Teacher by Day, Tutor by Night

    Ever since I was 14, I have privately tutored kids from my home. In 2010, after a break from tutoring, I took on a little girl who was in kindergarten. She has been my longest client, as she is now in Grade 2. Since then, I have expanded my clientele list by taking on four more children. Tutoring five kids doesn’t sound like a lot when I teach up to 30 kids at once at school. But five kids is a lot when they all have their own programming, their own needs, and their own subject matter, depending on their grade levels. Working in a school September through June makes it really easy to borrow resources to use at home with the kids. When I work with them in the summer, I suddenly panic because I can’t find any good books that match their reading levels. I tend to focus the summer more on writing; but it’s such a waste when I’ve spent all year moving their reading abilities up.

    The other night, it dawned on me to look into some websites to which many schools subscribe. One in particular is Reading A-Z.com.  It cost me a penny or two, but the subscription is well worth it because I know I will be using it all summer long. Even throughout the school year for that matter. Reading A-Z provides PM and DRA leveled books, available to print. There are literally hundreds of books to choose from. And what’s more, each book comes with many student and teacher resources and activities.

    Tonight, I used Hippo’s Toothache with my second grader and we both loved it. It was the perfect level for her, she gets to take the book home, and she can colour the pictures. I loved it because in addition to having easily found the perfect book, there were so many activities that accompanied the story. I ended up downloading a high frequency word game. She loved it! Probably because she won. Anyways, Reading A-Z makes guided reading a breeze when your access to leveled books is limited. If you use PM and DRA books regularly, I’d say it’s worth the annual $90.00 payment. And right now, you can get $10.00 off! I think that’s what sold me.

    Hopefully your school has its own subscription and you can access it for free. If not, it might be a good investment for those of you like me, who teach by day and tutor by night.

Just print, fold, and staple. (http://www.learninga-z.com/)