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Chapter 12: Planning for the Mind: Cognitive Development in Action

Chapter Introduction

Planning for the Mind: Cognitive Development in Action

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Learning Objectives

· LO1Define cognition and the major developmental perspectives.

· LO2Examine the central elements of children’s cognitive skills when planning a curriculum.

· LO3Identify effective approaches that foster cognitive skills through appropriate curriculum strategies.

· LO4Discuss the use of technology and media as a special topic of cognitive curriculum.

Competency Areas

Standards for Professional Development

The following NAEYC standards for initial and advanced early childhood professional preparation are addressed in this chapter:

· Standard 1 Promoting Child Development and Learning

· Standard 4 Using Developmentally Effective Approaches to Connect With Children and Families

· Standard 5 Using Content Knowledge to Build Meaningful Curriculum

Code of Ethical Conduct

These are the sections of the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct that apply to the topics of this chapter:

Core Values: We have committed ourselves to basing our work with children on knowledge of child development.

Section I: Ethical Responsibilities to Children—Ideals and Principles

· I-1.5

To create and maintain safe and healthy settings that foster children’s social, emotional, intellectual, and physical development and that respect their dignity and contributions.

· P-1.7

We shall strive to build individual relationships with each child; make individualized adaptations in teaching strategies, learning environments, and curricula; and consult with the family so each child benefits from the program.

12-1The Development of Cognition: Multiple Perspectives

Cognitive development encompasses what humans do, say, think, and feel. In other words, everything uses the brain. Understanding how children learn through cognitive experiences includes many perspectives. The theories of Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, and Howard Gardner help make sense of cognition and the models of High/Scope and Montessori can guide how to plan for its development in early childhood programs.

12-1aLearning through Cognitive Experiences

Ah, to be a child again! The world is a place of wonder and promise. There are worlds and people to discover, explore, and understand. Childhood is a time:

· Of self … a baby plays with his hands and feet for hours and rolls over just for the sake of doing it.

· Of things everywhere … a toddler invades the kitchen cabinets to see what treasures can be found.

· Of people … a preschooler learns the teachers’ names and then makes a first friend.

· Of faraway places … a second-grader packs for the first sleepover.

The amount of learning that takes place in early childhood is staggering. How do children manage to absorb the sheer quantity of information and experience they accumulate in their first few years of life?

Every child accompanies this mighty feat by thinking. Cognition is the mental process or faculty that children use to acquire knowledge. To think is to be able to acquire and apply knowledge. By using conscious thought and memory, children think about themselves, the world, and others. Educating the thinking child is a critical function of parents and teachers. Curricula in the early years must address the thinking, or cognitive, skills.

Cognition is related not only to the developing mind, but also to all areas of the child’s growth. Young thinkers are at work no matter what they are doing. For example, physical/motor development is also a cognitive process. Learning to rollerblade involves skinned knees and learning to balance (motor tasks), along with analyzing, predicting, generalizing, evaluating, and practicing the art of locomotion on wheels (cognitive skills). When trying to enter into group play (a social task), children think of strategies for how to get started (cognitive skill).

The relationship between cognition and language, two major aspects of the intellectual domain, is particularly important. Typically, we find out what children think by listening to them talk or asking them to tell us what they know. But that isn’t always the case:

· Cognition can occur without the language to express it. For example, an infant’s laughter during a game of peek-a-boo indicates the child’s knowledge that the hidden face will reappear.

· The use of language can occur without cognition (i.e., without knowing the meaning). A child’s counting from 1 to 20 (“… 11, 13, 17, 20!”) is a case in point.

At the same time, language and thought are intertwined. The growing child communicates through meaningful language. Children get their needs met better when they can name them. Their thoughts are expressed more clearly to adults when they are put in words, and feelings can be mediated through language. Cognition and language generally become more interdependent as development progresses. Children expand their knowledge base through language. They listen, question, and tell. The child with good language skills can thus apply them to widen the horizons of knowledge.

As children enter the world of things, people, and places, they investigate what they want to know about and learn.

For the purposes of clarity, cognition and language are separated into two chapters. Teachers must remember that they work together. Cognitive development is nurtured through a rich environment of meaningful print (see Chapter 13 ). Language content is also stimulated by curiosity and inquiry, as discussed in this chapter. This chapter applies cognitive development principles to curriculum planning by elaborating on the development of cognition in the early years, on the skills acquired by children from birth to age 8, the role of the teacher in curriculum plans, and on the special topic of technology and media.

12-1bTheories and Models: An Eclectic Viewpoint

In trying to enhance cognitive development, early childhood educators draw on developmental and learning theories and their direct experiences with children. By combining theoretical and practical viewpoints, teachers take a blended, or eclectic, perspective on the development of the thinking process. They work with children to encourage their ability to formulate ideas and to think rationally and logically to develop:

Concepts: Labeling or naming an idea, moving from the specific to the abstract.	Example: “What is a grape?”
Relationships: What is the association between two or more things? How are they similar or different? What are their functions, characteristics?	Example: “What colors of grapes are there?” “Do all of them have seeds?” “What sizes do you see?” “Do they taste alike?”
Generalizations: Drawing conclusions from concepts, grouping things, and finding common elements.	Example: “Are grapes a fruit or meat?” “How do grapes grow?”

The primary perspectives that inform teachers in planning curriculum for cognitive development in early childhood are cognitive-developmental, sociocultural, multiple intelligences theories, and curriculum models of High/Scope and Montessori that support current brain research.

12-1bTheories and Models: An Eclectic Viewpoint

Concepts: Labeling or naming an idea, moving from the specific to the abstract.	Example: “What is a grape?”
Relationships: What is the association between two or more things? How are they similar or different? What are their functions, characteristics?	Example: “What colors of grapes are there?” “Do all of them have seeds?” “What sizes do you see?” “Do they taste alike?”
Generalizations: Drawing conclusions from concepts, grouping things, and finding common elements.	Example: “Are grapes a fruit or meat?” “How do grapes grow?”

12-1dVygotsky, Thinking, and Culture

Focusing on how our values and beliefs affect what we transmit to the next generation, Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory (see Chapter 4 ) shows that much of children’s development and knowledge is culturally specific. The role of social interaction in thinking has spawned a new understanding of group differences and how social experience and language shapes our capabilities (Rogoff, 2003). The most salient sources of knowledge are family members, the media, and school. In order to learn higher mental functions (symbolic thought, memory, attention, and reasoning), children need the mediation of someone who knows the tools of that particular society. “With a growing population of people of color, speaking a variety of different languages, belonging to many religious groups and ethnic and national communities, the question is not can all children learn, but how to teach them” (Bowman, 2007).

Vygotsky adds an important element to our understanding of thinking. If knowledge is connected to what a culture values, then learning must be done in a collaborative style. Teachers and parents must have some agreement about what is important to teach children. The best way of teaching is a kind of assisted learning that allows for scaffolding, a natural learning technique known as apprenticeship. An older child or adult serves as a guide who is responsive to what the child is ready to learn (see Figure 12-1 ).

Figure 12-1

Of the three common styles of teaching—the discovery approach, direct instruction, and the guided learning approach—it is the last one that blends some instruction with hands-on experience for the children, providing hints and assistance that scaffold the child’s learning and increase the zone of proximal development (ZPD) by helping organize the child’s cognitive processes.

The Vygotsky Approach: A Teaching Style for Intellectual Development

The Vygotsky Approach: A Teaching Style for Intellectual Development

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Photo: © Cengage Learning

There are three implications of this theory for curricula:

· Mixed-age groupings: A wider age range allows younger children to learn from older ones, and the more advanced children have opportunities to help others. For instance, the most effective strategy for preventing early reading failure is one-to-one tutoring.

· Play: Playful experiences are valuable ways for children to work with the symbols and other higher forms of thinking. With other people alongside, the child practices what is to be expected and valued in society.

· The teacher: Adults can be both observer and participant. For instance, if a child builds with blocks, the teacher might sketch the building and then encourage a joint effort to make a map or use measurement tools.

12-1eGardner’s Multiple Intelligences

Research into cognition (see Chapter 4 ) documents that children possess different kinds of minds, and therefore understand, learn, remember, and perform in different ways. Most experts agree that intelligence is complex and that traditional tests do not measure the entire host of skills or abilities involved.

Gardner’s theory endorses what teachers have noticed in the classroom. Many intelligences can be nurtured as the curriculum is adjusted and teaching is varied so that it meets the needs of a broader range of children. Multiple intelligences (MI) theory acknowledges that people learn and use knowledge in different ways. Its classic applied work, Project Spectrum (Gardner, Feldman, Krechevsky, & Chen, 1998), developed an innovative approach to curricula and assessment in the preschool and early primary years. If each child exhibits a distinctive profile of different abilities (or spectrum of intelligences), then an environment rich in stimulating materials and activities can provide educational opportunities that enhance multiple intelligences. Because MI is neither a curriculum nor a model of pedagogy, there are many ways that the intelligences can be brought into the classroom. The overall framework involves four steps:

1. Introduction: Make children aware of a range of learning areas.

2. Identification: Discover each child’s strengths.

3. Nurturance: Encourage those strengths.

4. Bridging: Connect their strengths to other subject areas.

This does not mean that teachers must develop every activity to all intelligences. A relatively easy start is to create the various learning centers that correspond to the different intelligences. For learning math facts, for example, a drawing center taps into spatial intelligence, while a circle activity with snapping fingers while counting stimulates body-kinesthetic intelligence, and a listening post could use musical intelligence while clapping to the rhythm or beat of counting (see Figure 12-2 ).

Figure 12-2

Adapted from Project Spectrum Activities, a research project aimed at improving performance of at-risk first graders (Chen, Isberg, & Krechevsky, 1998).

The Multiple Intelligences Approach: Sample Early Learning Activities

Learning Center	Sample Activity	Intelligence Area
Blocks/manipulatives	Making wire designs	Spatial
Discovery/science	Tools for biologists	Naturalistic
Music	Sound cylinders match-up	Musical
Movement	Statue game	Body-kinesthetic
Math	Weights and measures	Logical
Social studies	Making silhouettes	Interpersonal
Language	“Reporting the news”	Linguistic
Visual arts	Making an art portfolio	Intrapersonal
Self studies	Why are we in the world?	Existential

12-1fHigh/Scope, Montessori Methods, and the Brain

“The human brain is the most fascinatingly organized three pounds of matter on this planet” (Schiller & Willis, 2008). The only unfinished organ at birth, it continues to grow throughout the life cycle. The principal task of the brain in early childhood is the connection of brain cells, as a child’s brain is two-and-a-half times as active as an adult’s. During the first 3 years of life, an infant’s brain creates an estimated 1 trillion synapses. “Babies are designed to learn—and this evolutionary story would say children are for learning, that’s what they’re for—we might expect that they would have really powerful learning mechanisms. And in fact, the baby’s brain seems to be the most powerful learning computer on the planet” (Gopnik, 2011).

Two models that help develop cognitive skills are High/Scope and Montessori (see Chapter 10 ). The High/Scope curriculum uses a cognitively oriented approach to teaching and curricula. Teachers plan the environment and activities around key experiences in basic subjects of math, literacy, science, the arts, and music. Children interact with materials and people in different interest areas, where teacher and child share control of the activities. Teachers use a portfolio system to record children’s growth and evaluate to continuously adapt and expand the choices. The daily routine is created to provide an ebb and flow of child-centered and teacher-directed experiences. The combination of the individualization and emphasis on cognitive and language skill development make it ideal for children with special needs and typically developing children (see Figure 12-3 ).

Figure 12-3

The HighScope approach focuses on cognitive and language skills through a consistent sequence that children learn through repetition, use of visual icons and displays, and teacher guidance and coparticipation in the form of scaffolding. Children develop initiative, a sense of responsibility, social cooperation, and individual competence.

The HighScope Curriculum: A Daily Routine for Cognitive Development

Greeting time: Families bring children into the classroom, store their belongings, wash up and bring their child to the rug. They either sit with the child or depart as the group sings the greeting song, and look at the board that shows the sequence and special notes.

Planning time: Children go to their “family group” and teacher in class to plan what they are going to do during work time. There are many ways this is done or shown, and children are encouraged to talk and elaborate, usually about what they will do first.

Work time: The longest part of the day, where children carry out their plans and then make other choices as they explore the room. Notes are taken on all the children, teachers are stationed at one of the areas and move with the groupings, and any individual work needed (modifications, help with language, problem solving) is incorporated.

Cleanup time: Children engage with teachers to sort and put away all materials.

Review time: Children return to their class family groups and share or show what they did during work time. Creations are displayed, sometimes items from an area are retrieved for demonstration, and questions are asked.

Snack time: A time for conversation, relaxation, and often book reading. Children assist with setting up the snack and throwing out their garbage.

The HighScope Curriculum: A Daily Routine for Cognitive Development

Large-group time: The whole group meets on the rug for teacher-directed activities (usually songs, music, dance, or games).

Small-group time: Activities here are set up according to children’s interests or individual goals. New materials are introduced.

Outdoor time: Children end their day outdoors, where they explore a range of free choices until their family members arrive. Teachers check in and discuss children’s progress and challenges informally on a regular basis.

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The Montessori method is divided into several areas: practical life, sensorial, language, math, science, geography, music, and art all contribute to a prepared environment that encourages children to develop to their fullest potential. The method calls for three elements:

· Adaptation of the curriculum to the student

· Freedom of choice for the child

· Training on the senses and practical issues

“‘Curriculum evolves from the children’s interest, teacher observations, and evaluation,’ comments Mentor Teacher Dileepa. ‘A project that you start could take a life of its own and go in many directions’” (Gunatileka, 2014). Providing quality experiences and relationships creates lasting effects on how the brain gets wired. Indications are strong that children’s brains need to be stimulated for the network of connections to grow and be protected from deletion. Connections that have been reinforced by repeated experience tend to remain; those that are not used are discarded. We need to develop curricula that bring children to interesting places and bring interesting things to children (see Figure 12-3 ).

In general, teachers of children can keep these ideas in mind:

· Birth to age 4. Provide healthy sensory stimulation. This means that all the senses need to be included in a child’s exploration of the world. Very young children should live in an enriched environment—visual, auditory, language, and so on—because the executive circuits that are responsible for language, number, and emotional and social functioning come “online” in the first years of life (Galinsky, 2010).

· Birth to age 8. All learning is mind–body. A child’s physical state, posture, and breathing affect learning. Our brain is designed for cycles and rhythms. Practice makes permanent, and memory is kept more accurate when information is revisited.

· Age 4 to 8. The brain is eagerly searching for stimulation; it is most flexible, or plastic, early in life to accommodate a wide range of environments and interactions, but its capacity for change decreases with age (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2008). Programs from preschool through fifth grade must be richly stimulating, with activities that reward the brain’s appetite for meaning. Give children plenty of opportunities to use stories, explore ideas, and master tasks rather than use worksheets or other repetitive tasks that kill enthusiasm for learning.

· All ages. The brain is strongly run by patterns rather than facts. Children learn best with curriculum developed around themes, integrated learning, and whole experiences. The key to our intelligence is the recognition of patterns and relationships. Stress and threat affect the brain in many ways. Emotions run the brain, and bad emotions reduce the capacity for memory and understanding, as well as reducing higher-order thinking skills. Good emotions create excitement and love of learning. Develop curricula that provide for children’s well-being. When a person feels content, the brain releases endorphins that enhance memory skills, and undue stress short-circuits these skills. Exercise and positive social contacts, such as hugging, music, and the supportive comments of friends create opportunities for collaboration and cooperation.

Brain Research Says …

Building the Brain, from Masa to Tortillas

Step into a typical, high-quality early childhood program any morning and you are likely to see children moving around a classroom or yard. It may look like chaos as they cruise the activity centers, then select one—or someone—as a focus. From easels to unit blocks, from house corner to the pet table, children choose and change the “soft wiring” of their brains as they gather experiences.

Let’s zoom into one activity: making tortillas. A child sees the table, the bag of masa flour, and the pitcher of water. Another notices the teacher and the two friends. A third smells the corn as the water is poured into the masa. All three eagerly put their hands into the mixture, knead the dough, and then roll it into a ball. They wait their turn to put it onto the tortilla press, pushing the bar down hard and then delicately lifting their tortilla so that it can be helped onto the griddle. They repeat a chant (first in Spanish, then in English) while it cooks, then lovingly take their fresh tortilla to a place at the table to eat. ¡Sabroso!

“Forming language, identifying cultural and social norms, and learning to distinguish right and wrong requires intense neurological growth to take place, thus strengthening the connections between neurons”(Rushton et al., 2009). Each region of the brain has a highly sophisticated network of cells and dendrites that interconnect the various parts of the brain to each other; a curriculum that engages all the senses immerses children fully in the learning process. Brain-based research suggests that the brain works to associate new information with what is already known; hands-on activities stimulate the various regions and help with recall and problem solving.

“Two great responsibilities of the early childhood educator, then, are the development of the learning environment and modeling an engagement … that will lead to the release of certain neurotransmitters in the brain that support learning” (Rushton et al., 2009). All this can happen from masa to tortilla on a typical school day.

Questions

1. What aspects of a cognitive curriculum might be considered “brain-friendly”? Why?

2. What kinds of teaching would be incompatible to brain development?

In summary, research from cognitive developmental psychology and brain research supports curriculum development that is engaging and that encourages exploration. The biological evidence strongly suggests that there are sequences in children’s thinking, that there are multiple expressions of intelligence, and that the context of learning affects what children know.

12-2Cognitive Skills

The actual skills that children acquire as they learn to think are considerable. A basic skill is defined by two fundamental qualities:

· A skill is basic if it is transcurricular : that is, if the child can use it in a variety of situations and activities throughout the school day. For example, children who can express their curiosity and opinions clearly—who can let adults know when they are having difficulties or want to know more—have acquired a skill that is useful anywhere.

· A skill is also basic if it has dynamic consequences: that is, if it leads to other worthwhile responses. For instance, children who are articulate tend to elicit more verbal responses from adults. Consequently, they are exposed to more verbal stimulation, which in turn strengthens their verbal abilities, and so on. Thus, having this skill leads to major dynamic consequences in a favorable direction, whereas not having the skill leads to dynamic consequences in an unfavorable direction.

Most skills fall into the nine categories that follow. The list, though long, is comprehensive; what children learn in the thinking realm of their development falls into one of these categories. The teacher plans activities for all cognitive skills to ensure challenging children’s thinking.

12-2aSkills of Inquiry

Young children are curious, watching the world carefully. Through exploration and examination, they increase their attention span. Inquisitive children begin to organize what they see, analyzing and identifying confusions or obstacles for themselves. All the senses function at birth, and both sensation and perception are used to make sense of the world.

