DOCUMENT RESUME ED 392 021 CS 012 354 … Education; Language ... terize passive learning by the lecture ... own inner sense of personhood she must establish her own values and knowledge

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CS 012 354

Moke, Susan; Shermis, MichaelThe Active Learner: Help Your Child Learn by Doing.The Successful Learner Series.Indiana Univ., Bloomington. Family LiteracyCenter.ISBN-0-9628556-9-396134p.

Grayson Bernard Publishers, P.O. Box 5247,Bloomington, IN 47407 ($9.95).Guides Non-Classroom Use (055) Books (010)

MF01/PC06 Plus Postage.*Active Learning; Citizen Participation;Communication Skills; Cooperative Learning;Elementary Education; Language Arts; ListeningSkills; Parent Participation; *Parent Role; *ParentStudent Relationship; *Reading Improvement; ReadingSkills; *Study Skills; Television Viewing; TestWiseness; Vocabulary Development; *WritingImprovement; Writing Skills*Active Readers

Providing strategies for parents to use to show theirchildren how to take an active role in their own learning, this bookdiscusses developing successful study skills, how speaking andlistening can enhance your children's re.3ding and writing skills, andtechniques to help children expand their vocabularies. It focuses onhelping children how to learn. After an introduction, chapters in the

book are: (1) Active Reading and.Writing; (2) Successful Study Skillsand Test-Taking Strategies; (3) Speaking and Listening; (4) ExpandingYour Child's Vocabulary; (5) Exploring Your Neighborhood and Beyond;(6) Participating in Your Community; (7) Active Television Viewing;

and (8) Teamwork Learning. (RS)

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00141,10

The ActiveLearner

Help Your Child Learn by Doing

The Successful Learner Series

Series editor,Carl B. Smith, Ph.D.

Also in this series:

The Confident Learner:Help Your Child Succeed in School

The Curious Learner:Help Your Child Develop Academic

and Creative Skills

1

The ActiveLearner

Help Your Child Learn by Doing

Susan Moke Michael Shermis

GRAYSON BERNARDPUBLISHERS

Family LiteracyCenter

Series Editor: Carl B. Smith

Cover art and illustrations by Dave Cover lyBook design by Kathleen McConahayCover layout by David J. Smith

Copyright © 1996 by Grayson Bernard PublishersAll rights reservedPrinted in the United States of America

Moke, Susan, 1949The active learner: help your child learn by doing/

Susan Moke, Michael Shermis.p. cm. (The successful learner series.)

Includes index.ISBN 0-9628556-9-3 (pbk.)1. Active learningUnited States. 2. Language

arts (Elementary)United States. 3. Education,ElementaryUnited StatesParent participation.4. Parent and childUnited States. I. Shermis,Michael, 1959 . II. Title. III. Series.LB1027.23.M65 1996649'.68dc20

95-48099CIP

Grayson Bernard PublishersP.O. Box 5247Bloomington, Indiana 47407

About the Authors

Susan Moke has taught at the elementary throughpost-secondary levels. She has coauthored Make the Par-ent Connection! with Michael Shermis and Connect! Howto Get Your Kids to Talk to You with Carl Smith and MargeSimic. She also has produced numerous instructionalvideos for teachers and is currently doing work in the areaof performance assessment. In addition to her work as afreelance writer, she is finishing her Ph.D. dissertation inEnglish at Indiana University Bloomington.

Michael Shermis was the assistant director of theFamily Literacy Center, the editor ofParents and ChildrenTogether, a monthly audio magazine, and the coordinatorof the Parents Sharing Books program. He coauthored thefirst two books in the Successful Learner series, TheConfident Learner and The Curious Learner. . Currently heis associate editor for Research & Creative Activity and theInternet Resources Administrator at the Office of Re-search and the University Graduate School at IndianaUniversity Bloomington. He also directs a World WideWeb development business and serves on several commu-nity service boards.

I

Contents

Acknowledgments

A Note to Parents

Introduction:The Active Learner

ix

xi

Chapter 1 :Active Reading and Writing 1

Chapter 2:Successful Study Skills andTest-Taking Strategies 13

Chapter 3:Speaking and Listening 27

Chapter 4:Expanding Your Child's Vocabulary 45

vii

Contents

Chapter 5:Exploring Your Neighborhoodand Beyond 61

Chapter 6:Participating in Your Community 73

Chapter 7:Active Television Viewing 85

Chapter 8:Teamwork Learning 97

Index

9

113

Acknowledgments

Thanks to the folks at Grayson Bernard. Specifically,Susan Yerolemou for keeping us on task and KathleenMcConahay for her marvelous desktop publishing skills.Cynthia Denney did an excellent job at acquiring andwriting annotations for several of the books. MelindaHamilton and Marge Simic, from the early days of theFamily Literacy Center, were instrumental in the de-velopment of several of the chapters. We are especiallyappreciative to Dave Cover ly for agreeing to illustratethis book (in light of the fame he is acquiring for SpeedBump). Carl Smith's driving ambition to change fami-lies lives for the positive, once again, has afforded us theopportunity to be part of that noble endeavor.

Susan Moke thanks Tyagan Miller for his continu-ing admiration and support.

Michael Shermis thanks the many wonderful chil-dren in his life: Casey, Sean, and Scott; Emily; Molly,Gabrielle, and Victoria; Alayna; Ryan and Paige; andAlex and Emily.

ix

A Note to Parents

Like most parents, you want your children to succeed.You can put your children on the road to success byhelping them become active learners. This book pro-vides you with strategies you can use to show your kidshow to take an active role in their own learning. Toenhance your children's success in the classroom, weprovide discussions on developing successful skills, onhow speaking and listening can enhanceyour children'sreading and writing skills, and on techniques you canuse to help your children expand their vocabularies. Wealso provide strategies for active learning beyond theclassroom. Kids can learn about geography by exploringtheir neighborhoods and learn about problem solvingand cooperating with others through volunteer workand social action. Even watching television presentsopportunities for active learning when parents discussprograms with their kids. Finally, the chapter on team-work learning illustrates how active learning is truly afamily affair.

xi

A Note to Parents

Each chapter also has a list of booksbooks for youto read to find out more about the topic, and books foryou to share with your children. We divide these booklists into age categories: 4-6, 6-8, 8-10.

Now, begin the journey with your children towardhelping them become active learners and powerful indi-viduals who succeed in school and in life.

xii I L'

Infroduction:The Ac live Learner

At some point in the developing years, every childsays to his or her parents, "Let me do it. I can do itmyself!" For the child, "I can do it myself" representstwo major developments. First, it means the child recog-nizes that he has achieved a capability to act on his own.He feels a certain power over his environment, andthat's a great feeling. Second, his "do it myself" state-ment is a declaration of independence. Early though itmay be, that statement says "I'm on my way to becomingan independent person in this world of mine."

These are good signsindications that a child islearning and wants to take responsibility for her ac-tions. They hint at the theme of this book: Learners whoactively pursue their own purposes using their ownresources are more likely to succeed in school and in life.

Active learning does not mean telling a child tofigure it out for himself and then walking away. If aparent placed a crawling baby at the top of a staircaseand said, "You figure it out," we would doubt that

The Active Learner

parent's common sense.But at the same age, thecrawling age, we wouldapplaud the parent whogives his child buildingblocks or other toys thatencourage the child toplay and learn. With thestairs, the parent quiteappropriately puts upsafety nets, lays downrules, and doesn't believethat the *child should

split his head open in a fall to appreciate the need forcaution around staircases. Active learning is not acopout for adults, it is an attitude that encouragesthinking and problem solving.

In contrast to active learning, we can best charac-terize passive learning by the lecture method. The adulthas learned something important, lectures the childabout it, and then expects the child to memorize thedetails. The lecture method certainly communicatesinformation and the attitudes and values of the adult.Even though the child remembers them, she may notbelieve them or use them in her own life. To develop herown inner sense of personhood she must establish herown values and knowledge as a unique person. Passivelearning does have its uses, though. We express all sortsof information in this manner: rules about fire andchemicals, street-crossing signs, or hygiene in restrooms.This kind of information is important for every child tolearn.

But we start with the assumption that everyoneneeds to be an active learner to enjoy a successful life.Our children, even more than ourselves, will changejobs frequently during their lifetimes because modern

xiv1 4

Introduction

technology will constantly change the way we accom-plish things. They will have to learn different skills thanwe did. Many of our children will have jobs that don'teven exist now.

The speed of change in modern life offers a convinc-ing argument for why we need to help our childrenbecome active learners. Those who don't develop anattitude that supports lifelong learning will find futureemployment, and life in general, an inhospitable place.As parents, then, we want to promote an attitude thatencourages the skills our children need to take an activerole in their own learning.

Active learning means more than "learning bydoing." It is an attitude that fosters questions, problem-solving, and determination. Psychologists would call it"engagement." Active learning may be defined bestthrough examples. Dorthea Cuddy, a parent whosewhole family has experienced the benefits active learn-ing provides, tells the following story:

When my son Michael's fourth-grade teacherasked her students to interview family membersabout their past, it was the beginning for ourfamily of twenty years of extensive research intogenealogy. The family tree aspect of family re-search is fascinating. However, the stories thataccompany people's lives are what make the in-terview process so spellbinding. As a child,Michael would scan the phonebook of every citywe visited and follow up with letters and phonecalls to anyone bearing our surname.

Michael's interest and determination helpedus discover a set of legal papers, which were partof an estate settlement. These helped us locatesome long-lost relatives in five different states.One distant cousin we discovered in California

The Active Learner

had information about a branch of the familythat had been lost when a sister of my grandfa-ther moved there during the Gold Rush.

Michael is a born teacher, storyteller, andauthor. The fire that ignited his quest into familyhistory has expanded to the families of historicalcharacters, especially in our locale. He was re-cently named city historian and will soon have abook published in conjunction with our localbicentennial. He is a lawyer by profession and anhistorian by avocation. A strong emphasis onhistory from the family and an encouraging pushfrom his early school years have provided himwith a great deal of fulfillment in life.

U! ob-IC11011 I\ 1

As Dorthea's son Michael discovered, active learn-ing is searching. It is asking questions, testing ideas onothers, challenging, summarizing, and revising. Thescientist is an active learner because she searches for

xvi 1 6

Introduction

patterns in nature that will help her understand it. Adetective is an active learner because he searches forclues and evidence that will help him solve the prob-lemthe crime committed. The lawyer is an activelearner because she must search through past cases tohelp her client win a case. All sorts of careers requireactive learners. By helping your children become activelearners, you are providing them with opportunities tosucceed. A greater gift than this is hard to imagine.

xvii

Active Readingand Wrifing

Educators agree that kids learn best and remembermore when they take an active role in their own learn-ing. Just like most of us adults, kids learn and remem-ber more easily what they can apply to their lives. Doyou read recipes or repair manuals for entertainment?Or do you read them to cook a new dish or to avoidpaying a plumber $40 an hour to come over and seal aleaking pipe?

