Did You Hear Me? (Auditory Memory in Young Children)

Auditory memory, the ability to remember things you hear, is a critical component of learning.  Often, it seems like children aren’t paying attention to what we said, or didn’t hear what we said, but it could also be that they can’t remember what we said.  Auditory memory problems are not uncommon and can be an indicator of future learning challenges.

Auditory memory involves taking in information that is presented orally, processing that information, storing the information in the brain, and recalling the information.   Children who struggle with auditory memory often have difficulties in:

• Following oral directions
• Reading
• Spelling
• Vocabulary
• Copying text
• Taking notes

One common, and simple, measure of auditory memory is digit span (how many digits a child can remember).  The standard for young children (up to 6 years of age) is one digit per year of age.  A 2-year-old should be able to remember 2 digits, a 3-year-old should be able to remember 3 digits, etc.

Because these difficulties are so easy to assess informally, and because the skill is so important to learning, an early childhood program is a great place to start overcoming any challenges in this area.  Besides that, activities to improve auditory memory can be a lot of fun!  Here are a few suggestions:

• Beading Partners—two children (or one adult and one child) sit back-to-back.  Each one needs several stringing beads and a string.  One person strings some beads, then tells their partner what they strung.  The partner has to reproduce the string without looking at it.  When they are done, they compare strings to see if the child matched his partner’s string.
• Great Calculations—prepare some cards printed with the number of digits you want a child to practice remembering.  Prepare a few cards with one more digit than your target and a few cards with one less digit.  Have one child draw a card from a basket and read the digits slowly to his partner.  The partner will input the digits on a calculator.  The children will compare the card to the calculator to see if the answer is correct.  
• Group Memory Games—Go around a circle with each person adding to “I’m going on a trip and I need to pack…”  Each person recites each item that was already mentioned and adds one more item to the list.  For example, “I’m going on a trip and I need to pack a toothbrush.”  The next person might say, “I’m going on a trip and I need to pack a toothbrush and my shoes.” 

Enjoy improving a child’s auditory memory…and perhaps your own in the process!

Misty

Handwriting—Right from the Start

Since I work as a Reading Specialist in my other life, I have recently had a couple of friends ask me about handwriting suggestions for their children.  Their questions, and a couple of new students with atrocious handwriting, have reminded me of how critically important it is to teach children proper handwriting skills.  Breaking bad habits in handwriting is EXTREMELY difficult; it’s soooo much easier to teach proper handwriting in the beginning.  So, my appeal to you as early educators is to teach correct handwriting in your programs and teach proper handwriting techniques to parents so that they can reinforce it at home.

Proper handwriting can certainly make a child’s written work more legible, but it does more than that.  It can help keep the child’s hand, wrist and arm from becoming overly fatigued when writing.  It can also help with the problem of letter reversals.

As with most other skills that children acquire, there are foundational skills that need to be in place before the child is ready to write.  These skills are:

• Small muscle development
• Eye-hand coordination
• Visual-perceptual skills—being able to tell what is different and what is the same, recognize forms, and follow the movements to make the forms
• The ability to hold the crayon, pencil, etc.
• The ability to form basic strokes
• The ability to understand the conventions of written language—top to bottom, left to right.

Improving the small muscle development of even the youngest child is a way to start preparing for handwriting.  Something as simple as “tummy-time” for infants can help strengthen the child’s wrist muscles in anticipation of eventual handwriting.  “Crab walking” does the same thing for older children.  Playing with playdough also helps strengthen the muscles in the fingers and wrist.  Other activities for developing these small muscles, while increasing eye-hand coordination include playing with squeeze toys or fidgets (like stress balls), using clothespins or tongs to pick up small items, and stringing beads.  Visual-perceptual skills can be acquired through completing jigsaw puzzles and doing matching activities.

While a very young child starts by holding a crayon in his fist, children who are beginning to write should have developed a more mature grip.  If a child is having difficulty developing a proper grip, there are tools like pencil grips that are commercially available.  If you’re not sure about what constitutes a good grip, there are a lot of online resources or, if you know an Occupational Therapist, I’m sure they would be willing to talk with you about it.  If the child is wrapping his wrist around when he writes rather than extending it, you can do wrist strengthening exercises and have the child write either on a vertical whiteboard (or chalkboard) or on a slanted board on the desk or table. 

