Start Early - Give Your Child a Learning Edge
By Dr. Raymond J. Huntington
While you might think of pre-school or
kindergarten as the “beginning” of your child’s life
as a student, the early years at home are rich with
opportunities to develop knowledge, perceptions and
attitudes that can have a lifelong impact on
learning and achievement as well. Here are some tips
for giving your child a vibrant head start before he
or she heads off to school:
Create a reading tradition. You’ve heard this again
and again, but it’s nearly impossible to
over-emphasize the importance of reading from a very
early age. You can – and should – start reading to
your children when they are infants. As noted by
Teaching Our Youngest, a pre-school guide for
teachers and families published by the U.S.
Department of Education, your child can begin
developing an awareness of printed letters and words
at the age of two or three.
There are many other important practices that bear
repeating as well. Read aloud with your children at
regular times of the day and consider starting and
ending the day with a good book. Use alphabet books
to emphasize letters, and books written in verse to
emphasize phonological awareness. You can help your
children learn as you read by making your own
observations about what you’re reading – noting how
the lines of some books rhyme, for example, or
asking your child to identify the letters in certain
words. Pointing out pictures and discussing their
relevance to a story can help your child associate
words with objects. As well, sharing a book with
your child will build a foundation for a love of
reading and will reward both of you with special
time together.
Play by the numbers. Children who enter preschool
with some knowledge of numbers and counting have a
good foundation for lessons throughout their first
year. You can build this knowledge on a daily basis
by pointing out and counting familiar objects around
your home. Examples might include counting the
stairs as you walk down them, counting the plates
and glasses on your dinner table and counting the
pictures on your walls. Children also like to count
with their fingers and toes.
You should do everything possible to make learning
to count active and fun. Play counting games with
actions such as jumping rope and clapping your
hands. When your child is drawing, encourage the use
of numbers and counting by asking questions such as
“how many trees are you going to put in the
picture?” and “what is the street number for the
house?” and “how many clouds are in the sky?”
Playing and singing songs that include counting in
the lyrics, such as “This Old Man”, can also
introduce numbers in a fun and active way.
You should also look for opportunities to connect
numbers with real life. When you’re mixing up the
ingredients for a cake, discuss with your child what
the first, second and third ingredients will be.
When you point out the canisters on your kitchen
cabinet, discuss which is taller than, or smaller
than the other. Your child can also build spatial
awareness by using a ruler to measure various
objects around the house.
Set aside a creative play-space. From pretending to
be an astronaut, to building a house or imagining
what it would be like to hunt for buried treasure,
role-playing can be a fun and effective way to
stimulate your child’s natural curiosity and
imagination. Having durable “dress-up” clothes and
costumes readily available can help children
envision the nexus between their natural interests
and future vocation.
Drawing, painting and storytelling can likewise
foster creative energy. Having plenty of pencils,
crayons, paints and different kinds of paper readily
available will enable your child to act whenever the
inspiration strikes. Large plastic or paper letters,
alphabet blocks and materials for making letters –
such as pipe cleaners and play dough – can help your
child learn to recognize the alphabet and spell easy
words such as their own names.
A space like this obviously works best in a basement
or other area where furniture and fabrics won’t be
damaged. If you have a smaller home, you can keep
the costumes and tools packed in a portable storage
bin or suitcase and bring them out for play at home,
in the backyard or at a nearby park when the weather
is nice.
Make your home a gateway to different places. Even
if you’re not taking your family on worldwide
adventures, posters, story and picture books that
introduce different countries and cultures can be a
wonderful way to foster your child’s interest in
diversity. Books with engaging stories that take
place in the past or future can spark an
appreciation for history and stimulate your child’s
imagination. If you’re handy in the kitchen,
introducing your child to exotic foods that are
associated with interesting places can be a pleasing
way to spark interest in those places.
Celebrate your child’s learning progress. Posting
drawings and photographs throughout kid-oriented
places in your home will reinforce the value you
place in your child’s learning experiences –
creating a tradition that can be continued for many
years to come.
Dr. Raymond J. Huntington and Eileen Huntington are
co-founders of Huntington Learning Center, which has
helped children achieve success in school for 29
years. For more information about how Huntington can
help your child, call 1 800 CAN LEARN. Dr.
Huntington thanks the U.S. Department of Education
for “Teaching Our Youngest”, a resource available at
the agency’s Web site at
www.us.ed.gov. |