Adults who read "to do" are active learners. Wetypically use reading and writing to learn how to dosomething, solve problems, and express our ideasweapply these "academic" skills in active, practical ways.By helping your child use reading to learn to do some-thing she is interested in or by helping her use writingto express something that is important to her, you show

4 I

1

The Active Learner

her how to become an active learner. Active learners arenot passive consumers of random bits of knowledge.Rather, they are interested, motivated, focused seekersof information that has particular meaning for them.

Problem Solving Is Active LearningWhat kinds of opportunities do you create for your kidsto be active readers and writers? Reading directions toa game, instructions for assembling a model airplane, orcooking from a recipe provide such opportunities. Doh'tworry if your child does not read and understand eachword of the instructions. This is a great way for him tofigure out words from contextual clues. He also can testhis comprehension of meaning, especially when he knowsthat you are handy to offer assistance as needed.

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You might even begin to invent opportunities foryour kids to learn how to do a task by reading instruc-tions. If you write step-by-step instructions for their

2

Active Reading and Writing

chores, or for simple meals they can prepare, you en-courage your kids to see reading and writing as usefultoolstools that important adults like Mom and Daduse every day to get things done.

Reading and writing take on a new meaning forkids when they use these "classroom" skills as problem-solving tools. What problems pose a special concern foryonr child? Is she interested in recycling? Is she con-cei ned about a particular endangered species? Whattop.'cs interest her that she would enjoy exploring withyou? Your library is an excellent environment for activelearning.

If you and your child go to the library to learn moreabout a subject of interestsay about a particularbreed of dogencourage your child to choose whatinformation he finds valuable and discard or ignore therest. Remember that your role is to guide him on thisexploration, not to chart his course for him. While youmay scout out sources of information and make sugges-tions, your child must decide what knowledge has realmeaning for him. Active learners need a sense of inde-pendence; they need to develop the habit of being self-directed.

Use Writing to Solve Family ProblemsWhen differences of opinion arise in your family, writ-ing can be a great way to clear the air and allow eachperson to state his or her side of the issue. Keep a familyjournal in which everyone can write vn thoughts,ideas, messages, and points oe view to share with therest of the family. Your journal can be a vehicle forconveying practical information, and it can provideopportunities for parents to offer praises fo .. a job welldone. It can also serve as a forum for stating differentpoints of view in a family conflict.

3

The Active Learner

Encourage your child to state her case in writingwhen she disagrees with parental decisions. By writingdown the reasons she thinks she should be allowed toreschedule her bedtime, your child can state her point ofview, let off some steam, and gain a new appreciation ofwriting as real communication. You can also use writing asa balm for soothing hurt feelings and cooling hot tempers.Ask your kids to write down a description of the events andbehavior that led to one of those quarrels that ended withthem muttering, "I hate you." Writing down their ownpoints of view and reading the other per son's can providekids a great avenue for conflict resoluticn.

Keep your family journal in a location where everyfamily member can read it and write in it regularly.Even young children can make contributions by draw-ing pictures or by dictating their thoughts to an oldersister or brother or to Mom or Dad.

Talking and Listening Is Part of the PlanStorytelling, reading aloud, sharing the day's experi-ences at the dinner table or before bedtime all encour-age kids to see communication as natural, valuable, andenjoyable. From there it is a small step for your childrento become active learners who appreciate reading andwriting as wol ,,I1while communication tools. Here are afew steps you can take to set that process in motion:

Talk to your children about what you are doing. Fromthe time they are born, get them accustomed to usinglanguage as a tool for understanding what is happen-ing around them. Describe cause-and-effect situa-tions such as, "I am going to use this new blue soapthis evening for your bath because it smells so nice" or"Daddy is replacing the light bulb in that lamp becausethe old one burnt out."

4

2 1


Talk to your kids in complete sentences. This will helpthem learn the sentence patterns they will encounterwhen they begin to read and write.

Make time to really listen to your children, no matterwhat they are saying. Encourage your child to shareher thoughts and experiences with you. By listeningand encouraging them to talk to you, you give yourkids valuable practice in using words, and you let themknow that you appreciate them as unique individuals.Your listening lets your child know that you think sheis important and reassures her that the thoughts andideas she is expressing are important too. Goodtalkers make good readers and writers.

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Give tasks that require attention to only one thing at atime. Make the job appropriate to your child's age andabilities, and give directions carefully. Make sure youhave your child's full attention when you give himinstructions. Kneel, if necessary, to make eye contact.If this doesn't do the trick, take your child's hand inyours and hold her attention.

The Active Learner

When you give your child direct ons, follow through tosee that he has understood and carried them out.Always praise a job well done. We all gain a little self-confidence each time we finish a job successfully.This is especially true for children.

Read fun books aloud to your child for at least fifteenminutes every day. On those rare occasions whenyou don't read, use storytelling as an alternative.Pause frequently to let your child fill in a word. Askyour child questions about his reactions to what youare reading, and encourage him to interrupt when-ever he has comments or questions.

Get your child acquainted with the public library. Gothere regularly and let your child browse for books shewants to borrow. Take home the books your childrenwant, rather than the ones you think they should read.

Remember, you are your children's first and mostimportant teacher. You have the chance to teach andinfluence your children in so many ways that affecttheir learning and eventual success in school. Makeevery day count. Show your love to your children. Givehonest praise. Be a good example in your speech andmanner of life. A child needs time. Give it in reading andwriting. The rewards are well worth the effort.

Activities for Fun and LearningCamp Out for Active Learning.

Plan an overnight camping trip for which your childneeds to learn i w skills. A few weeks before your trip,help your kids investigate answers to the followingquestions:

What food is best to cook over a campfire? Wheredo we find good recipes?

6 23


What campsites are available in our area?

What first-aid techniques should we be aware ofbefore we go camping? What first-aid materialsshould we take?

What maps are available for the area where wewill camp, and how do we read the maps?

How do we use a compass to find our way around?

What do people do at night when they're out in thewoods without a TV?

Write a Fractured Fairy TaleFairy tales are part of most children's early experiencewith storytelling. As children grow older, they mayenjoy revising those fairy tales in imaginative ways thatreflect their more grown-up perspective. Begin by tell-ing the traditional version of a fairy tale and askingyour kids to write or tell the story in their own way. Thiscould involve a change of language ("Goldilocks and theThree Bears" as told by a Valley Girl) or a change of plot(A new version of how Hansel and Gretel handled thatwicked witch). Encouraging kids to rewrite or retellfairy tales with interesting variations could lead togiggles all around.

All of Life is a StageWe all enjoy making up stories that interpret our expe-riences or grow out of our imagination. Young childrenare no exception. Even young children who cannot yetwrite very well can use storytelling to reflect and inter-pret who they are and what they have done. Encourageyour child to appreciate reading and writing as realcommunication by asking her to "write" a story withyour help. After your child dictates the story, read it

back to her. She might even enjoy acting the story out.Find props to illustrate her ideas and to help with herdramatic storytelling.

An Animal EncyclopediaCreate your own Animal Encyclopedia by drawing pic-tures and writing descriptions of animals you see at the

101 Ways to Help Your Child Learn to Read and Write,by Mary and Richard Behm. Ideas are presented tohelp parents use resoui ccs from around the hometo promote literacy. The activities are education-ally sound and fun for the parent and child to dotogether.

Real Books for Reading: Learning to Read with Children'sLiterature, by Linda Hart-Hewins and Jan Wells.


A comprehensive guide to using real books tonurture a love of reading and language for 3-to-8-year-olds. Parents will learn to evaluate specificbooks for children and discover useful criteria forchoosing and exploring books with children.

Games for :Reading: Playful Ways To Help Your ChildRead, by Peggy Kaye. Helps children read by doingwhat kids like best: playing games. The games arefun, but they have a serious purpose: to help allbeginning readersthose who have reading prob-lems and those who do notlearn to read and wantto read.

Help Your Child Read and Succeed: A Parent's Guide,by Carl B. Smith. This book explains to parentswhy they are the ones to give a love of reading totheir children. Included are useful instructions onhow to motivate your child, how to choose booksyour child will grow with and enjoy, and how todevelop your child's vocabulary. Children will gainthe confidence needed to read and succeed.

Beginning To Read: Thinking and Learning about Print ,by Marilyn Jager Adams. A guide to helping par-ents teach their children the "right" way to learn toread. Adams shows that parents need not remaintrapped in a teaching-for-meaning dilemma.

Books for Parents and Children to ShareAges 4-6

Oh, How I Wish I Could Read! by John Gile withillustrations by Frank Fiorello. A fun-with-words,read-aloud book that provides amusement whilefocusing on the importance of reading. This mes-sage is reinforced with humorous mental imagesthat will endure into adulthood.

9

The Active Learner

Simon's Book, by Henrik Drescher. Sin-ion is trapped ona piece of paperwith a monster. He must figureout a way to save himself by using pens and an inkbottle.

Story-HourStarring Megan! by Julie Brillhart. Ondays when the baby-sitter can't come, Megan'smother, a librarian, takes Megan and her babybrother Nathan to work. Megan likes going to workwith her mother and being her assistant. But bestof all about the library, Megan likes to read books.Then one day, Nathan howls during story hour,and guess who substitutes as story reader?

Ages 6-8Hey! I'm Reading, by Betty Miles with illustrations by

Sylvie Wickstom. A wonderful book to share withany child learning to read. The author explains, insimple terms, what readers actually do and givesbeginners confidence and the chance to use theirnewly discovered skills.

107


Time for Bed and Double the Trouble, by Ellen Javer-nick. Children ready to try reading on their ownwill become eager participants with these books.Each title contains thought-provoking questionsthat are based on a story parents can use to openup a creative dialogue with children.

Jenny Archer, by Ellen Conford. Assigned to write thestory of her life, Jenny misunderstands the pur-pose and beefs it up with fascinating fictionaldetails, which her teacher interprets as lies.

Ages 8-10Putting It in Writing, by Steve Otfinoski. This book

shows different ways for children to organize theirideas. Explanations and samples of kids' writings,ages 8-10, are included as well as models and tipsto follow for all your child's writing needs.

