The Importance of Play Revisited

One of the most popular posts I've ever written on this blog (in fact the 2nd most popular at 35,000 reads) was one that considered how soon children can and should start writing (in the sense of writing 'real' words)? This might seem a silly question today, but for those of us over the age of 50, we all recall that researchers, educators, teachers and parents assumed that children should only learn to express themselves in handwriting once they had the foundations in listening, speaking, reading, writing letters and pretty much in this order. Of course, now we know this was incorrect.

 

Above: Two children reading together

While there were some reasonable grounds for supporting the traditional order, including the young child's difficulty physically handling pencils to create letters and words, more limited hand eye coordination etc, we accept now that it was simplistic to assume that there needed to be a lock step developmental sequence for spoken and written language. 

 

We also know, there are good reasons (and evidence) to support the early introduction of writing early (and some of us spent many years making this point). For example, while educators, psychologists and paediatricians once assumed there is little communicative intent with a newborn baby, it's clear that almost from the first day of life, babies begin to respond to their world. And many of their very early vocalisations, eye movements, gazes, facial movements and body movements are attempts to communicate. I'm a bit of a baby whisperer myself, and can get smiles from babies very early (and NO older readers, it isn't 'wind'!!).

Well known paediatrician Dr Kim Oates gave a wonderful lecture on this topic at New College in 2006 as part of the New College Lecture series (that at the time I hosted here). While speaking follows well after the ability to hear and respond to sound, attempts to communicate commence almost immediately. Babies will begin to focus their eyes on objects, and particularly faces talking to them VERY early.

Lydia writing at Palace of Versailles

Any as for writing, parents will attest to the marks small children will make on floors, walls and paper if they get hold of a crayon of pencil! Children begin attempting to place their mark on the world as soon as they can grab anything that will make a mark. It's as if they want to be able to say:

"Look, I did this. This is MY mark." 

And of course, if you ask older toddlers what it says, they will often say things like, "me and mummy", "It's just a word", "it's a drawing", "dog" etc.

What do we know about early scribble and drawing?

We now know that even children's earliest scribbles very quickly have meaning associated with them. While at first children are as much interested in the gross motor movement (the rhythmic drawing of circular patterns, fast scribble to fill a page etc), they soon begin to attempt much more, as they seek to communicate or create meaning through their scribbles, patterns and drawing.

 

Above: Sample from the "Young in Art" site showing intent in the drawing of a young child

There have been numerous studies of children's early art, and many examined early literacy prior to the 1970s, but few looked closely at the relationship between the two. A colleague and dear friend of mine (still!) from Indiana University, Professor Jerome C. Harste conducted significant research in the late 1970s and early 1980s that taught us much about children's early writing. With his colleagues Professors Virginia Woodward and Carolyn Burke and many graduate students, they studied the early writing of children aged 3, 4, 5 & 6 years. They concluded that the process of scribbling "bears sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic similarity" to the processes we observe in reading and writing [See Harste, Woodward & Burke (1983), Language Stories and Literacy Lessons.

Harste, Woodward and Burke concluded that most children know the difference between reading and writing by age 3, and by this time they are developing an understanding of written language, demonstrated in their scribbles and attempts to write and draw. They argued against traditional developmental notions and suggested from at least the age of 3, children begin to demonstrate elements of authoring. They named this the "authoring cycle". As they examined the early 'scribble' and 'writing' of very young children they identified:

• Organization (evidence of conventions and the genesis of cognitive processes similar to adults)
• Intentionality (evidence children knew their marks signify something)
• Generativeness (an attempt to generate or make meaning)
• Risk-taking (trying things they hadn't before)
• Awareness that writing & language have social functions
• Understanding that context matters in language (i.e. the situation is related to what you write and how you use it)
• Meaning making in children's 'scribbles', and later words using invented spelling, that formed a text or unit of meaning. They also realized that the sum of the elements collectively meant something.

For example, picking up on just one of the above elements of authoring, Harste, Woodward and Burke observed in the scribbles of children from families who had a first language other than English, some interesting differences. 

The writing below shows just how different scribble can be for four-year-old children living in homes that speak different languages; in this case, English, Arabic and Hebrew. 

They concluded that evidence like this demonstrates that at age four, and even before, these children were trying to write words, and their 'scribble' demonstrated organization similar to the processes used by proficient writers.

So, what does this mean for early writing?

