Is My Child Working at Grade Level?

Recent news articles report on the discrepancies in test scores that are appearing in the comparison of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests and state test scores.

An example of the most extreme difference is Mississippi's scores. The state test shows that 87% of students are working at a proficient level compared to the NAEP scores showing that only 18% of students show proficiency. Missouri, the Show-Me State, reports a 36% proficiency rate, a match with the NAEP's figures. Every state, except Missouri, reported a higher percentage of proficiency than the NAEP numbers.

Are our children receiving an adequate education? Are our children learning essential skills? What are parents to think?

One issue with the state and NAEP tests is that the tests are different. We have 50 distinct state tests and one NAEP test. Every child takes his or her state's test but not the NAEP tests. Each state's curriculum varies, and each state's test is based on that state's courses of study.

In the past few weeks I have received e-mails from concerned parents who want to know if their children are doing as well as grades and state proficiency exams would have them believe. Does an ''A'' in Oregon correspond to a niece's ''A'' in Massachusetts? Is 4^th grade proficiency in reading the same in Connecticut as in Texas?

Unfortunately, examining grades and proficiency tests between states are like comparing apples and oranges. When we consider individual children into the mix, we may as well compare elephants and apples.

One of the most important educational yardsticks I've used is E.D. Hirsch Jr.'s series of seven books targeted from kindergarten through sixth grade, beginning with What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know. The books are also known as the Core Knowledge Series.

This series of books is beautifully illustrated and serves as a guide to each level of learning for children. Each book looks at what knowledge in language, math, science, music, art, history and technology your child should have.

Copies of these books were in my elementary classroom for a quick reference. My students enjoyed perusing the books for ideas of topics for research projects or to test their own overall knowledge.

I also encouraged parents to buy a book each year or visit my classroom and browse to get a general idea of the scope of work their child should be exposed to for the next year, not just at school, but in all aspects of life.

Another of Hirsch's books, Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know, is a valuable resource. The appendix, What Literate Americans Know, should be a required reading for every parent and adult. Hirsch's list creates a big picture of concepts every person should be exposed to before graduating high school. When I looked at it the first time, I found a few stumpers.

We can't rely solely on test scores and grades to tell us if our children are learning what they need to become literate citizens. The Core Knowledge Series of books can help us view our children's progress in a way that helps child and parent know what the next step in literacy should be.

For more information about Core Knowledge, visit www.coreknowledge.org.

Next week: Making Dinnertime Enjoyable

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.

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©2007 KIDS TALK™
25877 East Bright Avenue
Welches, OR 97067
503.550.3143
maren@kidstalknews.com

Kids Talk is published in conjunction with Scribe Marketing

True Homework: Building a Home Life

Many people are astounded when I tell them I didn't give homework to my elementary students. There are many reasons I didn't give homework, but the main one is fairly simple. The reason for coming to school is to work and to learn. If students are doing what they are supposed to do in school, which is to work and to learn, and if my job is to create an environment where children ''yearn to learn,'' does assigning homework help me meet my objectives in the classroom? Does homework help the children become better learners?

The time that children spend at home should be spent in activities that strengthen family relationships. As adults, most of us would resent being sent home with an hour or two of work, day after day, after we had put in a full day on the job. Why do we think our children will feel differently?

I share parents' concerns of children not using their time wisely if there is not homework to keep the children busy. Here are some suggestions that can help direct a child's activity during home hours while nurturing that ''yearn to learn'' and building family bonds.

• Encourage your child to write weekly to grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and out-of-town friends.
• Keep a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle as an ongoing project. I used to keep ten loaners in my classroom closet.
• Do crosswords puzzles. Friends of mine do the crossword puzzle in the New York Times each week as a family. It usually takes all week, but every time someone walks past the puzzle on the kitchen counter, they try to add a word.
• Play board games as a family. Some recommendations are checkers, chess, Outburst Junior, Pictionary Junior, Scrabble, Jeopardy and Rays of Light. Ask friends for recommendations.
• Develop a family hobby. My brother-in-law's family collects antique toys. A friend works with her daughter on dollhouse miniatures. Find something that interests you and encourage your child to help. You will be developing a lifelong bond. That's important homework.
• Encourage your children to help with meal preparation and clean up. Fix dinner as a family instead of ''taking turns'' or leaving one person to do all the work.
• Designate one evening a week as ''Family Night,'' and do something as a family. Taking a walk, skating, biking, playing tennis, making craft items or watching videos are fun Family Night activities.
• Monitor television viewing, and watch as a family. Plan what television shows or videos will be watched during the week. I kept a small lending video library at school with books that complemented the subject such as National Geographic Specials (The Titanic), Sarah, Plain and Tall or The Secret Garden, for example. Watching a video can stir a child's interest in a subject, and a handy book will help the child explore his or her curiosity.
• Read books out loud. A chapter a night is fun, and everyone can take turns reading a chapter. Jim Trelease's The Read-Aloud Handbook is a good resource.

The work of the child at home is to build a home life. These activities can help bring families together while still satisfying and strengthening the child's ''yearn to learn''.

Next week: Is My Child Working at Grade Level?

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.