There are a lot of free traceable downloads available to help children understand the basic strokes required in handwriting—top to bottom, left to right, diagonals, and circles.  Just make sure that you teach the children the proper strokes; don’t just give them the paper and let them make the strokes however they think they should.  Throughout the child’s time with you, you should be demonstrating the top-to-bottom, left-to-right conventions of our language.  When you read a big-book to children, use your hand to follow along with what you’re reading.  Any time children are writing, they should be writing from left to right. 

If children are taught correct letter formation from the start, letter reversals will be virtually eliminated.  For example, the two most confused letters are “b” and “d”.  A lowercase “b” should be formed with the line first, then the circle.  A lowercase “d”, on the other hand, is formed with the circle first, then the line.  If children learn to form them this way, and are taught a solid left-to-right progression, they will have much less difficulty in discriminating between these two letters.

So, from someone who works extensively with elementary-age children with very bad handwriting habits, please, please, please, teach them proper handwriting from the beginning.  And, don’t forget to teach their parents the same thing.  Many parents weren’t taught proper handwriting, so don’t know how to make sure their children are forming their letters correctly.

Misty

Early Math—Making the Time

For the past couple of weeks, we’ve been talking about a newly-released guide from the US Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences entitled Teaching Math to Young Children.  They provide 5 recommendations for teaching math to young children.  The first recommendations are to “teach number and operations using a developmental progression”, “teach geometry, patterns, measurement, and data analysis using a developmental progression,” to “use progress monitoring to ensure that math instruction builds on what each child knows,” and to “teach children to view and describe their world mathematically.” This week, we will talk about the fifth and final recommendation, to “dedicate time each day to teaching math, and integrate math instruction throughout the school day.”

Up to this point, we have seen the numbers, operations, and concepts children need to understand to help them explore and explain their world, how to make sure that each student is acquiring these concepts and making sure they can apply these concepts to real life.  We now move to our own awareness of the use of math throughout the curriculum and making sure that we seize opportunities to teach math whenever we can.

The recommended strategies for setting aside dedicated time for teaching math daily and integrating math instruction throughout the school day include:

• Have a set plan for daily math instruction.  This can be done in both large groups and small groups.
• Include math in routines and daily activities.  During morning circle time, we can discuss “We have 8 boys here today and 10 girls here.  We have 18 children all together.”
• Point out math across the curriculum.  In a science lesson, we can find and describe patterns we find in nature.  In art, we can talk about what shapes we find in a particular work of art.
• Create a math-rich environment.  Include items like blocks, foam shapes, different colored beads and cubes, measuring materials (ruler, scale, measuring cups), and sorting bins.
• Play math games.

For more information and suggestions on implementing these recommendations, check out the guide at: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/pdf/practice_guides/early_math_pg_111313.pdf#page=18

Misty

Early Math—Living in a Mathematical World

For the past couple of weeks, we’ve been talking about a newly-released guide from the US Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences entitled Teaching Math to Young Children.  They provide 5 recommendations for teaching math to young children.  The first recommendations are to “teach number and operations using a developmental progression”, “teach geometry, patterns, measurement, and data analysis using a developmental progression,” and to “use progress monitoring to ensure that math instruction builds on what each child knows.”  This week, we will talk about the fourth recommendation, to “teach children to view and describe their world mathematically.” 

Through the first recommendations, we understand the numbers, operations, and concepts children need to understand to help them explore and explain their world and how to make sure that each student is acquiring these concepts.  We then work on making sure that they can apply these concepts to real life…kind of like the geometry student who wants to know “when will I ever need this”. 

The recommended strategies for viewing and describing the world mathematically include:

• Teaching children to solve math problems informally.  We don’t start with an equation like 3+2=5, we start with “If you have 3 blocks and get 2 more, how many do you have all together now?”
• Teach children formal math vocabulary.  Now that they have the basic math concepts, we can start explaining that “subtract” means the same thing as “take away”, describing who is “first” in line, or which stack of blocks has “more” or “less” than another.
• Open-ended questions.  This is an area where early childhood teachers excel!  Questions with set answers can assess a child’s knowledge, but not encourage deeper thinking.  Use questions that start with “how could we find out”, “how else could we”, or something else along those lines.
• Talk about math in everyday situations.  Encourage children to help out with everyday tasks that involve math concepts.  “How many cups do we need for snack time for everybody to have a drink?”  “How did you know that?” 

