DD finding things hard

[mrspl]

Hi all.
Will try to keep this brief. DD is in yr 6 and is really finding maths difficult. Maths has always been her weakest subject, but she has always been graded as being 'average' and taught in the 'middle' set. At the start of yr 5 i though about getting her some extra tuition but after several chats with the teacher decided against it as her teacher told me that although DD sometimes found things difficult in Maths was perfoming at the expected level and was on target to achieve level 4 in her maths sat. In the summer the teacher graded her as 3A in maths which i was told was the expected level for her age.

Now DD is in year 6 and she is finding things much harder. The work seems so much harder than yr 5 and she is in tears most days because she doesn#t understand things, finds it hard etc. They have a maths test every morning and she has never got more than 10% of the test correct.

Went to see her teacher yesterday and was tols that DD is working at 2C level and is not likely to acheive level 4 in her Sats in May.

I feel so sad for my DD that she is finding things so hard. I can't get my head around that fact she seems to have gone from 3A down to 2C since July. Something must be going on here but can't work out what.

DD doesn't have any problems with English and is likely to achieve level 5 in her Sat.

What do I do to help for the best? I am not obsesses with sat results and my DD knows that but 2C maths in yr6 must be several years behind.

I would get some kind, friendly and fun tutor to help her. Definitely.

I always off my kids the option of some tuition if they are struggling and it's something I can't help with (and I can afford it!)

offer, even

Get her a tutor if you can. I speak as someone who has struggled with maths all my life. I just need more explanation than other people, because as soon as someone starts talking about maths, I get a kind of white noise in my head.

I always hear great things about Kumon maths. Might be worth a look.

(Me too, Colditz)

How can she possibly have dropped 5 sub-levels though? The school need to explain this, so you have an idea where she is at. The tears suggest a tutor though, I agree.

I was going to suggest dyscalculia too. So sad for your DD to be upset all the time. Extra help definitely in order. I wouldn't personally go for kumon though - I worked there, and it's not really tuition, it's drilling, and by the sounds of it won't make any difference to your DD (could make things worse)

Thank you ladies for your replies. Somebody mentioned herdropping 5 sub levels, and yes that is what im most concerned about. She was 3A in July. They have only been back in school for 8 weeks - how can she have gone backwards that much in 8 weeks? One of these results must be wrong surely? The 3A result in July seemed reasonable. She showed no signs of stress and was able to do the class work and homeworks without too much imput from me or the teacher. I have made an appointment to see her teacher again on Monday. The teacher has already offered to give her 20 mins one to one help every morning before school starts, which we will be starting on Monday. Both the teacher and I think a lot of the problem is confidence - she believes she can;t do maths and therefore doesn't even try.

I am wondering if 20 mins a day extra time with the teacher will be enough to help, or if a tutor as well would be a good idea. What do you all think? DD is horrified at the idea of any extra help! Im really trying not to make too much of a big deal of this, but its hard to make her understand why she needs extra help.

I am also thinking now that all her scores in yr 5 must have been wrong but how could a teacher that taught her for the whole year got it so wrong. If they hadn't kept on telling me she was fine all last year i would have got her a tutor then.

Sometimes a different teaching style can give very different results. Maybe this teacher doesn't suit your dd.

I would get a tutor as well. You can get outside advice on what the problem is and where the gaps in her knowledge are. You can always get an assessment from a tutor, and go on from there. I would hunt around anyway it can be hard to find one with a space.

20 mins a day from the teacher is a great offer and shows a lot of commitment on her/his part, though I can see why your daughter wouldn't be so keen.

My DD2 had a maths tutor throughout year 5 because she seemed to have lost all confidence during year 4 - her teacher said she was panicking and switching off whenever there was a test, or when the class started a new topic. I desperately wanted her to avoid that 'rubbish at Maths' attitude that I had by the time I left primary school, which stayed with me right through secondary school (and beyond). 30 mins. one-to-one a week has made a huge difference to her confidence.

try this it's an on line tutoring maths site and can improve grades hugely very quickly. 15 pounds per month and very colourful/fun.

www.whizz.com/#

If you can afford it, then I would get her a tutor. Do not go for Kumon though, as that does not sound like the kind of thing your dd needs (I use Kumon with my dd2 and it is good for teaching times tables etc, but is not a suitable for a Y6 child because it does not cover word problems).

My Y6 dd has a tutor for maths, and it great for her confidence because it covers the things that she finds hard, and the lessons are tailored to her needs.

I am a tutor and do see students ( usually girls !?!) who are actually not that bad at maths but have somehow lost confidence and now panic. It sounds as though your daughter may be like this which would explain going backwards. I love working with these students as it can usually be guaranteed that with some sensitive teaching, and spending enough time on some fundamentals that they maybe didn't quite grasp along the way, they will make good progress and grow in confidence! (even my worst panicker, now, two years on, admits that she's "not all that worried about maths now" and has been put in set 2 at high school). I think you need to find someone who will be supportive and sympathetic to your dd and able to build a good relationship with her, whilst steadily working to improve her confidence and reduce anxiety.

It is interesting that she has taken this sudden downturn in Year 6. It may be that the style of teaching really isn't suiting her or that the school is suddenly upping the pace/increasing the pressure because of SATS. It will be interesting to see what she makes of the extra 20 minutes thing. It should be ideal and the teacher is great to suggest it, but if there is something that she finds difficult about his/her teaching style, she maybe won't get as much benefit. I think it is a "suck it and see" type situation.

I'd seriously consider getting her a good tutor though and I would second what has been said about Kumon as although it can be good for some students, I'm not sure it is always the best approach for those who get anxious.

Sarah, yes confidence very much a problem and I will be getting her a tutor. Have had a few chats with dd and she is happy for me to get her a tutor. Think she finally understands that I don't think she's stupid. She is not too keen on the teacher so that probably help.I have made an appointment to see the head on Monday for a chat. Is there anything that in particular that I should asking?

I think you should express your concerns and maybe ask why they think dd has suddenly gone backwards. If you express gratitude for teacher's offer to spend 20 mins before school, they will value this and it will emphasise that you want to work together to solve the problem, rather than just criticising them. You could ask about current teacher's teaching style compared to teacher from previous year and explain what it it is that dd finds difficult about relating to current teacher. (probably better to say this than say dd doesn't like him/her).

It is probably a good idea to emphasise that you want the problem addressed straight away as leaving it any longer will just make things worse and that dd is likely to just lose more and more confidence.

I hope your meeting goes well.

Just wondering how your meeting went!