Perhaps they're too low.

I think the things you listed are great. If that is not enough to keep him going, have you asked him what he'd like to do? If you want to motivate a student, it's best to start with the student's likes.

I'd try and play games to teach him the skills you're working on during tutoring. Then it's all going to seem like a fun game to him instead of work. That way isn't no longer a matter of him feeling motivated, he'll want to play if the game is interesting and he'll be learning in the process.

Memory games, word games, sorting (classifying) games, number games, etc.

Good luck.

Answer 3

Do something physical like jumping jacks or push-ups. If you have a yard for him to run around in, then have him run laps or play catch. Have them count out loud each jumping jack or lap, etc. Kindergarten age students not only have 20 minute attention span at the most, they can only sit down no more than 20 minutes at a time.

Notice if you go on a long road trip with kids, they get fidgety or fall asleep. Kids in general can not sit still for long periods of time. Remember that their heart rate is much higher than adults. If the kid does sit still for long periods of time, then the kid is either very contemplative or have some mental symptom (for example autism), and definitely needs to be checked.

Answer 4

Have them get up and sing some songs that require a lot of movements to get out some of that stored up energy. Thats what I do with the kids at VBS. Playing eyespy is always good because you can incorporate colors, animals etc into it....they are still learning while doing something fun.

Answer 5

School days reminice: Free time in junior school we were asked what our favourite thing was, for eg say he likes motorbikes. Ask what he knows about them, does he want to learn about them. He does ok first have models of bikes, and books a story one fine an aceess to net. firstly let him play with model bike tho he must remember what the parts are so he can right them down. Look at books if he wants know the story you read some then get him read it back using pictures to help with words. cut words in to syllables. Next free time internet he will learn more then ask does he want to draw what he has learnt, first he has to count the tyres, the lights etc its fun but hes learning then he has to draw picture colour in and then write story. He will be eager thats when you get to teach him to spell and write. he will be so happy to show his family. It will work guarnateed don't yell at him just be fair but stern, he works he gets rewarded learning about his favourite thing.

Answer 6

You mentioned that you were tutoring him in reading and in writing. What are his interests? What does he like to do?
He'll be a lot more interested if the books chosen to help him with reading are on subjects he likes. Same idea applies to writing.

Answer 7

maybe an educational computer game. maybe you can give him longer breaks with longer study periods, then you can play a board game. simon says. go outside and play catch or shoot hoops.