For more information and suggestions on implementing these recommendations, check out the guide at: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/pdf/practice_guides/early_math_pg_111313.pdf#page=18

Misty

Early Math—Progress Monitoring

For the past couple of weeks, we've been talking about a newly-released guide from the US Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences entitled Teaching Math to Young Children.  They provide 5 recommendations for teaching math to young children.  The first two recommendations are to “teach number and operations using a developmental progression” and to “teach geometry, patterns, measurement, and data analysis using a developmental progression.”  This week, we will talk about the third recommendation, to “use progress monitoring to ensure that math instruction builds on what each child knows.”

Through the first two recommendations, we understand the numbers, operations, and concepts children need to understand to help them explore and explain their world.  Like anything else that we do in teaching children, we need to identify which of these concepts each child has mastered and which ones need more practice.  We can then teach new concepts sequentially. 

The recommended strategies for progress monitoring include:

• Use introductory activities, observations, and assessments to determine each child’s existing math knowledge, or the level of understanding or skill he or she has reached on a developmental progression.  You are probably already doing this in compiling portfolios on each child and/or utilizing developmental checklists on a regular basis.
• Tailor instruction to each child’s needs, and relate new ideas to his or her existing knowledge.  What interests the child and how can you use that interest to further his or her understanding of the math concept you are teaching?  For example—count the musical instruments, arrange the dinosaurs by size, sort the blocks by shape.
• Assess, record, and monitor each child’s progress so that instructional goals and methods can be adjusted as needed.  Does the child need more practice in a particular skill or is he or she ready to move on to the next concept?

For more information and suggestions on implementing these recommendations, check out the guide at: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/pdf/practice_guides/early_math_pg_111313.pdf#page=18

Misty

Early Math—Understanding Shapes, Patterns, and Measurement

Last week we started talking about a newly-released guide from the US Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences entitled Teaching Math to Young Children.  Their first recommendation is to “teach number and operations using a developmental progression.”  This week, we’ll talk about the second recommendation, to “teach geometry, patterns, measurement, and data analysis using a developmental progression.”  Again, there is a focus on developmental progression, but this recommendation is stretching last week’s skills a bit. 

While children must understand numbers and operations, they also have to see how mathematical concepts exist in the world around them and how they can use those concepts to explore and explain their world. 

Early concepts include:

• Shapes—Recognizing, naming, and comparing shapes, then combining and separating those shapes to create new shapes.
• Patterns—Finding, identifying, extending, correcting and creating patterns. 
• Measurement—Using both standard and nonstandard units and tools for measurement. 
• Graphing—Collecting and organizing information and representing the information graphically.

For more information and suggestions on activities to teach these concepts to children, check out the guide at: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/pdf/practice_guides/early_math_pg_111313.pdf#page=18

Misty

Early Math—Understanding Numbers and Operations

The US Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences has recently released a guide entitled Teaching Math to Young Children.  The goal of the publication is to provide specific, evidence-based recommendations on teaching math to young children.  They provide 5 specific recommendations.  We will spend the next few weeks going through those recommendations. 

The first recommendation is to “teach number and operations using a developmental progression.”  Just like most things that we learn, there are foundational concepts and skills that must be gained before the higher-level skills can be learned.  Good teachers can determine which concepts and skills their students possess and, thereby, understand what they need to learn next. 

The first concepts of early number knowledge to be acquired are:

• Small-number recognition—to be able to recognize by sight how many items are in a collection without having to count them.  Initially, work on up to 3 items, then increase to up to 5 items.
• One-to-one correspondence—to be able to assigning a counting number to each item in a collection to determine how many total items are in the collection.  The child must understand that each item receives one, and only one, number.
• Compare quantities—to be able to use counting and number words to compare two collections and use words like “less” and “more” to describe the relationship between the collections. The child must understand that each number is exactly one more than the previous number.
• Solve basic problems—children can add or subtract items from the collection to determine “how many are there now” when items are added and “how many are left” when some are removed.

For more information and suggestions on activities to teach these concepts to children, check out the guide at: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/pdf/practice_guides/early_math_pg_111313.pdf#page=18

Misty

Crime-Fighting Teachers

Many years ago, when I taught Kindergarten, I saw a cartoon that depicted picketers in front of the capitol complaining “No More Money for Schools” and “Build More Prisons”.  As sad as it was, it seemed to so well express legislative priorities. 