Cognition is one step beyond perception. It occurs when a person actually thinks about what he or she has perceived. Thus, there is a sequence, from sensation to perception to cognition. A baby’s sense organs must function if this chain of comprehension is to begin. No wonder the parts of the cortex dedicated to the senses develop rapidly: This is what allows all other developments to occur (Berger, 2014).

Thus, the skills of inquiry include the development of attention span and memory. Children need to take an active role in questioning and information gathering; they cannot just sit passively while the adults do all the work. The child asks questions, listens, gets ideas, and makes suggestions. They interpret what others communicate, seeking assistance from other people and materials.

Piaget called these skills of inquiry ; several of Gardner’s intelligences would also be included, as would Vygotsky’s notion of cultural ways of learning. Organizing and finding patterns, reasoning, and problem solving are also inquiry skills. As children examine alternatives, they choose a course of action, revising their plans as needed. The National Education Standards of Kindergarten–Grade 4 have been translated into early childhood and concentrate on an inquiry-based approach (see the “ Teaching with Intention ” box in this chapter and the section entitled “ Common Core State Standards ,” in Chapter 15 ).

Teaching with Intention

An Inquiry-Based Project

Incorporating science into the curriculum is intimidating to many early educators who feel they have an inadequate grasp of the physical, life, or earth sciences. Yet “science is a wonderful gateway for children to discover more about the world and their place in it. Extending our classrooms to include the outdoors opens up new possibilities and opportunities for children to learn” and can meet the national science content standards at the same time (Jacobs & Crowley, 2010, p. 111).

Using the steps of Project Approach (see Chapter 10 ), note how the topic of “rocks and sand” takes an intentional teaching plan and engages children in scientific thinking.

Think about This

1. Brainstorm five topics that you think would be interesting to a group of kindergartners. Why did you choose those? How would you determine if they were good topics?

2. Many family child care homes have children from ages 0 to 5. How would you plan an inquiry-based project for children in this age range?

3. If you could provide digital cameras for children to use as a tool of inquiry, what topics might you have them investigate? What would you have them do with the photos? What culminating experience would reflect on the journey?

Rocks and Sand: An Inquiry-Based Project in Cognitive Curriculum

An inquiry-based project uses the discovery method to engage the children in scientific thinking and is related directly to their own thinking (this project adapted from Ogu & Schmidt, 2009).

A Topic Emerges

We Investigate It

Reflecting on the Journey

Kindergarten cubbies and pockets have collections of rocks and pebbles in them.

· Make a rock vocabulary list (boulders, crystals, fossils).

· Take a rock walk.

· Display our findings with a table and poster.

· Make a rock gift store that has job opportunities.

· Set up a trading game and its rules.

· Take photos for documentation boards and newsletters.

· Have a rock show and invite families.

· Ask questions that invite constructive input and validate prior knowledge. (“What do you know about rocks?”)

· Ask open-ended questions. (What do you notice? What might happen if …?)

· Encourage children to wait a few seconds before giving an answer to allow time for thinking. (“Close your eyes and think before you say your idea.”)

· Repeat or paraphrase what the children say without praising or criticizing. (“Joe thinks sand comes from rocks, and Andrea says it is dirt from the ocean. What do you think?”)

An Inquiry-based Project

Young children thrill in making educated guesses, then checking their hypotheses by experimenting and taking risks. As a result of these experiences in scientific thinking, children learn to engage in simple investigations, making predictions, looking for patterns, and drawing conclusions. This can come from learning about the physical world—life and earth science, and physical sciences of properties and motion, of sight and sound (Chalufour & Worth, 2012). At the same time, it goes beyond science as well. We develop this skill by helping children build on what they already know to construct new knowledge. As Drew, Christie, Johnson, Meckley, and Nell (2008) describe it:

Constructive play involves building and making things no one has seen before. As young children fiddle with, sort, and arrange materials, ideas and imagination begin to flow. Questions arise naturally. They wonder: What will happen if I put this here? How tall will it go? Where did the bubble come from? In this way, constructive play serves to focus the minds of children through their fingertips and leads them to invent and discover new possibilities, to fulfill their sense of purpose.

These basic skills of inquiry are the foundation for thinking; as such, they are far more important to develop than are rote letter or numeral recognition.

12-2bKnowledge of the Physical World

How do children learn about the physical world? First, they use objects, spending plenty of time exploring, manipulating, choosing, and using toys and natural materials:

· Babies search for something to suck; they begin to grasp objects and let them go.

· Toddlers pick up and throw things or drop objects from a high chair to see what happens.

· Preschoolers roll out play dough to make snakes, and then coil it up flat to make a plate.

· Kindergartners and first graders with balloons and water explore how to fill, roll, throw, and burst the balloons.

This knowledge is part of Gardner’s logical mathematical intelligence, for knowledge of the physical world is essential to making order of it.

A stimulating cognitive environment is filled with interesting sights, sounds, and people that enrich a child’s schemes of thought and action. As they learn the properties of objects, children gain a better understanding of the concept of cause and effect. Experience with the physical world gives children a base for comparing and contrasting, key skills for mathematical classification and scientific thinking.

12-2cKnowledge of the Social World

Relationships are primary to development. Early experience significantly influences social and emotional brain function, and “toxic stress damages developing brain architecture, which can lead to lifelong problems in learning, behavior, and physical and mental health” (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2008). Learning about others is hard work because the social world is not concrete and is often illogical. The child needs an awareness of self before developing an awareness of others and how to interact socially. To Gardner, this kind of knowledge requires both intrapersonal (access to one’s own feelings and a range of emotions) and interpersonal (the ability to notice others, making distinctions among individuals, particularly their moods and motivations) intelligence. Attachment relationships are important in the unfolding of the emotional and social development of the child. “Mirror neuron networks throughout the brain confirm the importance of the teacher’s moment by moment actions as the child’s neurological synapses ‘mirror’ not only the teachers actions and reactions, [but also] affect the mood of the individual observing” (Rushton, Juola-Rushton, & Larkin, 2009).

Being able to explore actual materials and objects encourages children to assimilate and use new knowledge.

Infants begin by distinguishing friends from strangers. Toddlers learn to use “mine” and then to use others’ names as well. The next step is to expand their knowledge of roles to include those of family, school, and the community. Every day, 4- and 5-year-olds are provided with opportunities to cooperate, to help, and to negotiate with others about their needs and wishes. According to Vygotsky, preschoolers learn appropriate actions by playing with older children. Also, make-believe is a major means through which children extend their cognitive skills.

In the best of circumstances, children are encouraged to notice both similarities and differences in people and then are led to develop tolerance for both. School-aged children seek small-group teamwork and moments of private time with a close friend. In learning rules for social living, children learn appropriate conduct for various situations—indoors or out, happy or sad, at the grocery store or at the dinner table.

12-2dClassification

Knowledge of the physical world teaches children to have different responses to different objects. Classification is the ability to group like objects in sets by a specific characteristic. During their first year, infants use their senses to sort and classify their many experiences. As toddlers, they initially classify by sorting groups of completely different objects, using a logic that only the child understands. During the preschool years, they begin to sort objects using consistent criteria. Once they develop language proficiency, they can name and classify objects. Gradually, and with help from adults who stimulate describing and manipulating, they learn that objects have more than one attribute and can be classified in more than one class.

To clarify this process, consider how 2-year-old Tisa learns to classify:

What can Tisa do to her stuffed bear and the family dog? What can she do with one and not the other? Which are her toys? Which are Rover’s? Which ones have fur? What is different about them?

Tisa learns the attributes of the objects by exploring, learning the class names of toy and pet. Tisa makes collections, sorting by similarity those that are Rover’s toys and those that are her own. She uses class relationships to understand that both animals have fur, but she can tug on only one animal’s ears without encountering a problem.

12-2eSeriation

Seriation is the ability to put an object or group of objects in a logical series based on a property of those objects. Many of the sensorial and practical life materials designed by Maria Montessori were developed to make clear to children exactly what seriation is and how it can be learned. These toys distinguish grades of intensity by size, color, weight, and number. Children build pyramid towers, fit nesting blocks together, and use the counting rods. By noting differences, often through trial and error, children learn seriation systematically. For instance, the pyramid tower is arranged from largest piece to smallest as it is built. Boxes are nested, one inside the other, by their graduated size or volume. The counting rods can be put into a staircase array, the units building on each other from 1 to 10. Children can arrange several things in order and fit one ordered set of objects to another. Gardner’s category of musical intelligence requires seriation, as well as the skill of inquiry (“How do I make noise? Rhythm? Musical song?”) and a knowledge of the social world (“How can we make music together? A real band?”).

12-2fNumbers

Understanding the concept of numbers means learning about quantity: understanding amount, degree, and position. Mathematical knowledge is an emergent understanding of concepts. Once infants develop an understanding of object permanence (that an object exists whether or not it can be seen), they are ready to learn about quantity. Toddlers compare objects, for example, by stacking rings on a stick, sorting by groups (large versus small, hard versus soft), and noticing what is “more.”

Cognition in action! The concepts of the world come to life through Montessori materials.

It appears that we have an innate sense of numbers and quantity; indeed, as early as 3 months, specific areas of the brain may be linked with processing numerical information (Libertus & Brannon, 2009). “To achieve a high-quality mathematics education for 3- to 6-year-old children, teachers and other key professionals should enhance children’s natural interest in mathematics … and integrate mathematics with other activities.”(NAEYC/NCTM, 2010). Preschool children can learn songs, chants, and finger plays that include numbers (“One Potato, Two Potato” or “Five Speckled Frogs”). Once children comprehend numbers, they are ready to use mathematical terms and forms of expression. For instance, after singing about the frog that jumped into the pool in the song “Five Speckled Frogs,” Chantel can begin to understand that four is “one less than” five. Embedding math concepts into daily classroom activities gives children a foundation for more complex math and logic skills that are needed throughout their schooling.

A knowledge of numbers is neither complete nor meaningful unless children have direct experience with materials and objects. Number sense includes understanding number and quantity as well as number relationships and operations. Counting is a fundamental skill in children’s early understanding of numbers and is important in learning the counting procedure—that objects are counted in a specific sequence and each object is counted only once (CDD, 2010). Learning about quantity means:

· Comparing amounts (as when children work with table toys, blocks, sensory materials, and the like)

· Arranging two sets of objects in one-to-one correspondence (“Each person needs one and only one napkin for snack, Tyler”)

· Counting objects and beginning computation (“Parvin, you have three shovels. Here is one more; now how many do you have?”)

As with language and prereading skills, children who grow up in poverty tend to enter school already lagging behind their middle class peers in key math knowledge. “Research has shown that if children don’t have good instruction and effective teachers in early grades, they are more likely to struggle later when they face more complicated concepts” (Banchero, 2011). Teachers use instruction, games, and hands-on activities that focus on five major areas of mathematics: number sense, algebra and functions, measurement, geometry, and mathematical reasoning (CDD, 2010). The importance of math learning in the primary grades and children’s potential to learn math have implications for teaching primary grade math. The early years are especially important for math development, as knowledge in math is predictive of both math achievement and later reading success as well (Sarama & Clements, 2009).

12-2gSymbols

A symbol stands for something else; it is not what it appears to be. Young children have to think hard and long if they want to symbolize. It is a task of some skill to imitate or use one object to represent something else. They begin by using their bodies. Infants and toddlers love to play peek-a-boo, reacting to “Boo!” with full-bodied excitement. Pretend play is the hallmark of using symbols. Preschoolers revel in playing favorite characters. Primary school children make up plays and puppet shows.

Make-believe helps in the process of symbolizing, as does making sounds to represent objects (“Choo-choo” is a train, for example). The beginning of pretend play is a hallmark of a new stage of thinking for toddlers. Using and making two- and three-dimensional models are other ways that children symbolize, when they transfer what they see to the easel or to the clay table. Children are also symbolizing when they dress up in costumes and uniforms. The Reggio Emilia approach (see Chapters 9 and 10 ) encourages children to use a variety of media to express their thinking and deepen their understanding.

Teachers add to the symbolizing process when they use descriptive words. Description games encourage children to do the same. For example, “It is round and red and you eat it. What is it?” (An apple!) After all these skills have been mastered, children are ready for written symbols when they can use the written word to label, take dictation, or write notes. Using Gardner’s and Vygotsky’s theories, educational environments for school-age children might take the form of a discovery center, a kind of museum in which apprentice groups with children of different ages help children acquire numerical and computer skills (see the section entitled “ Special Topic: Technology and Media ”).

12-2hSpatial Relationships

Spatial relationships develop early:

· Infants visually track what they see, trying to reach and grasp. As they experience one object’s position in relation to another, they begin to have a mental picture of spatial relationships.

· Toddlers find this out as they learn to steer themselves around tables and seat themselves on the potty. The concept of “close” (the chair) and “far away” (the teacher waiting for me) give clues to length and distance.

· Preschoolers learn to fit things together and take them apart. One of the best ways to learn spatial relationships is with a basic set of unit blocks (Reifel, Miller, & Chormann, 2010).

· School-age children observe and describe things from different spatial viewpoints. They play hide-and-seek, noticing that what one sees from the side of the hill is not what can be seen from the top.

Adults help children learn such skills by letting them locate things at home, in the classroom, in the department store. Cognitive theories of Piaget and Gardner suggest that body and kinesthetic knowledge are used in this type of activity. In Reggio Emilia, for instance, mirrors are placed around corners, found at the school entrance, and embedded in the floors, giving children a sense of self in space in a number of ways. Teachers encourage children to represent such spatial relationships in their drawings, with pictures, and in photographs.

12-2iTime

Understanding time is complicated because it is composed of at least three dimensions: time as the present, time as a continuum, and time as a sequence of events. Children must learn each of these to fully understand the concept of time. In some settings, children learn to stop and start an activity on a signal (when the teacher strikes a chord on the piano for clean-up time). They try to move their bodies at different speeds, indoors and out. Older children begin to observe that clocks and calendars are used to mark the passage of time. Specifically, children come to know the sequencing of events in time: which comes first, next, last. Having an order of events through a consistent daily schedule helps children learn this aspect of time. They also benefit from anticipating future events and making the appropriate preparations. Planning a course of action and completing that plan give meaning to the idea of time.

When considering intellectual development, teachers should keep in mind that, to children, education is exploration. Learning about spatial relationships through sand play includes motor experiences that are precursors to using writing tools.

What children learn intellectually in the early years is massive in quantity and quality. Yet young children are ready—eager, in fact—to engage themselves with the world around them to acquire these cognitive skills (see Figure 12-4 ). “Back to basics” is a phrase commonly heard in conjunction with academic and cognitive curricula. Its intention is to focus attention on what is fundamental to be learned and often refers to intellectual skills. Fondly known as the 3Rs—“reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic”—these skills are often taught by whole-group telling and by drill-and-skill repetition.

Figure 12-4

Every cognitive skill has a place in planning curricula.

Cognitive Skills into the Curriculum

Cognitive Skill	Sample Activity	Age
Inquiry: Senses, perception, attention, memory	Playing with water: What can you find out?	Toddler, preschool
Knowledge of the physical world	Take an outdoor sound walk	Toddler, preschool
Knowledge of the social world	Make a Wheel of Feelings; read the book Feelings (Aliki)	Preschool, school-age
Classification	Collections: Put together, identify, describe, and classify a nature collection	Preschool, school-age
Seriation	Yeast grows: See which expands most, with flour, sugar, salt, juice	School-age
Numbers	Play the “Fives” game with playing cards numbered 1–4	School-age
Symbols	Making shapes: Bodies and shape cards	Preschool, school-age
Spatial relationships	Geoboards	Preschool, school-age
Time	Play “Stop & Go” with music	Preschool, school-age

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From what we know of development and the brain, a better way to think about a cognitive curriculum is to give it the classic “child-centeredness test” (Bos, 1983):

· Does this activity help the child’s sense of identity?

· Is the activity open-ended—that is, can the child change the material?

· Does this activity allow the child to create?

· Does this activity provide a framework for the child to cooperate with others while retaining a sense of self?

· Is the activity fun? Does it inspire laughter and a love of learning?

By remaining aware of how much is to be learned, educators keep a realistic—and humble—appreciation for the “work” of children.

12-3Effective Approaches for Curricula

Planning a cognitive curriculum requires educators to keep several key points in mind, such as knowing how children learn and how the various contexts “play out” in individual children and the group. Taking into account the setting, schedule, and skill levels of children allow a better match between the themes or activities presented and what teachers want children to learn.

12-3aConsiderations

When considering children’s intellectual development, teachers should keep the following in mind:

· Education is exploration. The process of education is more than its products. All children have the capacity and propensity to observe, explore, and discover the world around them (NRC, 2012). The teacher is a source of information and support rather than someone who gives answers or commands. Project Approach (described in Chapter 10 ), assist children exploring a theme or topic (such as shadows, houses, building a table) over a period of weeks. This approach reflects Dewey’s progressive education and the British Open Schools (described in Chapter 1 ) and is implemented regularly in the Reggio Emilia schools. The goal is to have children ask their own questions and create their own challenges.

· Children’s thinking is different from adult cognition and should be valued. Children think and perceive in their own ways, as Piaget believed (see Chapter 4 ). They think in sensory and concrete terms and come to conclusions based on what they see and touch. Their thought processes and perceptions are as valid as those of adults. Teachers support those processes by asking questions to stimulate further thought and by providing materials for exploration.

· The language of the teacher should support cognitive development. Throughout their interactions with children, teachers help children use words, terms, and concepts correctly, and their questions are open-ended to help children think and leave them something to ponder:

Mariko (at water table):

I need that suckup.

Teacher:

The baster really does suck up water, doesn’t it?

Singh:

The turtle doesn’t like me!

Teacher:

I wonder why her head went back in its shell when you put your finger close?

Wilza:

I wanna make a spaceship, but he won’t let me.

Teacher:

If you want to play with José, how can you let him know? And what do you need from the woodworking shelf to make a spaceship?

· An integrated curriculum approach is best. Teaching subject matter as connected, rather than as separate topics (see Chapter 11 ) allows children to learn in a natural way, so that what is being taught makes sense. The alphabet, for instance, can be taught through song, with children learning the letters of their own names, and of making a Stop/Go sign for the trike track outside. Teachers and children practice blending things together and find it easy to think of things to add to an activity.

· The teacher must match the child’s cognitive capacity with the instruction. Child-centered, self-initiated learning (see Chapter 10 ) is a great motivator, so observing children’s intensity with materials and asking questions to extend their thinking is recommended. Use conversation, document children’s thinking, use drawing, and incorporate problem solving. Moreover, each type of learning disability (see Chapter 3 ) has its own description and treatment. Teachers must develop a wide range of techniques to address such disabilities. After the identification and assessment phases, teachers and families need to work with specialists and devise options such as an individualized family service plan (IFSP) or individualized education program (IEP) that include the child and establish reasonable learning goals.

