SkillsTutor Online Curriculum Offers 1,000 Classes Covering All 3R Topics

SkillsTutor is an online K-12 curriculum covering essentially all basic concepts related to the 3Rs, plus many other topics. Lessons on Reading, for example, include many non-fiction selections that will enhance students' understanding of social studies, geography and science. Altogether there are over 1,000 lessons and learning activities.

Grades 6 to Adult SkillsTutorTM (Internet)   SkillsBank® (CD-ROM) Master core skills and improve test performance with supplemental step-by-step instruction, individualized assessments and personalized tutoring in Reading, Writing, Language, Math, Algebra, Science, Information Skills and Workforce Readiness for adolescents and adults.

Grades 3-8 CornerStoneTM (CD-ROM)   Learning MileStonesTM (Internet) Research-based instruction in Reading, Math and Language Arts. Supports proven teaching methods to meet yearly progress goals and the accountability demands of the No Child Left Behind initiative.

Grades K-2   K-2 Learning MileStones (CD-ROM and Internet) Reinforcement and enrichment for early learners in Language Arts and Math. A fun and interactive e-workbook emphasizes phonics in a "click and drag" approach.  Learning MileStones Reading Comprehension is built on the teaching principles of expository learning. Each content-area lesson is based on informative social studies articles to enhance cross-curriculum learning. Students encounter a variety of before, during, and after-reading interactions and focus on six essential reading skills: Main idea, important details, author's purpose, cause and effect, sequencing, and inference.

SkillsTutor is Aligned to Your State Standards and Tests The content found in our programs aligns to many state curriculum standards, the GED 2002, and to most state and national tests. This section will help you quickly identify and print specific correlations. If you cannot locate your specific state standard or test, please email us at Ken@virtual-institute.us. We continue to update our alignments and appreciate your input.

While SkillsTutor claims to be K-12, few if any lessons could be completed independently without some fundamental reading skills. The student's reading can be aided by clicking on any page, at which point a voice -- in English or in Spanish, as preferred -- will explain what the student is expected to do. The written portion of each web page is in English, but the spoken explanation in English or Spanish is enough to get students at a second- or third-grade reading level through their assigned lessons.

This curriculum has excellent online classes to help students build their vocabulary, understand root origins of words, increase their reading comprehension, and develop their skills in spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc. Here are a few sample lesson topics:

Skill Lesson: Main Idea

Skill Lesson: Inference

Reading Selections Related to Life in Community

Skill Lesson: Sequencing

Skill Lesson: Important Details

Reading Selections Related to Native American Culture

Skill Lesson: Cause and Effect

Skill Lesson: Author's Purpose

Reading Selections Related to Chinese Culture

Reading Selections -- Biographies of Helen Keller, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, Robert Goddard, young inventor Jeannie Low, and Afro-American inventor Garrett Morgan.

