Teaching Preschoolers: How Infants and Young Children Learn: Part II - Answer your child's questions. Young children ask questions. Give short, simple answers whenever you can. Remember that young children think in terms of concrete information, so provide answers that mesh well with how children think. This can also provide an opportunity for you to demonstrate how things work and to add to the ideas and words your child learns every day. By the time a child is four or five years old, she or he is learning at an amazing rate.
- Ask your child questions. Giving your child the opportunity to answer questions can let him or her demonstrate what he or she knows, which is always a good feeling. Try to ask questions you feel your child will be able to answer, because no one likes to fail, but you can also use this as an opportunity to teach your child that it's ok to ask for help in seeking answers or in figuring things out. Also, keep in mind that a child may give you an answer that you did not expect!
- Encourage pretend play. Act out roles with your child, for example, by having a party with dolls or stuffed animals, and talk about the roles each one plays. Pretend play with farm animals, small car sets, and other toys can help your child understand concepts about interacting, sharing, and cooperative play. It can also help to increase your child's vocabulary. Also, encourage your child to use objects in pretend ways (for example, a small plate may be used as a steering wheel to drive a car).
Share books on a regular basis. When sharing books: - Give your child opportunities to choose the book to be read. b. Find a comfortable, well-lit place to read.
- Cuddle or sit close. Sharing books should be fun and cozy.
- Make sure that you both can see the book.
- Read with expression.
- Have your child turn the pages.
- Now and then, move your fingers from word to word as you read.
- Talk about what is being read. You may need to explain something that is new to your child by relating it to something he or she knows about already.
- Encourage your child to ask questions and make comments about what is being read. It is important for your child to understand the words (vocabulary) and the ideas or concepts that are presented in stories.
- Make reading time enjoyable-a time when you both enjoy being together. Choose a quiet and calm location without distractions such as television or radio. Don't take your child away from another pleasurable activity if the child objects.
- Adjust the amount of time you spend reading to the child's attention span. Keep in mind that this may vary from day to day.
- Young children are pliable and rapid language learners. If you speak a certain language at home, it is fine to read to your child in that language. In many homes, children are read to in more than one language. Children who come to school having had experiences with language, storybooks, and printed materials at home will be better students no matter what language is spoken.
Today's libraries and bookstores carry a variety of books in various languages for young children. Young children will tend to develop "favorite books," those that they want to read often. Be patient with your child and continue to read the books the child wants, but introduce additional books as well.
- Set a good example as a reader. It is important for your child to see you reading books, magazines, newspapers, and even the mail. Let them know that reading is important to you.
- Let your child observe the many uses you make of reading and writing: Writing the grocery list, clipping coupons from a supermarket flyer, looking up someone's telephone number in the telephone book, reading the menu at a restaurant. If you use a calendar for planning family events, let your child see you making entries. When a child asks about events, bring him or her to the calendar and show the child when an event will happen.
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