Even though we've moved a great deal in family and school practices in the last 30 years, the following brief comments are still relevant and important for parents and Preschool teachers to understand. 

I believe we need to:

• Take children's early drawing and scribble seriously - look at it, enjoy it, discuss it with your children (e.g. "What's this?" "What does this mean?" etc).
• Encourage children to write - give them blank paper and simply suggest they "write"!
• Let children see you writing and talk about your writing.
• Look for patterns in children's early drawing and scribble and expect to learn things about your child from it.
• In short, encourage writing just as much as you encourage reading and celebrate their drawing and 'writing'. How? Put it on the wall, fridge, notice board. Date it and keep it, or make up a writers' folder etc.
  

I have also written about this topic at length in other publications such as my book "Pathways to Literacy", Cassell: London, 1995.

What's different since I first wrote about this topic over 25 years ago? And why does it matter?

a) The Differences

There are a number of key differences in 2023. 

First, children are more likely to use devices for writing and drawing today. Early scribbles might be made on an iPad or similar device as well as on paper, walls, footpaths etc. And of course, most of these are rarely retained.

Second, adults should take early writing and drawing in any form more seriously. Look intently, ask your children to explain what they've written, drawn and so on. For example, the image below was drawn in 2007 and is one of my favourites from a grandchild who at the time was 4 years old. We'd been to the aquarium and he drew this back home and explained that he'd drawn it from the perspective of the fish. After he drew the image below he said, "that's how the fish looked at us while we were looking at them." 

Third, children probably spend less time with parents in the earliest development phases (0-4 years) than they did 30-50 years ago; attending playgroups and childcare centres. 

b) The adjustments we need to make

Today, parents and teachers are far less likely to observe their children or students as they compose, whether in text or drawings. 

As parents, we need to see iPads and other devices not just as a way to keep our children quiet, while we do other things. To be sure, there are times when we do NEED to do this. In days gone by the TV and toys played their part in achieving this, as did sand pits, parks etc (but let's not lose these either).

Above: A teacher using an iPad to demonstrate

My recommendation to parents (& teachers) is that when children are using devices, we need to ask them regularly what they're doing, and comment on drawings etc. You might even capture screen shots of special things to share with others (like parents, family etc). Create an electronic portfolio for toddlers.

Teachers of course can make much greater use of iPads and other devices in the classroom to encourage writing, drawing and far more. They are now tools that can be used individually or in groups. I have a graduate student Norah Aldossary who has just completed an interesting PhD on this titled 'The Potential of iPad Apps to support Vocabulary Development in Children Learning English as an Additional Language'.

Other literacy educators have been doing great work in considering how to use devices for learning in classrooms. For example, Michelle Neumann has written about this in 'Teacher Scaffolding of Preschoolers' Shared Story App and a Printed Book' (2019). The many studies by Michelle and others have shown varied benefits from using iPads in this more educational way. Some have found varied benefits, for example:

• Vocabulary benefits (e.g. Shang & Gray, 2014)
  
• Comprehension benefits (e.g. O'Toole & Kannsass, 2018)
• Word learning in 5 year olds (e.g. Korat et al., 2010)

However conversely, others have found that if used badly, devices might lead to poorer vocabulary and story comprehension (e.g. de Jong and Bus (2003). This seems linked to the children ignoring the text and 'reading' the pictures alone. I'd also suspect, this is linked as well to less child and adult interaction, which we know 'stretches' children's language and learning.

Another interesting study by Roskos, Carroll and Burnstein (2012) looked closely at how teachers used the iPads. They found benefits when teachers used the iPad to extend shared reading by asking questions, explaining word meanings and engaging the students in conversation as they read the iPad stories. This of course leads to development.

In short, as we live in times where the parent and child, or the teacher and her/his students no longer sit reading book stories like they once did with their children, the iPad has potential to facilitate play and experimentation with language and with it growth in language, reading and writing.

Summing up

Children's play always has been, and still is, very important for learning. While the world has changed as technology has developed, the importance of stories and the interaction of children with adults as well as other children, is a key factor in early learning. There is a freedom in play that encourages:

• Risk taking
• Experimentation
• Boldness

We must never allow our busyness, or the convenience of devices to reduce the place of play in children's early years, both prior to school, but also at school. This is a challenge that teachers and parents alike need to take on.

