how to teach children
Post on 29-Jul-2016
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How to Teach Children (Age 3 to 9) Children do a lot of growing and developing between the ages
of 3 and 9. At 3, children are moving out of babyhood and into
childhood. They have rich imaginations, may have strong
fears, and love to play physically. As they move through the
preschool ages and into school ages, they become more
independent and confident about trying new things. Cognitive
and language development change dramatically through
these ages, as children go from asking the same “why?”
questions repeatedly to being able to tell stories in sequential
order and enjoying jokes and riddles. Whatever your role in a
child’s life (teacher, parent, or other caregiver), there are
some ways to make learning productive, fun, and enjoyable
for the both of you.
Teaching through Play and Example
1 Read to your children. Reading aloud to children is widely
recognized as the single most important activity in language
development. It builds word-sound awareness, which is a
huge predictor of their own reading success. It also builds
motivation, curiosity, memory, and of course, vocabulary.
When children begin having good experiences with books at a
very early age, they are more likely to continue this feeling of
enjoyment and confidence with their own reading throughout
their lives.
Find books with pictures for the younger ages (3-6) and allow
children to stop and ask questions or talk about the book
during your reading times.
Keep a variety of age- and interest- appropriate books around
the house or the classroom to foster children’s independent
reading. Ask children what they like to read and make those
types of books available.
Continue reading aloud to older children; they never really
become too old for it! Before bed time each night, or at the
end of the school day, are perfect times to set aside for this
activity.[1]
2 Play pretend games with your children. Playing house or
other types of fantasy play is very important for children’s
imaginations as well as their social and language
development. They will love nothing more than to have you
enter into their little fantasy world.
Mimic their activities occasionally. If a child picks up a stone
and zooms it around like a car, try picking up another one and
doing the same. Chances are they will be delighted.
Keep a “prop box” for pretend play in the house or classroom
that is filled with empty boxes, old clothes and hats, purses,
telephones, magazines, (non-breakable) cooking utensils and
dishes, stuffed animals and dolls, fabric pieces or blankets
and sheets (for fort-making), and other random items like post
cards, old tickets, coins, etc.[2]
3 Do arts and crafts. Coloring, drawing, and crafts are not only
a great way to keep children entertained on a rainy day, but
they also help develop children’s fine motor skills, develop
their concepts of colors and numbers, and help them see
scientific processes like how glue works. Be sure to use age
appropriate tools and materials, like child scissors.
For younger kids, try making finger puppets, pasta jewelry, or
felt collages together.
Older kids often enjoy magazine collages, making pottery,
and making masks.
Have an “art center” at home or in the classroom where you
keep paper, markers, crayons, colored pencils, scissors, glue,
and other art materials like felt, foam, pipe cleaners, tissue
paper, etc.[3]
4 Sing songs and play music. Music has long been linked
with the development of mathematical thinking. Hearing
rhythm and counting beats fosters math skills, and hearing
words put to song also fosters language skills. Children also
often use music to develop physical skills, because they like
to run, dance, jump and skip while music is playing.
Sing nursery rhymes to young children. They will love the silly
nature and repetition of them, and will learn to sing them
along with you.
Find popular children’s songs on CD or the web and play
them around the house or as a transition time in the
classroom.
Older children (7-9) may develop a particular interest in an
instrument or in singing or dancing. If they do, try fostering
this interest with a beginner’s instrument of their own, or in
lessons with a music (or vocal or dance) instructor.[4]
5 Play sports together. Even if you’re not the most athletic
caregiver in the world, exposing children to sports and playing
with them is important for their physical development and
motor skills. Sports also teach honesty, teamwork, fair play,
respect for rules, and respect for themselves and others.
Choose a sport or two you’ll play sometimes with your
children and get the necessary things together for playing. For
example, get a basketball and find some local courts you can
go to, or get a baseball, gloves, and a bat and try organizing a
neighborhood game.
If you’re a classroom teacher, support your students’ interests
in sports by providing sport equipment for recess, asking
about their games, and going to see them participate in
school or local sport events.[5]
6 Bring your children along on errands. You’ll want to make
this a time- and age-appropriate activity. For example, you
won’t want to bring your three-old out for errands during nap
time (unless you don’t have a choice), but otherwise,
exposing children to errands can help them develop “real-life”
skills in a fun way. Explain what you have to do for different
errands in a way the children can understand. You’ll also want
to keep your list of things to do short to avoid getting the kids
overly tired, bored, or frustrated.
Set expectations for behavior during errands. Let your child
know that while you like having him help pick out cereal at the
grocery store, it’s unacceptable to pull things off the shelves
himself or whine about not getting every type of candy that’s
there.
