Really! Listening, Language and Reading!

I love reading!  I've said that before and if you know me, I love any kind of reading, whether I'm reading on my own or sharing with my clients. 
When I am with a parent and we are working with their child, I always bring up reading, and I am always surprised that there are questions about why reading is so important to the listening and language component.   There are lots of web sites a parent can go to for development of reading - usually they start with emerging literacy.  Yes, that's true; but if you continue to look for reading within those web sites you will find some to include infants.  There is so much more to consider.

When they are babies, you hold them, you coo with them, you sing to them, you comfort them.  Why can't you read to them as well.  The focus for baby and adult is listening. Surprise! Your voice is for baby to hear, and as baby focuses, they will learn to track your face to the book.  Can you imagine baby listening to your voice and listening to rhythm and change of pitch when you go from character to character and setting to setting.  Just read to them!

Next are the toddlers and they are such a delight!  Reading and listening to language while cuddled up with you gives the toddler a little bit extra.  Now that they have begun to listen, they are learning those communication skills of give and take, they are discriminating sounds, and they are identifying those sounds and items you are talking about within the reading.  You have given your toddler the ability to experience more in their world and outside their world.  Begin to choose books that present familiar ideas and simple actions. They will love rhythm and rhyme, your humor put into the story while they are listening and they will love the repetition within the story.  These can be nursery rhymes, lullabies, and simple tales.  The one item you have to remember - attention span is short, so
choose stories that are simple with lots of colorful pictures.

As your child turns into a preschooler, picture books are a staple for them.  If your teaching has gone according to plan, the three-to-five year old has begun to use longer utterances.  They are asking you -
'What happened?' or 'What doing?' and they are beginning to enjoy longer conversations with you.  Even more, they want to listen to your stories!  Now they enjoy reading together everyday and it will become one of the most important activities of your day or evening before bed.  It will help their language to grow as they begin to hear different words and different ways to say things.  It will also set them up for pre-reading.

It is said, the best way to help children become readers is to read aloud to them as often
as possible. The more stories children hear, the more aware they are of how
language sounds, and the more new words they can learn.  According to the
American Academy of Pediatrics, listening to stories read aloud stimulates brain
development and lays down patterns that can become the building blocks for written language.....and there you go, the hierarchy of listening.....or is it language......or is it reading.....or is it all of them! Well,
whatdya' know! 
Let's talk next time, about how we can work with our school-age children with reading, or is it language - hehehe!

Discussions

I want to spend some time talking about the older children I know and serve.  They are a very special group of children, of course they all are, but these kiddos attended camp.  I fretted before camp started with being able to keep the older children engaged and providing things they would enjoy.  I have known some of the children since they were three years old.  Some of the children were new to me and to each other, but as it worked out, they all loved each other and from reviews - they loved the camp. 
An activity I knew would be difficult for them, but I decided to go ahead with was an item called 'Action Art' - I took it from a workshop put on by Sibshops and adapted it for this particular group of children.  It was meant to be an 'ice breaker' and 'get to know you', done each morning as group music finished and we transitioned.  At first they hated it, struggled with it, and then something wonderful happened.....but I'm getting ahead of myself.

After each camp session was over for the day, the adults would get together and discuss how the campers did that day.  The adults came up with one word that described the campers as a whole.  It was written as bubble letters on a huge piece of butcher paper, torn up and given to the campers the next day.  Item number one: the campers then had to take those papers and decorate what they saw; be it coloring; fancy art work, or painting.  Item two:  they then had to try and piece the letters together.  Item three:  they could not work by themselves....they had to work as a group!! discussing!! Whew! That was hard!! 

They kept talking to me...I didn't want them to talk to me...then they turned to the other adults in the room.....I didn't want that either.....the idea of the activity is that they talk to each other, learn to work together and ask each other the questions they were asking of us adults.  My thoughts kept coming back to: did they not trust each other or the understanding they thought they had of each other?  Did they not trust each others language?  I even found myself repeating what each had said....could they not hear each other?                                       

 And then it happened.....It finally dawned on me; the adults had to remove themselves from the group entirely.  It was Thursday of the first week, the campers sat looking at each other for about 20 minutes not talking to each other and trying to engage the adults in conversation.  The adults were under strict orders not to interact.  The two older campers finally took charge....stood up and began to ask questions of the others and interact with each other.  They discussed and gave orders and in no time, of course after an hour and a half of getting nowhere, they got their word together and were extremely proud.

So was I - they had finally realized they could do it and do it with confidence.  Each morning they began asking me for the papers and each morning they got a little faster on working, discussing, and coming up with the word that described their group - what is even more amazing; they discussed the word and what it meant!  Then decided if it truly described them - all I can say is amazing!  I believe they came up with the correct conclusion....those words truly described them! 

 They were full of energy, and tried everyday.  They were helpful and absolutely, without a doubt - GREAT!

Let's Talk about the Beach!

It's heating up in the desert! Let's talk about the beach! 
Even if you can't go to the beach, you can have some fun with play and talk.  And in order to play you need some toys.  Any 'dollar store' at this time of year has beach items; bucket with shovel, floaties, squirt guns, and beach balls.  You're all set up to have some fun and create some language!
Bucket and shovel - Dig, dig, and dig some more!  While you're playing with your child; you're talking about digging in the sand.  'Let's dig a hole.  Let's dig a big hole.  Let's dig deep.' 'What's in the sand?' 'What's in the bucket?' You can take some small plastic toys; talk about them/name them/if they make a sound/play with them - then hide them in the dirt or grass(depending on where you are =) ).  Ask your child to find one of the items you hid.  Don't make it too difficult for them to find.  Or take one of those items and hide it under the bucket.  Ask your child what's under the bucket.  If it's an item that makes a sound - make that sound and ask your child 'what do you hear?' and let them name it and see it! Take turns - have them hide one on you!  Have some fun!
Squirt guns - 'Let's go get daddy!' 'Let's go get mommy!' 'Let's go get sister/brother!' Make sure the rest of the family members are on board with this; have them hiding somewhere calling the child's name!  You tell the child 'Listen!  Where are they?' and go find the one you are going to shower with water!
Beach balls - This is inspired by an article I read in Scholastic and loved it so much I wanted to share.
If you have a little one that can bounce on a larger beach ball, with you as the support and guide, talk about 'bounce, bounce, bounce on the ball' or 'roll the ball' and talk about all the colors on the ball.  A little bit older child, you can buy those beach balls that have graphics like bugs, or ocean animals, or dinosaurs.  As you toss the beach ball, say 'find the ladybug', 'show me the starfish', 'where's the purple dinosaur?' and have them take their turn tossing it back to you. 
Mom and Dad - you can have so much fun playing at the beach - go in the backyard - get wet and dirty and have some fun with words and language!