Dear Peer Helpers
I am behind in my math and can not keep up with most of the rest of the class. This is making me stay up at night and I am starting to be rude to my friends because I am tired. Can you help me?
A Sad yet Confused Student

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Dear Sad and Confused,
We found three parts of your confusion and would like to talk about each part. We will talk about your tiredness, your rudeness and your problems with your math. We put our heads together and came up with some ideas about each part:

THE MATH

* Get a parent to help you with your math homework.
* See if you can get tutoring. There are afterschool tutoring programs around.
* Get a "Troll" Math book to use for practice.
* Ask a student who understands the math to help you.
* If the math is too hard for you, ask your teacher to put you in a different math section.
* Ask your teacher (of math), if there is a time he/she can help you during school (sometimes they can).
* Please understand that you are not the only student in the school who has problems in math.
* Do your parents know that you have problems in math?(let them know about it)

* Prioritize your play time so you are not too tired to do math.
* Do not put the Math off until right before bedtime.
* Set aside a regular time each evening to do the math practice.
* Go to bed at the same time most nights.

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Please let us know if any of the suggestions have been a help to you. We like getting letters.

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Peer Helper Letter for November, 1998

Dear Peer Helpers, I am a student in grade five. I have a terrible time with my temper and get into trouble a lot. Whenever I get into trouble, I can’t stop being angry. I have a bad name at school because everyone sees me in trouble all the time. What can I do? Signed, A Student who gets angry.

Dear Angry Student, You did not tell us what kind of trouble you get into, but we brainstormed ideas about the kinds of trouble fifth grade student’s get into at our school. Maybe this list will help you to identify what you do so that you can set goals to change the way others see you: 1. Sometimes students come to school in a bad mood and do not put their feelings aside. 2. Sometimes students do not get their homework done and then they feel stress because the teacher has to remind them in front of everyone. 3. Sometimes students have a negative attitude about everything and some things in their life are actually good. 4. Some students get into fights at school. You Need to set goals for yourself: · Decide to express all your feelings in a journal or on a piece of paper. · Tell a friend how you feel about this and ask them what to do. · Ask an adult to help you, such as your school counselor. · Try to figure out why you are the one who gets into trouble. Are you doing things for attention? If so, look for attention in other, more positive ways. · Make a list of all of the things you do that get you into trouble and decide to work on one of the things at a time until that one thing improves. Then work on the next item on your list. · Ask a friend to work on homework with you if that is your problem. · Do positive physical exercise to let out some of your excess energy. · Use the STOP * THINK * DECIDE method of calming down before doing something that may cause you trouble. · Write to us again if you need more help. Often it is not easy to change by yourself and you need someone else to help you. We think you are going in the right direction to improve. You did the first step by asking us for our help. Good for you ! Keep going and you will surely succeed. Let us know how you are doing. Sincerely, Hamilton Peer Helpers

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