Diversity

Activity Simplification for Inclusion

Inclusive child care takes place in many different ways. The setting, the presence or frequency of specialists into the program, and the needs of children all play a part in the inclusion process. Although each child is an individual, and thus the modifications and adaptations are designed with that single child in mind, there are several proven strategies to address diverse learning .One such strategy is activity simplification.

“Simplify a complicated task by breaking it into smaller parts or reducing the number of steps” (Ong, 2009). This can include:

· Giving a child one piece at a time, rather than all the pieces at once. (With a puzzle, allow the child to dump out the pieces, then set up the frame and hand single pieces systematically.)

· Preparing a material for easier use. (Wrap duct tape around an easel brush to make the handle larger and easier to grasp.)

· Exchange a difficult material with a simpler one that serves the same function. (Have “helper scissors” at the ready and cardboard books alongside paperback ones.)

The learning environment itself needs to have clearly defined areas, with ample room in each one, and labeled with names that the children will use. It is likely that you will be creating icons, or visual images with names, to show and redirect or guide children to various areas. Use names that the children call the areas; rather than “manipulatives” or “fine motor,” use “toy area” if that’s what the children say (Dowling & Mitchell, 2007).

A child’s individual background and presenting conditions must be paired with services for both child and family. At the same time, a program’s cognitive curriculum must address the diversity of all learners in the group.

Figure 12-5 shows further how teachers’ use of language helps children think and develop cognitive skills as part of their early childhood experience.

Figure 12-5

Teachers’ use of language affects how children develop cognitive skills. The more children are allowed and encouraged to think for themselves, the more their cognitive skills develop.

Teacher’s Role in Developing Cognitive Skills

Skill

Teachers Can

Inquiry

· Ask questions so children can make statements about their conversations.

Example: “What do you notice about the guinea pig?”

· Try to be more specific if such questions seem overwhelming or if they elicit little response.

Example: “What sounds do you hear? What can you find out by touching her?”

· Ask how children arrived at their answers.

Example: “How did you know that the marble wouldn’t roll up the ramp by itself?”

Social knowledge

12-3bCurriculum Planning for Cognitive Development in the Early Childhood Setting

Teachers plan cognitive curricula for their children much as they do for each of the developmental domains. Consider the setting, both indoors and out, and the daily schedule. Each activity center and time slot can be used to encourage intellectual development with a variety of curriculum materials and methods (see High/Scope in Chapter 10 ). Another way to plan curricula is to focus on a specific cognitive skill and prepare activities or to use a theme throughout the environment or schedule. Keep in mind:

· Children ages birth to 2 have a limited attention span and can be overstimulated unless the environment is kept simple.

· 3- to 5-year-olds can absorb more information and finer detail, as they have more developed motor and perceptual skills.

· Older preschoolers and kindergartners learn best trying to solve real problems that are right in front of them, such as making a river in the sandbox or building and connecting castles in the block area.

· Compared with preschoolers and kindergarteners, school-age children are more logical and flexible in their thinking, have more knowledge of the world, have improved memory, and can better sustain their attention.

Figure 12-6 shows how one activity (which can be done with nearly all ages) contributes to the development of children’s thought processes.

Figure 12-6

Each activity, such as cooking, can enhance cognitive development throughout the curriculum. Preparing healthy snack food is an experience in classification and calculation.

Cooking as a Cognitive Activity

Photo: © Cengage Learning

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Teachers can create high-activity, low-stress, brain-compatible learning environments (see Chapter 9 ). An optimal environment has several learning centers for the children to choose among so that the brain is stimulated to be attentive, to absorb new information, and to store this information in long-term memory. Teachers should aim to create a balance between meaningful experiences and optimal stimulation of the brain in their classrooms. These environments offer children experiences with real-life, hands-on activities that are tied together with theme-based activities oriented toward solving problems, such as children earning and counting out play money when shopping at the store in the dramatic play area (Rushton et al., 2009).

Indoor Areas Indoor areas provide the basic ingredients of a stimulating cognitive environment, with simplifications for younger children and elaborations for older ones:

· Art. Include a “help yourself” shelf for child-chosen projects. A variety of paper, drawing implements, and tools encourage children to re-create their own reality, using representational art forms that show how children see the physical and social worlds.

· Blocks. Have paper models of each block shape on storage shelves to help children with classification by shape and size. Be sure that you prioritize having enough unit blocks (a 600-piece set for a preschool class of 16) and provide enough space (40–80 square feet per group) with a firm carpet that supports balancing towers and controls noise. Accessories, such as animals and homemade trees and lakes, help children symbolize. As they experiment with blocks, they learn about physical laws and reality and have experiences in cooperative learning and living, all of which are cognitive tasks. Counting blocks, which builds on one-to-one correspondence rather than rote memorization, contributes to genuine understanding. Building structures with young children inspires them as young mathematicians and scientists (Reifel et al., 2010).

· Dramatic play. Stock this area with materials for role-playing, puppet making, and acting out adult activities. Have anatomically correct boy and girl dolls of a variety of races, and some with disabilities. Include clothing for all types of work, equipment for carrying things, and babies that reflect the homes of all the children in the group, and also extend the play to include new ways of dressing, eating, and playing. When several prekindergarten children got haircuts, the class developed a “Hairy Heads” theme, transforming this area into a hair salon with brushes, barrettes, and wigs. The dolls got plenty of shampoos that month!

· Language/library. Choose books that focus on both the physical and social worlds. Children’s interests in numbers, symbols, and time can also be extended by selecting literature that reflects their level of understanding. Look for the message in children’s books and choose good stories that reflect diversity, such as Helping Out (by George Ancona) and George the Babysitter (by Shirley Hughes). Be sure to listen to the group’s interests, and make a point of putting books in the library that respond to those interests.

· Manipulatives (table toys). The manipulatives area is an ideal place for materials that encourage cognitive development; highlight this area with both favorites (LEGOs® or Crystal Climbers®) and new items (Construx® or sewing cards). Puzzles and nesting blocks focus on spatial relationships. Information processing theory emphasizes the importance of experiences that develop children’s working memory and familiarity. Manipulative materials and games give children hands-on experiences with counting, sorting, and organizing that are both meaningful and socially natural. Homemade lotto games or puzzles with the children’s photos encourage self-esteem and group identity, as well as cognitive and motor development.

· Math. As previously mentioned, numeracy begins in infancy, and recent research indicates that math knowledge is the single most powerful predictor of school success in terms of high school graduation (Duncan, 2014). Counting collections aid in classification and seriation, and new curricula such as Building Blocks (Clement & Sarawa, 2014) use hands-on materials such as play dough and pattern blocks, as well as computer and board games. A math center has plenty of materials for counting and sorting, for matching and contrasting, and for teachers to play games (Number Match or Go Fish with playing cards, for instance).

· Science/engineering/technology. Rotate a display of “touch me” materials. This gives children firsthand experience with plants, seeds, animals, magnets, sea-shells, foods, and so on. Create a “Fix It” or “Take Apart Shop,” with nonworking appliances and radios, plenty of screwdrivers, pliers, and containers for small parts. School-age children can find out which plants grow in saltwater or freshwater by setting up plants in each environment and watching daily (“Today, something has changed!” wrote a 7-year-old. “The duckweed is not really green anymore. A second root is hanging”). If you can, have a computer or other technology such as touchpads (see special topic ) available with developmentally appropriate software (see the DAP box).

DAP

Full Steam Ahead!

A developmentally appropriate program offers a wide array of learning opportunities for children, offered in an integrated fashion. The Common Core Standards (covered in Chapters 1 , 6 , and 15 ) are bringing these early childhood practices into elementary classrooms. Multiple measures should be used to assess what children know and are able to do; children need an abundance of materials to demonstrate their thinking.

Although literacy is still critical in early elementary grades, there has been a new emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and technology (STEM). Indeed, although early numeracy is seen as a strong predictor of school success (Duncan, 2014), there is a lack of math learning in prekindergarten, and children’s early math skills are often not on a par with their reading and writing in elementary school. Further, technology is seen as both a competency in itself and a vehicle to support all other areas. STEM, considered a one-dimensional set of topics, is giving way to a more integrated approach. Thus, we add the arts, to form STEAM. How might this look in a primary classroom?

Roderick, a first-grade teacher, brings in a set of ramps and marbles. He also solicits other adult assistance, selecting the 40 minutes before pick-up to get parent volunteers. Here’s how his plans fit into the various categories:

· S = Children are given multiple opportunities to engage in exploration, but they are also asked first what they want to know about the materials. By prompting inquiry, Roderick prompts a scientific approach to the materials.

· T = Roderick uses an overhead projector to show the materials first. One parent is asked to use the document reader and record children’s comments and questions so the group can see them as well. Parents are given either a video camera or a digital camera to record what happens as the children are given materials to start at their desks.

· E = Children are offered a single ramp and ball so that the teacher can see how each child uses them. They learn the properties and characteristics and then envision how each part might be combined with others. They are then given another ramp and ball, several small blocks, sandbags, and pieces of carpet.

· A = Children are asked to share their findings by creating a series of cartoonlike drawings that depict their various explorations. These are then shown on the projector as children explain their actions.

· M = To finish the session, children are put into groups of four. They are challenged to put the materials in as many combinations as they can think of that can help counting. Parents use cameras to capture the sorting and classifiying. Roderick claps to get the class’s attention, challenging each group to “show us a counting way.”

DAP has been turned into STEAM. Of course, no one even hears the end-of-school bell!

Outdoor Areas Outdoor areas provide opportunities for children to plan and organize their own thoughts. Offer your yard as a place for discovery, with both structured and wilder places. Remember that cognitive toys include sticks and dirt.

Toddlers can classify what they find as they look for balls, sand buckets, and toy trucks hidden around the yard. Preschoolers in the sand pit predict how water affects the sand, using their growing knowledge of the physical world. Children learn to classify water table and wheeled toys, and they learn seriation when they select sand buckets by size. Counting shovels to see that there are enough to go around, building with large, hollow blocks, and watching seasonal changes are all cognitive skills children gain as they play outside.

Physical and logical mathematical activities are easily incorporated into the curriculum outdoors. Piaget’s methode clinique (see Chapter 4 ) inspires experimenting and reasoning: “I wonder why?” or “What would happen if … ?” are common teacher inquiries. The water table outdoors could have a large block of ice; a variety of materials such as wood, cotton balls, straws, and cardboard; or containers of colored water and eyedroppers. Balancing activities might mean hollow blocks, milk cartons, or beanbags (or all three). A hillside or long plank can become a site for predicting and trying out rolling, using different sizes of balls or even bodies.

Daily Schedule

Teachers plan environments, activities, and grouping of children to give the class experience in cognitive challenges. Teachers use signs, their words, and helpful tips that illuminate for children what is happening, what is expected of them, and how they can express themselves in all segments of the day.

Groups, transitions, and routines are more structured times, and all play a part in developing children’s knowledge of the social world. As children learn to conduct themselves in school, they learn:

· To enter a room and start to play (transition)

· To take care of their own belongings and those of their school (routines)

· To concentrate on an activity with others around (group times)

· To interact with others, while at the same time paying attention to a leader or task (group times)

· To end an activity, an interaction, a school day (transition)

Moreover, many routine activities offer wonderful opportunities for cognitive learning. For example, consider the snack table. Incorporating math concepts into snack time engenders enthusiasm and skill development. Whether as a part of free choice time or a time period on its own, snack time becomes “think time” as children:

· Fill out and use menu cards (“What are we eating today?”)

· Learn the concept of sets (“ Everyone needs five of everything”)

· Work with the concept of uniform units (“Are the ham and cheese pieces the same?”)

· Understand the concepts of equal, less, and more (“How will it be fair for everyone?”)

· Learn how to count “wet stuff” and to count by the spoonful or handful

· See geometry and fractions at work (circles for raisins, triangles for sandwiches, break the graham cracker in the right number of pieces)

Intentional use of the daily routine helps teachers focus children’s attention on what matters (see Figure 12-3 ).

Focus on Skills

How can teachers help children develop specific cognitive skills? After observing the children carefully, teachers identify a particular skill and then list the processes, concepts, and vocabulary involved. For instance, the skill of inquiry can be encouraged in every part of the curriculum by asking questions (see Figure 12-7 ). Teachers model curiosity by observing and asking questions about what they see and what children may be thinking. This stimulates children to look, wonder, and interact:

· Teacher: I wonder which piece of wood you will choose to glue on your board next.

· Teacher: What part do you want to play in our grocery store?

· Teacher: How can we find out how long your road of blocks is?

Figure 12-7

Teachers encourage children’s thinking when they ask questions. To teach is to ask more often than to tell, and these phrases (preferably in capital letters) can be posted in strategic places around the classroom.

Questions to Help Children Think

Questions to Help Children Think

Enlarge Image

Photo: © Cengage Learning

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The processes of mathematical literacy involve using representation, performing manipulations, making sense in math reasoning, and problem solving.

· Help children as they use markers to “stand for” people or animals, or dolls instead of real babies—this representational thinking is a hallmark of the preschool period, and fantasy play can help in mathematical thinking if the teacher makes children aware of this connection.

· Use manipulatives to help children add and subtract; that makes such operations understandable.

· Guessing games can be a fun way to elicit reasoning; ask “How did you know that?” once the child has made a guess. Remember that children have limited knowledge and need to be encouraged to keep guessing while you stimulate them to offer, justify, and question their ideas.

· Develop math games based on children’s literature to invite new math experiences, such as using Jan Ormerod’s Joe Can Count or Bruce McMillan’s Eating Fractions with a small group and have circletime follow through.

· Problem solving ( Figure 12-8 ) is mentioned often in early childhood education circles, in social and artistic contexts as well as for cognitive development. For this to be successful, two issues must be addressed: posing problems and making investigations.

· Problem posing is difficult for many children, and children need guidance so that the problem is clear before the group or individual starts looking for a solution.

· Investigations are authentic problem-solving situations in which children work as mathematicians or engineers.

Figure 12-8

Problem solving is a cognitive skill that involves problem posing and making investigations.

Problem Solving: An Intellectual Pursuit

The Concepts:

· Selecting a course of action

· Making educated guesses

· Making and revising a plan

· Risking and evaluating the results

The Vocabulary:

· Guess

· Plan

· Problem

· Solution/solve

· What? why? how?

Problem Solving: An Intellectual Pursuit

The Process:

Activity area	Process question
Art	How many ways can you use the brush (pen, or squirt bottle) to make a mark on the paper? Why is it dripping? How can you stop it when you’re ready?
Bathrooms/cubbies	You found Paul’s sweater… . How can you find where it goes? Where did the water come from? How can you clean it up?
Blocks	What makes the tower of blocks fall over? How can a block be used to connect two others?
Cooking	How do we mix these ingredients together? What will happen when a cake is put in the oven?
Dramatic play	Who will be the dad? What happens when these other children want to play? How can you get to wear the costume you want?
Language/library	What happens next in the story? Why do you think so? Why did the child feel unhappy at first? Then what happened?
Large group	Why can’t you see or hear the leader? What can you do about feeling too crowded? What can you do when your friend keeps whispering to you during story time?
Outdoors	How do you jump rope? What do you use to pump yourself on a swing? How will you find a ball?
Manipulatives/Math	How do you figure out what puzzle piece fits? Do you see a pattern on the peg board? What is it?
Science/Sensory/Technology	Why did the magnet pick up the nail and not the pencil? How will you get the wet sand through the funnel? How can we use the computer to find out the differences between the rabbit and the guinea pig?

Enlarge Table

For example, children in Shanghai often do after-school activities such as LEGO class twice a week. One group of 7- to 8-year-olds were asked how to make a bridge. The teacher worked with their answers and eventually drew a trestle on the board. Then each child was paired with a partner and given a box of LEGOs and flat sticks to start their part of the project. The teacher observed, participated to scaffold their individual work, and then helped them put their parts together to make a bridge at the end of the session (personal observation, 2011).

Outdoors, inquisitive children explore their environment. Children ask questions: “Can we turn on the water? What if we bury all the toy bears in the gravel? Could we use the ladder to see over the fence? Let’s all hide from the teacher!” The way teachers handle inquiries from children about what they want to do sends a message that supports—or discourages—this cognitive skill. When there is no harm in asking (though the answer may be “No”), children are encouraged to develop further the skill of inquiry (see Figure 12-8 ).

Use of Themes

A specific theme can be chosen for cognitive development. Themes that emerge from the children’s interests engage their thinking more than those imposed by the teachers. Units based on things in the physical world (seasonal changes, pets, the garden), on unexpected or current events (a new load of sand, a community fair, roadwork nearby), or on the special interests of the children (sharing African masks, swimsuits, or dinosaurs) are all appealing. Current events must be chosen carefully because young children may have only passing knowledge or interest in most of them. Meaningful events might be a space shuttle mission or a solar eclipse. More likely, the event is a local one, such as the discovery of ants on the playground, a classmate’s new baby brother or sister, or kids with rocks in their pockets (see the “ Teaching with Intention ” box).

The critical point is to have a meaningful theme for children; rehashing the same old themes year after year may be easy for adults but can crowd out other interests of each unique group. Project Approach (described in chapter 10 ) describes the use of themes in a curriculum, making it accessible so that the children can interact and “own” it. Infants and toddlers have less need for a theme; curriculum ideas for them concentrate on cognitive stimulation at their particular level of development.

12-4Special Topic: Technology and Media

“Advances in technology and interactive media rapidly are transforming how we communicate and use information in our homes, offices, and early childhood settings” (NAEYC/FRC, 2012). The majority of children in the early years seem to be using some interactive media or other type of technology; one study estimates that one-quarter of American 3-year-old children, almost half of 5-year old children, and two-thirds of 8-year-old children go online daily (Gutnick, Robb, Takeuchi, & Kotler, 2011). A wide variety of organizations are attempting to address the issue of young children and screen time , which affects both children and the environments of school and home (see Chapter 15 ). Digital decisions must be made by educators (Simon & Nemeth, 2012); choosing whether to include technology and media in the program and, if so, deciding on the right technology tools are an important part of creating a cognitive curriculum.

12-4aComputers in the Classroom

A computer can be as nonthreatening as a watercolor paintbrush. In the hands of a child, it can be a tool for experiencing the world. Early childhood classrooms are arranged so that children learn about the world directly by piling blocks, molding sand and clay, and bouncing a ball. Through these experiences, children gradually form concepts about how the world works and how they can affect it. As children touch the keys of a computer, they are challenged to explore and discover in ways never before possible.