How to Be a Better Writer, by Elizabeth A. Ryan. Ahelpful, easy-to-read guide for writing better es-says, short stories, poems, and more. Learn aboutwhat to do when you don't know what to say, howto organize your ideas, and many more provenhints and tips.

If You Were a Writer, by Joan Lowery Nixon withillustrations by Bruce Degen. Melia's mother, awriter, gives Melia writing tips on finding wordsthat make pictures and how to show what is hap-pening in a story. She teaches Melia how to look fornurturing and interesting story ideas and developcharacters with problems to solve. Use this book asg springboard for writing original stories.

11

Successful Study Skillsand Test-Taking

Strategiesyour child's ability to be an active learner in the class-

room is directly related to the quality of the learningenvironment you provide at home. This quality doesn'tdepend on your occupation, age, socioeconomic level, oreducational attainments. Providing them with a properstudy environment, helping them organize their time, andguiding their efforts are the factors that will assure abetter chance of school success.

If you are a parent who has experienced frustrationwhile trying to help your child with homework or study fora test, then let us offer you a few suggestions. These tipscan not only help make study time hassle free, but they canincrease the odds of your child receiving good grades.

13

The Active Learner

Organizing Space and TimeActive learners often prosper in organized environments.An orderly place to study and a regular schedule that k cskids know when it's time to go to work supports activelearning. As a parent, you are the supervisor and thesupport system. Although it is Up to you to provide aregular place in your home for children to study, it isimportant for you to involve your children in this process.With your children, analyze the present use of space. Dothey have too many toys and materials to make their roomorderly? If so, help them figure out which toys can be putin boxes for a month. Then, a pattern of rotation will keepthem more interested in the toys they have.

Next, study the storage system. Do your kids needcontainers and boxes in which to place their toys andmaterials? If so, provide these storage containers andthen help them organize their possessions.

14

Success with Test-Taking

Finally, encourage your children to maintain an or-derly environment by having a regularly scheduled cleanuptime every week. Organize the tasks you expect them tocomplete and post them so they can check each task off asthey complete it. If your child can't read yet, draw simplepictures of them or take photos of them doing the tasks.

For those of you who have trouble imagining yourchildren keeping their rooms this organized, visit aMontessori school in your area. Montessori schoolroomsare structured so that every item has a specific placeandkids as young as two years old are involved in keeping itthat way. What's the secret? The secret is the amount oftime and effort the adults spends with the children orga-nizing and maintaining the environment.

Once you have their play space organized, make surethere is a place for them to study. It should be a comfort-able and quiet place that has all the study tools, such aspaper, pencils, pens, and a dictionary.

When children have a place set aside to study, theycan see that you hava placed importance on their studyhabits. Establishing a regular time for study will supportthis. The key word is regular. We can't emphasize enoughhow critical this component is. Being flexible when out-of-town guests are visiting or health-related reasons requirea change is OK. But wanting to watch TV, talk on thephone, or just being too tired are not good reasons tochange the study schedule. Communicate the value youplace on learning by making time for it a priority in thedaily schedule. Consistency, a sense of order, and yourpresence during the study time for supervision andassistance can provide your children with a better chanceof success for completing their homework and passingtheir tests.

15

3 A.

tt,

The Active Learner

A Guiding Role for ParentsParents have several tasks o support their children'sstudy habits. Here are a few of the most important ones.

1. Offer your children support, encouragement, andhonest praise whenever possible. Your children mustknow you believe in them and their abilities. Don't comparethem unfavorably with others. Instead, listen closely to theirstruggles and successes.

2. Be available to your children when they needassistance. Don't do their assignments, but let them knowyou are there to offer a helping hand when needed.

3. Help your children set realistic goals. Providingthem with the opportunity to achieve simple goals early willmean that together you can set goals that are more challeng-ing later.

4. Make goals specific. "I'll do better next time" is toovague. "I will raise my spelling grade a full letter grade on thenext assignment" is more specific and can help you monitorimprovement with greater ease.

5. Offer rewards if possible. Give your children theopportunity to decide what kind of reward they would likeupon completion of the goal. Don't offer rewards for every

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3')


little thing. But a special outing or snack, or perhaps theopportunity to watch some extra television for bigger accom-plishments can all be motivating factors if they have decidedthe reward is something they wish to work for.

Success with Test-TakingPassing tests is something we all do almost every dayinschool, on the job, playing sports, dealing with familyproblems. Every time someone says "You did it right," youpassed a test. That's all a test isa judgment about aparticular event or a particular behavior.

"Oh, but some tests are worse than others," you say.And that's right. Those situations that are labeled testsput psychological pressure on us because we know thatwe're on the spot. School tests are like that. Starting a jobon probation puts pressure on us because other peoplemay know that we are being tested to see if we are fit forthat job. Under those conditions, we may build up fears inourselves and create internal stress that prevents us fromdoing our best.

Test AnxietyHaving unusually strong fears about taking tests is called"test anxiety." When you have test anxiety, you are expe-riencing feelings of fear that you can't measure up tocertain expectationsand so you don't. If your child suf-fers from test anxiety, there are a number of things youcan du to relieve the fear.

First of all, help your child recognize that test anxietyis a fear, a feeling that slows down her reactions, and thatit actually gets in the way of her ability to perform.President Franklin Roosevelt once said to the Americanpeople: "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." In otherwords, when we concentrate on failure and on our own

17

The Active Learner

embarrassment, we createa barrier to our best per-formance. That's the rea-son that some childrenfreeze up or begin to crywhen faced with a test.They have built up so muchinternal stress that theyare immobilized with fear.

If your child is rea-sonably prepared for a testand knows how to follow

the directions, there is no reason why he cannot do anadequate job. Preparation can give your child the confi-dence to tackle a test because he has built up the knowl-edge and the skills needed for success. This is where yourattitude and your help come into play. You can help himprepare by planning regular reviews of the subject in ad-vance of the test. For example, you can take five minutesevery other night to quiz your child on key points.

You can also help by showing your child how to takenotes that will remind her of the important facts andideas covered in the test. Most test topics can be summa-rized in one sentence. Work with your child to write asummary sentence that gives the theme of the study unit.Learning to write a summary sentence is a good note-takingtechnique that will help your child to review and to recallimportant information. Then go through the chapter sheis studying and add a list of words that will remind her ofthe important details that support the theme statement.

Practice Test:,Besides the gene?al preparation that we just talked about,it is helpful to p Pactice on tests that are similar to the onesyour child will take. Football and basketball teams prac-

18 3,4


tice their skills daily, but they also have scrimmagegames. These are games that are played among team-mates as a way of preparing for the games that count.Why not do the same thing with school tests? Takingpractice tests not only gives your child practice on mate-rial similar to the real test, but also reduces anxiety duringtesting at school.

Besides, if you and your child review a practice testtogether, it gives you a chance to point out how tests arewritten; it gives your child an opportunity to become alittle more "testwise." There are all kinds of tests given inschool, but the one thing they have in common is theinstructions for taking the test. So the first thing yourchild should do is pay close attention to the directions.Some children find it helpful to underline the key words inthe instructions so they don't forget the specific steps theyare to take.

Time may be afactor in some tests.Generally speaking,students should read 1.4L

the test material 001'/0.carefully, but they 10.should also keepmoving. If there is atime limit, they needto pace their work sothey can completethe test within that limit. If they have an hour to completethe test, they need to ask themselves if they have com-pleted half the work when they have reached thethirty-minute mark. This should be their goal, and theyneed to keep an eye on the clock to make sure that they aremoving at a reasonable pace.

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Attitude and HealthBy now, it should be clear to you that your child's mentalattitude is just as important as being prepared. By follow-ing some of the recommendations that we have made, yourchild should feel more prepared, and that alone will reducetest anxiety. But your attitude also influences how yourchild feels. Even ifyou suffered from test anxiety when youwere in school, you should try not to pass along that fearto your children.

v

Ttilk to your children about tests as normal activitiesin life, as events that well-prepared people take in stride.You won't win all the games y Du play, and you won't aceevery test you take. But you should do the best you can andsmile when it is over. The language you use about schooltests sets the stage for the attitude that your children willcarry with them. Reassure them. Remind them that theyhave prepared, and that they have had a good night's sleepand a good breakfast so their mind and body can function

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well. These calm reassurances will let your children knowthat you are not applying undue pressure; that you expectthem to do their best, but you don't expect perfection.

There is no doubt that each of us can learn to do betteron the tests that we face in life. Whether in school or on thejob, we can improve our percormance and therefore ourrating if we do the following:

1. Study ahead of time. Good, solid learning takes timeand practice. Practice over time gives us a sense of confi-dence in what we are doing.

2. Focus on the task. Relax and eliminate distractions.Read the directions carefully and follow them methodically. Ifthey are not clear, ask for clarification.

3. Use time wisely. We all operate under time con-straints. Work hard on those things that you know well, butkeep moving. Remember, a test is meant to take a sample ofwhat a person knows or what a person can do. The teacherdoesn't want to know everything that is in the student's mind.

4. Go to bed early. We all perform better when we haveadequate rest and food. To be alert and to retain the energyneeded for a test, we need a good night's sleep and anourishing breakfast to start the day.

5. Be a cheerleader. When there is pressure to per-form, we like to have others urging us on. That's why you, asa parent, should send your chiIdren to school with a pat on theback or a hug. At the same time, tell your children that theyhave to keep talking to themselves about the good work thatthey have done and about the preparation they have made.They have to learn to cheer themselves into doing well ontheir tests.

As we have said, tests are a part of life. We should seethem as challenges, as opportunities to lift our energies

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and our spirits, and as ways to grow and to advance. Butwe also have to keep them in perspective. Tests are merelysmall samples of what we can dosometimes a samplethat shows a peak performance, sometimes a sample thatshows a mediocre performance. No matter, we are stillwhole persons who have great value.

Activities for Fun and LearningThe following activities help children learn while havingfun. Select one for you and your child to do together.

Count on ItLook at a magazine with your child and ask her to countsome of the different things you both see. For example:cookies on a page, flowers in a bouquet, letters in a word,or faces in a crowd.

Shape DesignsHelp your child improve his hand coordination and controlby drawing a shape on a piece of paper for him to surroundwith larger repetitions of your original. Use a differentcolor for each repetition and a pretty design will result.

DotsPlay a game with your child that will help her learnmultiplication. First, take turns selecting two numbers.Then, draw vertical lines equal to the first number. Ontop of those, draw horizontal lines equal to the secondnumber. Finally, draw dots where the lines intersect.The number of dots is equal to the first number multi-plied by the second number.

