Meaningful Differences: The 30 million word gap

During our PD session yesterday, Kate and Jamie talked about the importance of oral language for reading success. It made me think of a very interesting research study that was conducted by Todd Risley and Betty Hart called Meaningful Differences (1995).

Betty Hart and Todd Risley studied the usage of language and words in American homes. Their findings establish the absolute importance of children’s early experiences with language. By 48 months children in professional homes have heard on average 45 million words.  In the same period of time, children in welfare homes have heard on average 13 million words. This language and vocabulary disparity has been referred to as “the 32 million word catastrophe.”

They found that the sheer number of words heard varied greatly along socio-economic lines. On average, children from families on welfare were provided half as much experience as children from working class families, and less than a third of the experience given to children from high-income families. In other words, children from families on welfare heard about 616 words per hour, while those from working class families heard around 1,251 words per hour, and those from professional families heard roughly 2,153 words per hour. Thus, children from better financial circumstances had far more language exposure to draw from.  

In addition to looking at the number of words exchanged, the researchers also looked at what was being said within these conversations. What they found was that higher-income families provided their children with far more words of praise compared to children from low-income families. Conversely,

children from low-income families were found to endure far more instances of negative reinforcement compared to their peers from higher-income families.  Children from families with professional backgrounds experienced a ratio of six encouragements for every discouragement. For children from working-class families this ratio was two encouragements to one discouragement. Finally, children from families on welfare received on average two discouragements for every encouragement. 

In simple terms, kids start kindergarten at vastly different language levels, thus impacting their reading success. So the question becomes ... What can we do to bridge the vocabulary gap of our students? 

With something to think about this is Mrs. Morris reminding you to be ...

To read more about Hart & Risley's study go to the links below.

http://www.strategiesforchildren.org/eea/6research_summaries/05_MeaningfulDifferences.pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2733543/

http://www.aft.org//sites/default/files/periodicals/TheEarlyCatastrophe.pdf

Reading at 5: Why?

WOW! A powerful article on play in early childhood!!

http://www.communityplaythings.com/resources/articles/2013/reading-at-five-why#.VNA62JAgbys.facebook

Reading To Children

"Study Finds Reading to Children of All Ages Grooms Them to Read More on Their Own," was the headline of a New York Times article reporting the results of an annual "Kids and Family Reading Report" commissioned by Scholastic. The 2014 Scholastic survey of just over 1,000 children ages 6 - 17 found that only 31 percent said they read a book for fun almost daily, down from 37 percent four years ago. Other findings:

"For younger children — ages 6 to 11 — being read aloud to regularly and having restricted online time were correlated with frequent reading.... Reading aloud through elementary school seemed to be connected to a love of reading generally.... Children in the survey frequently cited reading aloud as a special bonding time with their parents...

"Some literacy experts said that when parents or teachers read aloud to children even after they can read themselves, the children can hear more complex words or stories than they might tackle themselves.... Other literary experts say the real value of reading to children is helping to develop background knowledge in all kinds of topics as well as exposure to sophisticated language."

How often do you read to your students???

Five Powerful Questions

Check out this article on the 5 most powerful questions you can ask kids. Great read!!!

Five Powerful Questions

Play vs. Academics: A False Dichotomy

Below is a GREAT article written by Amanda Morgan on the value of play and its role in academics. It's a little long but it’s well worth the read.Although the article specifically refers to preschool, I think all grades should consider the role of play in academics.

