Let us help your student put the “Star” in STAR Testing!!!
Each spring, students in grades two through eleven take a STAR test. The STAR Program looks at how well schools and students are performing. Students take tests in math, reading, writing, science, and history. Teachers and parents can use test results to improve student learning.
The STAR Program includes four tests: the California Standards Tests, the California Modified Assessment, the California Alternate Performance Assessment, and the Standards-based Tests in Spanish.
The STAR Program for 2010–11 has four components:
California Alternate Performance Assessment (CAPA)—The CAPA is an alternate performance assessment to the CSTs in English-language arts (ELA), mathematics, and science. It is an individually administered assessment for pupils with significant cognitive disabilities who have an individualized education program (IEP).
California Modified Assessment (CMA)—The CMA is an alternate assessment to the CSTs in ELA, mathematics, and science for eligible pupils who have an IEP and meet the CMA eligibility criteria adopted by the SBE.
California Standards Tests (CST)—The CSTs are criterion-referenced tests that assess the California content standards in ELA, mathematics, science, and history-social science.
Standards-based Tests in Spanish (STS)—The STS are criterion-referenced tests aligned to the California content standards for reading/language arts and mathematics.
STAR Testing is just around the corner with test being given between April 17th and May 3rd, depending on your school.
STAR Testing is important because:
– Helps place kids in the appropriate class each year
– Used to appropriate funds in the district
– Can identify subject weaknesses in a student
– Colleges are starting to look at them to help determine admittance
– Some teachers give extra credit for doing well.
We have access to past tests and can help your student prepare to do their best and knock it out of the park.
Don’t wait… book your appointment today (7 days a week)!
Contact samantha@studyhut.com or call 1-310-546-2408
Here at the Study Hut we have a unique teaching method that seems to work very well. At the Study Hut we hope to empower students. Here’s what it says on our website:
“Our tutors are young, local, and experienced. We offer one-on-one subject tutoring, SAT test prep, and a variety of other services. Students love coming to Study Hut because it’s cool and they see results. There are many large, impersonal tutoring companies out there. Study Hut is proud to say that we’re not one of them.
Instead of using a “one-size-fits-all” method, we focus on each student’s unique learning style and teach to his or her strengths. Our tutors emphasize progress and growth for all students at all levels—no matter how unmotivated or defeated they may start out feeling.
Our highly trained tutors have all graduated from local high schools and universities. Study Hut tutors have experience teaching every subject you can think of, from elementary school through AP high school courses, we have done and seen it all.”
I am one of the tutors here at the Study Hut and proud to work for such a great company. I normally tutor elementary and middle school students and truly enjoying working with each of my students! Here’s a story about one of my personal tutoring sessions!
I tutor a little girl whose a 1st grader and together we work on her homework packet. Each week she has a different number of packets… each for a different subject including but not limited to – Math, Social Science, Literature, and English. She mostly struggles with math (subtraction)… and refers to the numbers as “big numbers” – which make her nervous. During tutoring we work on the homework packet and if she gets it done early we play Word Bingo since Bingo is her favorite game.
Some of the assignments in the packet include coloring different pictures and words – which the little girl certainly enjoys! We work on pronunciation of words, spelling words, definitions, and other fun assignments.
The little girl also has started to learn Spanish, so we work on Spanish vocabulary as well and basic phrases every week. I write the words down for her in English with the Spanish translation and she always highlights the English words with a highlighter. She studies them at home and does a great job!
Every student you tutor is different and they each work well in their own ways.
Every Wednesday at 8 a.m. – Study Hut Co-Owner SP, MB Officer Manager Sam, and Nicole go to Manhattan Beach Middle School to tutor students for an hour for free during the school’s late start. They have been going to the Manhattan Beach Middle School since the middle of January and each week more students attend the one hour free tutor hour. The tutoring takes place in Mr. Lub’s Classroom (Room 103). One of the Study Hut tutors made a sign to put at the middle school on Wednesday mornings letting students know where the tutoring will take place so hopefully each week more students will attend.