The EndAsk your child to make up an ending to this sentence. "Onmy way to school this morning I heard a soft tinkling sound

22


and suddenly.. . . ." Then encourage him to tell or write astory that stems from his sentence.

These activities are taken from Games for Learning,by Peggy Kaye (The Noonday Press).

Books for ParentsThe G:ade Booster Guide for Kids, by Roy Kern and

Richard Smith. Describes easy-to-follow plans forbetter grades and test scores. Includes strategies forevaluating study habits, recommendations for testpreparation, and tips on taking tests. Discussesschedules, physical health, note taking. eating, sleep-ing, and how to get help from classmates, teachers,and parents.

Test without Trauma: How to Overcome Test Anxiety andScore Higher on Every Test, by Bette Erwin and ElzaTeresa Dinwiddie. Provides an introduction to test-ing, measurement, and evaluation. Examines thepossible causes of test anxiety and suggests ways todeal with and reduce test-related tension. Also givesadvice on how to cope with test results.

Dr. Gruber's Essential Guide to Test Taking for Kids, byGary R. Gruber. Introduces parents to standardizedtests and general test-taking skills. Outlinestest-taking strategies for vocabulary, sentencecompletion, reading comprehension, writing, analo-gies, math problems, quantitative comparison, andrules and shortcuts. Notes ways to help childrenreduce test anxiety.

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Country Animals, by Lucy Cousins (Tambourine). A boardbook containing drawings of rural wildlife. The namefor each animal is also given.

More First Words I My Birthday Party, by Margaret Miller(HarperCollins). Uses photographs and simple textto show the different things one may see or do at abirthday party.

I See, by Rachel Isadora (Greenwillow). Large print andeasy-to-read vocabulary display things a young childmight see in a typical day.

Shapes, by Gwenda Turner (Viking). Presents triangles,squares, circles, rectangles, hearts, and stars as theyappear in everyday life. Illustrates each figure witha cutout of the shape.

Abracadabra to Zigzag, by Nancy Lecourt (Lothrop). Thisalphabet book displays funny and unique words andphrases found in spoken English with explanationsfor each. Includes "dillydally," "itsy bitsy," "rolypoly,""upsy daisy."

Hard to Be Six, by Arnold Adoff (Lothrop). A six-year-oldboy wants to be older so he can do all of the things histen-year-old sister can do. He learns from his grandmato be patient and "take time slow, make love count,and pass love on."

Ages 6-8See You in Second Grade! by Miriam Cohen. While this

group of first-graders is enjoying their end-of-the-yearpicnic, they think about the great year they havehad. After a few moments to remember, they areanxious to begin second grade the following year.

The True Francine, by Marc Brown. Francine and Muffyare best friends, until Muffy cheats on a math test

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and Mr. Ratburn blames Francine. Finally Muffydecides to be a loyal friend and tell the truth.

What to Do When Your Mom or Dad Says . . . "Get GoodGrades!" by Joy Wilt Berry (Childrens Press). De-fines the purpose of tests and grades. Presents prac-tical skills that will enable students to get the mostout of tests and grades.

Help Is on the Way for: Tests, by Marilyn Berry (ChildrensPress). Defines what a test is and why tests areimportant. Outlines ways to prepare and to study fora test, and gives tips for taking different types oftests.

Family Secrets, by Susan Shreve. Includes a short story oncheating in which a boy cheats on a math test andthinks he is a criminal. Then he must face hisparents and teacher. Mter confessing and retakingthe test, he no longer feels guilty and unhappy.

Hey, Hay! A Wagonful of Funny Homonym Riddles, byMarvin Terban (Clarion Books). Presents wordsthat sound the same, but are spelled differentlyand have different meanings in an entertainingformat. Offers a great way to study for a test onhomonyms and have fun.

Ages 8-10 -.2 ElHow to Sharpen Your Study Skills,

by Sigmund Kalina. Givespractical advice on takingnotes and tests. Includes tipsto help students develop abetter memory, use theirlibrary, and do homework.

How to Be School Smart: Secrets of Successful Schoolwork,by Elizabeth James and Carol Barkin. Describessuccessful organization of study space and time,

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different learning styles, ways to handle homework,and tips for taking tests.

Josh: A Boy with Dyslexia, by Caroline Janover (Water-front Books). Shows how important testing for learn-ing differences can be in a child's education. Presentsa young boy with dyslexia and the problems he has inschool and everyday life. Also includes informationon dyslexia and organizations that deal with learn-ing differences.

Test-taking Strategies, by Judi Kesselman-Turkel andFranklynn Peterson. Explains different kinds of testsand the best strategies to use for taking each. Coversa variety of test formats and subjects.

The Testing of Charlie Hammelman, by Jerome Brooks.Charlie does not want to take a swimming test andseeks the advice of a psychiatrist. Shows some of thetests Charlie must deal with as he matures.

.11=.

Mout

Sixth Grade Can Really Kill You, by Barthe DeClements.Helen is afraid she will never get out of sixth gradebecause of her reading problems. Describes some ofthe difficulties kids face in school.

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Speaking andListening

Speaking is more than just a way of communicatinginformation to others and asking questions. Likewise,listening is more than just "not talking".

Many of us tend to ignore the fact that speaking alsohelps us to communicate with ourselves. Talking aboutour experiences helps us to understand them. Especiallyin times of stress or confusion, we all "think out loud" inorder to organize our thoughts so we can deal with them.

Verbalizing our thoughts and feelings allows us todescribe unfamiliar experiences in words we are comfort-able with. It allows us to take stock of what we alreadyknow and to identify what we need to learn.

Talking serves exactly the same purpose for ourchildren. Talking allows them to organize and furtherunderstand experiences they have already had. It gives

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them a chance to relate new knowledge to ideas they arealready familiar with and it enables them to see how theirfeelings influence their behavior.

As parents, most of us talk more than we listen. Do youreally listen when your six-year-old talks to you? Once, whenmy daughter Marla was twelve years old, she handed me acartoon as I was reading the newspaper. It was a FamilyCircus cartoon that showed the father reading a newspaperand the little girl looking up at him. The little girl in thecartoon was saying "Daddy, you have to listen to me withyour eyes, not just your ears." My daughter giggled and said:"I used to think that very same thing when I was younger."

...and then 4, steppkicntiv wain at,6, thevlas wink kkoTrAsare!..

Listening is not an easy job. It is more than justhearing another person's words. Real listening is an activeprocess which involves paying attention to and trying tounderstand the message behind what another person issaying. My daughter taught me that ey6 contact helpsmake the speaker feel connected with the listener.

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Speaking and Listening

How to Listen to Your ChildBy learning to communicate effectively, we develop apositive self-image. Parents who take time to talk withand really listen to their children are actually improvingtheir children's self-esteem. When a parent does this, shealso strengthens her own image of herself as a goodparent. Here are six ways you can improve conversationbetween yourself and your child:

1. Be interested. Invite your child to share her opinionsand ideas with you so that she will become comfortableexplaining her thoughts to you. Encourage her to identify andname her feelings by putting them into words. Let her knowyou are paying attention by picking up on and verballyinterpreting her body language and then invite her to trans-late the feelings she expresses with gestures into words. Forexample, if your child becomes annoyed with you and ex-presses her frustration by sulking (every parent recognizesthe slouchy shoulders, lowered eyebrows, and jutting lipwhich indicate that his child has resorted to the "full-bodypout"), you might say, "You don't seem very happy. It's OK foryou to tell me that you're mad at me. We usually feel betterafter we talk about our feelings."

2. Avoid dead-end questions. Open up conversationrather than cutting it off. Instead of saying, "Did you learnanything in school today?" you might open up a conversationby asking, "What stories did you read at school today?" or"Who did you play with at recess?" If you want to start aconversation with your child, avoid questions which require ayes or no or right answer in response.

3. Extend conversation. Pick up on some part of yourchild's conversation and extend it. If your child says, "MichaelJordan is my favorite basketball player," you might ask him,

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"What does Michael Jordan do that you like seeing?" Whenyou incorporate your child's own words into your speech, youstrengthen his confidence in his own verbal skills and youalso let him know that his ideas and opinions are valued.

c30.'S)

4. Share your thoughts. Let your child know what youare thinking about. If you are wondering how to arrange thefurniture or trying to decide about a gift for a relative, ask yourchild questions like, "I'm not sure where to put this chair.Where do you think would be a good place?" or "What do youthink Grandma would like for her birthday?" Be sure to takeyour child's opinions seriously by talking out the practicalimplications of her suggestions.

5. Define and reflect feelings. If you think something isbothering your child, make the best guess you can about

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what it is. By doing so, you open up two possibilities forconversation. If you have guessed right, then you and your

child can discuss ways of coping with the problem. If you have

guessed wrong, you have given your child the opportunity to

tell you so and to talk about what is really bothering him. For

example, you might say, "You seem to be feeling sad today.

Did something happen at school?" This soft approach is more

likely to get a child to talk about his feelings than directly

asking him "What's wrong?"

6. Observe cues. Your child will give you hints that let

you know when she's ready to end a conversation. When shestarts staring into space or giving really silly responses, it's

probably time to stop.

Language ModelsWe all learn about language by interacting with otherpeople. Children are influenced by and learn to imitate thelanguage used by those around them. Every parent whohas heard a Bart Simpson phrase come out of his child'smouth can testify to the fact that children develop theirspeaking skills by imitating models in their immediateenvironment. Parents, teachers, and televisionall of

these models influence a child's attitudes toward the useof language (As one language specialist has said, "Lan-guage is more caught than taught"). The way you speakwith and listen to your child is the largest and mostinfluential factor in determining how she will learn tocommunicate with others. A child spends more time andhas a deeper involvement with his parents than with anyother adult. As parents, we control most of the contact ourchildren have with society.

Modeling good listening and speaking skills for ourchildren means more than just correcting their grammar.In fact, modeling good language use for our children and

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encouraging them to use language as a tool for under-standing their experiences and expressing their feelings isfar more effective than correcting speech errors.

Since television also serves as a powerful model oflanguage use for children, it is a good idea to take time towatch and discuss your children's favorite programs withthem. Television doesn't provide the interaction that chil-dren need from teaching models, but you can provide thatinteraction by sharing and discussing their TV viewingwith them.

Will Developing Good Speaking andListening Skills Help My Child at School?Recent studies show that good listening skills positivelyaffect children's ability to learn to read. Reading is reallya thinking process which involves reconstructing meaning

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from print. Consequently, children with good communica-tion skills are better able to "hear" the words they read.Communication skills usually influence a child's successin reading activities because spoken language serves asthe bridge between the new ideas represented in booksand things the child already knows.