There are two reasons why every classroom or child care center should have a computer—children love computers, and they can provide a positive learning experience for every child, even the most difficult or contrary. “Computers will have the most positive impact when they provide concrete experiences; children have free access; children and teachers learn together; peer tutoring is encouraged; and children control the learning experience” (NAEYC/FRC, 2012).

Discovery-oriented experiences with computers enhance children’s learning, especially by stimulating their cognitive thought processes. Unlike a teacher or playmate, computers and screen games can wait patiently for a child in a nonjudgmental way, do not tease or exclude, and often can adjust to children’s diverse abilities and styles. Children design and control places and things of their own choosing, such as a house, the seashore, or a face. Then they create events that challenge them to think through the consequences of their actions. Moreover, computer programs can be process highlighters for children; the program can speed up or detail hidden processes and cause-and-effect relationships that are more difficult to observe, such as a plant growing, a face changing expression on command, or a dance put together with a special sequence of steps.

Technology use is especially meaningful in primary classrooms. School-age programs can create a website, make newsletters, and build interesting curriculum webs.

To integrate computers and take advantage of what they can offer children, educators should select developmental software, select appropriate websites, integrate using the computer as a resource into the program, and select the actual computers and support items.

At the same time, many professionals are skeptical of computers and other screen media. They worry that children become passive for long periods of time, unwilling and unable to disengage and become involved in physical and social play. Young children learn best through firsthand experiences with objects and people; “regardless of content, what children see or interact with on the screen is a symbolic representation of first-hand real world experience, so it can never provide as full an experience as interactions with the real world” (Carlsson-Paige, 2012).

In addition, many worry that play is being undermined by media saturation. “Media, especially when it is tied to toys and products, is making children’s play less original and creative. In the last 25 years, children’s play has become more imitative. Teachers describe how kids’ play copies media themes and characters and seems like a script of something they’ve seen on a screen” (Carlsson-Paige, 2012).

One way to think intentionally and cautiously might be to consider the stages of thinking through the early learning period (see Chapter 4 and Figures 12-4 and 12-5 ):

· 0–2 years. Both the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP, 2011) and the Academy of Pediatrics (AAP, 2011), and the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity (2010) recommend that children younger than age 3 be as screen-free as possible. Exploring digital materials should be done in the context of human interactions, rather than passive screen time.

· 3–5 years. Children in the preschool period are all-or-none thinkers, and imitation may become rote. Organizations such as Common Sense Media ( www.CommonSenseMedia.org) advise parents to take charge of ensuring children get a balance of activities for healthy development. “Free exploration of touch screens loaded with a variety of developmentally appropriate interactive media experiences … enhance feelings of success.” (NAEYC/FRC, 2012)

· 5–8 years. As they mature, children move into more logical, symbolic, and concrete operational thinking, so that they are ready to use media to think in more abstract ways. At the same time, they are often allowed to play videogames on devices for long periods of time and can become overly focused on both the game-playing and the outcomes. Assistive technology devices should be used to expand access for children with special needs, and these older children can become proficient in using digital tools such as cameras, video recorders, and editing software (NAEYC/FRC, 2012).

12-4aComputers in the Classroom

Technology use is especially meaningful in primary classrooms. School-age programs can create a website, make newsletters, and build interesting curriculum webs.

One way to think intentionally and cautiously might be to consider the stages of thinking through the early learning period (see Chapter 4 and Figures 12-4 and 12-5 ):

· 3–5 years. Children in the preschool period are all-or-none thinkers, and imitation may become rote. Organizations such as Common Sense Media ( www.CommonSenseMedia.org ) advise parents to take charge of ensuring children get a balance of activities for healthy development. “Free exploration of touch screens loaded with a variety of developmentally appropriate interactive media experiences … enhance feelings of success.” (NAEYC/FRC, 2012)

12-4bDevelopmentally Appropriate Software

Along with blocks and paints, the computer can become an expressive medium that encourages skills in a variety of ways. Once children have had many experiences with concrete items such as paint, crayons, and markers, they are then ready to try their creative hand at computer graphics.

To use computers appropriately in the classroom, teachers must first be comfortable with the computer themselves. Follow these guidelines:

· Put the computer area in a quiet spot of the classroom (such as in or near the library/listening area or in the Science/Technology center) and against a wall to minimize damage to the equipment or cords.

· To introduce the computer, show small groups of children the basic care and handling of the computer or other digital tools.

· The computer can be one of many choices offered during free play, or it can be a more limited choice with a waiting list.

· Interaction between children can be encouraged by including space for two or more at the computer; assigning turns to a pair or small group of children, particularly if the computer seems to be dominated by a few; and watching to ensure that no one becomes “stuck” at the computer or any other area.

Once the computer is a regular part of the environment, teachers can use it to develop curricula. Arleen Prairie (2010, p. 416), who has written extensively about the use of technology in the classroom, offers these key points:

With technology, a group of children can generate ideas and develop plans: While developing the new topic about the study of earthworms, the group listed what they knew about earthworms as the teacher entered them on the computer. To add to the list, one child announced, “They have eyes.” Several children agreed. Others did not. The group posed several questions they could explore to determine whether worms have eyes. This started a lengthy investigation over several days, looking at them through the magnifying glass, looking at diagrams, taking close-up photos and enlarging them using PhotoShop, and asking the worms if they see their reflection in the mirror they held up to it.

It is in the area of software that teachers of young children have many choices. These choices must be carefully made. Not every program intended for children is developmentally appropriate, and teachers must pay thoughtful attention to the program and to what they know about their own group of children. Computer software should:

· Be age appropriate

· Allow children to control it (with them setting the pace and being active participants)

· Include clear instructions

· Have expanding complexity

· Support independent exploration

· Be “process oriented” (meaning that the software program is so engaging that the specifics of using it become secondary)

· Include real-world representation

· Have high-quality technical features (colorful, uncluttered, and realistic)

· Provide trial-and-error opportunities

· Have visible transformations (for example, the ability to affect the software by transposing objects)

Selecting software can become easier by using a website that offers recommendations.

12-4cThe Internet

Many centers use a computer simply with software; others, particularly those with primary-age children, may be interested in using the Internet. Use of the Internet has been less researched than software, and its potential is untapped. There are a variety of learning opportunities using the Internet; however, the sheer volume of Internet sites is overwhelming, and they have not been prescreened.

There are four types of children’s websites:

· Information. Information sites are great reference resources; for instance, the National Zoo from the Smithsonian ( http://nationalzoo.si.edu) would be a wonderful introduction or follow-up to a field trip.

· Communication. These sites connect children to experts to answer questions on projects, such as “Ask an Astronaut” ( http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu) for an outer space theme.

· Interaction. These sites work like software programs, only more slowly. A program called Name-Jumping asks children to jump around a floor-sized keyboard.

· Publication. There are a number of sites that can post children’s work, such as Kid Pub® ( http://www.kidpub.com).

Using the computers in a classroom can individualize a program and offer social experience.

Again, Prairie (2010, p. 416) gives an example of appropriate use of the Internet:

With technology, teachers, along with the children, can find more information and view pictures on practically any topic through accessing the Internet: When a small group of children found a strange-looking tiny insect on the classroom wall, the teacher heard the children’s attempt to label it. “It’s a-a-a ant,” “A frog ‘cause it has back legs.” “I know. It’s an ugly spider.” Mr. Ed had no idea what it was. They put the strange creature in a collection jar for the afternoon. With children excitedly looking on, Mr. Ed downloaded photos and a large diagram of an ant, a frog, a spider, and an insect. They compared the pictures and the creature. They discussed the body parts and counted legs. “You found out it was an insect. Let’s search the Internet some more.”

12-4dIntegrating Technology into Learning

Specific methods have been devised for teaching young children to work successfully with computers. For instance, a child must be able to maneuver a joystick or mouse, find the keys on the keyboard, or even insert a DVD into the computer correctly. Because very young children cannot read, they need help getting started. Teachers must be able to help children learn by setting up their classrooms with a computer positioned in a safe yet accessible place, structuring activities and the daily schedule to give children plenty of time to manipulate the machinery and programs, and choosing specific hardware and software that work with the class.

Technology is more than the computer, however. Video recorders can be used to document activities and learning projects, both for child assessment and group revisits of the curriculum. Light tables help children make creative designs (mixing colors, using shaving cream) and focus their attention on details (rock layers and leaf veins or tracing items). Overhead projectors broadcast enlarged images of items on a wall, allowing exploration of the details or shadowing. Digital cameras record children’s work for documentation panels, display of experiments or changes over time, and creating icons that depict the daily schedule or choices in visual format.

One of the most exciting aspects of technology in the classroom is the ability to support other learning. Kindergartners can listen to a story by a teacher, read the same one on an iPad, then play vocabulary games on the computer (Hand, 2012). Teachers who use digital tools effectively integrate their program goals with individual children and groups. To maximize the benefit that computers can give children, teachers should attend to three components: access, availability, and home collaboration. In the classroom, be sure the technology area is open regularly, and that there are enough tools so that the issue of crowding or frantic behavior around access is eliminated. Pay close attention to who is using the technology: by the time children are age 10, boys spend more time at computers than do girls, and may use it at the expense of social interactions. Although this difference is not significant at preschool age, teachers need to ensure that girls get access and that selected software is not catering to males only. With careful scrutiny, teachers can use online resources to assist them in using technology tools (see the “ Helpful Websites ” list).

Recognize that many families may not have a computer or other digital tools at home, although at this time, the smart phone is nearly universal. One study found that a group of underperforming children whose families were provided with a computer and free Internet access had higher scores on standardized reading tests after six months and higher grade point averages nearly one-and-a-half years after the start of the study than those who had only one or the other (Jackson, in Packard, 2007). Communication with families about media use is critical, and families need teachers to offer ideas about choosing quality software, supervision, and using the Internet.

Technology in the early childhood classroom can relate to children’s learning in powerful ways. Ferry-Perata (2012) lists 10 strategies to extend the learning process; we added examples (in italics) that make technology use an engaging cognitive activity:

· Help children see themselves as thinkers… . What are you thinking about, Juan, when you click on that button?

· Respond to their curiosity … What do you notice, Elisa, about that screenshot?

· Use mirror talk … I see you scrolling through the page, Sarita, and then you stopped on that part.

· Have conversations … So Sam drew the tree on the touch tablet, and Cassandra added a nest. Ask Francisco what he wants to put in the tree.

· Inspire imaginative play … Everyone wants a Cinderella dress. Could we find out how to make them on the Internet?

· Solve problems together … I have a basket of apples; how can we find out more about them? Let’s brainstorm—how many apples, their size, and favorites—Great ideas, now how can we show it on the interactive whiteboard?

· Use rich vocabulary … What medium would work best for writing your story? A tape recorder or a touch tablet? Would a PowerPoint presentation help? What about importing pictures?

· Laugh with children … Ha! Tarek played the big bad wolf in that recording of the Three Pigs story. Wasn’t he scary? And funny?

· Ask questions … We will make a class book about our field trip to the park, sending it to everybody at home and printing it for us. How did we get ready? What did we need to take? How did we get there? Who fell down?

· Link the new to the familiar … If your second graders are going to make a presentation about dinosaurs to your kindergarten buddies, what format will you use that will interest them and teach them what you already know?

As you reflect on all you have read about curricula for cognitive development, notice how rich the activities and experiences can be. Other developmental domains can be addressed when the curriculum is integrated. Inquiry-based models stimulate children’s thinking and engage the whole child in the learning process (see the “ Teaching with Intention ” box).

Chapter 13: Planning for the Mind: Language and Literacy Development in Action

Chapter Introduction

Planning for the Mind: Language and Literacy Development in Action

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Learning Outcomes

· LO1Define language and literacy and the major developmental perspectives.

· LO2Examine the central elements of children’s language acquisition and literacy skills when planning curricula.

· LO3Identify effective approaches that foster language and literacy skills through appropriate curriculum strategies.

· LO4Discuss dual language learners as a special topic of language and literacy curricula.

Competency Areas

Standards for Professional Development

The following NAEYC Standards for Early Childhood Professional Development are addressed in this chapter:

· Standard 1 Promoting Child Development and Learning

· Standard 4 Using Developmentally Effective Approaches to Connect with Children and Families

· Standard 5 Using Content Knowledge to Build Meaningful Curriculum

Code of Ethical Conduct

These are the sections of the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct that apply to the topics of this chapter:

Core Values: We have committed ourselves to basing our work with children on knowledge of child development.

Section I:

· I-1.11

To provide all children with experiences in a language that they know, as well as support children in maintaining the use of their home language and in learning English.

Section II:

· I-2.7

To share information about each child’s education and development with families and to help them understand and appreciate the current knowledge base of the early childhood profession.

13-1The Development of Language and Literacy

Alexis:

Laleña, will you help me full this pitcher up?

Laleña:

No, because my ponytail is keeping me in bothers.

Veronique:

Hey, come here! I accidentally dropped a piece of bread, and the birds yummed it right up!

Abhi:

I know that’s what the tooth fairy did to my tooth.

Marty:

I’m going to keep all my baby teeth in a jar, and the next time a baby comes along, I’ll give him my baby teeth.

13-1aLearning through Language Experiences

Language is the aspect of human behavior that involves the use of sounds in meaningful patterns. This includes the corresponding symbols that are used to form, express, and communicate thoughts and feelings. Any system of signs used for communication is language. For the developing child, language is the ability to express oneself. “Language is the most common tool used during shared meaning-making process,” (Nell & Drew, 2013) Language is both receptive (listening, understanding, and responding) and expressive (articulation, vocabulary, grammar, and graphic language). In other words, as illustrated earlier, language is meaningful, enjoyable communication.

Language and thought are closely related (see Chapter 12 ). Thoughts are produced when people internalize what they experience, and language is a major way to express or describe it. Language shapes the way that thoughts are produced and stored.

Language is one of the cultural tools that help people achieve their goals, and is a logical and analytical tool to use in thinking (Vygotsky, 1962; Beloglovsky & Daly, 2015). Farmers who work the land develop tools to till the soil and language to describe their work. The child who comes to the bazaar with her mother learns the language of bargaining better than one who is in a shopping cart in a grocery store. Tribes who are snowbound develop tools to deal with the ice and language to describe the many kinds of water and snow conditions. Language and thought are tools to make sense of and interact with the world.

Research tells us that language experiences during preschool and kindergarten are reflected in later literacy success.

A baby may not start life with language, yet he or she always communicates. Crying, laughing, smiling, and wiggling are body language to express and transmit information. Some communication is nonsymbolic (gestures or pointing), and some is symbolic (words). A child progresses naturally from nonsymbolic communication (pointing at the window to mean go outside) to symbolic communication, when the child says “out go” or “me go out,” thus demonstrating a shift in their level of cognitive development. Spoken language, as it develops from year to year, becomes the most common form of symbolic language. Once children master a language, they use it to communicate, play, and develop areas of intelligence (see Chapter 4 ).

“Language barriers can hinder the process of communication, such as when people do not speak the same language or a person has special needs that limit the sharing of thoughts with others” (Nell & Drew, 2013). Throughout this chapter, you will read about the various strategies teachers and families can use to scaffold children’s learning of language and successful communication. For instance, play offers a supportive context to overcome communication or language barriers.

Language is also related to other areas of development. Children learn to offer an idea, using language as a prop to get social play started. They begin to label, describe, question, and demand when they tell each other how they feel and what they want, using language to develop emotionally. Anyone who has heard a child talk himself down from a tree knows how language can be a great help in using physical skills.

13-1bThe Development of Language

Language seems to be an innate characteristic of humankind. Wherever people live together, language of some form develops. Languages worldwide vary remarkably in their sounds, words, and grammatical structure. Nonetheless, young children around the world acquire language.

What Research Tells Us

Research into language development and expression reveals several interesting characteristics:

· The language of children is different from adult language. Child language is not garbled adult language; rather, it is unique to the child’s age and linguistic level. Children’s language deals with the present and is egocentric, taking into account only the child’s own knowledge. There appears to be a lack of awareness on the child’s part of language form. Preschool children do show awareness of language structure (for instance, “feets” to mark the plural form of the word foot in English) but do not seem to know the parts of speech. In other words, young children use language to communicate but seem to have no understanding of language as an entity itself.

· Language is not learned simply by imitating adult speech. All infants babble “ma-ma” and “da-da” sounds at about 6 to 9 months (Berger, 2014). Gardner lists language ability as one form of cognition (linguistic intelligence), and most language development theorists agree that there seems to be an innate human tendency toward language (Chomsky, 1993). Children are not just trying to imitate others and making mistakes but are trying to come to terms with language themselves. Infants repeat rhythmic gestures (including hand gestures in deaf infants) and engage in pointing, along with sounds and then words. A child tries out theories about language in attempts to understand its patterns. In language, as in so many areas of cognition, children are involved as active participants in their learning. The use of speech is not merely imitative but productive and creative.

· Experiences help build language. The more experiences a child has, the more she has to talk about; thus, vocabulary is built firsthand. The size of a child’s vocabulary is strongly correlated with how much a child is talked with; wide variations are apparent in language fluency. In the United States, researchers have found that 86 to 98 percent of a child’s vocabulary by age 3 consists of words used by parents. Moreover, in studying the highest and lowest ends of the economic spectrum, a “word gap” has been defined in children before they reach kindergarten (Hart & Risely, 2003). Research endorses the behaviorist theory that adults do teach children language and young children learn it (Berger, 2014).

· Language experiences during the first five years are reflected in later literary success. By talking to children and reading to them, adults can prepare children to read because an awareness of letters and sounds at age 4 predicts reading at age 6 (Berger, 2014). The vast differences in how much children are spoken with correlates to vocabulary size. By age 6, linguistic differences are already huge; some know 5,000 words, and others know 20,000 (Moats, 2001).Quality programs can reduce the degree of delay for high-risk children in communicative skills, and personal interactions in a stimulating environment increase children’s communication effectiveness. Building on existing schema assists with the meaning of words, and the more words a child knows, the easier it is to add additional vocabulary (Neuman & Dwyer, 2009). Three dimensions of children’s experiences that relate to later literary success are exposure to varied vocabulary; opportunities to be part of conversations that use extended discourse ; and environments (both home and school) that are cognitively and linguistically stimulating.

· Language development is a process of experience and maturation. Teachers must be aware of children’s diverse language skills and challenges, particularly in the areas of bilingualism , speech and language disorders, and dialects, all of which are addressed in this chapter. Children learn two kinds of language: cognitive academic language, which is used in classrooms and books; and basic interpersonal communication, which is used in social situations. Play helps with social language skills, which helps dual language learners and those with speech/language disorders to participate in the school setting. This, in turn, helps them access better academic language.

Just as in the development of cognitive skills, there are stages of language growth that follow a specific sequence. There are also variations in timing that are important to remember.