Level 2 Skill Lesson: Inference

Level 2 Skill Lesson: Cause and Effect

Reading Selections Related to Mayan & Other Early Civilizations

Level 2 Skill Lesson: Main Idea

Level 2 Skill Lesson: Important Details

Reading Selections Related to Early America

Level 2 Skill Lesson: Author's Purpose

Level 2 Skill Lesson: Sequencing

Reading Selections Related to American Revolutionary War

Reading Selections Related to American Civil War

Reading Selections Related to North American Countries & Cultures

Level 3 Skill Lesson: Cause and Effect

Level 3 Skill Lesson: Important Details

Reading Selections Related to Incan and Ottoman Empires

Level 3 Skill Lesson: Inference

Level 3 Skill Lesson: Main Idea

Reading Selections Related to America's Westward Expansion

Level 3 Skill Lesson: Author's Purpose

Level 3 Skill Lesson: Sequencing

More Reading Selections Related to American Civil War

Reading Selections Related to World Cultures

Reading Selections Related to American Government

Vocabulary Building: Math and Science

Vocabulary Building: Social Studies

Vocabulary Building: Family & Consumer Science

Vocabulary Building: Student Life

Vocabulary Building: Hobbies & Activities

Vocabulary Building: Multiple Meanings

Vocabulary Building: Homonyms

Vocabulary Building: Compound Words

Vocabulary Building: Suffixes

Vocabulary Building: Prefixes

Level 2 Vocabulary Building: Math and Science

Level 2 Vocabulary Building: Social Studies

Level 2 Vocabulary Building: Family & Consumer Science

Level 2 Vocabulary Building: Student Life

Level 2 Vocabulary Building: Hobbies & Activities

Level 2 Vocabulary Building: Homonyms

Level 2 Vocabulary Building: Multiple Meanings

Level 2 Vocabulary Building: Suffixes

Level 2 Vocabulary Building: Prefixes

Level 2 Vocabulary Building: Easily Confused Words

Level 3 Vocabulary Building: Compound Words

Level 3 Vocabulary Building: Classifications

Level 3 Vocabulary Building: Identifying Roots of Words

Level 3 Vocabulary Building: Greek Word Elements

Level 3 Vocabulary Building: Latin Root Elements Showing Feelings

Level 3 Vocabulary Building: Latin Root Elements Showing Motion

Level 3 Vocabulary Building: Prefixes

Level 3 Vocabulary Building: Prefixes Showing Direction or Relationship

Level 3 Vocabulary Building: Prefixes Showing Quantity

Level 3 Vocabulary Building: Additional Prefixes

Level 3 Vocabulary Building: Identifying Suffixes

Level 3 Vocabulary Building: Suffixes that Form Nouns

Level 3 Vocabulary Building: Suffixes that Form Adjectives & Adverbs

Level 3 Vocabulary Building: Deduction

Level 3 Vocabulary Building: Abstraction

Level 3 Vocabulary Building: Homonyms

Level 3 Vocabulary Building: Multiple Meanings

Level 3 Vocabulary Building: Analogies

Level 3 Vocabulary Building: Synonyms

Level 3 Vocabulary Building: Choosing Precise Synonyms

Level 3 Vocabulary Building: Synonyms with Similar Emotional Intensity

Level 3 Vocabulary Building: Connotative Meanings in Synonyms

Level 3 Vocabulary Building: Antonyms I & II

Level 3 Vocabulary Building: Idioms I, II & III

Level 3 Vocabulary Building: Analogies II

Reading Comprehension: Identifying People, Places & Things

Reading Comprehension: Identifying Events & Sequences

Reading Comprehension: Main Ideas

Reading Comprehension: Causes & Effects

Reading Comprehension: Character Analysis

Reading Comprehension: Prediction

Reading Comprehension: Author Bias & Viewpoint

Reading Comprehension: Techniques of Persuasion

Reading Comprehension: Similes & Metaphors

Reading Comprehension: Hyperbole & Personification

Reading Comprehension: Error Analysis

Spelling: Plurals Formed by Adding S
Plurals of Nouns Ending in S, X, CH, or SH
Plurals of Nouns Ending in Consonants and Y
Plurals of Nouns Ending in Vowels and Y
Plurals of Nouns Ending in Consonants and O
Plurals of Nouns Ending in F or FE
Irregular Plurals
Suffixes After Two Consonants
Suffixes After Two Vowels and a Consonant
Vowel Suffixes After a Vowel and a Consonant
Consonant Suffixes After Silent E
Vowel Suffixes After Silent E
Classification: Helping Carlos with Spelling
Suffixes After a Consonant and Y
Suffixes After a Vowel and Y
Words Ending in CEDE, SEDE, and CEED
Words Ending in ENT, ENCE, ANT, and ANCE
Words Ending in ABLE and IBLE
Induction: Hunt for the Hidden Time Capsule
Using I Before E
Using E Before I
Silent Letters
Same-Sound Consonants
Same-Sound Vowels
Abstracting: Teaching a Friend Spelling Rules
 

We recommend Reading Master and Doman's Picture Dictionaries be used to help students with first- and second-grade reading skills to build their reading vocabulary and comprehension. These two curricula can be helpful for more advanced students, as well, especially ESL students and other students who may have "holes" in their language and intellectual development. For students beyond a second-grade reading level, we recommend SkillsTutor be increasingly emphasized.

SkillsTutor can be accessed from any online computer. It uses current technology that most online computers have already installed. If not, it helps students download and install the appropriate software. Reading Master and the Picture Dictionaries are CD-ROM based, so they can be checked out and used by any computer with a CD-ROM.

For a review of sample lessons, assessments, management systems, scientific support, case studies, alignments, scope and sequence, and other information, you can go to the SkillsTutor website at http://skillstutor.com. For access to all SkillsTutor lessons, assessments and management systems for a complete review, contact Ken Harvey for necessary access codes, instructions, etc.