Regularly reading aloud with our children serves asimilar purpose. Because written language is usuallydifferent from spoken lanvage, we "bridge the gap" be-tween those two modes of communication for our childrenby reading to them. Reading aloud also gets our childrenused to the language patterns of literature, improves theirvocabulary, and increases their understanding of the worldaround them. When a child becomes familiar with booksbecause her parents have read aloud to her, learning toread is more likely to be a pleasurable activity for her.

Right now you are probably saying to yourself, "I canunderstand how good listening skills can help my child tobecome a more successful student, but talking in school isonly going to get him into trouble." In fact, talking is asimportant to the process of learning and understandingnew concepts as listening is. We all need to participate in

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and experience knowledge in order to really learn. Like-wise, children need regular practice in expressing theirown meanings if they are going to develop the ability toreally understand what they read and hear. If they do nothave the opportunity to speak and write about new knowl-edge, it is difficult for their reading and listening skills toprogress beyond mere word recognition. Learning is aninteractive and dynamic process. Children can make newideas their own by discussing, dramatizing, writing about,or singing about them. This kind of learning encourageschildren to incorporate new knowledge into their ownunderstanding of the world.

Activities for Fun and LearningOne enjoyable way to improve speaking and listeningskills is to practice by playing games. Select one or two ofthe following to share with your children.

Hear, HereMake a tape of sounds you hear regularly in your home, suchas popcorn popping, a dog barking, a cat meowing, a babycrying, a faucet dripping, a door opening and closing, avacuum running, wind chimes clinking, a person yawn-ing, or a family member laughing. Let your children listento the sounds and identify what they hear.

You Name ItRead aloud the word that appears in bold print. Then readthe list of items that follow it and ask your child to selectwhich items are most closely related to the word in boldprint. Correct answers are in italics.

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COLDice, shoe, book, snow

50


GREENlips, grass, coffee, lime

SMALLfly, button, house, truck

ROUNDbox, sock, ball, penny

LOUDwhisper, thunder, flower, drums

BIGmouse, elephant, mountain, peanut

HOTpaper, sun, ring, oven

Now let your children make up some to ask you.

Nursery RhymesRead a line from a familiar nursery rhyme using anincorrect word, and allow your child to give the correctword. For example:

Jack and Jill went up the hill, to fetch a sail of water .. .(pail)

Mary had a little ham whose fleece was white as snow . . .

(lamb)

Hickory, Dickory, Dock, the mouse skipped up the clock . . .

(ran)

Peter, Peter Pumpkin-Eater had a life and couldn't keepher.. . . (wife)

The Active Learner

Three fine mice, three fine mice, see how they run . . . (blind)

There was an old woman who baked in a shoe . . . (lived)

Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack walk over the candle-stick . . . (jump)

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden blow . . .

(grow)

The End of the Rhyme.Challenge your children to fill in the blank with a word thatrhymes with the last word of the first phrase.

1. Behind the logwas a spotted . (frog or dog)

2. I will bakea banana . (cake)

3. He ran through the housewhen he saw the . (mouse)

4. I polished my shoeso it looks like . (new)

5. If you throw that jar,will it go very ? (far)

6. She was trying to tellwho was ringing the . (bell)

7. The big fat catran after the dirty old . (rat)

8. While they go for a walkthey will laugh and . (talk)

These activities were taken from Teach Vital Learn-ing Skills: Listening Games for Elementary Grades, byMargaret John Maxwell.

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Chalkboard ChatterMary Ann Duke, a literacy teacher in Sarasota, Florida,sent us this story about the importance of practicing.

As my mother used to say, "Anything worthwhiletakes effort!" It does take effort to be a parent these days.I guess that's one of the facts of life.

Sometimes the word "effort" can be translated intothe word "practice." For example, the masterful perfor-mance of a great violinist, pianist, football player, orgymnast is a result of PRACTICE. Without practice inthe beginning, one may never achieve the level of skillrequired to be "really good." Without continued practice,sharpened skills will soon begin to erode.

40140:',,

Learning to read requires a similar kind of effort. Youcan do many things to help your child practice the skill ofreading. Moreover, the effort your child exerts in this typeof practice can actually be fun!

One of the most important things you can do is readto your child every day. Every piece of research I have everread on the subject of teaching children to read listsreading aloud as a priority. Teachers should read aloud to

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their students; parents should read aloud to their chil-dren. My own mother (remember the person I quoted atthe beginning of this article?) understood that. Eventhough I am 49 years old, she still wants to read to mewhen I visit. Usually it is an: article from the newspaper,or a magazine, or an excerpt from a book she is currentlyreading and very excited about. My mother used to readaloud to me in order to help me sharpen my reading skills.Now this experience is a way for us to share our currentinterests and enthusiasms.

When you read to your children, choose books withtheir interests in mind. Visit your local library. The shelvesabound with wonderful selections, and the children's li-brarian will be glad to help you.

Get excited about children's magazines and readthem together. Read the articles, work the crosswordpuzzles together, the dot-to-dots, mazes, etc. Take yourchildren to the magazine section of the bookstore to makeselections. When you discover your child likes a particularmagazine, subscribe to it in your child's name. If a fondgrandma, aunt, or uncle is wondering what to give your

3854


child as a special birthday or Christmas present, suggesta subscription to his favorite magazine.

Since seeing yourself on videotape or hearing your-self on an audio cassette tape is a very interesting experi-ence; you might use these tools to improve your child'sreading ability. Turn on the tape recorder and let yourchild read a passage unrehearsed. Play it back. Then haveyour child practice (there's that word again) the passageand read it again while being taped a second time. Bothyou and your child will be impressed by the way practiceimproves her reading of the passage. These activities canall be fun learning experiences . . . and that is what thischapter is all about . . . helping parents have fun with theirchildren while teaching them, training them, and lovingthem in the process. ENJOY!

Books for ParentsAre You Listening? by Ralph G. Nichols and Leonard A.

Stevens. Explains the physical and physiologicalaspects of listening. Chapters focus on various placeswhere listening occurs, including family circles,schools, conferences, business meetings, sales situa-tions, and several others. Covers different styles oflistening, and provides tips to enhance listening.

That's Not What I Meant! How Conversational StyleMakes or Breaks Relationships, by Deborah Tanner,Ph.D. Presents ways to identify conversational styles,and discusses how they are different and similar.Looks at conversation n several types of relation-ships, including friendships, marriages, and the work-place.

How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids WillTalk, by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish. Suggestsways to avoid turning simple conversations intoarguments, to instruct rather than criticize when

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you correct your child's behavior, and to find effectivealternatives to punishment.

The New Read-Aloud Handbook,by Jim Trelease. Explainswhy, how, and when to read aloud. Offers guidanceconcerning what to do and not to do while readingaloud. Recommends books for parents to read aloudwith their children. Categories include the following:predictable, wordless, picture, short novels, novels,poetry, and reference.

No Nonsense Parenting Guide: Tough Topics, by SaraWilford. Gives parents ideas on using books to talk totheir children about current issues and problems. In-cludes an annotated list of suggested titles, and ideasfor parents and teachers working together. Also coversliteracy and learning to read.

Draw-and -Tell: Reading Writing Listening SpeakingViewing Shaping, by Richard Thompson (Annick

Press). Contains twelve short stories to share withchildren. Each of these stories includes instructionsfor telling the story as well as a built-in visual map

40 56


which shows you how to illustrate the story as youtell it. If you follow the simple directions for illustrat-ing the story line, you will end up with a picture ofone of the characters in the story. The introductionprovides ideas and techniques for good storytelling.


More First Words: Playtime, by Margaret Miller(Harper Collins). Photographs of children andlarge-type print present different actions which oc-cur during play. Allows a child to associate a wordwith a specific action.

Who Says That? by Arnold L. Shapiro (Dutton). Showsover twenty animals and insects, sounds they make,plus several girls and boys and the noises theygenerate. Text rhymes to make reading more livelyand appealing.

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin,Jr. (Henry Holt). This companion to the well-knownBrown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? focuseson sounds different animals make. While reading,children will enjoy chanting the rhythmic words andmaking animal noises.

The Listening Walk, by Paul Showers (HarperCollins). Alittle girl and her father take a listening walk aroundtown. They do not hurry, and they do not talk. Theydo keep very still and listen closely to discover all ofthe different sounds around them. Draws a child'sattention to some noises and sounds he might hear ifhe listens intently.

Baby's Boat, by Jeanne Titherington (Greenwillow). Se-rene and gentle pictures illustrate this youngster'svoyage in a silver moon boat. Parents can share thislullaby with children before tucking them in bed.

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The Napping House, by Audrey Wood. This is a cozy taleabout a snoring granny, a dozing dog, a slumberingmouse, and several other engaging creatures. Every-one in the group is fast asleep, until a flea wakes upand chaos begins!

Ages 6-8The Kitten Who Couldn't Purr, by Eve Titus (Morrow).

Jonathan, the kitten, doesn't communicate well be-cause he can't purr. After unsuccessful attempts atbarking, mooing, and quacking, he finds anotherway to convey a message. Uses predictable text andlarge pictures.

Amazing Grace, by Mary Hoffman (Dial). Grace wants totry out for the part of Peter Pan at school, but herclassmates tell her she can't since she is a girl andshe is Black. With the help of her family, Gracediscovers she can be anything she wants to be.Because she has the courage to speak up and try out,Grace gets the part and gives an excellent perfor-mance.

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Aunt Isabel Tells a Good One, by Kate Duke (Dutton).Aunt Isabel is a remarkable storyteller, and showsyoung Penelope how to tell a good story by spinninga fanciful tale. Presents storytelling to children as afun and inventive activity, instead of a task to per-form at school for a grade.

Mandy, by Barbara D. Booth (Lothrop). Mandy is deaf andshe hates the dark because in the darkness, she can'tsign or read anyone's lips; it makes her feel so alone.When her grandmother loses a special brooch, Mandybraves a storm at night to find it even though she isfrightened. Gives readers a glimpse of what a com-monplace incident might be like for a deaf child.

Sheep in a Shop, by Nancy Shaw (Houghton Mifflin).Rhythmic text and amusing illustrations show five

sheep on a whimsical shopping adventure. After theyselect their gift, they discover they do not haveenough cash to pay for it. These clever sheep solvetheir problem and figure out a way to stay cool at the

same time.Tikki Tikki Tembo, by Arlene Mosel. Presents a humorous

fable that explains why Chinese people changed thetradition of giving their firstborn sons long firstnames, and began giving all their children shortnames. Children enjoy hearing the repetition of thelong name, "Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-charibari ruchi-pip peri pembo," and saying it themselves.

Ages 8-10The Vicar of Nibbleswieke, by Roald Dahl (Viking). Rever-

end Lee's position is threatened because he has adisability which causes him to turn all of his wordsaround. Luckily, the loca 1 doctor knows the cure:"walking backwards wh le speaking."This witty tale

was written for the benefit of the Dyslexia Institute.

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You Can Speak Up in Class, by Sara Gilbert (Beech TreeBooks). Addresses feelings of discomfort and anxietythat students have when speaking in the classroom.Presents reasons for these problems and gives practicalways to deal with them.

Help Is on the Way for: Listening Skills, by Marilyn Berry.Comic-book illustrations and well organized textexplain five steps to successful listening. Also pro-vides tips to improve listening habits at school.

Amy: The Story of a Deaf Child, by Lou Ann Walker.Photographs and a first-person account reveal howAmy deals with her deafness. Hearing aids and signlanguage help Amy enjoy life and participate inactivities that other children enjoy.

James and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl. When Jamescrawls into an overgrown peach, he joins a variety ofgiant creatures for a series of fantastic escapades.After several close calls, this extraordinary grouplands in New York City, to begin their new lives.

More Stories to Solve: Fifteen Folktales from around theWorld, told by George Shannon (Greenwillow). Eachconcise story contains a riddle to solve. Children canlisten to the story read aloud, then propose a solution.

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AP'

4Expanding Your

Child's Vocabulary

I-lave you noticed that you never tire of hearing somewords, while other words and phrases begin to irritateyou? We always like to hear "You're doing a great job!"or"I love you." Those phrases seem to carry new meaningeach time they are spoken.

But then there are other words which bore us becausethey are used endlessly and without real meaning. Theword "neat" especially bothers me: "That's a neat dress.She's a neat person. Isn't that a neat car? What a neatidea!" The use of "neat" in all these cases shows eitherlazy thinking or a limited vocabulary. These statementsindicate some vague appreciation but nothing more. Isthe dress "neat" because you like the color, because itsdesign fascinates you, or because it flatters the figure ofthe wearer? I don't know. If you expand your vocabu-

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lary, perhaps I will understand why you think that dressis special.

What Is a Good Vocabulary and WhyDoes My Child Need One?A vocabulary is a sort of mental tool chest which we use tocommunicate our ideas and feelings to other people. Some-one who has the verbal equivalent of a saw, a pair of pliers,and a screwdriver in her mental tool chest can accomplisha lot more with words than someone who has only ahammer. The more words a person has at her fingertips,the more precise she can be in expressing her ideas. Atschool and in the world of work, our ability to present ourideas clearly is a key element of successful performance.By helping her improve her vocabulary, you can

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improve your child's success at schoolboost your child's IQincrease your child's future job opportunities

0 F.,

Expanding Your Child's Vocabulary

Because words give people control over a world full ofinformation, expanding their vocabulary helps childrengain better control over their school subjects and overtlieir home life. Developing a good vocabulary helps chil-dren become more capable of articulating their questionsabout math problems at school, and it helps them becomemore comfortable talking about their deeper feelings athome with Mom or Dad.

Most of us see the range and depth of someone else'svocabulary as a sure clue about that person's intelligence.In fact, when I was younger I figured people who werereally smart (my second-grade teacher, for instance) hadprobably read the dictionary from cover to cover. Now Iknow that people don't usually develop a rich vocabularyfrom trying to read the dictionary with the same enthusi-asm they would give to an adventure or romance novel.People sharpen their vocabulary skills by reading lots ofdifferent books (yes, these include adventures and ro-mances) which excite their interest. The single mosteffective thing a parent can do to expand his child'svocabulary is to read with him and to encourage his child'sinterest in a variety of books. Talking with him about whathe is reading will enable you to help your child relate newwords to ones with which he is already familiar. That'show our vocabularies grow.

Developing a rich vocabulary won't just help yourchild during her school years. In our increasinglyinformation-oriented society, our ability to present ourideas clearly makes us more competitive in a tight jobmarket. Well chosen words are the currency your child willuse to participate in the information marketplace. In acertain sense, word power is becoming an index of anindividual's buying power. For instance, a recent study ofbusiness managers revealed that people with high-payingjobs also had very well-developed vocabularies.

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What Parents Can DoYou can help your child expand his vocabulary by showinghim how new words relate to those with which he isalready familiar. You can show him words that are simi-lar, words that sound alike, words that look alike, andwords with opposite meanings. Helping your child iden-tify and understand these relatiohships is one way toexpand his vocabulary.

For instance, synonyms are words that have the samemeaning. Like members of the same family who all havethe same last name, synonyms are related to one anotherbecause they share the same "source" or meaning.

How many synonyms can you think of for theword "angry?"

mad exasperated

put-out irate

peeved fit to be tied

livid upset

enraged vexed

annoyed irritated

steamed hot under the collar

You could probably come up with a few more if youthink about it, or if you consult a book called a synonymfinder or a thesaurus.

Searching for synonyms will help your child expandher vocabulary because it encourages her to experimentwith several different ways of expressing the same idea oremotion. "Looking for Synonyms" is a word game you canplay almost anywhereyou and your child can play itwhile you are waiting for a doctor's appointment or run-ning errands in the car, or cooking dinner in your ownkitchen.

48 6 4

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goLID,Dalatts21ZEIIVNt

You can make it easy to play this ga. e by starting astack of word cards. (Use 3" x 5" cards or some old businesscards.) Write one word on each card. When you find a fewspare minutes, you or your child can draw a card and thentake turns finding synonyms for the selected word. Don'tworry about finding words you think your child needs toknow. Be satisfied to show her that expanding her vocabu-lary can be fun.

Like synonyms, homophones are also related to oneanother because they are similar. Have you ever knowntwo brothers or sisters who sound just alike when you talkto them on the telephone? Homophones are like twobi.others who can trick you because they sound nearlyidentical but aren't really the same person. Homophonessound identical but they don't look alike or mean the samething. Do you remember when you struggled over thespelling of words like tale and tail? Did you worry aboutwhich spelling to use when you wrote about accidentallyclosing the door on your cat's tail or when you wrote abouta fairy tale?

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Ask your child to come up with homophones for thefollowing words and then discuss the different spellingsand meanings of these words which sound the same:

TO too, twoATE eightFLOWER flourPEACE pieceTAIL taleOUR hourBERRY bury

Can you think of any other words which sound alikebut have different meanings?

We've talked about how synonyms are words thathave similar meanings and homophones are words thathave the same sound. There is one more group of wordsrelated to one another on the basis of their "alikeness."They are called homonyms. Homonyms look and soundalike, but have different meanings depending on theircontext.

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Like twins, two homonyms appear to be the sameword because they look and sound exactly alike eventhough they are really different. Discussing homonymswith your child is a great way to clue him in to the idea thathe can often guess at the meaning of an unfamiliar wordby thinking about its context. Homonyms are words whichhave multiple uses. How they are used in a sentencedetermines their meaning. Think about how context de-termines the meaning of the following homonyms:

The mama BEAR hugged her cub.That baby's mother cannot BEAR to see him cry.

Both of these sentences say something about mothersand their babies. However, in the first sentence, the wordbear is used as a noun and refers to an animal, and in thesecond sentence, it is used as a verb which means to tolerate.

Here is another example:

Farmers display animals at the state FAIR.The weather man predicted FAIR weather.

In the first sentence, fair refers to an event, to ameeting place. In the second, the word fair indicatessomething about the condition of our atmosphere. You canfind examples of homonyms in newspapers, magazines,and on television.

You can also use newspapers, magazines, and televi-sion to search for words that have opposite meanings.Antonyms are related to one another by means of contrast.You've heard about the legendary feud between theHatfields and McCoys? Antonyms are sort of like members ofdifferent families who don't get along because one of themalways says and means exactly the opposite of the other.

You and your chi Id can have a good time finding andsubstituting antonyms for words in television or magazineadvertisements. For instance, your child might focus in on

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a current ad and change the caption "You've got the rightone, baby. Uh huh!" to "You've got the wrong one, baby. Unuh!" The fun begins when you change the rest of the ad tomatch your new headline.

Children first learn antonyms when they learn that"up" is the opposite of "down"; "hot" is the opposite of "cold."From their earliest years, children enjoy playing with oppo-sites (happy/sad, bright/dark, little/big, and so on). Exploringrelationships of similarity and contrast is a way for childrento relate a new word to one with which they are alreadyfamiliar. Of course, the dictionary will help children discoversynonyms, homophones, homonyms, and antonyms forthese words.

As your child encounters unfamiliar words, you canhelp her incorporate them into her vocabulary by explor-ing the word relationships we've just talked about. Onegood way to do this is to help your child build word maps

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which show her where thevocabulary. Here's how to

Definition(verb) to put in the

ground and cover

with dirt, or to cover

in order to conceal

from sight

Homonyms

none

Synonyms

coverinter

hide

conceal

new word fits into her currentmake a word map:

ExampleFluffy wants to

bury her bone so

she can chew on it

Homophones

berry

Antonyms

uncover

dig up

showreveal

You can help your child expand her vocabulary byencouraging her curiosity about unfamiliar words. Sug-gest that she keep a iist of these words. If you set up a"strange word list" in some prominent place in the house,guessing at and discussing the meanings of new wordsmight become a family game. For instance, using magnetsto stick a long piece of blank paper to the side of therefrigerator would do the trick. Let your child give this bigpiece of paper a title she finds descriptive (Julie's WeirdWord List, Billy's Unusual Words, Words You May NotHave Met Yet). You and your child can write a new weirdword on the sheet each time you pass the refrigerator.

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When you are together, try to use the words in a sentenceto show that you know what the word means. Use adictionary to settle disagreements.

You can adapt all of these vocabulary-expandingtechniques to your own child's age level and experience.When new words come up in conversation or when you andyour child are reading books together, let your child knowthat developing a good vocabulary (and getting "smarter"in the process) is just a natural part of growing up.

Activities for Fun and LearningGames, riddles, and books are enjoyable ways for childrento enhance and expand their vocabularies. Try one of thefollowing activities to share with your child.

Laughable LingoA fun way for children to learn or review homophones(sound-alike words) is to read one or more of the followingbooks by Fred Gwynne: A Chocolate Moose for Dinner,The King Who Rained, A Little Pigeon Toad, TheSixteen Hand Horse (Simon and Schuster). Thesebooks illustrate some funny images a child envisions whenhearing her parents talk. For example:

54

"a running nose"

"playing the piano byear

"three feet in a yard"

"flush a pheasant"

Help your child thinkof some more, and drawpictures to match.