Stages of Language Development

Children follow a six-step sequence in language development (see Figure 13-1 ). Except in cases of deafness or trauma, this sequence seems invariable, regardless of what language is being learned:

1. Infant’s response to language. Babies begin by attending to speech and changes in sound, rhythm, and intonation. These are the precursors of speech, and young infants are especially sensitive to some sound differences. Infants need to hear speech, and plenty of it, to develop the foundations of sound.

2. Vocalization. By 3 to 4 months of age, infants begin cooing and babbling. Babbling increases with age and seems to peak around 9 to 12 months. This is a matter of physical maturation, not just experience; children who are deaf or hearing impaired do it at the same time as those with normal hearing. Furthermore, similar vocalization patterns are seen among different languages.

3. Word development. The child must first separate the noises heard into speech and nonspeech. The speech noises must be further separated into words and the sounds that form them. The growing infant starts to shift from practice to playing with sounds. The end result is planned, controlled speech.

Children begin playing with sounds around 10 to 15 months of age. From this point, the development of speech is determined as much by control of motor movements as by the ability to match sounds with objects.

Most children can understand and respond to a number of words before they can produce any. Their first words include names of objects and events in their world (people, food, toys, animals). Then the child begins to overextend words, perhaps using “doggy” to refer to all animals. Finally, single words can be used as sentences: “Bye-bye” can refer to someone leaving, a meal the child thinks is finished, the child’s going away, or a door closing.

4. Sentences. Children’s sentences usually begin with two words, describing an action (“Me go”), a possession (“My ball”), or a location (“Baby outside”). These sentences get expanded by adding adjectives (“My big ball”), changing the verb tense (“Me jumped down”), or using negatives (“No go outside”). Children learn grammar not by being taught the rules, but by listening to others’ speech and putting together the regularities they hear.

Child language, although not identical to that of adults, does draw on language heard to build a language base. Children incorporate and imitate what they hear to refine their own language structures.

5. Elaboration. Vocabulary begins to increase at an amazing rate. Sentences get longer, and communication begins to work into social interaction. In the “hospital” corner of a nursery school, this conversation takes place:

Chip:

I’m a nurse.

Brooke:

I’m going to try to get some patients for you.

Megan:

Do I need an operation?

Chip:

Yeah, if you don’t want to be sick anymore.

6. Graphic representation. By late preschool and kindergarten, reading and writing emerge as children become aware of language as an entity itself and of the written word as a way of documenting what is spoken. Awareness of print and emerging literacy are the outgrowth of this last stage of development.

Figure 13-1

Children’s language skills develop with both age and experience.

Language Skills: Ages and Stages

Stage	Age (approx.)	Sample
1. Response	0–6 months	Smiles, gazes when hearing voices
2. Vocalization	6–10 months	Babbles all types of sounds, creating babble-sentences Uses vocal signals other than crying to get help
3. Word development	10–18 months	“Mama,” “Dada,” “Doggie,” “Bye-bye,” “No-no”
4. Sentences	18 months–3 years	“Me want chok-quit” ( I want chocolate) “She goed in the gark” ( She went in the dark)
5. Elaboration	3 to 5–6 years	“You’re my best Mommy,” “You can hold my turtle at bet-bis [breakfast]” (Cough) “That was just a sneeze in my mouth”
6. Graphic representation	5 + to 8 years

Alphabet knowledge and phonemic awareness are predictors of early reading success. Children who learn to read well and most easily in first grade are those with prior knowledge of the alphabet and the understanding of the sounds that letters represent. Within the guidelines of Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP), the teaching focus must be on creating meaningful experiences.

As children create a linguistic representation of their cognitive understanding, they see the potential of language reading and writing as a tool for communicating. Known as literate thinking, this is the hallmark of the last early childhood developmental stage in language development. (See the section entitled “ Early Literacy ”.)

Dual Language Learning

Children who begin formal schooling ready to learn are more likely to succeed in meeting the academic and social challenges they encounter. A major challenge facing the education system in the United States and other countries is the increasing number of students in public schools who speak English as their second language. By the 2030s, it is estimated that 40 percent of school-age children in the United States will have a home language other than English, and the percentage is likely to be higher in preschool years due to immigration and birth rates (Center for Public Education, 2012) Children acquiring both the language of their family and the language of the larger community are dual language learners. Since almost all European and many Canadian children speak two languages by age 10 (Berger, 2014), it is important to look at teaching approaches from outside the United States to guide American schooling practices.

Young dual language learners may not have had access to the early learning experiences that prepare children for learning in school. They may not have had quality preschool experiences, may live in poverty, have parents with low levels of education, and have not had access to health care services. Research on instruction (Ballentyne, Sanderman, & McLaughlin, 2008) indicates that young dual language learners:

· Benefit from instructional techniques that work to include them in classroom social interactions and recognize the value of their home language

· Require sufficient time (4–6 years) to become proficient in their second language

· Benefit from explicit vocabulary instruction

· Can transfer literacy skills from their first language and retain the benefits of first language literacy through eighth grade measures of reading proficiency

Schools, communities, and families can work together to get children ready to succeed in education. Children who are age 3–5 years are still in the process of acquiring their first language, even as they are also acquiring their second one. Because the first five years are crucial for brain development, it is an ideal time to learn a second language. At the same time, dual language learners are diverse in their linguistic backgrounds. As Ballentyne, Sanderman, and McLaughlin (2008) note:

They may differ in terms of the amount of English that their parents speak (from very little English at all to fluent English). Their parents may also differ in terms of the extent that they speak one or more languages in the home. In some families, parents may speak one language at home and another at work. In other families, parents may speak two languages interchangeably. Family members may come from different language backgrounds, so a child may speak English to a parent but Spanish to a grandparent living in the home. Dual language learners arrive at school with language backgrounds and skills which are substantially different from monolingual English speakers. The strategies for dealing with bilingualism and dialect differences overlap with those of developmentally appropriate practices for helping all children acquire language skills.

Bilingualism In early childhood terms, bilingualism is the ability of a person to communicate in a language other than their native language with a degree of fluency. Baker (2007) explains:

There is not just one dimension of language. We can examine people’s proficiency in two languages in their listening (understanding), speaking, reading, and writing skills. Calling someone bilingual is therefore an umbrella term. Underneath the umbrella rest many different skill levels in two languages. Being bilingual is not just about proficiency in two languages. There is a difference between ability and use of language.… In practice, a person may be bilingual, although ability in one language is lacking (but improving steadily).

Providing books that are in tune with all children’s cultures and language backgrounds expands everyone’s world.

A bilingual child must learn to comprehend and produce aspects of each language and to develop two systems of communication. This is a lengthy and complicated process of getting used to a new culture and a new language before feeling comfortable enough to use it in a classroom.

Second language learning occurs in two general ways. It helps to understand how children learn a second language and how to apply this research in practical ways (see Figure 13-2 ).

Figure 13-2

Myths and truths related to bilingualism.

Myths and Truths Related to Second Language Acquisition

Myths or Misconception	What We Actually Know
Speaking a home language interferes with children’s ability to learn English.	There is no evidence for this. In fact, a strong foundation in the home language positively affects the learning of a second language.
Mixing languages is a sign of the child being confused.	“Code switching” is a normal part of bilingual language development and a common communication strategy for bilingual children and adults.
Bilingual children start to speak later than their monolingual peers.	Bilinguals share the same wide range of normal development as their monolingual peers.
If a child learning a second language demonstrates signs of language impairment, dropping the home language will fix the situation.	Research shows that bilingual children with language impairment are typically impaired in both of their languages. (We expect this to be true for children learning a second language as well.)
Children can learn a second language very quickly.	Children seem to have an easier time learning languages relative to adults, but we should not underestimate the effort that it takes for them to learn a new language. (up to 2 years to reach a conversational level, and up to 5–7 years to achieve an academic level).
Parents who do not speak a language perfectly will pass on their errors and accent to their children.	This might be true if the child had no other language models, which is highly unlikely! Moreover, when exposed to various accents, children learn to be more accepting and respectful of diversity from a young age.

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(Developed by the Early Childhood Language Development Institute, a project of the San Mateo County Office of Education, Redwood City, CA. June 2012.)

Simultaneous acquisition happens if a child is exposed to two languages from birth. These bilingual children tend to lag in vocabulary development in the early years, often mixing sounds or words. By 4 or 5 years of age, however, most children have separated the languages successfully.

Successive acquisition occurs as a child with one language now enters the world of a second language, as when children with one home language enter a school that uses another language. A common pattern among immigrants and many children in the United States, this learning seems to favor younger children in their accent and grammar, but there is no evidence that younger children are any more successful with learning vocabulary and syntax.

First and second language acquisitions are similar in many ways. Language acquisition is a natural process. Linguists generally agree that children reach proficiency in their first language by age 5, barring other identified difficulties. Moreover, brain development is at its peak in the early years, so learning a second language is at a premium. Not all children are successful in acquiring a second language, however, because a great deal depends on external and internal factors (CCDD, 2009).

· External factors may include access to speakers of a second language, the frequency with which children come into contact with and interact with those speakers, the degree to which the second-language context is emotionally supportive, and the messages and pressures present in school and society regarding the mastery of the second language.

· Internal factors may include the children’s cognitive abilities and limitations, perceived need to learn a second language, talent in learning language, and individual temperaments and social skills.

· For instance, Tjarko is of Swiss-German ancestry, so is it any wonder he pronounces an English “v” like an “f,” as in “Can I haff one of those?” Sachiko, who has moved from Japan within the year, complains, “My neck hurts when I drink,” and disagrees that it is a sore throat since neck is the word she knows. A particularly important point for all educators to understand is the effect of a new language on a child, their home, and the program.

· Children of linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds may face isolation at school. In an English-speaking school, for instance, the child who does not yet understand or speak English may find it difficult to interact appropriately with children and teachers. Lack of a mutual language can result in the child being treated as nearly invisible or like a baby by other children, or as less intelligent or capable by teachers.

· Children acquiring language in an English-dominant program often begin to isolate themselves from their families. They may refuse to use their home language anymore, as it is difficult to use both, and English may have greater status in the children’s eyes. Families sometimes promote this, as they wish their children to learn English. However, if they themselves do not speak English, they become unable to communicate at length with their children. The lack of a mutual language then grows at home, creating problems of family cohesiveness and harmony.

Teachers need guidance in educating second language learners (see the “ Special Topic: Supporting Dual Language Learners ” section of the references).

Dialect Differences Dialect differences are variations in the way that words are pronounced or grammar is used, even among English-speaking children. These differences reflect a dialect , or variation of speech patterns within a language. In New York, for example, our ears must attune to the unique pronunciation of “goyl” ( girl); when we find ourselves in Boston, we hear “habah” ( harbor). Southern speakers use elongated vowel sounds (“Haiiiii, yaaw’ll!” for “Hi, you all”), whereas those vowels are flattened in the Midwest. In addition to regional dialects, there are social dialects that are shared by people of the same cultural group or social class.

Italian, Russian, and numerous other languages have regional and social dialects. Linguists, the scholars who study languages, argue that there is no such thing as a good or a bad language. Each language and dialect is a legitimate system of speech rules that governs communication in that language.

Some dialects, however, are not viewed favorably within the larger society and often carry a social or economic stigma. The unique linguistic characteristics of African American children are labeled Ebonics , or so-called black English. Negative views of black English or any nonstandard dialect are of concern to parents and teachers who want better opportunities for their children. Developmentally appropriate programs have a goal of importing language power to all children. This means accepting every child’s dialect and speech pattern, and then guiding children toward becoming comfortable and capable speakers in any situation, whether it requires standard English or the language of each particular speech community. Personalized oral language learning techniques that assist dual language learners (Magruder, Hayslop, Espinosa, & Matera, 2013) can also be applied to those with dialects.

13-1cThe Development of Literacy

Successful readers see a relationship between spoken language and the written word. They are aware that sounds are how language is put together. Teachers plan activities that make connections between what is said and what is written. With the emphasis on early reading, legislation such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB), and Common Core standards (see Chapter 15 ), teachers feel pressured to bring direct instruction into their early education programs.

Early Literacy

It is important to emphasize that early literacy is not equivalent to early direct instruction. While direct instruction may be one method in teaching language arts, much must go on in the early years for a child to be ready to read in primary school. As Smith (2011) says:

Reading is the most natural activity in the world.… We read the weather, the state of the tides, people’s feelings and intentions, stock market trends, animal tracks, maps, signals, signs, symbols, hands, tea leaves, the law, music, mathematics, minds, body language, between the lines, and above all we read faces. “Reading,” when employed to refer to interpretation of a piece of writing, is just a special use of the term. We have been reading—interpreting experience—constantly since birth and we continue to do so.

There is an important role for teachers of young children in the early stages of reading and writing. Teachers can influence positive attitudes toward reading and writing, both in and out of the classroom.

First, they can work with families to support both a high level of language exchange and reading aloud. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents read to their children from birth. Infant and toddler programs, as well as pediatricians, can help by providing age-appropriate books to take home for read-alouds (Willingham, 2015). They can help families use the dialogic reading method to increase children’s participation in the reading experience (Mol, Bus, Jong, & Smeets, 2008). This method encourages a “serve-and-return” kind of dialogue between the adult and the child so that there is an interaction between the two people as the book is read.

In the classroom, teachers encourage children to talk and converse with others about what they see and do; this gives them increasing experience in using and attaching experiences to words. Taking the time to write down what children say and then reading it back gives a sense of importance to children’s language and their ability to express themselves. Organizing the environment to support literary development and learning to teach toward reading in developmentally appropriate ways are all part of building an early literacy curriculum. In these ways, teachers can help children get involved with print in natural and unpressured ways (see Figure 13-3 ). For adults who work with young children, digital literacy is essential (NAEYC, 2012).

Figure 13-3

The pressure of early reading instruction can be relieved by encouraging early forms of reading and writing that also give play a prominent role (Roskos, Christie, & Richgels, 2003).

Essential Early Literacy Teaching Strategies

Rich teacher talk	Engage in conversation, use rare words, extend their comments.
Storybook reading	Read aloud once or twice a day.
Phonemic awareness activities	Play games or sing songs that involve rhyme, alliteration, and matching sounds.
Alphabet activities	Use magnetic letters, alphabet blocks and puzzles, alphabet charts, and books.
Support for emergent reading	Provide a well-designed book center, repeat reading children’s favorites, have functional and play-related print.
Support for emergent writing	Encourage scribble writing and invented spelling; provide a well-stocked writing center and play-related writing materials.
Shared book experience	Read Big Books; draw attention to basic concepts of print such as reading from left to right and top to bottom, cover, and title page.
Integrated, content-focused activities	Investigate topics of children’s interest, helping children gather data and record it; engage in dramatic play; and use emergent writing to record what they learn.

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A Reading Curriculum A reading curriculum involves engaging children with print in ways that make sense to them. By creating an environment that provides rich opportunities to use the printed word, teachers help motivate children toward reading. High-quality preschool is a powerful force in building language and cognitive skills. Research shows that children who attend quality prekindergarten programs score higher on school readiness measures at kindergarten entry (Karoly, Ghosh-Dastidar, Zellman, Perlman, & Fernyhough, 2008). Early literacy experiences are the first step in closing the achievement gap.

Adults encourage children’s writing by taking their attempts seriously.

But what are developmentally appropriate early literacy experiences? Adults, and even children, often have a stereotypical concept of reading. They think the ability to read is only the literal translation of signs and symbols on a printed page (called decoding ). Learning to read is also attaching experiences and knowledge to words and understanding the use of the written word in daily life. It is a complex process that includes both language and literary competencies. Building on these skills takes time and has tremendous individual variation; thus, it is known as emergent literacy . The processes involved in helping children with emerging literacy include beginning literacy awareness and involvement before kindergarten, using reading and writing concurrently and in an interrelated manner, and interacting with the written word in everyday activities and using it to interact with the world ( Figure 13-4 ). Literacy development is part of the total communication process that includes listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Figure 13-4

A language experience chart involves children through its subject matter and the way in which information is displayed.

A Language Experience Chart

A language experience chart involves children through its subject matter and the way in which information is displayed.

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The International Reading Association, in its joint position statement with NAEYC (IRA, 2006) describes five stages of early literacy development (see Figure 13-3 ):

1. Awareness and exploration

2. Experimenting with reading and writing

3. Early reading and writing

4. Transitional reading and writing

5. Conventional reading and writing

Teachers can help children through these stages as follows:

· Show children that print is a form of language. Read them books filled with magic, messages, and mystery (prereading).

· Ensure that children hear stories, poems, chants, and songs many times. Programs such as Raising a Reader and other take-home, book-bag preliteracy programs help children and families access books in an enjoyable, consistent way (prereading and beginning reading).

· Give children plenty of opportunities rehearse by chanting, singing, resaying, and “reading along” as we read to them (prereading).

· Observe as children learn to recognize words they read and know the text and begin to use some phonics to discover which words say what (beginning reading).

· Once children start to read more and more on their own or with a friend, the task is to help make them better readers (fluent reading).

Reading can be seen as a two-stage process:

· Stage 1:

Grow up to words and print (birth to 4 years old). Falling in love with words and using everyday narrative are followed by first attempts: pretending to read, learning about print, and nourishing the mind with high-quality books. Toward the end of this period, children know that alphabet letters are a special category of visual graphics and may recognize some of them. They pay attention to separate and repeating sounds in language, show an interest in books and reading, and display reading (signs in the local environment) and writing attempts (name on a birthday card; taking orders in a pretend restaurant).

· Stage 2:

Become a real reader (kindergarten through third grade). To become real readers, children need well-integrated instruction that focuses on three core elements:

· (1)

identifying words using sound–spelling correspondence and sight word recognition;

· (2)

using previous knowledge, vocabulary, and comprehension strategies to read for meaning; and

· (3)

reading with fluency.

· During kindergarten, children should gain a solid familiarity with the structure and uses of print, be familiar with sound-by-sound and word-by-word analysis of language, and have an interest in the types of language and knowledge that books can bring them. Words are used to chart meaningful experiences.

· First grade makes a transition from emergent to “real” reading. Children continue phonemic awareness, letter knowledge, and print awareness to help with writing attempts and fluent reading. Spelling becomes a focus during the year, starting with invented spelling and growing into a sensitivity to conventional spelling. Literacy activities are done voluntarily, such as choosing stories to read or writing a note to a friend.

· Second and third grades help children build automatic word recognition, spelling skills, and reading fluency. Comprehension improves, along with recall of facts and participation in creative responses to texts, and children move toward producing a variety of written work. “Learning to read” is now shifting toward “reading to learn.”

Second and third graders build spelling skills and reading fluency. Once they learn to read, they can read to learn.

