We know how important it is for numbers to be meaningful. A child can't just say, "three," as there needs to be meaning attached to the number word. A child should have a concrete picture of what 3 means. Many years ago, we discouraged children from using their fingers to "do" math. Now, we recognize the importance of fingers to help children attach meaning to numbers. Children can and should count on their fingers. But you can take this a step further.
Trace a child's hands. Cut them out. You will likely need to do this as most preschoolers do not have the fine motor abilities to cut out more than a line or a simple curve. Once the child's hands are cut out, put them down.
Together, turn over each finger and count. Be sure to do this from left to right as we want to train a child's eyes to move in this direction.
Label the fingers and have children count and look at each numeral. This gives meaning to numerals/numbers.
Invite children to explore and count out loud by turning over the fingers. You can even play a game where children respond to questions like, "How many pets do you have? How many noses do you have?" This question and answer "game" allows children to see the correspondence between number and numeral. Math has meaning!
Family Connection:
As a follow-up, encourage families to walk around their communities. Count the number of fences, blue cars, or people they see. Children can use their own fingers to show the number of objects they spot.
Standards Alignment:
NAEYC - 2.F.02, 2.F.04, 2.F.11
Head Start - X.A.1, X.A.3, X.A.5.
Monday, July 27, 2015
Monday, July 20, 2015
Easy Literacy Ideas from the International Literacy Conference!
Hello from the International Literacy Conference in
beautiful St. Louis, Missouri. We are brimming with energy and new ideas to
share with you during the next year. Stay tuned for lots of information over the
next few months as we bring you the latest and greatest to help you develop
literacy, in all its forms, with your preschoolers.
Here are just a few tidbits to try this summer:
Prior to reading a book, most children look at the cover and
may talk about its contents. Help children to look at the back of the book,
too. Often picture books contain key details about the story or characters on
the back.
You can create the atmosphere of a book in the room. If
reading about a storm, have children clap their hands to mimic thunder. Is the book set on a farm? Encourage them to
bleat like sheep. Interact with books to help children understand setting.
To further develop vocabulary, children can act out words.
Crackle? Roar? Shiver? Act these words out. Children can be encouraged to
remember their favorite new word each day by calling it a “Million Dollar
Word.” Remind families to ask children about the “Million Dollar Word” of the
day.
After reading a book to children, close it. Ask children to
share their summaries by starting them with the sentence, “I remember…” This
encourages them to put information in their own words.
Remember to do and encourage lots of singing in your
classroom. This not only promotes an understanding of rhyming words, key to phonemic
awareness, but also allows children to hear fluency “in action.”
All of these easy suggestions are helpful for English
language learners too!
Stay tuned for more literacy ideas…
Monday, July 13, 2015
Nature Helps Develop a Speaking and Listening Vocabulary
We all know the wonders of nature and how exciting these can
be for children. We can encourage and support this love for Planet Earth by
taking children on neighborhood walks and playing “I Spy.” You can begin by saying, “I spy with my
little eye something that is green.” Continue by describing the object you see.
Children are sure to have fun playing this game. But it is more than a game as
it also gives children valuable practice with listening and speaking skills.
When it is the child’s turn to guess, important practice in listening to
details results. When it is the child’s turn to give clues by saying, “I spy
with my little eye…” he or she must find appropriate vocabulary to describe a
chosen object.
You can extend this game by encouraging children to look for
the most unusual environmental object around. If you feel comfortable, let the
child take a photo of the “treasure.” When the walk is over, your child can look
at the photo and use the visual to remember details about frogs, eggs, or
beehives, etc. They can point out features in their photo and share with other
family members or friends. The photos below, taken on nature walks with young
children, show how vocabulary can be developed as you remember these “finds”
and discuss them.
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This section of a hive was found. It resulted in guesses about what the cells were made from and ideas about how it was constructed. |
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As you can guess, this creature ended up teaching the word, camouflage. Ideas about how animals use camouflage were discussed. |
You can also encourage children to look at websites such as
those offered by Explore. Their cams show a variety of wildlife and children
enjoy watching and can even snap a photo using the camera icon. These photos
can be printed and shared with others. See their many offerings that allow a window into nature here.
Standards Alignment:
NAEYC - 2.D.04, 2.D. 06, 2.G.07.
Head Start - IV.A., VIII.A., VIII.B.
Monday, July 6, 2015
Helping a Child Overcome a Fear of the Dentist
Many children have a fear of visiting the dentist. What can
you do to make this visit less stressful and even enjoyable for your child?
Following are some steps that we have found worked for children, even those who
seemed terrified at the prospect of walking into a dental office.
We suggest a family member visit a children’s dental office
to talk with the office staff about their child’s fears. Often the receptionist
is happy to greet the child by name when he or she takes a tour. This puts many
children at ease. Take note of the
waiting room for items that will catch your child’s attention. Are there
special books, trucks, games, or stuffed animals that will appeal to your
child? These can be discussed when you describe the office to your child. Often
pediatric dentists will offer small prizes, balloons, etc. This will often be
an incentive for your child.
Next, make plans with the office staff for your child to simply
tour the facility. Your child can play for a bit in the waiting room, see the
special chairs, and hopefully note that other children seem happy. Often just experiencing the office, without
the stress of having to open their mouth, will help many children.
