The Best Years for Learning

During the ages of six to twelve years, humans are in a developmental period of robust health between childhood illnesses and puberty. This healthiness supports the intellectual development of the person. During these years, we are most receptive to learning. Later, learning will require more effort and concentration.

During the child's years of great intellectual development, we, as adults, have a serious obligation. Not to teach academic subjects, but instead to put the child into contact with life and his or her responsibility to live and be of service to humankind.

If we lose this opportunity, it doesn't matter how much knowledge the child gains. A depth of understanding of the role of each human being is what is most important to the child. This adage says it: ''They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.'' We do not want to feed the mind and neglect the nourishment of the heart.

To help the six- to twelve-year-old child make this contact with life, we must become ''storytellers of the truth.'' We have a human being to enthuse and excite about the greatest adventure in the universe—life.

We tell stories not full of facts but full of drama. We tell stories of the universe coming into being, the earth being formed, life coming to earth and the two special gifts of human beings—intelligence and love. We dramatize the story of human communication through language and mathematics.

As adults, we connect the child through stories of life and his or her unique part in the story. When we can enthuse and excite the child with stories, a wonderful transformation occurs in the mind of the child.

History becomes the adventure of people, the child included on the leading edge. Geography becomes the story of the creation of the earth and its continued change. Social studies become the stories of how people meet their fundamental needs of food, protection and love. Biology is the story of life. Math becomes the language of invention, exploration and order. Physics is the story of the movement of objects throughout the universe. The arts show us how to express our stories without words, using pictures, music and movement.

We have this responsibility to connect the child to the mystery, the excitement and the drama—the drama of possibilities of the human being.

Deep in our hearts, each of us knows this truth: We don't care how much you know until we now how much you care.

Show our children how to delight in this amazing adventure called life. The mind will follow the heart.

Next week: The Truth of the Tattle Tale

From last week
A riddle: Using Roman numerals, answer this question: ''What should every good boy and girl be?''
Answer: CIVIL

Kids Talk™ is a column dealing with early childhood development issues written by Maren Stark Schmidt. Mrs. Schmidt founded a Montessori school and holds a Masters of Education from Loyola College in Maryland.

She has over 25 years experience working with young children and holds teaching credentials from the Association Montessori Internationale. She is also Creative Director for a video-based reading series for children ages three to six, The Shining Light Reading Series. Contact her via e-mail at maren@shininglightreading.com.

Complete Collection of the Shining Light Reading Series Now Available on DVD
Visit www.shininglightreading.com for more information.

Ask your local newspaper to carry Kids Talk. Call, write or e-mail your local newspaper editor and recommend Kids Talk.

Would you like to send Kids Talk to friends and family or receive Kids Talk e-mail updates in your own inbox? Sign up for FREE here:
Click here for a free subscription.

©2006 KIDS TALK™
25877 East Bright Avenue
Welches, OR 97067
503.550.3143
maren@kidstalknews.com

Kids Talk is published in conjunction with Scribe Marketing

Using a Sense of Humor

''Knock, knock.''

''Why did the chicken cross the road?''

''Why did the elephant paint its toenails red?''

Answer: Because they turned six years old.

Spend a few hours with a six- or seven-year-old, and you might hear a joke. Or two. If you are lucky they'll make sense. Many times I've sat at a table full of six-year-olds giggling at a joke that was absolutely non sequitur. At least to me.

Until about age six or seven, we humans take in information literally. A play on words, a metaphor, a simile, an idiom are lost on younger children and might cause them some confusion or distress.

One summer day when I was not yet six, my father phoned from work while my mom was getting my younger siblings down for a nap. I answered the phone and listened to my father's request. ''Please tell your mom that I'm tied up at the office and not to wait on me for dinner. Can you do that for me, please?''

As soon as the line went dead I burst into tears and ran sobbing to my mother. ''Mommy. Mommy. Daddy just called and some bad men have him tied up at the office and won't let him come home for dinner.''

At that point in my development, language was still literal, and I don't think I had a sense of humor. I'm thankful that my mom did.

When we start to hear the ''knock, knock'' jokes, we are getting a signal that a child's brain is changing, and the child is beginning to be able to use his or her imagination to see beyond literal meanings.

Word study and playing with words then becomes fun. Searching for homonyms, words that sounds alike, such as ''bare bear,'' is interesting to the six- to nine-year-old. Games with antonyms, or opposites, and synonyms (say synonym fast five times), or words that have the same meaning, can be fun. For example, pick a word and try to find as many antonyms or synonyms as possible. Our class once spent a week collecting a list of words that meant ''green,'' which allowed for many laughs.

Charles Dickens made the simile game famous in his play, The Christmas Carol. One person thinks of a simile and leaves off the last word. ''As quick as…,'' might be the clue. People guess until they figure out the simile. Which, by the way, is ''as quick as a wink.''

Riddles are another manifestation of jokes and the word play that humor engenders. ''What's black and white and red all over?'' A newspaper or a zebra with a sunburn.