Early childhood tradition develops curricula through the emerging interests, needs, and developmental levels of the children (see Chapter 10 ). This corresponds to the whole language approach to reading instruction. In this method, a teacher might read a story to the children and then ask them to make up their own endings. The class would be listening (to the story), speaking (telling their ideas), writing (trying their hand at spelling and handwriting), and reading (sharing their creations with a friend or the class at the end of the lesson).

Contrast that method to a direct teaching approach more often used with basal readers . Teaching decoding skills, which a traditional phonics approach emphasizes, creates lessons around making associations between letters and sounds (phonics), and is appropriate in the early elementary years (see the “ DAP ” box). But even before teaching formal reading, teachers can help children develop phonological and phonemic awareness—a sensitivity to the sound structure of the language. Children who can detect and manipulate sounds in speech are beginners in the decoding process. The ability to discern syllables is an important part of learning to understand how sounds translate into individual and combinations of letters (Strickland & Schickedanz, 2009). Regardless of approach, early literacy can be implemented appropriately in early childhood education programs (see Figure 13-5 ).

Figure 13-5

Integrating graphic language activities in a natural, meaningful way brings early education techniques to the primary classroom.

Early Literacy Goes to School

1. Have a cozy library corner, giving children lots of time to explore and read all kinds of books.

2. Make a writing corner with different kinds of supplies, using this area to develop group activities (children’s stories), meaningful themes (post office), and connected learning (writing and sending letters).

3. Take field trips, pointing out print as they find it (street signs, store shelves, bumper stickers) and writing about it afterward.

4. Use large charts for poems, finger plays, and songs, as well as for listing the available choices and for group dictation.

5. Plan activities that incorporate print: read recipes for cooking projects, make menus for lunch and snack, follow directions in using a new manipulative toy, write sales tickets for dramatic play units, and bring books into science displays.

6. Use written notes regularly, send a regular newspaper home that the children have written or dictated, write notes to other team teachers that children deliver, and encourage children to send notes to each other.

Current knowledge leads to the conclusion that, to learn, primary children benefit from both specific phonics instruction and a rich background in literature (such as being read stories). This approach blends early phonics instruction in the teaching of reading, while at the same time stressing the importance of balance (see Figure 13-6 ). In addition, it must be repeated that children younger than 5 years of age are not yet ready for an onslaught of conventional, direct instruction methods. Learning graphic language is a creative process that involves both an art (literature, rhyming songs, and invented spelling) and a science (the nuts and bolts of decoding). It is the teacher’s job to be the master craftsperson in helping children put the two together.

Figure 13-6

Children gain early literacy skills through activities for phonemic awareness.

Activities for Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic Awareness Includes	Teachers
Oral vocabulary	Encourage talking, learning new words and phrases, singing, finger plays, and remembering and reflecting verbally.
Auditory discrimination (the ability to detect sound differences)	Create sound discrimination boxes in the science area, a “listen-to-the sound” walk, guessing games with musical instruments, and activities that teach letter sounds by using the children’s names.
Phonological awareness	Help children play with individual sounds, both larger and smaller, as well as different types of manipulations. The song “Old MacDonald” has five sounds (E-I-E-I-O), and playing with “apples/bapples/dapples” focuses attention on sounds.
Syllable awareness	Encourage children to listen and segment words into syllables, such as playing word games ( me-mama-granpapa each have a different number of sounds: You want a drink of wa…ter, let’s fix a sand…wich).
Onset-rime awareness	A more complex skill, onsets are the consonant sounds that precede a vowel in a syllable ( d is the onset in dog, fr in frog) and rimes are a vowel plus any sound that follows it ( og is the rime for dog and frog), so games that play with each “end” of a word help children hear the sounds.
Phoneme awareness	The smallest unit of speech is the phoneme . They vary widely among languages; English has about 44, while Spanish has closer to 24 (Yopp & Yopp, 2009). Besides extending children’s natural play with sounds, read aloud books, poetry, and songs that play with sounds, and play games such as “I Spy,” that focus on a sound (I spy something that begins with /sh/… shoes!).

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Writing Curriculum A writing curriculum involves learning about words in print much the same as learning about reading and other aspects of language; that is, by seeing it used and having plenty of opportunities to use it themselves. Writing can be as natural for children as walking and talking. “What is written language? For a child, print is just another facet of the world, not yet comprehended, perhaps, but not different from all the complex sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures in the environment—not especially mysterious or intimidating” (Smith, 2011). Children’s emergent writing begins when they first take a pencil in hand and start to scribble. Later, they can write a story by drawing pictures or by dictating the words and having someone else write them down.

A print-rich environment that includes labels, lists, signs, and charts can make print a meaningful part of the classroom environment. Often, children are involved in making the signs to indicate where things go and what things are. Using the languages of the group expands this “literate room,” as do helper charts, daily schedules, and even attendance charts. Road signs can be made for the block corner, and recipe cards for cooking. “Do not touch” may be used to label an unfinished project, and an “Inside voices here” sign can be put in the library corner. Labeled picture cards can be used for rhyming games, alphabet puzzles, magnetic letters, and Scrabble® games, as well as opportunities for children to give dictation, write grocery lists, and compose letters to friends and family.

Writing materials can be available throughout the room and yard. Paper and pencils come in handy in the dramatic play area. Menus, shopping lists, prescriptions, and money are but a few uses that children find for writing equipment. The block corner may need traffic signs; the computer, a sign-up sheet or waiting list. Outdoors, pictures can label the location of the vegetables in the garden; markers indicate where children have hidden “treasures” or where the dead bird is buried.

The early childhood classroom heightens an interest in writing with a writing center (see Figure 13-7 ). It can be part of a language area or a self-help art center. Wherever it is located, this center includes a variety of things to write with and to write on and “writing helpers”:

· Children write with pencils (fat and thin, with and without erasers), colored pencils, narrow and wide marking pens, and crayons. They enjoy having many kinds of paper products, including old calendars and colored paper.

· Children write on simple books, consisting of a few blank pages stapled together. Carbon paper and lined paper add variety.

· “Writing helpers” include a picture dictionary, a set of alphabet letters, a print set, an alphabet chart, a chalkboard, a magnetic letter board, or an interactive whiteboard. All of these serve to help children practice writing skills.

Figure 13-7

A writing center needs plenty of materials to stimulate graphic language development (Chesler, 2011).

Stock Your Writing Center

· Alphabet board

· Alphabet stamps

· Binders—yarn, string, twist ties—that can be used to bind homemade books

· Book-binding machine (used by adults to bind special books)

· Cardboard—cereal/cracker boxes provide cardboard for covers

· Clipboards

· Collage materials—magazines, wall paper, and wrapping papers

· Colored pencils

· Crayons

· Envelopes (a local card store will sometimes donate leftovers)

· Fabric

· Laminate (factories will sometimes donate end rolls)

· Magnetic letters

· Markers

· Mini-books (- and -size sheets of paper, about 4–5, stapled, or -sheets of lined paper—about 30 pages can be used to create longer works)

· Name cards (children’s names)

· Notebooks, notepads, stationary, odd-shaped/colored papers (print shops will sometimes donate these)

· Office-style rubber stamps and ink pads

· Old cards, invitations, and business cards

· Old date books and calendars

· Paper-crimping tool (roll a piece of paper through and it comes out corrugated—can be found at a rubber stamping or craft store)

· Paper punches (with a large button that can be easily pushed by children)

· Recycled paper (different sizes)

· Rulers

· Scissors

· Stamps: Wildlife and other nonpostage stamps. (Homemade stamps can be made by painting the backs of pictures with “lick’em, stick’em”—one part strawberry gelatin and one part water. Apply to shiny magazine pictures and dry, and then they can be licked and used as stamps.)

· Stapler (kindergarten)

· Stencil shapes

· Stickers

· Word wall (words and their corresponding pictures—whenever children need to know how to write a new word, it goes up there.)

Emergent writing describes children’s first attempts at writing, which includes drawing or scribbling. Writing moves from pictures to words, and drawing helps children plan and organize their thoughts (and, thus, their text). Teachers encourage children to tell them about their stories and can ask for a child’s help in “reading” these writings.

Strategies that support early writing helps the evolving process of writing ability. Drawing and scribble-writing give way to making letterlike forms and strings that move children toward both conventional and invented spelling As children begin to work with words themselves, adults can help them sound out words or spell words for them. Spelling development is similar to learning to speak: Adults support the efforts, do not correct the mistakes, and allow children to invent their own spelling of words. Picture dictionaries and lists of popular words help children use resources for writing. Figure 13-8 is a sample of invented spelling in a kindergarten.

Figure 13-8

Early writing usually involves children’s attempts at words of their own invention. Invented spelling can be treated with respect for the efforts and as a foundation for successful writing experiences.

Invented Spelling

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(Courtesy of Kim Saxe. Reprinted with permission.)

This language experience approach involves taking dictation: writing down and reading back to children their own spoken language. It is important to use the child’s exact words so that they can make the connection between their speech and the letters on the page. This is true for group stories, for children’s self-made books, or for descriptions of their paintings. A useful technique in taking dictation is to say the words while writing them, allowing the child to watch the letters and words being formed. When the content is read back, the child has a sense of completion (see Figure 13-9 ). This is similar to the organic reading system, in which the students themselves build a key vocabulary of words they wish to learn to read and write. In her classic book Teacher, Sylvia Ashton-Warner, a kindergarten teacher who believed strongly in children’s innate creativity and curiosity, developed this method for her classes of native Maori children in New Zealand, for whom the British basal readers held little meaning. Ashton-Warner’s personal, culturally relevant teaching works well because it flows naturally from the child’s life and interests.

Figure 13-9

The language experience approach takes many creative forms in a classroom.

The Language Experience Approach

1. Start with a leading sentence.

If I were an instrument…

Michelle:

I would be a piano with strings and lots of sparklies on top. And you could play me even if you were blind.

Janette:

I would be a drum. I would be hit and I wouldn’t be happy because they would make me hurt.

Dennis:

I would be a violin. Someone would play me with a bow and I would make a beautiful sound.

2. Take dictation on topics and pictures of their making.

“On Our Halloween Nights”

Ehsan:

There was a witch and skeleton and ghost in my room on Halloween night.

Lionel:

Costume night. A cow jumping over the moon. The little rabbit sleeping.

Martine:

There was a big pumpkin and a big bat and a bear and a pirate. There was a jack-o-lantern, and the light glowed.

Andrew:

There was a smiley monster and Aka-Zam!

Luke:

We went to my church for hot dogs and cider.

3. Ask for stories of their own.

Once upon a time, there’s a boy named Timothy and he punched all the bad guys dead. And he was very strong and he can punch anything down. And he can do anything he likes to. And he makes all the things at winter. And he was so strong, he could break out anything else. And he had to do very hard work all day long and all day night. And he had to sleep but he couldn’t. And he had a very small house and cup. And then he did everything he want to all day long. The End. Tim (signed)

4. Make a group book (including illustrations).

All by Myself (our version of the book by Mercer Mayer)

“I can put on my overalls all by myself.” (Stephanie)

“I can brush my hair all by myself.” (Lindsey)

“I can make pictures all by myself.” (Jessica)

“I can buckle my jeans all by myself.” (Megan)

“I can make a drill truck with the blocks all by myself.” (Lionel)

“I can jump in the pool all by myself.” (Andrew)

(Special thanks to Gay Spitz for example 1, and to Ann Zondor and Lynne Conly Hoffman and the children of the Children’s Center of the Stanford Community for several of the examples in 2 and 4.)Professional Resource Download

Story maps help children see the parts and sequencing of the writing process. Depicted as a body, the head serves as the beginning (with facial features called “topic,” “characters,” and “setting”), the body as the middle, and the legs as the end (“Finally…”). A primary child can write in the various parts of the story and read it from the map or continue to elaborate with full sentences in a more traditional manner. In these ways, teachers help raise awareness of the use and enjoyment of the printed word.

Many teachers use a combination of key words, journals, and phonics along with holistic strategies such as Drop Everything and Read (DEAR), huddle groups (you choose who to work with), book bragging time (either in large or small groups), and SST (sustained silent reading with a timer, usually done in the later grades once children are fluent readers) as they teach reading in developmentally appropriate ways.

Noticing and manipulating the sounds of a spoken language are related to later success in reading and spelling. “In English—and many other languages—the written language is predominantly a record of the sounds of the spoken language. With a few exceptions, the English language is written out by sound” (Yopp & Yopp, 2009). Therefore, children must be able to grasp the sounds of speech if they are to understand how to use a written system that records those sounds.

A literate classroom includes plenty of opportunities for experiences with writing.

Be sure to include these strategies in your writing curriculum (Giles & Tunks, 2015):

· Dictating oral anecdotes. Make a written record of children’s stories.

· Translating children’s writing. Add “underwriting” so that others can read their entries.

· Cooperative chronicles. A group writing strategy helps children revise toward a finished work.

· Independent authors. Teachers help children then publish their work.

Children’s Literature

Children’s books bring us back to ourselves, young and new in the world. Our bones may lengthen and our skin stretch, but we are the same soul in the making.… Children’s books are such powerful transformers because they speak, in the words of the Quakers, to one’s condition, often unrecognized at the time, and remain as maps for the future.… In children’s books, we preserve the wild rose, the song of the robin, the budding leaf. In secret gardens we know the same stab of joy, at whatever age of reading, in the thorny paradise around us. (Lundin, 1991)

Literature has as important a place in the curriculum today as it did in this classic description written more than two decades ago. Through the use of good books, teachers can help children broaden their interests and concepts. Books that are primarily used for transmitting information expand the child’s knowledge base. Thoughtful books that draw on children’s everyday experiences widen their understanding of themselves and others.

For instance, five different books describe and illustrate the behavior of cats in five different ways. Exposure to Millions of Cats (Wanda Gág), Angus and the Cats (Marjorie Flack), and The Cat in the Hat (Dr. Seuss), as well as to the cats portrayed in Peter Rabbit (Beatrix Potter) or Frog Went a-Courtin’ (John Langstaff), enlarges the child’s concepts of cats. Different cultures are also represented in any number of children’s books, teaching a greater awareness of all of humankind (see Figure 13-10 ).

Figure 13-10

Using multicultural literature helps each child get connected with books and expands all children’s outlooks.

Literature Leads Learning: A Multicultural Approach

Using multicultural literature helps each child get connected with books and expands all children’s outlooks.

(Courtesy of de Melendez & Ostertag, 2012.)

Teachers have an opportunity to encourage divergent thinking through the use of children’s literature. Children gain more than facts from books; they learn all manner of things, providing they can interpret the story rather than just hear the individual words. Quizzing children about whether the dinosaur was a meat- or plant-eater brings about responses that are predictable and pat, but comprehension does not have to be joyless. “Would a brontosaurus fit in your living room?” gets children to think about Syd Hoff’s Danny and the Dinosaur, Jack Kent’s There’s No Such Thing as a Dragon, or Bernard Most’s If the Dinosaurs Came Back in new ways that get them involved in the story.

The selection of books is important (see Figure 13-11 ). The wise teacher chooses books that invite participation. Everyone can “roar a terrible roar, gnash their terrible teeth, and show their terrible claws” during a rendition of Where the Wild Things Are (Maurice Sendak). Meaning for children lies more in action than in words. When Andrea was struggling to find the words to describe a large amount, Mitra began to recite: “Hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats!” (Gág’s Millions of Cats). As Trelease (2006) states, “If our first problem is not reading enough to children, our second problem is stopping too soon.” Whether age 1 or 10, children need and thrive on being read aloud to regularly. Teachers could ask for no better activity to promote good listening habits than a wealth of good children’s books.

Figure 13-11

Selecting books for children involves careful study.

Selecting and Reading Children’s Books

Before Reading:

· Look at the cover.

· Talk about pictures and text.

· Activate prior knowledge.

· Ask for personal connections.

· Set a purpose.

During Reading:

· Make predictions.

· Pause and reflect.

· Create mental images.

· Summarize.

· Read it again, pointing to words and pausing.

After Reading:

· Make connections.

· Create reenactments.

· Perform retellings.

1. Could I read this book enthusiastically?

2. Are the contents of the book appropriate for the children?

· Is it age appropriate?

· Is it suitable for the individual child(ren)?

· What are the cultures and languages of the group?

3. Is this book biased?

· Are illustrations stereotyped or showing tokenism?

· What is the story line: What is the standard for success; how are problems presented and resolved; what is the role of women, people of color, or the heroes?

4. Is the book written with an understanding of my group’s age characteristics?

5. Is the author’s style enjoyable?

· Can the children understand the sequence?

· Is there repetition of words or actions?

· Does it end in a satisfying way?

· Are there humorous parts?

6. Does it have educational value?

(Derived from Machado, 2009; Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010.)

A Rich Literary Environment A rich literary environment can be a challenge to create. The newspaper comics of yesterday are far outdistanced by the television and video games of today. How can teachers give children experiences in literature in the face of such competition?

The field of children’s literature is rich in its variety, including both great classic stories and those about present-day situations and concerns. Fiction and informational books, children’s magazines, and poetry add balance to the literary curriculum. Every classroom should contain representative works from each of these areas and should do all of the following:

· Provide plenty of time for using books and other materials. Children need time to browse, to flip through a book at their own pace, and to let their thoughts wander as they reflect on the story line. They also enjoy retelling the tale to others. Be sure to plan enough time to read to children every day.

· Make a space that is quiet and comfortable. In addition to soft pillows or seats, locate the reading area in a spot where there is privacy. Crashing blocks and messy finger painting intrudes on the book reader. A place to sprawl or cuddle up with a friend is preferable.

· Have plenty of books and supporting materials. The language arts center might contain a listening post, with headsets for a CD player. Perhaps there is even a puppet stage or flannel board nearby so that stories can be created in new ways.

· Display children’s literary creations. Establishing a place in the room where they can be seen and read honors the efforts of children’s stories and bookmaking. Children then see how adults value the process of literary creation and the final product.

· Model how to care for a book and keep classroom books in good repair. Children can come to realize that a book is like a good friend and should be given the same kind of care and consideration.

· Encourage children’s reading at home. This is one of the important contributions a teacher can make to the reading process. A 2014 survey of 1,000 American children ages 6–17 found that 31 percent said they read a book for fun almost daily, down from 37 percent four years ago. For younger children, the strongest predictors of frequent reading was being read aloud to regularly and having restricted online time (Rich, 2015). Attitudes about reading are communicated to children from the important people in their lives.

Family literacy programs are developing for all families to gain skills in English; check your local community for availability. Families whose home language is not English face enormous challenges when encouraging reading; research supports development of the home language as a foundation for learning other languages (see the list of references in the “ Special Topic ” section), so programs should attempt to offer book bags to families with books in their home language, as well as plenty of picture books that allow parents to “read” the pictures with their children. Posting the local library hours, establishing a lending library, and providing parents with lists of favorites reinforce the child’s interest in literature.