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Playing with an oversize toothbrush to clean a stuffed animal's teeth is a fun experience! |
For those children who are exhibiting extreme fear, begin by
scheduling an appointment where a hygienist simply brushes their teeth. Your
child can understand what it feels like to sit back in the chair, perhaps wear
silly sunglasses as the light shines in their eyes, and hopefully gets a choice
in toothpaste flavors. Letting children
have choices makes them feel empowered and helps lessen fear.
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Although scared, this child agreed to sit in the chair because he could put on silly sunglasses. |
When the appointment is over, play dentist with your child
at home. You can be the patient and your child role-plays as the dentist or hygienist.
You can set up a pretend dental office with stuffed animals as patients.
We have seen these simple suggestions turn a terrified child
into one who asks, “When can I go the dentist next?” And that is what we want!
We encourage preschools, daycare centers, camps, etc. to
share this post with families.
Standards Alignment:
NAEYC – 2.K.01, 2.K.05
Head Start – I.A.1, I.B.1
Monday, June 29, 2015
Healthy Holiday Treats!
When holidays roll around, it's easy to forget our healthy eating habits. But you can help children see that good nutrition can be fun! One child-friendly snack preschoolers can help to make and eat is a Fruit Pizza!
Remind children that fruit is a food that is good for us. Families can involve children in food shopping by encouraging them to look at the fruit section of the store to choose favorite fruit. Classrooms and summer camps participants could fill a bowl with fruit from a "salad bar" set-up outside or in the classroom.
Then give each child one or two slices of seedless watermelon, cut in a triangle, like a pizza. Let each child plan the creation of his or her fruit pizza slices.
Children can practice saying the name of different types of fruit and describing them as they place pieces on the watermelon.
Finally, comes the best part - enjoying a healthy summer holiday treat!
Standards Alignment:
NAEYC - 2.D.03, 2.K.01, 2.K.02.
Head Start - I.B.5, I.D.2, VIII.B.2&3.
Remind children that fruit is a food that is good for us. Families can involve children in food shopping by encouraging them to look at the fruit section of the store to choose favorite fruit. Classrooms and summer camps participants could fill a bowl with fruit from a "salad bar" set-up outside or in the classroom.
Then give each child one or two slices of seedless watermelon, cut in a triangle, like a pizza. Let each child plan the creation of his or her fruit pizza slices.
Children can practice saying the name of different types of fruit and describing them as they place pieces on the watermelon.
Finally, comes the best part - enjoying a healthy summer holiday treat!
Standards Alignment:
NAEYC - 2.D.03, 2.K.01, 2.K.02.
Head Start - I.B.5, I.D.2, VIII.B.2&3.
Monday, June 22, 2015
Making Math Meaningful: Numbers to 20
Numbers are important for children as they enter school. While
it is necessary for our preschoolers to count in sequence to 20, we also need
to help them recognize numerals and understand numeracy. This goal can be
meaningful and fun.
One “game” you can play to help children is to use
(recycle!) old plastic eggs. We used a permanent marker to write numerals on
each egg. Note that we put a line under the numeral so children would know
which way to look at the egg. This is especially important for 6 and 9.
We also like to encourage children to collect small items
while on a walk or playing in the yard. These can be used as part of the “game”
and they help to show children that we don’t need to buy things to learn and
have fun.
Small pebbles were collected and put inside the eggs.
The child chooses an egg, says the numeral, and then opens it. The pebbles are
put in a line for the child to count, as shown below. This gives number meaning
to the numeral.
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Note that we include 15 as this seems to be one of the most difficult numerals for children to say and recognize. |
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Be sure to have children point and count from left to right, the direction we read. |
In this seemingly simple “game” there are 3 necessary
learning objectives: recognizing and saying numerals, meaningful counting , and matching items to a numeral.
This helps children develop number sense!
Standards Alignment:
NAEYC - 2.F.02, 2.F.04, 2.F.11.
Head Start - X.A.1, X.A.2, X.A.3, X.A.4, X.A.5.
Monday, June 8, 2015
School Readiness: Text Features, Concept of Word. Fluency, and MORE!
Read, read, read to children! We know that is the best way to encourage literacy and a love for books. But as you read, can you help prepare for literacy concepts they will encounter in school? These short videos based on the book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr., illustrate what we can do to promote school readiness as children copy what we do as we read.
Be sure you show children the cover of the book, the title page, and read the title and author. As shown below, this child has heard the name of the author and knows to "read" it with just a little prompting.
We love that he ALMOST got the name of the author correct. This shows that children do not have to say everything exactly right. At this age, the goal is to understand the meaning of what an author does and to acknowledge an author's importance.
The next clip shows this child has seen family members point to words as they read. You will notice he also points to words. This helps develop a Concept of Word, a key school readiness skill.
The child is also familiar with how the text is read and mimics that expression. This helps develop fluency skills.
Finally, note how this child tracks the animals the children see at the end. He moves from left to right on each line and makes a return sweep at the end of the line to the next line. This is another important readiness skill.
You can see that when adults read with expression, point to words, and show features like the parts of a book and the name of an author, this helps children develop school readiness skills.
Standards Alignment:
NAEYC - 2.B.04.; 2.E.03.; 2.E.04.;2.E.08.; 2.E.09.
Head Start - II.A.; VII.A.; VII.D.
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