Rivka and Landon have participated in the CIS program at Alexander Elementary for two years now. This year, they both joined a CISNT academic lunch group, because they shared similar goals in wanting to improve academically.
CISNT Site Coordinator, Melissa Chavez says that she started this lunch group to specifically gear towards 3rd-5th grade students since they take the STAAR test, and every student can benefit from a little extra tutoring. Ms. Chavez says, “we alternate subjects every week unless we need to stop and go over the same topic again the following week. We check each other for understanding and if we need a bit more support, we continue it the following week.” The students love to find ways to have fun while learning, and getting to “play games” is what keeps them coming back. Some of the games they enjoy most include memory matching, reading bingo, and math bingo.
During one lunch group, Landon shared that he had a hard time focusing when it came to reading long stories and would forget the supporting details when answering questions. Rivka excitedly offered to help him study as she loves reading. During CIS time, both prepared word memory cards and played a game using the cards like a regular memory matching game. As they practiced matching reading words, Landon would be able to do the same when reading and answering questions. Landon’s favorite memory is playing synonym bingo and winning two games back-to-back!
Since joining the CIS lunch group, Ms. Chavez says Landon has specifically improved in the “summary of a story” component in his grade and is now scoring higher this second quarter! In addition to supporting each other in academics, Ms. Chavez says that “Landon and Rivka have become great friends and always keep each other accountable. They do not share the same homeroom or see each other much while in school but come together in the CIS room with their peers and participate so well. They have taken the role of choosing activities based on their new lessons in class every week and are always eager to show the rest of the group their new activity.”
CIS has provided not only a space for Landon and Rivka to work on academics but also give back to each other. Way to go Landon and Rivka for using your CIS time to empower one another!