We started the first week with a small turn out, but each week a few more students show up. This past week they had 15 students – the most students they’ve had yet. The tutors bring doughnuts with them – which all the students look forward to. Along with the tutors, the school supplies a cart of books so you can work on any subject you need. Many of the same students come consistently every week, allowing the tutors to get to know the students on a more personal basis.
The tutors have had students come in for help in every subject including but not limited to Spanish, English, Math, Reading, and Science. The tutors have worked on many assignments with students including book reports, homework, studying for tests, organizational skills, arranging classes for High School, and many others. Usually during the hour, a few students work on the same assignments which makes it easier to help more students at one time.
Along with the tutors, MBMS also sends in classroom aids to help during the hour and make sure that everything is running smoothly.
Again, the tutoring takes place in Mr. Lubs Room (103) from 8 – 9 a.m. during the late start hour! We hope to see you there!
We did it! We made it through finals season!! Last week was a long week here at the Study Hut.
Last week we went to different schools and helped them study after school for a few hours.
We went to Peninsula High for 3 hours and at Palos Verdes High for 5 hours and the weekend of the 19th/20th – we went to West on Friday afternoon, West again on Saturday morning and then to South on Sunday for free Finals Tutoring in the library.
We had such a great turn out at each session.
I tutored in Spanish on Friday afternoon from 3 to 6 in the library at West. There were over 100 students who came and another 100+ on the waiting list to participate in the free tutoring.
When the students came into the library, there were signs hung up on both the 1st and 2nd floor of the library, with the names of all the different subjects that we helped tutor in. The High School also sent some of their students to help tutor as well with us which was greatly appreciated.
We tutored in multiple subjects – Algebra 1 & 2, Trig, Calculus, Biology, Chemistry, Spanish – just to name a few.
Each student chose to either be tutored in one subject for all three hours – or be tutored in three subjects, one subject per hour.
For my first hour I had about 6 students – 2 in Spanish 1, 2 in Spanish 2, and 2 in Spanish 3. Then for my 2nd hour – 5 of the 6 students went to a different subject so I tutored a student one-on-one. Lastly, for my final hour, a few more students showed up and I finished with 5 kids. My subject was one of the smallest groups. I enjoyed having a small group since I was able to help each student individually.
Both the Science and Math subjects had about 30+ students in their group.
We always enjoy going to other schools before finals to help them study and we also helped many AVID classes study for their finals – including Newport and PV High.
This finals season went really well and we are proud of all the students!!
Study Hut, coming up on it’s sixth birthday in December has come a long way. Not only have we expanded in the South Bay, but we are now in Newport Beach! By nature, you can only imagine the tutor rivalry that has spurred out from such expansion. The biggest rivalries are between the Manhattan Beach Study Hut, which we tutors like to call “Hut 1 or The Mother Hut”, and the Redondo Beach Study Hut located in the Redondo Beach Riviera Village, which we call, “Hut 2” (take note that no other cool name has been associated with this location). Hence, I have decided to write this blog on the reasons why Hut 1 is inherently better and completely dominates Hut 2.
1. Hut one is bigger and caters to more students. The Hut is always bustling with tons of kids ranging from kindergarten to adults. We tutor the young ones in subjects such as reading and writing, high school kids come in for SATs and whatever other homework they need help with, and we have the occasional adult coming in to learn Spanish, or English for that matter!
2. Our tutors dominate! We can tutor all subjects. Whatever subject you need to be tutored in, we can do it. Even Chinese!!!!
3. We are much facier. We are open seven days a week during the school year! No matter what kind of a bind you are in, we are here for ya! Scheduling around sports proves to be no match for us. Come in on a Saturday or Sunday and knock out your school work before the week begins to get a head start.
Or newly renovated Underground is inundated with new and exciting under the sea decor.
4. We have a self built lifeguard chair. Built just for the manager, Samantha, we dominate the seating arrangements category!
5. Even though they seem to be cool over there they are merely an image of a younger brother stealing the appearance of his older brother so he can play off as “cool” in front of his friends.
6. It is not rare to find the owner Rob BBQing in the parking lot for all of the employees. We all know the way to a tutors’ heart is through their stomach… or their calculator.