Comical CombosMany compound nouns (like sugar bowl, jelly roll, or

bicycle shop) can be used comically as subjects and verbs.Using the second noun as a verb evokes amusing images.Try singing this song to the tune of "Have You Ever Seena Lassie":

Have you ever seen a porch swing, a porch swing, a porchswing,

Have you ever seen a porch swing, now you tell me one.

Have you ever seen a , a , a ,

Have you ever seen a , now you tell me one.

baseball batsugar bowl

jelly roll

bicycle shop

cake walk

fireside chat

Word ChainsHelp your child construct word chains using compoundwords. A compound word is one word made up of twowords, like sunburn. In this activity, the lastword in thecompound word becomes the first word in the next wordsunburn, burnout, outside. A dictionary is useful forthis activity.

Word-stockRead books aloud to your child that have a higher level ofvocabulary than books your child would read on his own.For example, The Amazing Bone, by William Steig, is astory about a little pig named Pearl. Children will enjoythe story and will understand the meaning of some of themore difficult words through context clues and pictures.Hearing the words will also make them more familiar to

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your child, and you can discuss the meanings of the wordstogether. Some words used in The Amazing Bone are:

dawdled flabbergast flourish

pumpernickel wretch commenced

crullers ravenous ranted

gawking revile embrace

gaffers odoriferous expletives

The odoriferous wretchdawdled, gawking at the shopwindow full of pumpernickelcrullers. He was ravenous, andcommenced ranting expletivesjat the flabbergasted baker. . .

-

Books for ParentsExpand Your Child's Vocabulary, by Carl B. Smith (Gray-

son Bernard). Includes twelve powerful vocabulary-building strategies parents can use to boost the word

power of their school-age children. Together, parentsand children can explore the world of context clues,analogies, synonyms and antonyms, word maps,Greek and Latin roots, word families, words fromother languages, and more.

567')4.,


A Book of Puzzlements, by Herb Kohl. Full of games andactivities for parents to share with their children.Includes ideas appropriate for all age groups.

A Child's Almanac of Words at Play. Contains puns,puzzles, nonsense poems, limericks, and word games.Includes one activity per day for a year.


It Didn't Frighten Me! by Janet L. Goss and Jerome C.Harste (Willowisp Press). A child sees a variety ofimaginary creatures in a tree outside of his bedroomwindow. He convinces himself that he is not afraid,until a real owl surprises him by looking in hiswindow and hooting.

Old Black Fly, by Jim Aylesworth (Hew,- H-_slt). Spectacu-lar drawings illustrate this animated tale about a flycausing havoc in a very colorful household. This is analphabet book that introduces each letter through alively story. Children enjoy repeating the refrain"Shoo fly! Shoo fly! Shoo!" while they listen.

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Garden Animals and Farm Animals, by Lucy Cousins(Tambourine Books). These are sturdy board bookswhich make page turning easy for young children. Agarden or farm animal is represented on each page inwords and illustration so that young readers can relatea visual image to written and spoken language.

One Yellow Lion, by Matthew Van Fleet (Dial Books).Contains different colored numerals from one to tenmade out of lift-up flaps. Behind each flap are ani-mals that correspond in color and sum to the appro-priate numeral. Also includes large print words forcolors and numbers.

My First Word Book: Seasons, by Anna Curti (Little,Brown). Large pictures show animals in variousactivities during different seasons of the year. In-cludes a short story at the top of each scene, andwords label items in each picture.

Have You Seen My Cat? by Eric Carle. A young boysearching for his cat asks a variety a people if theyhave seen it. Several people show him cats they havefound in their neighborhoods.

Ages 6-8Seeing, Saying, Doing, Playing: A Big Book of Action

Words, by Taro Gomi (Chronicle Books). Depictsalmost 500 action verbs in colorful and diverse scenes.Children can identify the activity and see the word forit in print. Labels each action and provides a cumula-tive list of words in the back of the book for use inplaying a search-and-find game.

The Cake that Mack Ate, by Rose Robart (Little, Brown).This tale is similar to "The House that Jack Built" inrhythm and pattern. The surprise ending will de-light readers of all ages.

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The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything, byLinda Williams (HarperTrophy). While she is on awalk to collect herbs, spices, nuts, and seeds, spookyobjects begin to follow a little old lady. When theycan't frighten her, she must figure out somethingelse for them to do to get them out of her way.

Herds of Words, by Patricia MacCarthy (Dial Books).Introduces named groups of people, objects, andanimals. Reproductions of large, bright batik paint-ings illustrate the text.

Marms in the Marmalade, by Diana Morley (Carolrhoda).A unique and fun way to look at the English lan-guage. Causes readers to ponder the logic of wordsfound within other words. Questions like "Is a dentistcovered with dents?" serve as a springboard to cre-ative use of language.

All Aboard Overnight: A Book of Compound Words, byBetsy and Giulio Maestro. Defines and presents overfifty compound words in a story about a family takinga train trip. Compound words in the text are in boldprint for easy location. Others are represented inpicture format for the reader to find.

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Ages 8-10Hey, Hay! A Wagonful of Funny Homonym Riddles, by

Marvin Terban (Clarion Books). This is a fun way forchildren to expand their vocabularies. Includes pairsand triplets, riddles, names, an index ofhomonymsused in the book, and a list of similar books abouthomonyms.

Cache of Jewels and Other Collective Nouns, by RuthHeller. Presents in large, bold, colorful illustrationsseveral different collective nouns. (A collective nounis a word that means a collection of things.) Includesa short descriptive explanation of collective nouns bythe author.

The Amelia Bedelia series provides wacky examples offunny situations that occur when people interpretthe English language in different ways. AmeliaBedelia is an endearing housekeeper who takes ev-erything literally. Titles include: Amelia Bedelia;Come Back, Amelia Bedelia; Good Work, AmeliaBedelia; Amelia Bedelia and the Baby; Amelia BedeliaGoes Camping, and Merry Christmas, AmeliaBedelia.

Too Hot to Hoot: Funny Palindrome Riddles, by MarvinTerban. Readers can survey a variety of palindromeswhich are words or phrases that are spelled the sameforward and backward (for example, mom, pop,madam, level, and radar). Mtcr reading these ex-ample:6, children can create their own palindromes.

Murfles and Wink-a-Peeps: Funny Old Words for Kids, bySusan Delz Sperling. Defines over 50 obsolete wordsand links them to vocabulary that children usetoday. Helps show how vocabulary changes overtime.

Funny Side Up! by Mike Thaler. Instructs readers how towrite riddles. Encourages children to use a dictio-nary, thesaurus, and other resources to write riddles.

Exploring YourNeighborhood and

Beyond

Getting out and about is one way to encourage activelearning in your child. You can help your child takecharge of her own learning by becoming a mutual ex-plorer with her. Exploring your neighborhood and be-yond can help your child experience the thrill of discov-ery, which is such an essential part of active learning.Geographers, scientists, astronauts, and artists all ex-perience the thrill of discovery as they explore newworlds or creative frontiers. For children, their ownneighborhood can present a real-life geography lessoncomplete with many opportunities for active learning.

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The Active Learner

Going PlacesWhenever your family goes places, you are helping

your children learn geography. Whenever you takewalks through the neighborhood, point out car licenseplates from different states, or visit a relative in an-other town, you are teaching your child about geogra-phy. Geography is literally all around us.

Geographers, whose job it is to study the earth,investigate answers to five main questions:

1. Where are things located?2. What makes a place special?3. What are the relationships between people and

the places where they live?4. What are the patterns of movement of people,

products, and information?5. How can the earth be divided into regions for

study?

By helping your child apply these basic questionsto your everyday experiences, you stimulate her inter-est in geography and her understanding of the world inwhich she lives.

Making a map of her room, her house, her neighbor-hood or city can help your child begin to see where oneplace is in relation to another. Help your child make amap of your town that includes places of interest to her.By helping her see where your house is located inrelation to Grandma's or Uncle George's, you can buildyour child's confidence in her ability to make her waythrough her own community.

Geographers talk about location by referring tolatitude and longitude. Before trying to explain to a kidwhat the latitude or longitude lines on a world globe ormap mean, begin by illustrating how fancy words likelongitude and latitude relate to more basic terms about

62 7 b

Exploring Your Neighborhood and Beyond

place. Young children easily learn positional words likeabove and below when adults regularly use these wordsin directions. When you tell your child that he will finda washcloth on the shelf above the towels, you areteaching him how to locate things in his environment.When you tell your child to put the silverware away inthe drawer that is to the right of the stove, you arehelping him learn how to find his way around in unfa-miliar surroundings.

Learning what right and left mean is the first steptoward learning how to use directional terms like north,south, east, and west that will allow your child toeffectively use maps and globes. You can begin to teachthese terms to your child by using your house as areference point. Help her figure out which way is east bytelling her the sun comes up in the east and askingwhich window the morning sun shines thrGugh. Thenyou can help her figure out which way is west bywatching which windows catch the light of the settingsun. You might also find it interesting to help olderchildren check a map or globe for the longitude andlatitude of the place where you live.

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Every Place Has a PersonalityJust like people, places have their own special charac-teristics. Every place has its own personality, and learn-ing about those personalities is part of learning aboutgeography. What are the physical and cultural charac-teristics of your neighborhood? What animals live there?What plants grow there? What is the landscape like?What kinds of things are made or sold there? Whatneighborhoods are different than or similar to yourown? What makes your neighborhood special? Theseare the sorts of questions your child must answer whenshe writes a report about exotic places for her socialstudies class. She might find it fun (and good practicefor writing social studies reports) to apply these ques-tions to her own community.

Geographers divide the earth into two differentregions for study: physical regions and cultural regions.You can help your children understand how physicalregions or environments influence what happens in aplace just by exemining the physical regions in yourhome. Is there an upstairs and a downstairs? An eatingarea and a sleeping area? What other regions are therein your home? Look at the physical regions in yourcommunity. Do factory, waterfront, commercial or rec-reational regions exist in your hometown? When youdiscuss these things with your children, it's a smalljump then to talk about larger physical regions orcontinents like Asia or South America.

Our Environment and UsStudying how people adapt to and deal with their envi-ronments is another part of geography. What wouldhappen if no one ever cleaned your house or took out thetrash? Every familyhuman or animalexerts some

64LS


control over its home environment. We control ourenvironments when we mow our grass, heat or aircondition our houses, or clean up a room. We adapt toour environment when we wear raincoats during thewet season or put on a hat if we are going to be out in thehot summer sun.

