Your Child is Lucky to Have You
Congratulations on taking an active interest in your child's learning - there's so much you can do to support their education! You may be visiting this page because your child is using Mastery Learning Folders to practise learning material provided by their school or therapist. Alternatively, you may be seeking to support your child independently with their foundational learning.
You'll find below two short videos; the first explains the science behind the Mastery Learning Folder process and the other demonstrates how to use the folders.
It's important to have a basic understanding of the theory behind the Mastery Learning Folder practice tool. This short video was created to explain to parents and students why the process is so successful.
Parent Training
The order of the pockets with Mastery Learning Folders is always the same, however, there's two different ways that the pocket labels can be arranged within the folder. The new layout is demonstrated in the video below left, however, many schools will already be using the layout demonstrated below right. The demonstrations below are similar apart from the way the pocket labels are arranged. Just check the layout in your child's folder and view the appropriate video. Please note, the video will open in You Tube where you can increase the playback speed using the settings cog if you wish.
If you're supporting your child's practise of classroom learning ...
Your child's teacher will have provided flashcards that support the learning occurring in the classroom. They will have requested a certain number of 5-10 minute practice sessions per week - usually four to six. If you have watched the videos above, you will know that the purpose of the folder process is to facilitate a thinking struggle as your child seeks to remember, recall or demonstrate the learning objective as this is what moves the content into long-term memory. However, if your child experiences too much struggle and not enough success, try adding more practice sessions to the week. The goal is effortful but successful retrieval of the learning content. The teacher will usually request the return of your child's folder once a week to conduct mastery testing of the content that has been resting for longer periods. If your child successfully recalls these flashcards, it will provide a good indication that they have mastered it. You may wish to store the folder in your child's school bag so that it is always available at home and school. Your feedback and questions are always welcome.
If you're supporting your child's learning independently ...
To begin, I recommend that you join the Flashcard Club where you'll find many supporting resources. Next consider the learning areas on which you wish your child to focus. Find below some information on supporting foundational learning in early literacy and mental maths. You may wish to begin with other material but make sure you start with what your child knows and build upon it. For example, the Mental Mathematics Levels document (described below) contains lots of practice content before the introduction of time tables. To address times tables, pre-test your child on the earlier content in the document to identify the starting material, then work forward through the flashcard sets until you reach the times tables. This will give your child a learning context and times table mastery will be much easier. You can also write your own flashcards using the blank templates in the Flashcard Club.
Reading
To maximise your child's learning it's very important to start their practice from their point of need. If your child needs help with reading, a basic pre-test (called a screener) is a good way to find out what they already know and where to go from there. In the parent section of the Flashcard Club you'll find a document called "PA/ Phonics Quick Screeners". Within this document you'll find 8 quick pre-tests you can use to identify where your child's practice needs to begin. Identify your child's starting level using the screeners, print off the recommended flashcards for that and you're ready to start! After this, advance your child through all the flashcards in each proceeding level.
Numeracy
It's very important for primary students to develop instant recall of basic number facts and there's a lot of mental mathematics learning that comes before the times tables! In the parent section of the Flashcard Club you'll find a document called "Mental Mathematics Levels". Open this document and you'll see four levels of mental maths mastery. I recommend that you pre-test one set of Level 1 flashcards at a time, starting with 'Numerals to 20'. Initially, this can be done with your child on a screen, but if they are unsure of the content, print off the flashcard set and begin making a pile of the unknown flashcards until you have around 20. After you have identified the initial content, continue pre-testing through the flashcards, placing unknown content in the Store of your child's folder.
Now, let's get you sorted with a Mastery Learning Folder!
It's very important to me that any parent or student who wishes to access the Mastery Learning Folder practice process can do so with minimal resources if required. If you're in this situation, you can create your own folder using a manila file and pockets made from envelopes. Alternatively, if you would like your child to use this study approach throughout their school journey, a high quality, hardcover Australian made Mastery Learning Folder can be purchased through the Online Store.