Research shows the correlation between high-quality early education and quality of life issues, such as high school graduation and jail time.  The group Fight Crime: Invest in Kids studies crime prevention strategies, works to make the public and policymakers aware of the findings, and urges investment in research-proven programs.  They identify themselves as a group of  “nearly 5,000 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, attorneys general and other law enforcement leaders and violence survivors”. 

The United States currently has about 2 million criminals incarcerated at the cost of about $75 billion per year.  A study in Chicago showed that children enrolled in high-quality child care or parent coaching programs were 20 percent less likely to be arrested for a felony or be incarcerated as young adults than their peers.  This doesn’t include the benefits like increased high school graduation rates, better health, or less receipt of welfare.  Recent research demonstrates that society profits, financially, by $25,000 per child served in a high-quality early education program when you deduct the cost of the program from the lifetime savings. 

Of course, those of us who provide care realize that the money is nothing compared to the positive impact on the lives of these children. So...to all of you who provide high-quality child care....well done, thank you, and keep up the good work! It truly does make a difference.

Misty

Reading for a Better Vocabulary

Vocabulary development is huge for young children.    Low vocabulary is one leading indicator of children who are at-risk for reading difficulties.  And the problem starts very early.  Researchers have found that children from low-income families may start Kindergarten with 10,000 fewer words in their vocabularies than their classmates.    

One great, simple way of increasing the vocabulary of children, even very young children, is to read with or to them.  Most teachers recommend reading at least 20 minutes each day.  A few years ago I ran across a chart that really brought the importance of that reading time home to me.  I’ve shared it our parents every summer since then and wanted to share it with you today. 



It’s hard for me to look at this graphic and not be astounded each time.  The difference between reading about 5 minutes a day and 20 minutes a day is 1.5 million more words per year.  The value of that increase and practice with vocabulary cannot be overstated.

Misty

Happy Belated Birthday, Dr. Seuss

I am behind this year in wishing Dr. Seuss a happy birthday.  By the time I realized it was coming up, I was already involved in the 3-week series about identifying, reporting and preventing child abuse.  So, I now wish him a belated happy birthday.  (He would have been 110 years old on March 2.)

So, why do I think Dr. Seuss is so important that he needs to be remembered every year?  Actually, I think he’s important enough that he should be remembered much more frequently than that.  Dr. Seuss taught us two very important things about reading.  1) The basics are very, very important, and 2) reading should be a blast. 

The basics:

• knowing the letters of the alphabet and the sounds they make—Dr. Seuss’s ABC
• identifying beginning or ending sounds--Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!
• manipulating sounds through rhyming—Hop on Pop

Reading should be a blast:

• any Dr. Seuss book!  (rhythm, rhyme, repetition, goofy words, life lessons…what’s not to like?)

Happy reading!!

Misty

Coordination of Early Learning

This week we’ll finish up our discussion of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s report “The First Eight Years: Giving Kids a Foundation for Lifetime Success” and the low academic scores of American third-graders.  The Foundation’s first two recommendation to improve outcomes for our children are to “support parents as they care for their children” and to “improve access to quality early care and education, health care and other services.”  Their third and final recommendation is to “ensure that care is comprehensive and coordinated for all children from birth through age 8.”

As individual child care providers, most of us cannot set up state-wide systems to ensure seamless care for children from birth to 8.  But we can work within our own communities to try to improve communication.  Perhaps we can partner with our school district so that our staff can attend some of the same trainings that local Kindergarten teachers attend.  We can also make sure that parents of children in our care are aware of the various community resources available; health care services, parent education programs or opportunities, financial resources, and resources for children with special needs.  This information can be provided one-on-one, included in newsletters, or posted on bulletin boards.  

One great way to ensure continuity of care is to work with local Kindergarten teachers to ensure that, ideally, your goals for a child entering their program from your program are similar.  (Hopefully, the teachers’ expectations are developmentally appropriate.)  Similarly, if you have signed parental permission, you can share the latest developmental checklist you’ve completed for a child with the teacher.  In addition to providing benefit to both the child and the teacher who will teach that child in Kindergarten, you can also benefit your own program.  A good relationship with local teachers can lead to more referrals to your program.   Win-win!

Misty