Play vs Academics: A False Dichotomy

An argument is brewing in the preschool scene. In one corner, you have those arguing for more academics to give children that head start that might correct the troubles of high-school drop-outs and low test scores. They claim that children rise to the occasion and show that they are capable of more than we’ve been asking.
In the other corner, you’ll find those who say play is disappearing from the cultural landscape of America and that its absence is a contributor to many childhood maladies such as obesity, ADHD, and declining social skills. They say that children “rising to the occasion” are really only performing splinter skills, which are more closely aligned with party tricks than with actual learning.
Certainly, both camps can make compelling arguments. But each time I read an article giving voice to the two sides, I find myself thinking: these aren’t mutually exclusive points of view. The notion that a child’s education can either be playful or academic seems to be creating an unfortunate and false dichotomy.
It seems to me that setting play and academics at odds with each other is pitting the method against the goal. It’s not an either/or choice, it’s a means and an end.
The term “academic” has come to mean “formal, direct instruction”, and in that sense, the two modes are different. But when “academic” is viewed as scholarly and giving rise to study and learning, it easily goes hand in hand with a play-based education structure.
To be sure, often the two camps are really at odds over what expectations are developmentally appropriate. But if we’re talking about developmentally appropriate learning outcomes, truly, academics can be taught and learned through a play-based curriculum. In fact, in many ways, I believe that the format of play and experience can teach and prepare young children for concepts that are more advanced than could be taught in a formal, conventional way. Here’s an example.
You would (hopefully) never consider plopping a multiplication worksheet down in front of a preschooler, followed by an explanation of the basic principles and procedures of algebra. However, I know a phenomenal preschool teacher who recently gave her students a similar challenge, but in an authentic, playful way.
As this teacher sat down to snack with a group of her students, she noted that there were five people at the table and each person could have 3 crackers. She then asked the children at the table how many crackers she should put on the plate to serve. One child enthusiastically answered, “Three!” So the teacher placed three crackers on the plate and set it on the table. The children looked around at five hungry faces, trying to figure out where they went wrong. As the gears turned in their minds, one child suddenly shouted, “Fifteen! We need fifteen!” Not bad for a “non-academic” school.
A quality play-based learning environment is not just a glorified birthday party. Each activity, each nook and cranny, and every loose part is arranged and made available with specific developmental objectives in mind. Ask a teacher and he or she will be able to tell you, “That builds fine motor skills for writing. That promotes sorting, which is the basis of the set theory of mathematics. This will help with phonological awareness, which leads to literacy. Here we invite creativity and problem-solving while over there they are using their language and interpersonal skills.”
It’s those foundational experiences that allow children to learn advanced concepts more easily and more thoroughly. I worry that in our effort to get ahead in education, we’re simply skipping these foundational pieces so often learned through play. It’s like being in a rush to construct a tall building, so we decide to forget about the foundation (nobody really sees that anyway) and jump right to the first floor. It might look OK at first, but eventually we get to the second or third floor and suddenly we realize that things aren’t solid, and we find ourselves slipping. I really think many of the academic problems we see in primary grades are not because the children didn’t start formal instruction early enough, but because they don’t have enough foundational experience for that formal instruction to make any lasting connections.
I guess what bothers me most is that setting play and academics at odds with each other often implies that one is for feel-good fun and the other is for real learning. That one is just daycare and the other is school. In reality, a play-based education is not only more responsive and developmentally appropriate for young children, but it also teaches them not only how to answer, but how to think. Not just to recite, but to inquire. Not simply to complete worksheets, but to build connections. Academic content isn’t just taught, it’s meaningfully constructed.

With something to think about this is Mrs. Morris reminding you to ...

Intellectual Emergencies

In her book, Intellectual Emergencies, Lilian Katz includes a list of (continually growing) points to keep in mind in working with young children. Here are just a few of her points.

#1.  Remember that adults know more about almost everything than a small child does -- except what it feels like to be that child, and how the world makes sense to him or her.  Those things are the child's expertise which a teacher must learn in order to be able to reach and teach the child.

#2.  Take care not to confuse what is exciting, amusing and fun with what is educative.  Excitement is appropriate for entertainment and special occasions; it is short-lived pleasure -- easy come, easy go.  But what is educative requires sustained effort and involvement, often includes many routine elements, and offers long term deep satisfaction rather than momentary fun and excitement.

#3.  I believe we cannot have optimal environments for children in preschools, child care centers, and schools unless the environments are optimal for the adults who work in them.  Certainly on some days what is optimal for the children will be obtained at the expense of adults (like Halloween parties), and on other days visa versa.  But on the average, on a day-to-day basis, both the children and the adults must find their lives together satisfying, interesting, and worth living.

Executive Functions

Want to Give Your Kids an Advantage? Build Executive Functions

Every parent wants their kids to have the best shot at succeeding at whatever their chosen path may be.  So we try to give them all of the right opportunities.  Some go to tutors, buy complicated programs, or drill through flashcards, but one of the best predictors of success is one that can be regularly built through play.

Study after study has displayed the influential role of executive functions in success over the long run.  Perhaps the most well-known is what is commonly referred to as the Marshmallow Test.  Back in the 60s,  Stanford researchers essentially gave preschoolers the choice of having one marshmallow now or two marshmallows later.  (And did I mention these little ones were left alone with the marshmallows until “later” arrived?)

Researchers followed their subjects for decades and found that those preschoolers who could wait longer, did better academically, reported less drug-use, and found greater life satisfaction into adulthood.
It makes sense that efficient executive functions would be a strong predictor of other successes.  Executive functions, those functions of the prefrontal cortex, include impulse-control, judgement, focus, and flexible thinking. Children with these strengths will listen in class when there are distractions, will take the time to look for right answers beyond first-glance answers, and will get their school work done when they’d rather be playing video games.  They’re better able to take their other talents and strengths, build on them, apply them intentionally, and use them in working toward their goals.

The good news is that many researchers believe that these self-regulation skills can be increased through practice and experience.  Perhaps the better news is that this often takes the shape of play!  Here are some ideas for fun ways to build executive functions:

Play Dance and Freeze.  You know the drill.  The music plays and everyone dances.  The music stops and everyone freezes.  Children have to resist the impulse to keep moving and stay frozen instead.  The same idea can be used for other stop and go games like Red Light, Green Light and Snowmen at Night or for using stop and go signs while singing.

Simon Says.  It seems easy enough.  Do what you’re told, right?  Except that you have to focus and pay attention to detail.  Instead of being distracted by the directions alone, children have to listen for that key phrase, “Simon Says”…

Opposite Games.  I love playing these with young children.  Often, I’ll say,“Listen to my directions and do what I say, but don’t let me trick you with what I do.”  So I’ll say, “Touch your nose,”while I touch my ears.  Can they fight the urge and focus only on my words?  It’s tough for those little ones, but they get better with practice!  Similar games have been played where children say the opposite of what they see on picture cards (night for day, day for night) or do opposite actions (x whenever the adult does y and y whenever the adult does x). These games require kids to focus on what’s important and resist what is likely their first impulse.

Pretend Play .  Dramatic play is full of benefits for young children, not least of which is the flexibility of thinking and self-control required for a child to take on another character and play out the role.  Even better, as young children build their play scripts with other children, they begin to negotiate and share ideas and build a plan for play — the next avenue in building executive functions.

Are you providing opportunities for your children to build their executive functions??

Feature Friday: Halloween Sensory Tub

I absolutely LOVE sensory materials. They are good for children and should be included in our classroom practices. Why??

1. Children are wired to receive and utilize sensory input from day one.  This is why children will dive in hands first, exploring a new substance.  The senses are their most familiar, most basic way to explore, process, and come to understand new information.
2. Children need to use their senses and be engaged in meaningful experiences.  As we talk with them about what they are observing and sensing, we give them new language tools to connect with these more familiar sensory tools, building language as well as supporting cognitive concepts specific to the experience.
3. As children are better able to use their senses, they are then better able to learn through their senses. Just as children learn through their senses, they also are developing the ability to use those senses and are building the neurological pathways associated with each one.  With added sensory experiences, combined with the scaffolding of adults and peers, children become more perceptive.  Their sensory intake and processing becomes more acute.
4.  Sensory play is really part of the scientific process.  Whether out loud or within the internal dialogue of the mind, children have developed a question, leading them to investigate- by grabbing, smelling, listening, rubbing, staring, licking , what have you!  They are using their senses to collect data and from that, attempt to answer their own questions.
 

Here is your first of many sensory activities to use in your classroom!!

Halloween Sensory Tub
Black beans or black pom poms
Plastic skeletons (3) (Dollar store)
Foam shapes/letters (Dollar store)
Plastic pumpkins (Dollar store)
Scoops or tongs
Plastic suction cup spiders or spider rings (Dollar store)
Plastic mini light covers
Plastic candy corn
Trick or Treat bags

Activities:

1. Simply play with the materials.
2. Use with counting cards.
3. Add letters on pumpkin/ghost shapes and invite the student to find letters.
4. Add Halloween words and invite students to find them and read them.
5. Add a sheet with pictures of the itmes in the tub. Students can match objects to the pictures, 
6. Add containers or small tubs and invite students to sort the objects (by color, size, shape, etc.)


The possibilities are endless and children LOVE it!! Plus they are learning!!