Talk about costs of items and the purposes of different things
and services that we buy. Explain how things work in the post
office or at the car mechanic. Explain where different food
comes from and how it gets transported to our local grocery
stores.
Remember to slow down. You won’t get errands done as
quickly with children as you would without them and that’s
okay. Use the time as an educational experience for them.[6]
7 Ask for their help. Young children naturally love to help. It
makes them feel important and valued by you. Foster this
feeling into their older years by asking them to help you with
various chores. Gradually, through watching and imitating
you, they will learn to take over certain chores themselves
and develop a sense of responsibility.
Ask your preschooler to help you pick up their toys and put
them away in the appropriate places. Give praise for being a
good helper.
Begin giving your older child (7-9) some actual chores for him
to complete on his own. Give a small allowance in exchange
for completing chores well and without complaining. Advise
him to save his allowance earnings toward things he’d like to
buy.
If you’re in a classroom, develop a rotating system of class
jobs for students to complete, such as cleaning the board,
wiping desks, passing out papers, collecting homework,
emptying the trash can, etc. You can add rewards systems for
completing the various jobs as extra incentive.[7]
Instructing Directly
1 Break new information down into small chunks. When
you’re teaching something new to a child, you need to
remember that what they know is at a different level than an
adult level. You’ll need to simplify ideas and start with what
they already know. Teachers often refer to these methods of
simplifying and building on prior knowledge as chunking and
scaffolding.
Find out what the child already knows about the new concept
and go from there. If you’re teaching new words, use words
the child already knows to define the new words. If you use a
certain word while explaining and you’re not sure if the child
knows it, it’s okay to ask, “Do you know what that means?” If
not, use another word to clarify.[8]
2 Review often. You will probably need to say the same things
in different ways multiple times while teaching children,
especially if you’re working with more than one child at a time.
All children learn at different rates and in different styles, so
you should anticipate repeating yourself and practicing some
skills over and over again.[9]
3
Use visual aids. Graphic organizers, pictures, and charts are
all helpful in providing children with multiple ways of learning
new information. Graphic organizers are specific tools often
used in classes for young children that help them to break up
(chunk) information into smaller parts. They can use them to
organize information into a variety of ways, like sequencing or
cause and effect for stories, or categorizing for learning new
science terms.[10]
Talking to Children
1 Listen and answer questions. Children will naturally come
up with questions while learning something new. Take time to
listen to their questions and try to formulate the best answer
you can think of that directly answers their question.
Sometimes you might have to ask if you understand their
question correctly. You can find out by rephrasing it and
saying, “Is that what you’re asking?” After you answer, you
can ask, “Did that answer your question?”
If your child asks questions at home at times that aren’t good
for you, be sure to explain to them that it’s not a good time
and why. This also goes for any time your child talks to you.
Children don’t always understand that sometimes when you’re
in the middle of cooking a complicated dinner it’s not a good
time to discuss what happened to them that day.
Be sure to say, “I really want to hear about that (or talk about
that), but right now isn’t a good time. Can we talk during
dinner (or at another specified time)?[11]
2 Speak kindly. It’s important to talk to children, and to other
adults while you’re around children, the way you would like for
them to talk. Children learn best by imitating. If you want your
children to be polite, be sure to use manners. Pay attention to
the tone of your voice.
Be sure to say “please,” “thank you,” “excuse me,” and “I’m
sorry” appropriately while interacting with your children or with
other adults in front of them.
Listen to the tone of your voice through the child’s ears.
Children often pay more attention to tone than they do to what
you’re actually saying. Have you ever had a child say to you,
“Why are you yelling at me?” when you weren’t actually
yelling? This is most likely because your tone sounded angry,
frustrated, or unhappy in some way, possibly without you
even realizing it.[12]
3 Take children’s emotions seriously. Children have very
strong emotions, and sometimes they are about things that
don’t appear important to adults. It’s important to not
downplay how a child feels about a certain event or situation.
Help children to make sense of their emotions in a helpful
way. You can start by saying, “I understand this is upsetting to
you. Let’s talk about why you’re upset.” You can then try to
calm them down by talking about ways that they can cope
with feeling upset, or explaining other points of view that they
may not have thought of.[13]
4 Have patience. Patience is an extremely important quality to
have while working with children. It can be a challenge, but
the best thing to do is remember when “kids are being kids.”
They are usually not intentionally trying to irritate you. Unless
they are… and in those cases sometimes you just have to
ignore them. When you spend lots of time with kids in any
capacity, it’s important to take care of yourself too. Get
enough sleep, drink enough water, exercise and eat a healthy
diet, and allow yourself some occasional breaks away from
them to regroup and gather your thoughts.[14]
Teach Your Child To Read
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