Joke and riddle books were in constant use in my classroom. The children loved to read them out loud to each other and to handwrite them into their personal joke books.

Jokes and riddles seem to connect the young and the old. I still remember the riddles my great-grandfather told me over forty years ago. Jokes can be powerful words. We can use humor to teach important lessons and values. Think of all the television sitcoms that use humor to make an important point. Limericks usually end with a humorous message.

When you think that you are elephant joked to the max, take refuge in the knowledge that your child is beginning to develop a sense of imagination and agility with words and ideas. Feed your child's sense of humor with joke and riddle books and word games using homonyms, synonyms, antonyms, similes and more. It'll be a barrel of fun.

A Riddle: Using Roman numerals, answer this question.

''What should every good boy and girl be?''

Next week: The Best Years for Learning (and the answer to the riddle, too!)

Kids Talk™ is a column dealing with early childhood development issues written by Maren Stark Schmidt. Mrs. Schmidt founded a Montessori school and holds a Masters of Education from Loyola College in Maryland.

She has over 25 years experience working with young children and holds teaching credentials from the Association Montessori Internationale. She is also Creative Director for a video-based reading series for children ages three to six, The Shining Light Reading Series. Contact her via e-mail at maren@shininglightreading.com.

Complete Collection of the Shining Light Reading Series Now Available on DVD
Visit www.shininglightreading.com for more information.

Ask your local newspaper to carry Kids Talk. Call, write or e-mail your local newspaper editor and recommend Kids Talk.

Would you like to send Kids Talk to friends and family or receive Kids Talk e-mail updates in your own inbox? Sign up for FREE here:
Click here for a free subscription.

©2006 KIDS TALK™
25877 East Bright Avenue
Welches, OR 97067
503.550.3143
maren@kidstalknews.com

Kids Talk is published in conjunction with Scribe Marketing

Beware of the Age of Rudeness

''Ever since Jill started first grade, she's become louder, messier, and not as kind as she was in kindergarten. I think her first-grade classroom must be the reason she is the way she is,'' Jill's mother Paula said.

Susan, a former kindergarten and first-grade teacher, smiled. ''Paula, I hear this every year. What's happening with Jill is that she has entered a new stage of development, one that's loud, messy and rude. Jill sounds like a six-year-old, a perfect six-year-old.''

Yes, something different and mysterious begins to happen to our sweet and well-mannered five-year-olds. They turn six, lose teeth, get taller, and their hair loses its curl and becomes coarser and straighter. And their brains change.

As physical changes occur in our children, we also see behavioral changes. Children--who a few months before were content to eat what was served, wear the clothes in their closet, and enjoy the activities available--become less accommodating. We begin to hear the phrases, ''that's boring,'' ''that's babyish,'' ''that's not fair'' and ''that's yucky.'' Then there is the question, ''Why do I have to?''

Between the ages of six to twelve years, children are in a period of development where they are trying to become more independent of their family and close circle of friends. They are trying to ''break out into society'' and make themselves into social beings. The child of this age has a strong desire ''to go somewhere,'' whereas younger children are happy to be home and in fact might resist trips out of the house. The older child wants to dress differently than younger children. The older child, in fact, is striving to push parents away as he or she develops independence within a group.

We shouldn't be too quick to label a child discourteous or dirty. These behaviors manifest themselves as independence grows, and can turn into rebellion if not allowed in some aspect of the child's life. Children may want to change their names, style of dress, hairstyles and favorite colors.

At age six, one of my daughters went from shoulder-length hair with a penchant for lavender party dresses and black patent leather shoes, to red and blue rugby shirts, corduroy pants and an over-the-ear haircut. She also changed her name to Luke, in honor of Luke Skywalker. It was hard to miss that she was not five any more.

During this six- to twelve-year-old period of childhood, there are extremely powerful forces at work within the child. It is a period of robust good health. The colds and ear infections of the previous six years are infrequent. Growth is steady, and good health gives strength to the mind.

The intellect of the child is most receptive to learning at this age. The ability to reason appears, and the use of imagination begins. A developing sense of morality emerges in the child, along with an awareness of good and evil. The child is also drawn to the enormous or the oddball. At this age children love exploring the Guinness Book of World Records. Hero worship is also part of this age child's activities.

As you notice these changes in your six- and seven-year-old, don't panic. Your child is taking his or her first steps into a new world of independence, great intellectual growth and development of a sense of right and wrong.

There is so much of the world and life for the six- to twelve-year-old to learn, experience and understand. Impatience can be read as rudeness. At the next stage of development, during ages twelve to fifteen, we'll have an opportunity to reintroduce the grace and courtesy of social skills to a more receptive audience.

Enjoy the missing teeth, the new hairdos and the different clothes because these changes let you know that your child is navigating the path to adulthood.

Next week: A Child's Developing Sense of Humor

Kids Talk™ is a column dealing with early childhood development issues written by Maren Stark Schmidt. Mrs. Schmidt founded a Montessori school and holds a Masters of Education from Loyola College in Maryland.