A FREE Program to Help Parents Support Preschool Learning

I co-wrote an online preschool support program for parents of children 0-4 years a few years ago with a colleague. I've posted on this before, but I thought I'd remind readers just in case they've messed it. It was released in 2018 by the 'Australian Literacy Educators Association'. The program is free and available on the Australian Literacy Association's site HERE. There isn't a catch, just free support and practical ideas for new parents who aren't sure how to help their children to learn in the preschool years. The program started out with my co-author Anita Ayre preparing activities for her daughter to support their first child. I was asked to partner with her to extend and develop an extensive online program for parents and grandparents. 

The online resource program is available FREE via the 'Australian Literacy Educators Association' website. The resource is called 'Little People's Literacy Learning: A guide for engaging parents and carers'. It offers practical help for parents and carers of children aged 0-5. And again, it's FREE! You don't need to be a member of ALEA to access to the resource is open to all.

This FREE online guide comes with hundreds of activities that you can enjoy with your child. Initially, there were 17 units. Now it has grown to 27 with new modules on 'Maths', 'Maths Language', 'Technology Use', 'Measurement', 'Space' and 'Pattern' just released. The modules will help parents to use simple activities as part of life. Some are incidental and others have some limited planning required. But all you need to know is explained in the modules. All activities are designed with an emphasis on learning through collaborative play and shared discovery. Why are so many of the recent modules related to maths? Because language and literacy have many important relationships to these topics.

Anita and I are experienced teachers, parents, and also (these days) active grandparents who love spending quality time with our grandchildren. In this resource, we offer a wealth of suggestions and hints for parents and carers who want to engage with their children in language, literacy learning and mathematics activities. Technology is also linked to many of these topics as well as now having a separate module. All activities are designed with an emphasis on learning through collaborative play and shared discovery. They can all be incorporated into daily life with very little (or often no) preparation! We offer hundreds of integrated examples throughout, including how new technology and multimedia can also enrich the learning experiences of your child with the same richness as other non-technology applications. You'll also find some advice on how to monitor and control screen time.

The resource contains practical and VERY doable common sense activities. You will find it HERE.

Supporting Preschool Children (0-4) at Home in Literacy, Maths & Technology Education

Readers of this blog might know that I co-wrote an online preschool support program for parents of children 0-4 years that was released in 2018. The Australian Literacy Educators Association has just uploaded the latest modules in this free online program. No catch, just free support and practical ideas for new parents not sure how to help their children to learn. This support program started out with my co-author Anita Ayre (my co-author) preparing activities for her daughter to support her first child (Anita's grandchild). I was asked to partner with her to develop this online program for parents and grandparents. 

The online resource program is available FREE via the 'Australian Literacy Educators Association' website. The resource is called 'Little People's Literacy Learning: A guide for engaging parents and carers'. It offers practical help for parents and carers of children aged 0-5. And again, it's FREE! You don't need to be a member of ALEA to access to the resource is open to all.

This FREE online guide was launched in 2017 for parents and carers comes with hundreds of activities that you can enjoy with your child. Initially, there were 17 units. Now it has grown to 27 with new modules on 'Maths', 'Maths Language', 'Technology Use', 'Measurement', 'Space' and 'Pattern' just released. The modules will help parents to use simple activities as part of life. Some are incidental and others have some limited planning required. But all you need to know is explained in the modules. All activities are designed with an emphasis on learning through collaborative play and shared discovery. Why are so many of the recent modules related to maths? Because language and literacy have many important relationships to these topics.

Anita and I are experienced teachers, parents, and also (these days) active grandparents who love spending quality time with our grandchildren. In this resource, we offer a wealth of suggestions and hints for parents and carers who want to engage with their children in language, literacy learning and mathematics activities. Technology is also linked to many of these topics as well as now having a separate module. All activities are designed with an emphasis on learning through collaborative play and shared discovery. They can all be incorporated into daily life with very little (or often no) preparation! We offer hundreds of integrated examples throughout, including how new technology and multimedia can also enrich the learning experiences of your child with the same richness as other non-technology applications. You'll also find some advice on how to monitor and control screen time.

The resource contains practical and VERY doable common sense activities. You will find it HERE.

Early Childhood Literacy Learning: FREE Resources to Download

I'm proud to share the details of a brand new resource for parents and carers, for which I am one of the authors. 'Little People's Literacy Learning: A Guide for Engaging Parents & Carers' (Anita Ayre & Trevor Cairney) is now available FREE to download. My co-author Anita Ayre conceived the need for a book for new parents, while trying to help her son and daughter-in-law with their first child. They were keen to tap Anita's knowledge of early childhood learning. Part way through the development of the resource, representatives of the Australian Literacy Educators' Association approached me and asked whether I might team up with Anita on this project. After meeting with Anita, and realizing that we shared a common passion for early childhood learning, I agreed to be part of the project.

