Slow Reading

Generally, when I talk about reading, I’m talking about children and the importance of each child developing strong reading skills, which includes an adequate fluency rate.  So, when I saw a few articles about a relatively new movement called Slow Reading, I had to see what it’s all about.

The Pew Research Center surveyed Americans age 18 and older, and discovered that 1 in 4 have not read even one book in the past year.  We talk about how important it is for children to read 20-30 minutes every day, yet we, perhaps, forget that it’s important for us as well.  But exactly what DO adults gain from a regular reading habit?

• Enriched vocabulary
• Slowed memory loss in later years
• Deepened empathy from reading about people who are unlike you or in circumstances that are different than yours
• Increased concentration
• Enhanced comprehension
• Reduced stress
• And, if for no other reason…it can bring you pleasure

Since time is often a premium for adults, here are some tips to help encourage you to set aside that time for yourself; kind of like setting aside time to exercise.

• Go out somewhere to avoid distractions—local coffee shop, library, park, book store, etc. If necessary, set a regular time to meet with a group of friends to read.
• Turn off your phone.
• Select a printed book rather than an e-book so you will see it lying around and be reminded that you need to read it.
• Give yourself at least 30-45 minutes of uninterrupted reading time so that you can really immerse yourself in the book.  Hence, the term, Slow Reading.

So, set aside some regular time for reading.  It’s good for you!

Misty

International Mud Day 2014

Mud Day.  I’m not sure many people realize it exists.  But it does and it sounds like fun.  I spent my childhood puddle jumping, tree climbing, and playing in mud.  It seems like a lot of children today do not have that opportunity.  And, I must admit, that as I looked through suggestions for mud day, I was concerned about the dangers associated with some of the ideas.  Some of the mud puddles that I saw looked deep enough to be drowning hazards and, of course, mud is dirty.  But, with appropriate care and supervision, mud activities can be safe and fun.

Here are some possibilities for celebrating International Mud Day on June 29th (and perhaps all week).

• Make muddy footprints.  Put a large piece of paper on the ground, get mud on the feet of plastic animals and ‘walk’ them across the paper, leaving a trail of footprints.
• Make mud bricks in ice cube trays or muffin tins.  Bake in a 250 oven for about 15 minutes to dry the bricks (if you don’t want to wait for them to air dry).  Use additional mud or plaster of paris as mortar to build with the bricks.
• Create mud sculptures.  Add sticks, leaves, rocks, etc.
• Paint with mud.  Paintbrushes or fingers on canvas, cardboard, wood, or the side of your building or fence.
• Build a mud puddle for some free play (make sure it’s not too deep and that children are well supervised).  If, like me, your local soil is clay, bring in a few bags of topsoil to make the mud.  If a full-on mud puddle is too much, you can do your mud play in a dishpan.

Have a hose ready for rinse-off, some clean clothes ready for the little adventurers, and enjoy your muddy day!

Misty

Stop the Summer Brain Drain

Every year, students experience a phenomenon known as the “brain drain” or “Summer slide”.  During summer vacation, the average child loses 2.6 months of grade level equivalency in math and reading.  Because children’s brains develop at such a rapid pace, taking 3 months off from learning over the summer can be quite detrimental.

The first thing we can do to stop this brain drain is to teach and show children that learning does not just occur in a classroom.  There are things to be learned everywhere if we can just help them to see the opportunities.  Of course most children enjoy a break during the summer, but they don’t need a break from learning.  An ideal summer will blend rest and relaxation with fun, hands-on learning.

We have compiled a few ideas of how to keep children having fun and learning throughout the summer.

• Cook together—cooking provides opportunities for learning about sequencing, cause and effect, fractions, and calculations like how to double a recipe.
• Keep a lot of reading material around—books, magazines, comic books—and read to and with the children.
• Check out your library’s summer reading program.
• Before heading to the beach or a baseball game, pick out a book that discusses the activity.
• Make a comic strip—it’s really easy to make a template on Excel. 
• Write postcards to friends, family, or pen pals.
• Go on a tour—there are many free ones around—jellybean or chocolate factories,  sporting venues, police and fire departments, etc.
• Plant a garden.
• Learn a new art technique or style.

Have a great summer!

Misty

Natural, Functional Literacy Development

 

What is the first letter of the alphabet that most young children learn? The first letter of their name.  Why?  Because they care; it means something to them.  This concept kind of defines natural, functional literacy.  It's natural because it's part of the child's everyday life and it's functional because it serves a purpose.  The child can say "This is MY name."

Our question as educators and/or parents is how to maximize the opportunities for natural, functional literacy development in our programs.  We have to provide a print-rich environment.  We should set up an attractive  library that is in a quiet part of the room and offers a wide variety of books that cover a wide range of reading abilities.  Ideally, some of these books will stay the same to provide continuity and repetition, but some of the books will rotate, perhaps according to the season or according to concepts being taught.

In addition to reading, children can learn to read by writing as well.  Writing stories may be interesting to some students, but this is certainly not the only way to encourage writing. How about simple recipe cards and blank cards for children to write their own recipes?  Long strips of paper for children to create shopping lists? Maybe a menu from a local restaurant and an order pad for the child to take your order or jot down their own?   You could also include stationery, envelopes, cards and postcards so that children can write letters to parents, grandparents or friends.

If you take a mental break and let the child spend a few minutes building with blocks, you can also provide books about architecture or particular interesting buildings.  Or paper and pens so that children can label their buildings.  How about graph paper so that they can draw "blueprints" of their creations?  Did they build a McDonald's or Home Depot?  Let them make a sign for the building.  Adding cars to the mix?  How about including maps, auto repair manuals, or receipt books for those auto repairs?  

Look around and think of other ways in which you can make language more meaningful for your children.

Misty

Tools for Learning

Last week I talked about developing independent learners by instilling the joy and excitement of learning in each child.  Once we get those children interested in learning, we need to make sure that we provide them with the basic tools of learning.

Most people recognize reading, writing and arithmetic as the basic tools of learning; with those basics, we can learn just about anything.  But the tools I'm talking about are even more basic than these.  We need to teach children how to be life-long learners.

One of the first tools we need to give children is perseverance.  My husband's favorite quote, from his father, is "Nothing hard is ever easy."  We want to make things as easy as we can for children, but the reality is that some things will always be difficult.  We need to teach them this, but also show them that, through perseverance and hard work, they can accomplish whatever they set out to do.

Allowing, and encouraging, the children to work with partners or groups will help them to start developing those collaboration skills that are so important in most American businesses these days.  Most employers are looking for the complete package employee--someone who not only has content knowledge and skills, but have emotional intelligence, social skills, and the ability to work collaboratively.  

Children are curious.  We have to encourage and nurture that curiosity by giving children a safe environment in which to explore; not just physically safe, but emotionally safe as well.  They need to understand that we all make mistakes, but those very mistakes are what help us to learn.  In modeling acceptance of mistakes (and the ability to admit our own mistakes), we can also help those children to develop empathy for one another.  In demonstrating an ability to "roll with the punches" when things don't go as we planned, we can teach the children to do the same.  

With these tools in their toolboxes (perseverance, collaborative skills, emotional intelligence, social skills, curiosity, empathy, flexibility, and the ability to accept mistakes), children are prepared to tackle whatever comes their way and to start taking responsibility for their own learning.

Misty

Inspiring Independent Learners

Happy Independence Day!

As an educator, my ultimate goal is to develop independent learners; children who are self-motivated and responsible for their own learning.  To do this, I need to first instill the joy and excitement of learning in each child.  By partnering with the parents of each child, we can all maximize our efforts.

We must make sure that what we teach children is, first of all, developmentally appropriate.  Although we (or the school system) may have ideas of what we would like a child to accomplish, if he is not developmentally ready for it, it's simply not going to happen.  We need to have reasonable expectations. 

We must make sure that what we are trying to teach is relevant and interesting to the children.  Talking to my students about a warm summer rain is pretty difficult because in Northern California, it doesn't rain in the summer.  All of our rain is from about November to March, so it is cool.  Some of the students find it interesting to think about a warm rain, but discussions about puddle-hopping aren't really relevant.  Similarly, we've all met the 4 or 5-year-old child that can tell you everything you ever wanted to know about dinosaurs.  That's because that child has a passion for dinosaurs; he or she WANTS to learn everything about them.  When children have choices about what they learn, they are much more engaged and start to learn that ever-important lesson of taking ownership of their own learning.

Children are active (in case you hadn't noticed!).  Providing them with opportunities for active learning will be much more successful than expecting them to sit back and simply observe what you are teaching them.  Children are also inquisitive by nature, so encouraging them to develop their own ideas, experiment, and even take some "safe" risks will help them to learn to step outside of their comfort zones. 

The environment that we create is also very important in instilling the joy of learning in a child.  The physical environment must be safe, so that a child can take those risks.  It must also be appealing so that the child will want to be there and will be intrigued by the materials that we provide.  Finally, the environment we establish must be emotionally safe, where the child feels safe to explore interests, work with friends, and branch out to try new things.

Misty

Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net