Jj is for Jottings 159. Creativity in Children, Part 1.
Walk into any preschool/kindergarten and you see that they provide many opportunities for creativity in children. Why is that? Because arts and crafts are one of the most important ways to help children develop and grow between ages 3-8. Here is a chart of communication milestones as a point of reference. Creativity isn’t just about art and crafts, but they are major avenues for growth and development at these ages. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 122. Definite and Indefinite Articles.
Following on from the previous article on nouns, it is timely to discuss definite and indefinite articles. Articles are simply “a” or “an”, and “the”. It sounds simple, but there’s a bit more to it than that. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 119. Types of Listening and Nonlistening.
Following the discussion on hearing versus listening, I promised to discuss more aspects of listening in the next article. We have established that hearing is a simpler process than listening, so there is more to be said about listening. We will look at the listening process, types of listening, and nonlistening. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 99. Print Books are Better than Digital Books for Toddlers.
The question of whether print books are better than digital books for toddlers is a concern for many parents who are looking to do the best by their children. Here are two pieces of evidence, one anecdotal and one from research, which will answer this question. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 96. Interactive Reading With Children.
There is a difference between reading to children and reading with children. Reading TO children is just that – reading a story without any sort of discussion or interaction. (For disquieting statistics on reading to children, see here.) On the other hand, interactive reading with children, or reading WITH children, is an active process rather than a passive one. In this case, you are encouraging the child to think, predict, remember and discuss the story, and other related topics may also arise. Therefore it has all the benefits of reading to children, plus many more.
Too young for interactive reading with children, but the right age to start reading TO her.
Jj is for Jottings 94. Phonological Awareness, Phonemic Awareness and Phonics.
Learning phonics with this book helps with phonemic awareness and phonological awareness skills, too.
You may have heard the terms “phonological awareness”, “phonemic awareness” and “phonics” and wondered what they mean and whether they are different terms for the same thing. Let’s sort this out right now.
This is sound-letter links – i.e. learning which sound is made by each letter of the alphabet, and other sounds which are made by combining 2 or more letters. Children develop the concept that there are consistent relationships between letter symbols and sounds. This book is a great way to learn sound-letter links. But you need to make sure you are saying sounds rather than letter names. You can find this on the video. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 91. Parents’ Screen Time.
This follows on from the effects of screen time on children. Before we go into the topic of how to limit our children’s screen time, we need to look to parents’ screen time.
No parents’ screen time here. This “parent” has his full attention on the “child”, complete with eye contact. Good parenting skills, David.
Studies from the University of Bristol show that the amount of time a child spends on a screen is closely associated with their parents’ own habits. They found that children were 3.4 times more likely to spend more than 2 hours a day watching television if their parents did the same. This is when compared with children whose parents watched less TV. The statistic carries over into other screen types as well. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 74. Understanding Unclear Speech.
When a child’s speech is unclear, it could range from a single sound substitution such as a lisp (which is, in effect, saying /th/ instead of /s/ and which, although not perfectly clear, is perfectly intelligible) right through the continuum to multiple substitutions, omission of sounds and syllables, addition of sounds, and distortion of sounds – the result of which is likely to be largely or completely unintelligible. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 73. Prince William on Punctuation and Social Media.
Prince William addressed a group of female students at a London school on the issue of cyberbullying. He talked about the stress of trying to live up to all the faked “perfection” seen online, and he urged students to put down their devices, in order to improve mental health. He said that they need to balance their time with other activities, especially outside, and not to be on a screen all day because “it takes you into a different world.”
Prince William also made the point about how often feelings can be hurt be text messages and social media, saying: “Unless you punctuate it correctly — I’m not the best at punctuation and I’m not the grammar police, either — you can read it in 100 different ways.” He also went on to talk about the importance of emotional intelligence and sharing feelings, but that is not my focus today.
Punctuation – many people ignore it and consider it of no importance, but that is absolutely untrue. A message can be completely changed by those little marks on the page, even without changing the words themselves. Here are a couple of examples:
“Let’s eat, Grandma.”
With the comma, these words indicate that the speaker is talking to their grandma and suggesting that they eat dinner. Watch what happens when you remove the comma:
“Let’s eat Grandma.”
Without the comma, the speaker is suggesting that they eat their grandma!
Another example:
“Please replace the chair’s.” The chair’s what?
Clearly, poor punctuation can interfere with the meaning of the message, and for people who punctuate correctly, each punctuation error is a stumbling block to fluent reading, since one must re-read parts to check what is really meant. In text messages and on social media, the writer is not present for you to check what was really meant; in conversation you can clarify meanings and sort out misunderstandings on the spot.
There is much more I could say about punctuation. I’m sure it will work its way into posts at some point!
Source of photo: World Bank Photo Collection.
Jj is for Jottings 72. Single Words Versus Connected Speech.
Following on from the discussion about the end of a word not always really being the end (here), we find that, as a result of running our words together to get a smooth flow which is easier for the listener to follow, we can end up with strings of consonants together, as in, “He mends trucks.” Continue reading