All in all, both Huts are great. They both have amazingly qualified tutors with open arms ready to help each and every student that walks in the door. However, it wouldn’t be The Hut if there wasn’t a little friendly rivalry. We like to keep ourselves entertained around here 😉
As a kid, one of my favorite times of the year was when my parents would fork out money for me to go back to school shopping. I would go with my mom to pick out the newest styles. Requirements were new shoes, a new backpack, and at least three new outfits, one for each day of the first week of school. My brother and I would always want to wear our new shoes right away, but were forced to wait until the first day of school.
Along with the back to school shopping came orientation. Mira Costa has their orientation this week as well as Manhattan Beach Middle School. This was always exciting because the students got to see which teachers they had, and also,more importantly, which friends made it in the same class.
Now that I am no longer in school I see more of an importance on the preparation academically rather than the outfits and classes. Students are starting to trickle into The Manhattan Beach Study Hut to get their mind in gear and ready for the whirl wind to begin. Most students need refreshers on math and Spanish. It is extremely important for the seventh graders to come in and review their foreign language. Spanish, French, Latin, and even Chinese are subjects the middle school offers. These are such new topics to the students that they often forget how to conjugate a verb. However, after a simple refresher they are ready for the school year. Moral of the story, don’t forget about tutoring when you are shopping for back to school. The Hut is open for appointments!
This summer, as manager, I have been presented with the opportunity to actually tutor! Normally, the hustle and bustle of the Hut prevents me from my real passion, teaching. One of my regular and favorite students in here over the summer is Adelia. She has diligently come in twice a week throughout the summer to study Spanish and Geometry. I admire her confidence and motivation to get ahead of the game and become prepared for the classes she will endure in the fall.
Starting out with Spanish 5/6 in the fall she went ahead and bought the book that her high school, Mira Costa, uses so that I can start teaching her the material. Once fall comes she will be prepared with the vocabulary and will be strong with the grammar. Throughout the course of these few weeks she has already improved in both her retention of vocabulary and her ability to speak and comprehend the language. Last year, I tutored another student in Spanish in preparation for Spanish 2. He excelled in his Spanish class receiving a high B opposed to D+ he received the semester prior. A little elbow grease in the summer goes a long way when it comes to learning a language. I have the confidence that Adelia will be able to start and finish this year strong.
Similarly, math skills are just as important to maintain during the summer. Adelia already has a solid understanding of the primary concepts in Geometry and will have gone through the first few chapters of the Mira Costa Geometry book by the time summer has ended.
Most kids are resistant to summer tutoring and believe that it will take up their entire summer. Adelia, however, is extremely active. She owns a horse is Palos Verdes and rides him every day. She is extremely happy with her progress she has made this summer at Study Hut.
Not only can we provide enrichment for math and Spanish, but also French, English, reading comprehension, physics, history, biology, chemistry and whatever else, you name it, we have a tutor for it! Bring it on fall semester!
I’m Jenna, the newest tutor at Study Hut in Manhattan Beach.
I am so excited to be part of this team of awesome tutors who help students succeed and make them laugh at the same time!
I grew up in Manhattan Beach surfing and playing soccer and tennis at Mira Costa High School. As hard as it was to give up the beach for a few years, I moved to New Orleans to study Economics at Tulane University and, of course, to celebrate Mardi Gras! After graduating from college, I taught elementary school in New Orleans with Teach For America for a couple of years. I adored my students and wanted to continue teaching but I also wanted to study Spanish so I moved to Ecuador to teach English. I taught students of all ages and fell in love with the country but missed my family very much so I cam home after a year.
Now that I am back in Manhattan Beach, I am thrilled to be working with the most energetic, dedicated, fun-loving tutors in the area! The Study Hut crew is an amazing team of all-star tutors that work together to make sure the students master everything from Spanish and Calculus to learning how to read. In my first week here I have seen how the Study Hut tutors work together as a team to tackle the goals of each student. The team dynamic is truly unique in a tutoring environment and gives the students the best of the best! Study Hut tutors have made me feel at home and I can confidently say that it is truly one of the best work environments that exist. Of course, the students are the best part of this job and I can’t wait to meet more of them at Study Hut Manhattan Beach.