Initially it was to be a resource book, but ALEA suggested that it might have wider coverage as a downloadable free resource for parents presented in bite sized chunks. In all, 18 of the 26 modules are already available free to download HERE.

Module 1: Learning the names of body parts
Module 2: Exploring Fine Motor Development
Module 3: Similarities and Differences
Module 4: Orientation
Module 5: Relationships between Objects
Module 6: Speaking
Module 7: Reading and Learning
Module 8: Writing
Module 9: Spelling
Module 10: Organisation
Module 11: Gross Motor Development
Module 12: Listening
Module 13: Reading
Module 14: Learning about Books
Module 15: Visual Discrimination
Module 16: Developing Memory
Module 17: Word Recognition
Module 18: Rhythm 
  
The resource is designed to be dipped into as parents see the need to explore specific topics. Please note: More modules have been written and will be released progressively as the designers complete them.

Helping Young Children to make Reading & Writing Breakthroughs: Eight Simple Steps to Literacy

While the groundwork for the creation of young writers takes years, the point of take-off can occur in as a little as 30 minutes. This post is an illustration of how this can occur. In fact, in this single post you will see how one five year-old goes from a 'non-reader' with some early knowledge of sounds to a reader and writer in one week.

The example is drawn from observations of one of my grandchildren, but I have seen it many times in classrooms throughout my teaching and research career. As a five year-old she had just commenced formal schooling in Australia in Kindergarten (Grade 1 in most countries). She had attended two years of preschool (for 2 half days per week as a three year old, and then three days per week as a four year old). She had been read to before school, mostly at bedtime, had begun to play with sound, writing and matching games on an iPad as a 4 year old, and she liked completing some basic prereading booklets. She had also shown interest when she saw her brother (three years older than her) being taught to read at home. As a result, she began asking him to read to her.

When she started Kindergarten her teacher had begun introducing letters and their sounds and as reading and writing exercises. After about seven weeks the teacher had introduced about 15 sounds (2-3 per week), all single consonants and vowels. With each one Evie had to complete an activity sheet that required her to copy the letter, write (copy) a word, and then draw a picture (see an example below).

Above: One of Evie's School Worksheets

Like many preschool children she also enjoyed drawing and liked to embellish them with numbers, sometimes letters and print-like scribble. However, she had not tried to write words or represent meaning with more than scribble or drawings. The only exception to this was the copying of the single words that matched the letters that her teacher had been systematically teaching.

One weekend just 8 weeks into the school year her grandmother was doing some creative oral story making using Lego as part of the process (this is a common strategy we have used in the past, see my recent post HERE). They were acting out a shopping episode, and my granddaughter was acting as the customer. As she came and asked for items (which were Lego shop items with food pictures on them) her grandmother said to her, 'You need a list.' To which she replied, Yes'! And she began to do some text-like scribble on paper and handed it to her grandmother in exchange for the 'goods'.

Because her grandmother had seen her school workbook she said, 'Why don't you write some words on the paper?' My granddaughter grabbed a piece of paper and wrote 'egg' and 'fish' on the paper (two of her school words), which matched two of the Lego pieces. She exclaimed, 'I didn't know I could do that'! Her grandmother praised her, showed her grandfather (me) and we told her how clever she was.

Above: Her first two words written from memory

She dropped the game, got more paper and proceeded to try her hand at more writing. At first she was using her store of words that she had seen at school, writing each from memory without her school book. Within about 30 minutes Evie had written many words and then began to push the boundaries as she extended her writing from school words, to new words, then phrases, sentences and finally short stories.

I explained to her that she needed to have spaces between words and showed her how to use finger spaces between them. We provided more paper, her grandmother gave her a blank book, and she was away. Before the hour was out Evie had achieved the following milestones:

Step 1 - She had written her first words from memory (above)
Step 2 - She begun to string known words together from memory with loose associations (see above larger text)
Step 3 - She began to try to write words that she didn't know (see her attempt at 'bowl' and 'horse' below).