· Use books around the room. Do not confine them to the book corner or the bookshelf. Demonstrate their adaptability to all curriculum areas by displaying a variety of books in the activity centers. Ask children to help you retell or emphasize parts of a story, and then ask them questions informally: “How many bowls of porridge were on the kitchen table? Which one did Goldilocks like best? How do you know?” (See Figure 13-12 .)

Figure 13-12

When literature is a natural part of the environment, children learn to appreciate and use it.

Literature across the Curriculum

Living Together: Reflecting Diversity

Knots on a Counting Rope (Bill Martin, Jr., and John Archambault)

The Big Orange Splot (Daniel Manus Pinkwater)

Mei Li (Thomas Handforth)

Gilberto and the Wind (Marie Hall Ets)

Creating Art

Black Is Brown Is Tan (Arnold Adoff)

Start with a Dot (Cliff Roberts)

Little Blue and Little Yellow (Leo Lionni)

Building Blocks

Changes Changes (Pat Hutchins)

The Big Builders (Edward Joseph Dreany)

Who Built the Bridge? (Norman Bate)

Dramatic Play: On Our Heads!

Martin’s Hats (Joan W. Blos)

Caps for Sale (Esphyr Slobodkina)

Hats Hats Hats (Ann Morris)

Families

When You Were a Baby (Ann Jonas)

All Kinds of Families (Norma Simon)

Whose Mouse Are You? (Robert Kraus)

Discovery/Science: Grow, Growing, Growest!

Growing Vegetable Soup (Lois Ehlert)

The Carrot Seed (Ruth Krauss)

From Seed to Pear (Ali Migutsch)

ABC, Just Like Me!

K Is for Kiss Goodnight: A Bedtime Alphabet (Jill Sardegna)

A to Zen (Ruth Wells)

Grandmother’s Alphabet (Eve Shaw)

Math Lab: 1,2,3, Count with Me!

How Much Is a Million? (David Schwartz)

Roll Over! A Counting Song (Merle Peek)

Ten, Nine, Eight (Molly Bang)

Making Music

Hush Little Baby (Aliki)

Ben’s Trumpet (Rachel Isadora)

One Wide River to Cross (Barbara Emberley)

Having Friends

Friends (Helme Heine)

George and Martha (James Marshall)

Frog and Toad Are Friends (Arnold Lobel)

Books for Zero to Threes

Goodnight Moon (Margaret Wise Brown)

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (Bill Martin, Jr.)

Duerme Bien, Pequeno Oso (Quint Buchholz)

Books for Early Primary

Charlotte’s Web (E. B. White)

How Many Days to America? (Eve Bunting)

Ramona (Beverly Cleary)

Literary Extensions Literary extension experiences are excellent ways to use good literature. A creative teacher uses books and literature to develop other curriculum materials. Translating words from a book into an activity helps a child remember them. Books and stories can be adapted to storytelling, the flannel board, dramatizations, puppets, book games, and audiovisual resources.

Storytelling is as old as humanity. The first time a human being returned to the cave with an adventure to tell, the story was born. Storytelling is the means by which cultural heritage is passed down from one generation to another. Children’s involvement with a story that is being told is almost instantaneous. The storyteller is the medium through which a story comes to life, adding a unique flavor through voice, choice of words, body language, and pacing. The oral tradition is strong in many cultures, and the telling of the tale is memorable. Instead of focusing on a book page, the teacher involves the children directly, with expressions and gestures that draw in the children. Repetition and questions get the children so involved they feel that they have created the story. Young readers want to find the book, and young writers want to draw and retell the story or create their own.

Teachers can use any familiar story, be it The Three Little Pigs or Swimmy (Leo Lionni). Props can be added to draw attention to the story. Flannel board adaptations of stories are helpful; they give the storyteller a sense of security and a method for remembering the story. Children can be involved in the action by placing the characters on the felt board at the appropriate time. Puppets or an assortment of hats can be used as props. Good storytellers enjoy telling the story and communicate their enthusiasm to children.

· Dramatizations have universal appeal as children act out characters from a favorite story. Two- and three-year-olds are introduced to this activity as they act out the motions to finger plays and songs. The “Eensy Weensy Spider” and its accompanying motions are the precursor for dramatization. Story reenactment helps children learn to work together so that their social development is enhanced, as is the cognitive ability to engage in collective representation.

As an extension of Rudolf Steiner’s theory, Waldorf kindergartens include fairy and morality tales. These tales, told on successive days for up to two weeks, culminate in a play (by the children) with the teacher narrating. Whether the child is an observer, walk-on, mime, or actor, the learning is real in each step of the continuum. Older children may choose to write (or dictate) parts or scripts; it is appropriate for 6- to 8-year-olds to have their playmates act out original stories. Once the “right” story has been chosen, the teacher helps the children to retell the story together, set the stage, and let the play begin.

· Puppet shows can involve a large number of children as participants and audience. Children of all ages enjoy watching and putting on a puppet show. Because puppets are people to young children, they become confidants and special friends. Children confide in and protect a puppet, engaging in a dialogue with one or more puppets that is often revealing of the child’s inner struggles and concerns. Teachers can support their efforts by helping them to take turns, suggesting questions and dialogue to them, and involving the audience. The project of puppet making can be quite elaborate and very engaging for older children.

· Book games are a good way to extend the literary experience. Buy two copies of an inexpensive book with readable pictures, such as The Carrot Seed (Ruth Krauss). Tear out the pages and cover each page with clear plastic. Children must then read the pictures to put the book into proper order. A book of rhymes, such as Did You Ever See? (Walter Einsel), lends itself to rhyming games. Children can act out the rhymes from the story line or match rhyming phrases from cards the teacher has made.

· Media materials enlarge the child’s experience with books. The auditory and visual experiences reinforce one another. Putting in a “listening post” where a few children can listen to a story with headphones adds interest to stories. Touch tablets can encourage collaboration, like making stories together or planning out a show for older children. Music brings literature alive; besides tapping into the musical aspect of intelligence, it encourages all children to move and express themselves and, thus, enjoy literature and books even more. The pictures can show children new aspects of the words; sometimes the music or the voices bring the book to life. Often, both happen. Hundreds of children’s stories—classics and modern-day—have been translated to these media. Be judicious with videos, so that the dominance of the visual images does not erase the images from the children’s imaginations.

Acting out characters from a favorite story is culturally relevant and has universal appeal.

Learning to read and write are complex cognitive processes that take time and effort to learn. At the same time, they can involve all developmental domains and be energizing and engaging part of the curriculum. Reading is rocket science, and teachers can help children reach for the skies (see the “ Brain Research Says ” box).

Brain Research Says …

Reading Is Rocket Science! Core Standards at Work

An emerging field of research is developing that has particular promise for early childhood education. Blending psychology, neuroscience, and education, neuroeducational studies are attempting to understand neuroscience discoveries and apply them to educational practice. Frey and Fisher (2010) reviewed decades of research and have found five topics that inform preschool and primary teachers about reading acquisition.

Reading is learned, not innate. “Oral language and written language are fundamentally different. This can best be demonstrated by two recurrent findings: first, that even though most young children without disabilities learn to speak or listen, not all become fluent readers and writers.… Unlike speech, which develops uniformly across languages and cultures and is directly associated with specific brain and motor structures, reading occurs only through the intentional appropriation of existing structures within the brain.” In other words, the reading brain is a relatively new evolutionary element, and early experiences with print are needed to prepare young children for later reading instruction.

Language learning changes the brain. “Experience changes neural connections. Neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to physically change, is an important consideration given that our [teaching] actions can permanently alter the learner’s brain.” Children who are taught well do learn to read, and early learning must include background knowledge. Further, with specific instruction, children with reading difficulties had brain changes that persisted for more than one year on brain scans (Meyler, Keller, Cherkassky, Gabrieli, & Just, 2008).

Repetition can lead to automaticity, making more of the brain available for comprehension. “More cognitive space is needed when learning a new skill, and needed space is reduced over time as the skill becomes automatic.… As specific tasks become automatic, working memory is available for meaning making.” If teachers can help children create schema or chunk information that make remembering easier and decoding less difficult, children can then shift their attention to comprehension, and thus fluency and enjoyment.

Vision plays an important part in human learning. Vision is one of the first senses to develop, and it is the dominant sense in humans; it is probably the single best tool we have for learning. Pictures are easier to remember, more likely to be stored, and more likely to be retrieved than print. Perhaps picture books are superior to basal readers because they pair illustrations with text so well; so maybe comics aren’t such a bad idea after all.

We are hardwired to imitate. Cognitive behavioral theorist Albert Bandura (see Chapter 4 ) conducted research that showed the powerful effect of modeling. According to Berger (2014), “The brain makes use of specialized cells called mirror neuron systems. These unique cells are active when we do something or when we watch someone do something.” Children learn from watching the teacher move his hand across the page of a Big Book and listening to him sound out a word. It is one of the best strategies for beginning readers to use: watch, listen, and then do.

Reading is as complex as rocket science, and we help launch children when early childhood educators know that every brain must be taught to read. Neuroscience gives us clues about how to do that well.

Questions

1. What kind of language activity might be considered “brain friendly”? Why?

2. What do you remember about learning to read? What worked for you, and why?

3. List three curriculum activities or strategies that you consider negative for reading acquisition. Justify your list.

4. 13-2Language and Literacy Skills

5. Teachers translate language development theory into practice as they work with children. Language and literacy skills in the early childhood setting include articulation, receptive language, expressive language, graphic language, and enjoyment. Children’s conversations, their ways of talking, some children’s lack of expressive language, and their ways of asking questions all offer glimpses into their skills.

13-2aArticulation

Articulation is how children actually say sounds and words. Children’s ability to produce sound is a critical part of their connecting the sounds to form speech. Mispronunciation is common and normal, especially in children younger than 5 years of age. The preschool teacher can expect to hear “Thally” for Sally, “wope” for rope, and “buh-sketty” for spaghetti. Children who repeat sounds, syllables, or words in preschool are not stutterers; 85 percent of 2- to 6-year-olds hesitate and repeat when talking. As children talk, teachers listen for their ability to hear and reproduce sounds in daily conversation. Can they hear and produce sounds that differ widely, such as “sit” and “blocks”? Can they produce sounds that differ in small ways, such as “man” and “mat”?

How adults respond to disfluencies can help a child through this normal stage of language development. Chesler (2011) suggests:

· Pay attention to the child when she talks to you. Do not rush her.

· Do not demand speech when a child is upset or feels stressed.

· Do not put children on exhibition by asking them to recite or talk when they do not want to.

· Avoid interrupting a child when he is talking; avoid completing a sentence for him.

· Statements like “slow down” or “Think before You talk” draw attention to his speech and usually cue the child that there is something wrong with the way he talks.

· Make an example of your speech by talking slowly, smoothly, and distinctly.

· 13-2bReceptive Language

· Receptive language is what children acquire when they learn to listen and understand. It is what they hear. With this skill, children are able to understand directions, to answer a question, and to follow a sequence of events. They can understand relationships and begin to predict the outcome of their behavior and that of others. They develop some mental pictures as they listen.

· Children begin early and can become experts in reacting to words, voice, emphasis, and inflection. How many times does the child understand a sentence by the way the words are spoken? For instance:

· “You finally finished your lunch.” (Hooray for you!)

· “You finally finished your lunch?” (You slow poke.)

· Children learn to listen for enjoyment, for the way the wind sounds in the trees, the rhythm of storytelling, or the sound of the car as it brings Mom or Dad home.

13-2cExpressive Language

In the early years, expressive language means the process and steps involved in expressing ideas, feelings, and intentions in language. This includes words, grammar, and elaboration.

Words

Expressive language is the spoken word. Children’s first words are of what is most important to them ( ma-ma, da-da). Adults help children extend their knowledge and vocabulary by using the names of objects and words of action ( walk, run, jump) and feelings ( happy, sad, mad). By describing objects in greater and greater detail, teachers give children new words that increase their skills. Children are then ready to learn that some words have more than one meaning (the word orange, for example, is both a color and a fruit) and that different words can have the same meaning (such as ship and boat being similar objects, or muñeca and doll as the same word in different languages). In addition, teachers need to use care and intentional teaching when working with children whose expressive language and word use is limited. (For more information, see the “ Diversity ” box.)

Diversity

Speaking with a Stutter

All of us have experienced trouble finding words or expressing ourselves clearly from time to time. Young children experience normal breakdowns when they cannot retrieve a word, they are rushed, or they feel intensely.

Stuttering is different. In that case, the person knows exactly what she or he wants to say but cannot coordinate the speech muscles to communicate.

Panico, Daniels, and Claflin (2011) offer a description of stuttering and strategies for the classroom of children 3–8 years of age. Although the cause of stuttering is unknown, the disorder is characterized by repeating parts of words (“p-p-pizza”), repeating a whole word (“my-my-my name is Molly”), prolonging or stretching a sound (“pleeeeease”), or being temporarily unable to produce sound (“pl——ease”).

Children who stutter may start to avoid speaking, show nonspeech behaviors such as eye blinking, or start withdrawing from social interaction or group participation. Further, these children encounter reactions from other children, including avoidance, teasing, and even rejection. While as many as 75 to 80 percent of children who stutter eventually outgrow the disorder, the communication breakdowns can have negative effects on the child even so.

As with other aspects of diversity, teachers play an important role. The teacher has the authority to accept these behaviors and model tolerance and acceptance or not. Panico and his colleagues recommend these four strategies:

· Modify the rate of your speech. Model slower speech, rather than asking the child to slow down. The child likely will imitate your slower pace, which may help the motor aspects of the stuttering.

· Create a relaxed speaking environment. Anxiety-producing conditions often increase (but do not cause) stuttering, and finishing a child’s sentence for him can create more stress than it relieves. Teachers should model a safe affective tone so that the child knows not to feel ashamed.

· Listen attentively. Answer children about what they say, rather than how they said it. You don’t need to focus on how the speech was produced to respond positively.

· Modify the linguistic complexity of your speech. “Stuttering tends to occur when children use longer words, infrequently used words, and longer or more grammatically complex sentences” (Panico, Daniels, & Claflin, 2011). When a child is stuttering, begin to simplify your own speech, allowing the child to modify as well.

These strategies provide a safe place for the child who stutters and teach tolerance of difference and of individual challenges in the program.

Grammar

Basic grammatical structure is learned as children generalize what they hear. They listen to adult speech patterns and use these patterns to organize their language. It helps to hear simple sentences at a young age, with the words in the correct order. Next, children can grasp past tense as well as present, and plural nouns along with the singular. Finally, the use of more complex structures is understood (prepositions, comparatives, various conjugations of verbs).

Elaboration of Language

Elaboration of language takes many, many forms. It is the act of expanding the language. Through description, narration, explanation, and communication, adults elaborate their speech to encourage children to do the same. For instance, communication for children includes talking to themselves and others:

Verbalize a process aloud.	“I’m trying to get the plant out of its pot, but when I turn it upside down, it doesn’t fall out.”
Give and follow directions.	“It’s time to make a choice for cleanup. You find something to do, and I’ll watch you.”
Ask and answer questions.	“How do you feel when she says she won’t play? What can you say? Do?”
Stick to the subject.	“I know you want to go play kickball, but first, let’s solve the problem of the wagon.”
Use speech to get involved.	“What a great house you built. How do you get inside?”

The word gap mentioned earlier in the chapter can be addressed in part by what is sometimes called “the talking cure” (Talbot, 2015). A program called “Providence Talks” is one city’s response to the challenge of encouraging parents to talk more with their children. Providence, Rhode Island, provides case workers who visit homes (particularly of families living in poverty), model interactive language with young children and their parents, and review progress reports that parents record monthly as part of a coaching relationship. Teachers can also encourage expressive language.

13-2dGraphic Language

“Talk written down” is the essence of graphic language. The child now learns that there is a way to record, copy, and send to another person one’s thoughts. Because words and letters are simply “lines and dots and scribbles” to young children, the teacher and parent must demonstrate how meaningful graphic language can be. Moreover, the translation of talk into print is a cognitive task (see Chapter 12 ), so children’s intellectual development, as well as their language abilities, are at play when learning about the printed word.

A listening post can provide additional interest in books and stories.

13-2eEnjoyment

To encourage language is to promote enjoyment in using it. As teachers converse with children, parents, and other adults, they model for children how useful and fun language can be. Knowing the power and pleasures of language gives children the motivation for the harder work of learning to read and write.

Children learn to enjoy language by participating in group discussion and being encouraged to ask questions. Reading and listening to stories and poems every day are essential parts of any program. It should also include children’s literature and stories children dictate or write themselves.

Word play and rhyming are fun as well as educational. Group language games are useful, such as asking the questions, “Did you ever see a bat with a hat? A bun having fun? A bee with…?” and letting the children add the rest. Begin a song, such as “Do You Know the Muffin Man?” and add the children’s names. Whatever contributes to the enjoyment of language supports its growth, from varying voice and tone to fit the situation (in storytelling, dramatic play, and ordinary activity periods) to spontaneous rhyming songs.

13-3Effective Approaches for Curricula

Planning a language curriculum requires educators to keep several key points in mind, such as providing a kind of envelope of language for all children (not just the more talkative ones), and inviting the use of home language and dialects to bridge learning the dominant language. Taking into account both the indoor and outdoor space, schedule, and skill levels of children allows for a better match between the themes or activities presented and what teachers want children to learn.

13-3aConsiderations

When considering how to work with young children in language development, teachers should keep several things in mind:

· Children need an “envelope of language.” Be a play-by-play announcer, providing language labels for everything the child does and touches. For example, babies need communication from caring adults: “Acknowledge the baby by name, wait for the baby’s response, include your observation of the baby’s response in your next message, and say what you see or think you see” (Kovach & Ros-Voseles, 2011). When you expose children to quality literature every day, you ensure that they view both social and linguistic communication as pleasant things to do.

· Children must use language to learn it. Adults often spend much of their time with children talking—to, at, for, or about them. “Be careful not to dominate when talking with children. Lean toward more child than adult talk” (Epstein, 2009). Children’s conversations with each other are important in learning the basics of how to take turns and keep to one topic and of saying what they mean, getting their ideas and themselves heard and accepted. Talk time with peers and adults, in both structured (group times) and nonstructured (free play) situations, allows children to practice and refine language skills. Listening and speaking are two of the four language arts (the other two being reading and writing; see Figure 13-13 ).

Figure 13-13

Teachers do more than insist “Listen to me” to encourage receptive language.

Helping Children with Receptive Language

· Give clear directions. “Please go and sit on the rug next to the chairs,” instead of “Go sit over there.”

· Let children ask questions. Give them acceptable answers. For example, repeat a phrase from the child’s last sentence that asks the child to try again: “You want what?” or “You ate what?” Or cast the question back to a child by changing the phrase “Where did you put it?” into “You put it where?”