She has over 25 years experience working with young children and holds teaching credentials from the Association Montessori Internationale. She is also Creative Director for a video-based reading series for children ages three to six, The Shining Light Reading Series. Contact her via e-mail at maren@shininglightreading.com.

Complete Collection of the Shining Light Reading Series Now Available on DVD
Visit www.shininglightreading.com for more information.

Ask your local newspaper to carry Kids Talk. Call, write or e-mail your local newspaper editor and recommend Kids Talk.

Would you like to send Kids Talk to friends and family or receive Kids Talk e-mail updates in your own inbox? Sign up for FREE here:
Click here for a free subscription.

©2006 KIDS TALK™
25877 East Bright Avenue
Welches, OR 97067
503.550.3143
maren@kidstalknews.com

Kids Talk is published in conjunction with Scribe Marketing

Teaching the Three R's

Reading. Writing. Arithmetic. These are the basic academic skills. There are also three R's that are important to our leadership abilities--Respect, Responsibility and Resourcefulness.

I would like to give credit to the person who initiated this phrase, but when I did a search for these 3 R's on the educational research data base (ERIC), I received over 59,000 matches. About ten years ago I first came across the concept of the 3 R's of leadership and began using them with my elementary-aged students.

Principles control the consequences of our choices. This was a concept I wanted my students to understand through direct experience. The immediacy of using the 3 R's was evident as students went through their decision-making process. Before acting, our students were encouraged to ask themselves three questions: Am I acting respectfully? Am I responding with ability to the situation? Have I thought of all my resources?

The consequences of using or disregarding the principles of the 3 R's became evident to these elementary-aged students. The 3 R questions also gave them some language to discuss challenges and the effects of different choices with each other and with their teachers. Some of the outcomes we discovered together follow:

Respect. The consequences of respecting yourself are that you like yourself and trust yourself to be a person of integrity. Not respecting yourself gives you the opposite consequence. Respecting others and their property gives you their trust and mutual respect.

Responsibility. Responding with ability gives you the confidence to know that you tried the best you knew how. It also helps you examine how you might have done things differently and how you might want to react in the future. The consequences also allow reflection on skills you might want to develop. Disregarding your responsibilities can put yourself and others in a mess fast.

Resourcefulness. The consequence of being resourceful is that you can be creative and think outside the box and do things in a way that can be uniquely yours. Otherwise, you might sit around all day and say, ''I can't do that because….''

The students in my classroom of six- to nine-year-olds loved putting on plays. We had a book of one-act plays that the students enjoyed practicing and performing. When we first started with our plays, we ran into difficulties with students dropping out before the play was performed, not learning their lines or complaining that the props or costumes were not right.

A new staff member introduced the concept of having a performance contract that stated the practice times, performance date and time and the responsibilities of each person in the play. The contract idea was a stroke of genius for highlighting consequences of using, or not using, respect, responsibility and resourcefulness.

The plays with the contract, besides encouraging reading, writing and dramatic skills, forced the students to put the principles of the 3 R's to use. Not getting along with another cast member? Use the 3R's.

Someone not learning his or her lines? ''Are you responding with ability?'' I'd hear them ask each other. Need a mountain for a prop? How about the refrigerator box in the garage, draping a sheet from the ceiling, or painting on a large window? ''That's being resourceful,'' the students said.

We had a few shows that never made it to performance due to more than one participant's disregarding the 3 R's. Disregard respectfulness, and no one wants to work with you. Disregard responsibility, then people don't know their lines and props, or costumes aren't prepared. Disregard resourcefulness leaving a ''can-do'' attitude on the table, then working on the play is not fun, and creativity doesn't get a chance to emerge.

Principles control the consequences of our choices. Using the 3 R's of respect, responsibility and resourcefulness can teach our children the results of their decisions and actions.

Next week: Beware: The Age of Rudeness

Kids Talk™ is a column dealing with early childhood development issues written by Maren Stark Schmidt. Mrs. Schmidt founded a Montessori school and holds a Masters of Education from Loyola College in Maryland.

She has over 25 years experience working with young children and holds teaching credentials from the Association Montessori Internationale. She is also Creative Director for a video-based reading series for children ages three to six, The Shining Light Reading Series. Contact her via e-mail at maren@shininglightreading.com.

Complete Collection of the Shining Light Reading Series Now Available on DVDVisit http://www.shininglightreading.com/ for more information.

Ask your local newspaper to carry Kids Talk. Call, write or e-mail your local newspaper editor and recommend Kids Talk.Would you like to send Kids Talk to friends and family or receive Kids Talk e-mail updates in your own inbox? Sign up for FREE here:Click here for a free subscription.
©2006 KIDS TALK™
25877 East Bright Avenue
Welches, OR 97067
503.550.3143
maren@kidstalknews.com

Kids Talk is published in conjunction with Scribe Marketing