Above: Her first 'invented' spellings for 'bowl' & 'horse'

When she wrote the above words she said, 'I wrote some new words Grandad. Do you know what they are?' I answered, 'Yes, bowl and horse'. Pointing to the second word she asked, 'Does this really say horse'? I answered, 'Well I could tell that you meant them to be horse and bowl, even though there are some letters missing'. I showed her the missing letters, and then she moved on to her next piece of writing.

Step 4 - She sat down with her new blank book and tried to string together a number of words in the form of a simple sentence, trying to spell the unknown words using her limited knowledge of phonics.

Above: 'My pet dog is the best'

Step 5 - She repeated the text and experiments with images and other textual forms. Attempting multimodal texts already.

 
Step 6 - Her sentences became more complex, and her satisfaction was obvious! She shared her work.

Step 7 - She tried further experimentation with tough words and concepts. Her next text was much more complex in syntax, vocabulary and meaning. It had been written just one hour after she wrote her first words from memory and without assistance!

Above: A story with greater complexity

Step 8 - The next morning with her mother's help and advice on some words, she made herself a book and began to write her first 'novel' - 'My Cat'! 

In the week following this series of events my granddaughter also decided, with new confidence, that it was time to start reading herself at night. She asked me could she read herself in bed, her mother gave her one of the Level 1 Ladybird 'Read it Yourself' books. The video below shows a snippet of her reading 'The Little Red Hen' largely unaided without having tried to read the book before.

Summing Up

This post hasn't set out to offer a recipe for how you can teach your child to write in in a few days. Rather, what I have tried to do is show an example of how fast progress can be for young readers and writers, if they have had rich literacy experiences in the preschool years, and when we seize on key teachable moments. In the day-to-day life of the home and school we need to look for opportunities to 'prod' children forward to take risks as learners. Once children do take such risks and experience success and encouragement, progress can be quite remarkable.

Eight ways early writing reinforces reading

The desire to write starts early!

This is a revised version of a post that I did in 2013. I thought that I'd revisit it.

Children begin to write early - very early! In fact, they begin to make marks on their world as soon as they can dip fingers into food, water and dirt. Once they can hold a pencil or crayon they are ready to 'compose'! It is important that in the first two years of life that children are given the chance to experience writing. By this, I don't mean structured learning activities, I simply mean an encouragement to try to make marks that might just represent meaning. Very early on children will scribble or make marks and attribute meaning to it.

There are many simple ways to encourage children to write:



a) Provide them with varied writing implements and materials to write on.
b) Encourage them to try to write letters and words.
c) Let them see you writing words and letters.
d) Encourage them to write their name, numbers and letters.
e) Let them see you writing and reading words at the same time.

Rich experiences of early writing have an impact on language and learning generally, and certainly reading.   Offering rich early experiences for writing are as important as reading to and with your children. As well, children who have rich early reading experiences will often be more precocious as writers.  To illustrate the interrelatedness of all aspects of language and meaning making, I want to suggest eight ways that early writing reinforces reading.

Photo from TTALL Literacy Project

1. Being read to and reading oneself offers us a rich experience of story - I've written in other posts about the importance of story to life and learning (e.g. here). Harold Rosen once suggested that 'Narratives...make up the fabric of our lives...'.  Jerome Bruner and others have gone further to suggest that story is 'a fundamental mode of thought through which we construct our world or worlds.' And of course, story is fuel for writing.

2. Reading offers models for writing - Reading also introduces us to varied ways to share a story, and how to start a story and end it. It helps us to learn how to develop a character, the art of description, humour, rhyme and rhythm. Dr Seuss is a master at such lessons.

3.  Reading teaches us about 'readership' -When children begin to have books read to them, and later begin to read for themselves, they realize that these stories have been written for them, the reader. Good writing requires a sense of audience, and stories read teach this. When children begin receiving letters, cards, or simply being shown print in their world, they begin to grasp that language isn't just to be received, but can also be created and shared with others as a writer.  They also learn that if you write for readers, and receive responses, that this is enjoyable and strengthens relationships.

An early letter from Elsie

4. Reading enriches language - There is no doubt that reading feeds children's writing. It introduces children to new words, novel use for old words, and the very important need to 'play' with language if you are to be a successful writer. Robert Ingpen's book 'The Idle Bear' demonstrates this well. It is essentially a conversation between two bears but it is rich in language and metaphor. He starts this way:

"What kind of bear are you?" asked Ted
"I'm an idle Bear."
"But don't you have a name like me?"
"Yes, but my name is Teddy. All bears like us are called Teddy." 