· Give instructions in a sequence. “Put your lunch on your desk, and then wash your hands. Then you are ready to go to lunch.” It often helps to ask the children what they think they are going to do: “How do you get ready for lunch? What comes first? Next?”

· Try to understand what the child means, regardless of the actual language. Look for the purpose and intent beyond what the child may have said. This is particularly important with toddlers, non-English speakers, and newcomers to the class or program.

· Ask children to state their thoughts out loud. “Tell me what you think is going to happen to the eggs in the incubator. Why do you think some might hatch and some might not?”

· Use literature, poetry, and your own descriptions. Give children an idea of how words can be used to paint verbal and mental pictures. Ask questions about children’s own images and dreams. To older children, read aloud from books without pictures.

· The most verbal children tend to monopolize language interactions. Research shows that teachers interact verbally with the children who are most skilled verbally. Seek out and support language development in those with fewer skills, generally by drawing them out individually through

· (1)

reading the unspoken (body) language that communicates their ideas, needs, and feelings and

· (2)

helping them express verbally those ideas, needs, and feelings.

· Adults should know the individual child. Consistency in adult–child relationships may be as important for language as for effective development during the early years. If so, teachers must have a meaningful relationship with each child, including knowing the parents and how they communicate with their child.

Whole group is for “talk time,” as well as for engaged listening. Science and poetry blend as children make a sensory investigation of a pineapple, then present their poem and answer questions, meeting Common Core standards.

· Home languages are to be invited into the program. Language is a powerful way that families transmit their love, culture, and identity to their children. When centers do not use the home language, they reinforce existing societal messages that a child’s language is lower in status than the dominant language. “Much recent research has found that the home language and cultural practices of your dual language learning (DLL) children are fragile and susceptible to dominance by the English language and mainstream culture” (Espinosa, 2010). Having explicit language goals around welcoming and using home languages in the program are important (see the list of references in the “ Special Topic ” at the end of this chapter).

· Dialect differences expand your speech community. Dialects are as much a part of children’s culture and identity as is their home language. Providers may mistakenly see children speaking their dialect as less capable, or even delayed. We need to not make the assumption that different means “less than.”

· Some children may have speech and language disorders. Early detection of and intervention for speech and language disorders are possible without the teacher being a speech therapist. With a basic knowledge of typical speech development and signposts of speech and language problems, the perceptive teacher can alert families and recommend specialist assessment and input. Once a child with a disability comes into a program with specific learning objectives, the staff plans how to address those needs in the curriculum and with the children (see Figure 13-14 ).

· The language of the teacher influences the classroom. What teachers say—and how they say it—are both important. However, what they do not say communicates the most to children in their struggle to gain mastery of language. Teachers provide a rich environment and a high quality of interaction with the child that encourages all language skills. Preschool teachers’ use of sophisticated vocabulary and analytic talk about books, combined with early support for literacy in the home, can predict fourth-grade reading comprehension and work recognition (Dickenson, 2011). Teachers engage in conversations with both individual children and small groups. Whenever possible, there are sustained conversations (with multiple conversational turns, complex ideas, and rich vocabulary) and decontextualized language (talking about events beyond the here and now) concerning what is past, future, or imaginary (“What do you think we will see at the firehouse?”).

Figure 13-14

A checklist for getting your program ready for children with communication and language disorders.

Get Your Program Ready: Language Disorders Checklist

Ask yourself these questions, and then complete the checklist.	Ready	Not
Is information presented in multiple formats? Use pictures, picture schedules, symbols, and words to communicate with children.	❑	❑
Do teachers supplement spoken words with eye contact and gestures?	❑	❑
Do teachers modify their language to reflect the developmental levels of the children they are speaking to? For example, use shorter sentences when talking with 3-year-olds and longer ones with 5-year-olds.	❑	❑
Do teachers frequently check to make sure that children understand what was said? Look for signs such as eye contact and gestures; consider asking children to repeat back what they heard.	❑	❑
Do teachers encourage children to “use their words,” and then model appropriate language?	❑	❑
Does the classroom library include a variety and range of books suitable for different ages and developmental levels?	❑	❑
Do teachers read books with children one on one in addition to reading aloud to a group?	❑	❑
Do teachers encourage children who use language to ask for materials and join in activities?	❑	❑
Do adults have frequent conversations with children on topics of interest to the children?	❑	❑

Enlarge Table

(Watson, A., & McCathren. R. 2009. Including children with special needs: Are you and your early childhood program ready? Young Children 64(2): 22–28. Reprinted with permission of the National Association for the Education of Young Children.)

13-3bCurriculum Planning for Language and Literacy Development

Teachers who plan curricula for language skills, just as for cognitive development, focus on the setting, schedule, skills, and themes. They organize the environment and activities to help children acquire linguistic skills of their own (NAEYC, 2009).

In the Early Childhood Setting

Indoors Indoor space is arranged so that children practice speaking and listening and, in programs for older children, reading and writing. Areas can be arranged to enhance language development as follows:

Art

· Have signs and pictures that show where things are kept.

· Ask children to describe the materials they use.

Blocks

· Ask children to give each other directions for where blocks go and what they are used for.

· Label block shelves with shapes and words.

· Sketch children’s structures and then write their verbal descriptions.

Cooking

· Label utensils.

· Describe actions (pour, measure, stir).

· Use recipe cards with both pictures and words.

Dramatic Play

· Provide a variety of equipment for a diversity of play, including male and female clothing and accessories, as well as ethnic choices.

· Set up spaces in addition to a “house/kitchen,” such as a “readers’ theater” in which children choose a story to act out and eventually write their own scripts.

· Offer cooking and eating utensils, objects, and tools that reflect cultural and linguistic diversity, such as a tortilla press and molcajete in the kitchen and different kinds of combs and brushes for the dolls, beginning with the cultures of the children in your program and then adding other groups.

· Have plenty of child-sized mirrors.

Small groups are language-intensive activities that call for teachers to provide material and experiences in everyone’s home language.

Language/Library

· Label the bookshelf, cassette player, and computer in children’s languages.

· Help children make their own books that involve description (My family is…), narration (It is winter when…), and recall (Yesterday, I…).

· Have children “write” notes, lists, or letters to one another, the teachers, and their families.

· Develop a writing center with a typewriter, office supplies, and so on.

· Use translation software (Google translate or iTranslate on mobile devices) to find and use key words.

· Use digital photos to make class books that show things and activities in the environment and that parents can then label with words of home languages.

Math/Manipulatives

· Recognize this area as a place for self-communication, such as children talking and singing to themselves while they work.

· Explain similarities and differences of materials and structures.

· Make your own electronic games with interactive whiteboards, including adding new languages.

· Use digital photos to make matching games.

· Include books that support math [such as Cones, Cylinders, & Cubes (Tana Hoban); One Hundred Hungry Ants (Elinor Pinczes)].

Science/Discovery/Technology

· Label all materials.

· Ask questions about what is displayed.

· Encourage children’s displays, with their dictated words nearby.

· Graph growth and changes of plants, animals, children, and experiments.

Include learning words and sounds when studying physical science topics (“All About Bugs and Icky Things”).

Teaching With Intention

Communication Competence: Strategies for Curriculum Development

Research shows that effective communication is a significant skill that contributes to school readiness, academic success, and social success. Early childhood programs are increasingly diverse. “Differences in children’s family backgrounds (for example, culture and language) and individual characteristics (such as learning ability and educational experience) pose both challenges and opportunities for early childhood teachers to be creative and flexible practitioners” (Chen & Shire, 2011). They also report that more than 150 languages are spoken among American public school children and 13 percent of total student enrollment was served under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) during the 2007–2008 school year.

Effective communication is a goal for both children who are dual language learners and children with special needs, and intentional teaching is key (based on Chen & Shire, 2011):

Dual Language Goals	Teaching Strategy
Build respect and positive connections.	Ask about family background (country of birth, languages spoken), culture (food, customs, values), and children’s experiences (extended family, prior schooling).
Understand receptive skills likely precede expressive language.	Use pictures of objects, activity areas, or expressive faces to match with the words.
Determine the level of individual communication skills in English.	Use individual skill set to provide scaffolding to English.
Be aware that children may communicate well in their home language.	Engage use of home languages to count, name objects, sort by size, and so forth.
Special Needs Goals
Scaffold children’s learning.	Bring a “master player” to assist or be a model.
Build on individual strengths.	Highlight child’s knowledge and skills.
Collaborate with other involved adults.	Share observations and strategies regularly.
Create an environment that supports differences in learners.	Answer children’s questions about learning differences; read books about children with challenges (e.g., Cleversticks, by Bernard Ashley)

Think about This

1. You have a child in your kindergarten who has been diagnosed with an articulation speech disorder. Which of these strategies would work with her? Why?

2. Your class has four children who are learning English; two speak Spanish at home, one has home languages of Mandarin and English, and one child speaks Farsi. How will they communicate at first in your program? How can you help each one? What might work well with all of them?

3. What is your home language? What do you remember of your first schooling experiences and language? Was it easy to speak up? How did you interact with your teacher and with other children when using language? What can you remember about learning to read? Was it easy or difficult? Can you recall reading aloud to others? How do these memories inform your educational practices?

Outdoors Outdoor space emphasizes gross motor movements, so motor skills can be described and pointed out by teachers and children, as both use words of action and of feeling. For example, what actions does it take to get a wagon up the hill? How does a child’s face feel when swinging up high? How do people sit? Move? Carry things? Download authentic music, rhymes, and dances from different cultures and countries to use in music and movement activities.

Daily Schedule

Language and literacy skills are used throughout the day and are especially useful in transitions and routines, which are more manageable if the children understand what is happening and exactly what they are to do. Teacher language helps talk children through the process so that they can internalize what they are asked to do. Arrival is an easy time to reinforce name recognition. Mark cubbies with names and photos, and comment on the names that children find there. Children’s belongings should also be labeled. These steps take a little time to make but can increase children’s awareness of print.

Snack/lunch tables at one preschool began to exchange notes (“Dear Teacher Adrienne’s Table: What are you doing? What are you eating?”). They passed notes to each other’s groups, including the sign language that two children used (“How do you sign banana? What’s the sign for graham crackers?”).

A chart that shows in pictures and written language the steps that children are to take from lunch to nap is invaluable, and children refer to it daily. Preschool teachers often use this time to have regular and predictable one-on-one conversations with a teacher. The teacher prompts children by asking what they want to talk about and then concludes conversations with a pat and a transition sentence, such as “I’ll see you when you wake up.”

When things feel unfinished or interrupted, a teacher can write a note to “Please save” for the child who does not have time to finish a project, or they can write children’s dictated notes to family members on their way out after dropping off their children.

Group times, with finger plays, songs, and stories, are language-intensive activities. Children’s articulation skills are strengthened, as is receptive language through listening to others:

· When children discuss daily news and important events, brainstorm ideas about a subject, or report on what they did earlier in the day, they gain experience in listening and speaking.

· Children can also dramatize familiar stories and finger plays.

· Using visual aids or name cards gives children experience in graphic language. These might include having felt letters for the song “B-I-N-G-O”; numbers for the finger play “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe”; or name cards for the activity “I’m Thinking of Someone…” Children enjoy the cadence and rhythm of language spoken or chanted.

A language-rich environment includes a welcoming spot for books and reading.

Present children with interesting challenges and follow up with a documentation panel with pictures, dialogue, and questions (Chalufour & Worth, 2012).

13-4Special Topic: Curriculum and Dual Language Learners

Language and literacy curriculum development is incomplete unless it addresses the special topic of second language learning (see the previous sections on “ Dual Language Learning ” and “ Bilingualism ” in this chapter). Briefly, the research base shows:

· Attending to the social, emotional, and cognitive skills of dual language learners in early childhood enhances their schooling experiences (Ballentyne, Sanderman, & McLaughlin, 2008).

· Dual language learners may learn to read best if taught both in their native language and English from early in the process of formal schooling (Shanahan & Beck, 2007).

· In addition to clear, intentional interactions that focus on important instructional goals, DLL children require adaptations to be made while they are in the process of acquiring English (Espinosa, 2010).

· 13-4aLanguage Goals

· Each program must first decide on its language goals. Is there a full dual language approach, in which half the spoken language is in English and half in children’s home language? This 50:50 approach works with bilingual/biliterate staff and a single home language of the children. Or is the program conducted primarily in English with home language support? This 90:10 or 80:20 approach is more likely to be used when fewer of the staff are fluent, or if there are multiple home languages spoken in the group. Who teaches, in which language, and in what spaces, and during which parts of the day are other decisions that need to be made.

· In a perfect world, all dual language learners would begin receiving structured bilingual support at age three. “It takes at least four years to develop fluency,” says dual-language expert Conor P. Williams. If children don’t start learning English until kindergarten, they will not achieve literacy benchmarks for the early reading and writing years. Moreover, most kindergartens in the United States are English-only instruction, so children are thrust into a world without familiar language. “It’s like they’re halfway to learning the piano and we’re like ‘OK, here’s a guitar.’” (Mongeau, 2014).

13-4bEnvironment and Program Strategies

Support for second language acquisition includes environmental organization, language techniques, and classroom activities (see Figure 13-16 ). The following recommendations serve as guidelines for teachers of children who are acquiring a second language:

· Understand how children learn a second language. There is a developmental sequence of second language acquisition. First, children may continue to speak their home language with both those who speak it and those that do not. Next, children begin to understand that others do not understand their home language and give up using it, substituting nonverbal behavior that may appear less mature. Allowing them to watch and listen and also interpreting and inviting children into play helps. Third, children begin to break out of the nonverbal period with a combination of telegraphic and formulaic language. One-word phrases such as “no,” “yes,” “mine,” and “hey” all telegraph meaning, as do catchwords such as “ok,” “lookit,” and “I dunno” which are used as formulas for communicating. Finally, productive use of the new language appears. The perceptive teacher sees that it is a positive step in a cumulative process.

· Make a plan for the use of the two languages. Try to have bilingual staff, or at least one teacher who specializes in each language. The children are then exposed to models in both the home language and English. Many programs in communities in which the children and educators have the same first language background use the children’s home language while learning English in a naturalistic setting. They may start a year with the language of the children and gradually use more English until the languages are equal.

· Accept individual differences. Take note of both the style and the time frame of language learning. Children bring a range of individual differences to learning a second language. Motivation to learn, exposure to the dominant language, the age of the child in relationship to the group, and temperament can all affect language acquisition. Do not insist that a child speak, but rather invite and try to include the child in classroom activities. Assume developmental equivalence; that is, that the children, although different, are all normal. For example, Maria Elena just does not come and sit at group time. Allow her to watch from a distance and believe that she is learning, rather than be worried or irritated that she has not joined the group yet.

· Support children’s attempts to communicate. Encouraging children’s communication bids rather than correcting them helps children try to learn. Recognize developmentally equivalent patterns. For instance, Kidah may not say the word car but can show it to you when you ask. Receptive language precedes expressive language.

· Maintain an additive philosophy. Recognize that children are acquiring more and new language skills, not simply replacing their primary linguistic skills. Asking Giau and his family about their words, foods, and customs allows teachers to use a style and content that are familiar to the Vietnamese, thus smoothing the transition and adding to an already rich base of knowledge.

· Provide a stimulating, active, and diverse environment. “A first step in planning a welcoming environment for young dual language learners, as well as all children, is to think about the messages and impressions that the classroom communicates. Ask yourself if what hangs on the walls, what is displayed, and the materials offer a welcoming feeling for culturally and linguistically different children” (de Melendez & Ostertag, 2012). Allow many opportunities for language in meaningful social interactions and responsive experiences with all children. Have a set routine so that children can anticipate and anchor onto a predictable sequence. Provide a safe haven so that children can spend some time away from communicatively demanding activities and can do things that do not always require language to succeed. Make effective use of story time, increasing the amount of time when you tell or read aloud stories; the predictable plot and repetitive language help children follow along and understand. Choose chants, finger plays, and songs for the same reasons.

· Use informal observations to guide the planning of activities. Provide spontaneous interactions for speakers of other languages. Teachers need to expand the types of observations used for assessment to see a child’s physical, cognitive, or emotional abilities in language-free situations. Additionally, a home visit observation may help to learn how a child is doing in home language development. Also, only by actively watching does a teacher find special moments in a classroom to help a child be accepted and join in. Seeing a group of girls building a zoo, a teacher gives a basket of wild animals to Midori. Walking with her to the block corner, she offers to stock the zoo and then helps all the girls make animal signs in Japanese and English. Thus, Midori enters the play in a positive and strong way.

Figure 13-16

A checklist for teachers to examine their daily practices with children who are acquiring a second language (with help from Ansari, 2011).

Checklist for DLL-Friendly Classroom Practices

1. Help children make sense of language.

What is their “language dictionary”?

What can their family experts tell you?

2. Provide comprehensible input.

What information talk can you provide in the moment?

What multisensory experiences can you plan?

3. Be prepared for the “silent period.”

How do they communicate when they aren’t speaking?

What sign of progress and learning do you see?

In what ways is the child able to communicate?

4. Be sensitive to the affective filter.

How can you tell when the child is in emotional discomfort?

When do you invite participation?

5. Create a connection.

What is your morning greeting?

What is the predictable schedule?

When does the child need your support?

6. Build a community of acceptance.

Does the environment reflect the child’s life?

How is the child’s home language validated?

Have you helped the child find buddies?

How have you worked with the family?

7. Examine teacher behaviors.

When/how are teachers helpful and encouraging?

When/how have teachers ignored or been unhelpful?

Professional Resource Download

13-4cFamily Contacts

Find out about your families. Establish ties between home and school. School learning is most likely to occur when family values reinforce school expectations. Parents and teachers do not have to do the same things, but they must have a mutual understanding and respect for each other and goals for children. For example, Honwyma’s parents and his teacher talk together about what elements of the Hopi language and culture can be brought into the classroom. When there are differences between the Hopi patterns and those of the school, teachers try to accommodate.

Provide an accepting climate. The classroom climate must value culturally and linguistically diverse young children. Teachers must come to grips with their cultural ethnocentricity and learn about the languages, dialects, and cultures beyond their own. It is critical to value all ways of achieving developmental milestones, not just those of the teacher’s culture or educational experience.

Use multiple strategies to involve families. Since access to information in the home language helps progress in both languages, digital technologies can help teachers find appropriate materials and games in languages so that children can get active practice. “Technology tools can be effective for dual language learners by providing access to a family’s home language and culture while supporting English language learning” (NAEYC, 2012). Finding words in a home language, or recording a child’s speech for later translation or a parent’s expressions to use with a new child, can support both access and comfort.

Education M7 Homework

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