©2007 KIDS TALK™
25877 East Bright Avenue
Welches, OR 97067
503.550.3143
maren@kidstalknews.com

Kids Talk is published in conjunction with Scribe Marketing

Rethinking Homework

Parents, imagine no homework to supervise and therefore no forgotten assignments. Teachers, consider having no homework to assign, grade, record and monitor.

Alfie Kohn in his recent book, The Homework Myth, advocates abolishing homework based on a survey of educational research that shows there is no connection between homework and academic success.

For the past twenty years, under pressure to raise academic achievement, many school districts and schools have been increasing the amount of homework in hopes of raising standardized test scores.

Some homework advocates say that homework is about more than better grades or test scores. Time management, priority and goal setting, work ethic, study skills and learning reinforcement are also given as reasons for assigning homework. The research shows, again, that there is no correlation between homework and these skills.

Kohn asserts that educationally we have been duped.

Having been an elementary teacher who didn't assign homework, I found it curious what my students would choose to do at home. Afraid that their children would sit in front of the television, parents at first were skeptical of my no-homework approach.

Over the years, my students’ parents reported that their children chose to read, do math problems, write in their diaries, create plays, have pen pals and more when given a choice about how to spend their time and energy. Parents reported that their children cheerfully helped prepare dinner and clean up afterwards. That was a refreshing and positive outcome for not assigning homework.

What our children, our families and our teachers need is a choice of how to effectively spend their time in order to meet the needs of each person, family, classroom and school.

Imagine if after the school and workday our families only had to worry about how to best spend their newfound time. Imagine no conflict between parents and kids over when to do their homework, where to do it, how to do it and why it isn't done. Imagine having time at home to devote to helping our children and family develop practical life skills of cooking, home care and maintenance, conversation, problem solving and critical thinking.

Teachers, imagine if you had no homework to assign, collect, grade and record. Wouldn't it be wonderful to choose a more effective way to communicate progress in your classroom? Perhaps to write a one-page letter once a month detailing the highlight of your class' work? Or perhaps have a two-hour parent/student open house twice a year for students to show off their classroom, friends, teachers and school?

Could no homework free teachers up to give each student's parents a ten-minute phone call a couple of times a year? Would no homework give teachers more time to plan lessons? Learn new skills? Spend time with their families?

There are many things we could do to better serve the needs of our children, our families, our teachers and our schools than assigning homework.

It's time to rethink the efficiency of homework and the important dynamic relationship of home/school/child. We, parents, teachers and school administrators, need to stop and examine the homework myth.

Next week: True Homework: The Work of Building a Home Life

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.

©2007 KIDS TALK™
25877 East Bright Avenue
Welches, OR 97067
503.550.3143
maren@kidstalknews.com

Kids Talk is published in conjunction with Scribe Marketing

Writing a Thank-You Note

During a recent visit with a group of ladies in their late seventies, I discovered that they each had notes tucked away, written by their children and grandchildren. Not every note from every child, but ''treasures'' from letters, notes and cards received over the years.

I'm imagining that a piece of paper that someone's held onto for 50 years might be important. What do you think?

Most notes that children write to their grandparents are thank-you notes for gifts or other kindnesses. Thank-you notes of a few words at age three can lead to letters, perhaps several pages long, by the time a grandchild is nine or ten years old.

With young children who are not yet writing, I like to ask the child to draw a picture and then incorporate the drawing into a card.

To start thank-you note writing with young children I usually give them a 4 1/4 by 2 3/4 inch piece of paper, which is one fourth of an 8 1/2 by 11 inch piece of paper. I invite them to draw a picture to thank the designated person.

After the child is finished I ask him or her to dictate a thank-you note to me. I prompt them by asking a couple of questions: What is your favorite thing about your gift? What is your favorite thing you like about this person?

From these questions a note evolves, perhaps like this:

Dear Aunt Betty,

My new red wagon holds all my dolls, and I like to pull the wagon around the block. I'm glad you're my daddy's sister. Thank you for the wagon.

Love, Patsy

Write the note on the inside of an 8 1/2 by 11 inch sheet of paper that has been folded into quarters and is now card sized. Glue the child's artwork to the front. Be sure to date the note for posterity!

(Envelopes for this size card are 4 3/8 by 5 3/4 inches and are available at most discount or office supply stores.)

As a child begins to be able to copy handwriting, around age five to six years, I'll ask the child to dictate a note, then show the child how to copy the note in his or her own handwriting, affixing the drawing afterwards.

Somewhere around nine years of age, a child should be able to independently write a thank-you note, free of spelling errors, punctuation or grammatical errors, as well as be the card designer.

Cards can be made with drawings using markers (washable!), colored pencils, crayons, glued small bits of paper to create mosaics, leaf rubbings or potato prints, to name only a few artistic methods.

Making and writing thank-you notes help our children develop an attitude of gratitude for the life our children have. Expressing gratitude for the people and other blessings in their lives helps our children be happier and healthier people.

Take a few minutes to help your child learn to express thankfulness in a unique and creative manner. These handmade notes may turn into family treasures.

Next week: Rethinking Homework

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.

©2007 KIDS TALK™
25877 East Bright Avenue
Welches, OR 97067
503.550.3143
maren@kidstalknews.com

Kids Talk is published in conjunction with Scribe Marketing