Later in the story a very confused bear asks:

"Where do you come from, Ted?"
"From an idea," said Ted definitely.
"But ideas are not real, they are only made-up," said Teddy. "You have to come from somewhere real to have realitives."
"Not realitives, relatives!" said Ted trying to hide his confusion.

Elsie's TV instructions

5. Reading introduces us to varied written genres - While children experience story from a very young age, reading also introduces them to the fact that language can be represented in different genres. Through reading at home and within their immediate world, children quickly discover that people write and read lists, notes, labels on objects, poems, jokes, instructions, maps and so on. Parents read and point out these varied text forms and eventually children try to use them.

My granddaughter Elsie's 'TV Instructions' (left), written aged five years, is a priceless set of instructions that she wrote for her Nanna just before she went to bed, so that Nanna could watch her favourite programs while babysitting.

6. Reading helps us to understand the power of words - Stories and other texts quickly teach children that words can have power. Signs give clear instructions in powerful ways - 'STOP', 'BEWARE OF THE DOG', 'CHILDREN CROSSING', 'KEEP OUT'. But well-chosen words express emotions too - "I love you", "It was dark and scary". Children also discover that words can do other things. With help they will enjoy discovering language forms like onomatopoeia, e.g. atishoo, croak, woof, miaow, sizzle, rustle etc.

7. Reading offers us knowledge - Children also discover that reading offers us knowledge that can feed writing. Without content there won't be writing. Books can captivate children and offer new areas of learning and interest. As they are read books, they also learn about their world. For example, they might discover that trees don't just have green leaves, but sometimes these leaves change colour, fall off and create a habitat for many creatures. Trees drop seeds which animals eat, offer shelter for animals, material to build homes and so on. But they are also homes for elves and animals that talk, places where strange lands appear regularly, and where a lost dragon might rest. Reading feeds writing with knowledge as raw material for writing.

8. Reading helps us to imagine and think - As children are introduced to varied literary genres and traditions, imaginations are awakened to the realms of fantasy, time travel, recreation of life in other times, the perils of travel through space. But at a more realistic level, reading can help young writers to imagine childhood in other places and times, 'within' the bodies of other people and with varied life roles. Through reading, children are given the examples and the fuel to imagine and write about themselves in the shoes of others, sharing their life circumstances as well as their challenges, fears and hopes.

  You can read all my other posts on writing HERE

Using Music and Songs to Improve Literacy

Above: Courtesy 'Cottage by the Sea'

I have commented previously on the power of music to help children to acquire a love of language and literacy (see my piece on rap music). I have also made reference to students who while reluctant writers have wanted to compose music (here). But might music have a more direct role to play in literacy acquisition. First Grade teacher Becky Iwasaki thinks so and has used music to great effect in her classrooms as reported in the October 2013 edition of 'The Reading Teacher'.

The authors of the article in 'The Reading Teacher' cite research that found that struggling students improved their reading ability as a result of regular repeated singing and reading of songs over a period of just 9 weeks. The reasons for this would appear to be:

• When we sing using written music we are also reading.
• Specific features of music make the reading more memorable, including the rhythm and melody of the songs.
• Memorising songs for younger children helps to teach sight word recognition.
• Songs like poetry are often characterised by rhyme, sound repetition and alliteration and can enhance phonemic awareness.
• Songs become a form of repeated reading without the boredom of regular class repeated reading.

Becky Iwasaki decided to try to use music with grade 1 to improve reading ability by teaching them at least two songs each week. She used a consistent format that included the following structure that requires 10-15 minutes each day:

Day 1 - She chooses a relatively common song and has it playing in the background when the children arrive at school. She then introduces the words to the song on a chart and encourages them to follow the words as they try to sing it. She repeats this several times during the day. Later in the day she leads a discussion concerning the meaning of the song. She might also use the song to do word searches, sight words etc.

 

Above: Image courtesy Wiki Commons

 

Day 2 - The same song is sung chorally using the chart and also their own printed copies. She encourages them to identify words from the song that they recognise as sight words. She might discuss words that rhyme, word families (e.g. 'un' as in run, fun, sun etc).

Day 3 - She again starts the day by singing the song and then follows it with focussed word study using word families, writes them on the board, gets the students to read them, find others like them etc.

Above: Courtesy Wiki Commons

Day 4 - They again sing the song and follow this by sharing favourite parts of the song, and finish the day by writing in their journals about the feelings evoked by the song.

