Learning Buzz

Learning Buzz
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Thursday, April 3, 2014

Ideas for Reading with Kids


Here are few ideas for making reading an interactive journey.
1. Build. Many kids do love to sit and listen to stories, but all kids get restless and need to do things. Maria Montessori wrote, "The hands are the instrument of the human intelligence." Many books provide inspiration for building things in the real world. In the book Roxaboxen, a girl named Marian transforms a hill across from her house into a city using only natural objects and the help of her friends. Sticks and rocks are all that's needed to start building our own city with our kids. Books like If I Built a House and The Big Orange Splot allow us to dream of our own special house that matches our personalities. With pencil and paper, cardboard, or a set of blocks, kids can go about dreaming up their own homes.
2. Record. Many of us face the challenge of having parts of our family live in different places. We live in Mexico and Sandra's grandparents live in the United States. My mother records herself reading and singing along to various books and sends them to me. I create an iTunes playlist of my mother's readings and stack the corresponding books on the coffee table for Sandra. Sandra always insists on completing ALL the books we have recorded at one sitting. She loves getting these little gifts from her grandmother and best of all they can arrive to Mexico instantly over email.
3. Search. Goodnight Moon is a timeless book for a reason: kids love to look for things. Many children's books are filled with objects, people, and animals in rich landscapes (see for instance books illustrated by Graeme Base and Jimmy Liao). We often stop the story and I ask Sandra, "How many birds are in this picture?" or "Can you find the monster?" Such concrete tasks help her build a relationship to the book, and, on her own time, she opens the books and looks for the objects herself -- an early stage in her journey towards becoming an independent reader.
4. Perform. I often lead workshops for teachers on the topic of how they can have their students perform the books they teach in the classroom. One of my favorite books to do this with is Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. With Sandra I'll do the same thing. We swing through imaginary trees with the Wild Things. We dance the wild rumpus. She climbs on my back as we make the parade. Books and songs that lend themselves to physical movement include: Roll Over: A Counting SongBaby Cakes, and The Tickle Monster.
5. Improvise. This is actually an idea that came from my daughter. One day she had all of her toy musical instruments laid out on the coffee table. She handed me a book and asked me to read it. She then ran over to the other side of the table and picked up the drum sticks. As I read, she accompanied my reading with various instruments thereby creating a soundtrack for the story.
6. Organize. Cleaning up may not be the most imaginative interaction with stories, but it certainly is an important one. At the end of the day, when all the reading, playing, and making is done, we tuck the books away in a series of plastic boxes to sleep.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Why Smart Kids Fail??


Average kids from average homes received 432 negative statements as opposed to 32 positive statements daily. 

Words such as "Don't touch that." "No, it is done this way" "No, you are not big enough."

The Best way to help a child be more confident is to use 
More Positive words to the child 

Here is a list of 15 encouraging words and phrases that will assist your child to keep trying and increase his self-esteem and confidence.

1. "I like the way you handled that"

2. "Wow, you really thought out the solution to that problem"

3. "I have faith in your ability"

4. "I appreciate what you did"

5. "You are really showing improvement"

6. "I know you will figure out a good way to do it next time"

7. "You don't have to be perfect. Effort and improvement are important."

8. "I trust you to be responsible"

9. "It must make you proud of yourself when you accomplish something like that"

10. "You are a valuable part of the team"

11. "It is okay to make a mistake, we all do. What do you think you learned from it?"

12. "How can we turn this into a positive?"

13. "I'm proud of you for trying"

14. "I'll bet by next year you will be able to handle it, you just need to grow a little"

15. "I know you are disappointed that you didn't win, but you'll do better next time."

Friday, March 14, 2014

Intelligence Quotient vs Emotional Intelligence

Intelligence Quotient
Advantages
  • An intelligent child might do well in professional career.
  • A smart child may perform well in academics and studies.
  • An academically skilled child is oriented towards a scholarly attitude.
Disadvantages
  • An intelligent child who is rich in IQ but poor in EQ may not be a successful person in leading a life free of tension and stress.
  • A child who is poor in emotional intelligence, may not understand others and in addition, he or she may not develop a sense of self-awareness.
  • A child that is poor in emotional skills may not develop social and emotional competence at all.
Emotional Intelligence
Advantages
  • An emotionally stable child has very good social skills and he or she can lead life free of stress, strain, pressure and deep emotions. In other words, mental health in such children may be very good.
  • An emotionally competent child can survive with greater societal challenges and strife.
  • An emotionally stronger child is adept in adjusting his or her life to changing situations and scenarios.
  • A child who has better emotion quotient can easily manage emotions in a better manner.
Disadvantages
  • A child who is poor in IQ may not be able to succeed in a professional world that demands academic and scholarly skills.
  • A child with poor IQ may find a traditional classroom very boring and difficult.
Any comparison should end here because a child of today's world should be brought up with both of these intelligences. Both IQ and EQ are just like right and left eyes. One cannot exist without the other although EQ is still preferred a little higher. Emotional intelligence is often referred to as a “life saving skill” meaning it either makes or breaks the life of a person. Goleman, the noted proponent of EQ, discusses various factors that make up emotional intelligence.

Friday, January 17, 2014

Reading is a great way to learn, discover new worlds and expand your imagination, yet some kids get turned off by books because they are unable to get the hang of letters and reading
 Check out this video of a parent teaching her toddler how to read: