working with older adult

Today, I worked with an adult who is struggling with balance because of Parkinson.  I showed him  some ideas about patterning with tossing a ball and helped him think of things he could do to help slow the disease and keep his balance better.  As we were working he could see his balance and ability to catch the ball improve.

Blockus

This is a favorite game with the teens.  I played it Saturday with 3 sisters I am working with.  It is better taught on a one on one basis to begin with to avoid hurt feelings.  On learner earlier said this could really make enemies while playing.  There are enough pieces for 4 players. It helps with patterning in a fun way which helps with reading.

Dominos

Too many people do not know how to use dominos to teach math.  This is an easy way to encourage math without teaching math.  The dominos are played and then the end dominos are added up on the ends to keep score.  Here 6 plus 6 are 12 and they are added to 4 plus 4 are 8 for a score of 20.  Only numbers ending in 5 or 10 groups are counted as score. I do not have the learners add the scores but simply add then aloud for them until they are able to do this for themselves and then they add without being told.

Block Buddies

This is an enjoyable patterning activity for younger children and helps with learning to read.

Game Shelf

This is just a picture of some of the games on the game shelf in the tutoring building.  This building is 16 by 24 to allow room to bounce the balls and for the balancing equipment.

Head Full of Numbers

I do not like this game.  Either a student will like it or they will strongly dislike it.  When they like it, I use it and when they dislike it, I agree with them and explain I do not like it either and we will chose another way to learn this information.

Fraction Dominoes

This is a wonderful game to help learners understand how one fraction has the same value as another one.  For example 1/3 equals 2/6.  Therefore, they can be played next to each other as they have the same value. It also helps they see how the picture 1/3 equals the symbol 1/3. Usually I use this for 4 to 6th grade.