Day 5 - The song is again sung then it is performed for another audience (e.g. another class, parents, school principal etc).

While I don't find the elements of the structure used in the above approach all that novel and exciting, the approach clearly worked. My suggestion is that the above approach could be supplemented in other ways to make it even more engaging if repeated a number of times. To give more variety to the approach I would suggest:

• Careful choices of songs that have appropriate words and topic interest for the age group.
• Supplementation of the Iwasaki approach with some related literature or poetry (this would be ideal on day two or three).
• The use of craft, drama, dance and art in association with the learning of the songs (this would be a great thing to do on day 5).

Of course, none of my suggested supplements should reduce the time spent actually reading the words and singing the song, for time on task reading is critical to improvement. I would love to hear from readers who have also found that music can help literacy.

Using Board Games To Teach

I have written previously on this blog about the importance of play for children (here and here), but structured games can also have a significant impact on learning and development. Cognitive psychologists at the University of Maryland, Professor Robert S. Siegler and Geetha B. Ramani, found that games can help preschool children learn mathematics and other things (here).  This was especially the case for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. They found that there were multiple benefits from structured games for learning as well as for literacy and language.



The general usefulness of games

There are literally hundreds of games that have been designed for children and adults today. When I was a child the choice was much more limited (e.g. snakes and ladders, ludo, scrabble, monopoly, draughts) but the enjoyment and benefits were fairly similar. Some of the general benefits include learning:

• That you can't always win
• How to take turns
• Team work
• To be more patient
• Risk taking
• The importance of persistence
• Anticipation skills
• Memory gains
• Colour and shape recognition
• Pattern recognition
• Vocabulary growth

But as well as these general benefits, there can be more specific benefits for learning that are related to other forms of learning, including:

• Basic counting and mathematics
• Word recognition
• Problem solving
• General knowledge
• Writing (numbers and words)

Board games as learning aids

Schools have long used games in recognition that they can be a beneficial way to learn many things, especially for young children and those with learning difficulties.

The use of board games as part of school literacy and mathematics is motivated by the perceived benefits of:

• repetition and over-learning (i.e. the repetition of something until it becomes second nature and increases the speed of recall);
• incorporating some forms of repetitive learning into game situations to increase enjoyment and help concentration and time on task;
• providing foundational knowledge for other more complex learning.

Some simple board game applications for literacy

The application of games to literacy has taken many forms. Here is just one example. It relies on board games that traditionally use a dice to determine the pace of the game. You can take existing games and simply replace the dice with a set of cards that require some simple reading task; each with the number 1 to 6 in small print that dictates the number of spaces moved. There are endless variations. For example:

a) You can choose basic sight words (i.e. words like 'were', 'said', 'there') - that is, words that can't easily be sounded out and are more easily recognised as whole words based on their shape and some partial letter clues. There are a number of these lists available such as the Dolch List that has been in use since 1948. Write the words in print at least 2 cm high and then write a number between 1 and 6 on the top right-hand corner (in much smaller print). You can use existing games like snakes and ladders, but instead of using the dice you have a pile of cards face down that players turn over one at a time and read. If successful, they move a counter the appropriate number of squares to progress the game.

b) Sound cards - Do the same as the above but use sound cards as appropriate for the child's age.

c) Phrase reading - You can use phrase cards instead of single word cards.

d) Teaching colours or numbers - Use colour or number words.

Image courtesy of 'Heart of the Matter'

As a teacher I often used games with children who were struggling with reading. In fact one of the things we did for struggling readers was to create our own simple board games that had a theme that matched the interests of the child (e.g. car racing, football, space, dinosaurs, cartoon characters, super heroes etc).

While there are some electronic games that attempt to use repetition and over-learning in similar ways, many of the other general benefits of games seem to be achieved more readily with board games. For a start, there is an added social dimension as children interact with other children as well as adults as they play and learn together.

Starting School: Is there a best age?

In Australia many children will be starting school for the first time next week. I can't remember my first day at school, but I can still remember the mix of emotions that my wife and I experienced when we sent our two daughters off for their first day of formal schooling. As we've watched our grandchildren go off to school for the first time we still feel just as anxious. This year we have two grandchildren who will start in Kindergarten (the entry class for Primary schooling in NSW). One has just turned 5 and the other turns 6 in March. Both sets of parents made different decisions for equally good reasons, and I'm sure that in each case they have made the right decisions for each child.

Two cousins ready to start school, one almost 6, one just 5

In Australia the school year begins in the last week of January or the first week of February and ends in the same calendar year (in mid December). Every year we have media discussions concerning the best age to start. Last week, there was yet another piece of research being discussed on Australian television and radio offering advice. The starting age in Australia varies from state to state. In NSW any child may commence school if they are five years old or turn five prior to the 31st July in that year, but they must start no later than 6. In South Australia children can start in the school term after they turn five. In Queensland there is a non-compulsory Prep year (like preschool) followed by formal school entry if the child turns six before the 30th June in that year. It’s all a bit confusing and the Federal government has been discussing a standard starting age for some time.

In other countries we see similar diversity. In Finland children start formal schooling in the year in which they turn seven. In Germany it is six, in Britain 5 and in the USA it varies (like Australia) from state to state.

Elsie's Mum on her 1st day at school

So is there a best starting age? If there is, few education systems seem to agree on what it is. "Should my child start school at five even though....(fill the blank)?" is one of the most common questions I hear from parents. Today I was interviewed on commercial radio on exactly this topic. The short answer I gave on radio is the same one I give to parents, it all depends. Yes, children need to have reached a certain minimum stage of physical, intellectual and emotional development to cope with school, but variations from four and a half to six years don’t seem to make huge differences to most children’s long term academic achievement.

It would seem that there is little evidence for a universal perfect age for starting school, so there isn't much pointing asking anyone what it is. In reality, we need to make individual assessments for each child. Here are some things to consider if your child has reached an age at which he/she can officially commence formal schooling. Please note that these questions don't all apply to children with disabilities. In such cases parents have to consider many things when making a decision about the right time to start school.

Is my child physically ready

• Are they toilet trained?
• Do they have the motor skills typical of the average starting aged child? Can they walk, run, jump, throw things, dress themselves (few can tie shoelaces – that’s why we have Velcro! And Kindergarten teachers are good at it anyway). Can they tear paper, apply some stickers, hold crayons and pencils and use them (even if not that well)?
• Can they feed themselves (pretty much unpack their own lunch)?
• How big is your child? Very tall children often struggle if held back when they eventually go to school. And very small children might struggle if they go early.

Is my child emotionally ready?

• Is your child able to cope with separation? Going to school should not be the first time the child has been out of the sight of parents or the primary caregivers.
• Have they had at least some experience relating to other children? Can they share, communicate, show some control of anger and frustration?
• If your child is keen to go to school there’s a strong chance that they are emotionally ready.
• Can they communicate their emotions (frustration, fear, anger, affection etc)?

Is your child intellectually ready?

This is tougher, but in general you would expect that your child can:

• Concentrate on activities for extended periods of time (say at least 10-15 minutes on one activity). This might include being able to listen to a story, watch some television, sustaining attention on a game or activity that they like.
• Hold crayons and show some interest in making marks or scribble (the early stages of writing - see my post on this topic here), show some interest in print and symbols (e.g. “what does that say Mum?”), complete basic puzzles (maybe 30-50 pieces), try to write their name, count to five, recognise some letters.
• Use language sufficient to communicate with other children and the teacher?
• Show some interest in learning. This can show itself in many ways such as inquisitiveness, exploration, and observation of things around them.

Ultimately, parents need to make this decision based on what they know about their child. There are some other things worth considering:

• What is the school like? Do you know the teachers and do you have confidence that they will be able to understand your child and help them to find their feet at school?
• What are your family circumstances like? If you have another sibling just one year younger you might want to make sure that you don’t have them going off to school at the same time.
• What was the experience that you had as parents? Did you go to school early or late and what was the impact on you? Given the common gene pool this is a useful consideration.
• What are your personal circumstances? Is there major upheaval in the family or some major change coming in the next 12 months (e.g. moving to another area)? If so, holding your child back might be justified.

I find today that there is greater anxiety about starting age than ever before. Unfortunately, much of this is caused by parents worrying unduly about children being successful at school. I have parents who ask me (for example) is it okay that their child can't read yet, even though they are four. This is ridiculous of course; most don't start till they get to school. Others ask if holding their child back a year will disadvantage them compared to others. Overall, if you consider the needs of your child and the broad range of capabilities I've outlined above, I think you'll make a good decision. If you get it wrong, the evidence is that generally children will cope and adapt over time, and that there are few long-term problems for most children.

An interesting postscript to this matter is that the country in the OECD that regularly has the highest school literacy levels is Finland, where the starting age is seven!