A -

Virar.

/

WGS

r-AparieF =pr.)0

Environmentalists get concerned when they thinkwe don't make a large enough attempt to adapt to ourenvironment. They worry that we don't take care of it inthe right way. Walking your children around a park inyour neighborhood and talking about the need to cleanup litter will raise the question of how to dispose ofwaste. A trip to the local landfill, junkyard, or recyclingcenter will illustrate how the disposal of waste is reallyan environmental problem. Here's a list of other activi-ties you and your child can use to further explore yourneighborhood and beyond.

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The Active Learner

Activities for Fun and LearningGoing places

Geographers are always interested in how people getwhere they want to go. Do people in a given placeusually travel by car, by foot, on the bus, or by boat tovisit or do business with one another? How do you andyour children usually get from place to place? Use a mapto see how you might take various routes or use adifferent form of transportation to go somewhere. Takea discovery trip together by going somewhere in yourarea using a different route or form of transportation.

How did that get here?You can follow the movement of people and things byexamining the labels on your clothes and then findingthose places on a map or globe. What route did your kids'jeans or shirts follow to get to the store where youbought them? You can also investigate geography by

66 8 ')


checking food labels and talking about where your foodcomes from. Why do bananas come all the way fromSouth America instead of from your local orchard?

Chart your family's migrationsConversations about your family origins will give youand your child a chance to discuss the ways and reasonspeople move from place to place. Where were yourrelatives born? Find those places on a map and discusshow your family members came to live where they dotoday. Most children are fascinated by stories about wheretheir ancestors came from; they love hearing about whygreat- (or great-great-great) grandfather decided to leavehis original home.

Take your children to visit older relatives andinvite these relatives to tell stories from "the oldendays" about how and where they traveled. Tracing theirgrandparents' or great-grandparents' or great-great-grandparents' travels on a map would probably be anenjoyable experience for your family. Your childrenmight even have fun writing their own stories, completewith maps, about how their family came to live in theplace they now call home.

See which way the wind blowsWeather affects the personality of a place. The amountof sun or rain, the direction anct strength of the wind,and the severity of the summers and winters make a bigdifference in where people live, how they grow theirfood, and what kinds of clothes they wear. Meteorolo-gists use a variety of tools to study the weather andmake weather forecasts. One of these tools is the weathervane. You can make your own weather vane out ofeveryday items. You will need:

a wire coat hangersome aluminum foil

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The Active Learner

a small, lidded, plastic containerlike a margarine tubsand or dirttape or gluescissorsa crayon

Begin by straightening out the hanger's hook andcovering half the hanger with foil. Fold the edges of thefoil around the hanger and tape or glue the foil in place.Then fill the tub with sand or dirt, mark the lid with N,S, E, and W at the edges, and put the lid on the tub. Pokethe hanger through the center of the lid so that ittouches the bottom of the tub and turns freely in thehole. Put the container outside with the N facing northand then watch it to see which way the wind is blowing.

Keep a family travel logMake a scrapbook of your family vacations that includesmaps, snapshots, and postcards from the places youhave visited. Ask each of your family members to con-tribute a description of the trip that you can add to thescrapbook.

Geographers travel all around the world to studyforeign cultures. But you and your child don't have to goany further than your local library to visit a differentregion or experience a different culture. Reading a bookwith your child can be like taking a magic carpet ride. Itcan let you travel to exotic places and learn about howother people liveeven though you never leave yourhometown. On the following pages you will find a list ofbooks that will let you and your child go to new andinteresting places and share adventures with the peoplewho live there.

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Books for ParentsEyeopeners! How to Choose and Use Children's Books

about Real People, Places, and Things, by BeverlyKobrin. A guide to over 500 nonfiction books. Aneasy-to-use index aids in location of books abouthistory. Also includes tips for book selection, book-based activities, and ideas to nurture reading.

Trouble-Free Travel with Children: Helpful Hints forParents on the Go, by Vicki Lansky. This book isfull of parent-tested ideas that can work for youwhen traveling with children. Included is resourceinformation that will help parents survive andeven enjoy getting there and back. Tips on plan-ning and packing, sleeping-away advice, eatingout, traveling abroad, entertaining kids, and tipsfor planes, trains, and automobiles.

Family Travel, by Evelyn Kaye. A gold mine of exciting,unusual, and affordable vacation ideas for par-ents, children, teenagers, and grandparents, thisbook tells you exactly how to find these and manymore exciting new vacations. A complete travelguide for today's families.

Taking off: Travel Tips for a Carefree Trip, by Joanne E.Bernstein with illustrations by Kathie Abrams.This concise, well-organized guide can start you offon the right track if you need help when traveling.It provides hundreds of useful travel tips to helpyou have a worry-free journey to the next townoreven around the world.


When We Went to the Park, by Shirley Hughes. A littlegirl and her grandpa go to the park to watch the

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daily activities. Children and adults are running,jogging, playing ball, and feeding the animals.

Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss. Parents will findthis book the perfect send-off for children startingout in the maze of life, be they nursery school gradsor medical school achievers. Everyone will find itinspired good fun.

Jessie's Journey, by Angela McAllister with illustra-tions by Anne Magill. A little girl is about toembark on a journey. She wonders what the tripwill be like. But when it's time to depart, Jessiefinds it even more exciting than she imagined.Nothing could be more thrilling than a train tripfrom the big station through the cities and coun-tryside to visit her grandfather by the sea.

The Travels of Babar, by Jean De Brunhoff. Babar andhis bride Celeste start on an aerial honeymoon.Their balloon is wrecked on a cannibal island; butthe most famous little elephant, Babar, triumphsover great odds to save his bride and return themboth to safety.

Anno's Journey, by Mitsumasa Anno. Join Anno on hisjourney through villages, towns, and cities as youmeet everyday children and adults busy at theirwork or play. As you travel with Anno you will seenew stories without words unfold from page topage as you extend your imagination and creativ-ity.

When I Was You ng in the Mountains, by Cynthia Rylant.Relates fond memories of a young girl's Appala-chian childhood through amusing, yet loving, textand warm paintings. Children can observe a wayof life from another era and sample a bit of Appa-lachian culture.

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Exploring Your Ne,ghborhood and Beyond

Ages 6-8Jenny's Journey, by Sheila Samton. Jenny imagines an

eventful voyage to visit her friend who has movedaway. Go along with Jenny as she faces the thrillsand disappointments along the way.

The Incredible Journey, by Sheila Burnford. The coura-geous, heartwarming story of three runaway pets.Instinct told them the way home lay to the west, sothe labrador retriever, the bull terrier, and theSiamese set out through the Canadian wildernessto find their way home. Together, the three housepets face many obstacles on their way home to thefamily they love. This book was also made into achildren's movie.

Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, by Ian Fleming with illustra-tions by John Burningham. Adventure follows ad-venture when the Pott's previously mild-manneredautomobile becomes a flying machine that takesthem on an adventure that they will never forget.This story is full of global ambition and fun thatevery child will enjoy reading again and again.

Abel's land, by William Steig. A very proper mousenamed Abel, in the simple act of rescuing his wife'sscarf, ends up stranded for a year on an island.This tale is full of wit and humor as you follow theadventures of Abel on the Island.

The Journey Home, by Alison Lester. Wild and Woolydig a hole in their sand pit, fall through it, and landat the North Pole. As they journey back home theygo to many enchanted places and meet lots ofunique people.

Ages 8-10A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L'Engle. The story of

Meg Murry, her brother, Charles Wallace andtheir friend, Calvin O'Keefe who search the uni-

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The Active Learner

verse for Meg's father while battling the evils of IT.Go along with the children as they travel throughtime meeting different people and visiting unfa-miliar places along the way in their quest to bringfather home.

The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe, by C. S. Lewis. Thestory of four children who travel to another worldthrough the wardrobe in the upstairs bedroom.Their adventure takes them into the land of Narniawhich has been frozen by the evil witch for eter-nity. With the help of the great lion, the childrenmust fight to save Narni a and return it to thebeautiful land it once was.

Around the World in Eighty Days, by George Makepeacewith illustrations by Barry Moses. An 1829 worldmap surrounds the pages of this timeless classicabout a wealthy, independent man named PhileasFogg who makes a bet that he can circle the globein eighty days and arrive back in London on Satur-day, December 2, 1872. Phileas and his servant,Passepartout, travel by train, steamship, carriage,yacht, elephant, and sled in this classic adventure.

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Participating inYour Community

Wrking with others to solve a problem involves kidsin active learning that makes a difference. Many peoplecall this kind of active learning "service learning."Service learning is a new term for an old idea. Youngpeople used to learn how to cooperate with others to getan important job done because that's how work wasaccomplished on the farm or in small communitieswhere everybody knew everybody else. Children used tolearn how to become mature and responsible citizens byhelping grandparents and neighbors because these chil-dren had been raised to feel a sense of responsibility toothers. Although our family structure has changed, andmost people no longer live in the neighborhoods wheretheir grandparents grew up, we can still help our chil-dren learn how to be good, responsible citizens. We can

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The Active Learner

help them see that their work, their ideas, and theirconcern for others can make a real difference.

Since young children usually see school as theirfirst "community," school is a great place for children toundertake their first social action projects. All acrossthe country kids are doingjust that. For instance, in onecommunity, 135 seventh-grade students "adopted" anearby park. They cleaned up the litter in it and thenthey set about raising the consciousness of the commu-nity about littering and taking care of the park. Thesekids really engaged in service learning. They did somecommunity education by sending out news releases tolocal newspapers and TV stations. They also made signsand wrote and duplicated a park guidebook that showedpeople how to use and take care of the park.

Real-World Problem SolvingOther schools are putting the idea of student govern-ment and the democratic process to work for them in a

749 0

Participating in Your Community

real and useful way. The Cottage Lane Elementaryschool in Blauvelt, New York established a StudentAdvisory Council to address problems the school wasexperiencing. This active participation in their schoolcommunity gave the Cottage Lane kids a better under-standing of how their local, state, and federal govern-ment solves public problems. In Tucson, Arizona anelementary school invites senior citizens to a weeklylunch program called "The Pleasure of Your Company."And in the Los Angeles Unified School District, stu-dents assist in adult literacy tutoring, volunteer withthe Red Cross, tutor in after-school "latchkey" pro-grams, and paint over graffiti.

Social action means that kids extend their effortsbeyond their own homes and classrooms into the "realworld." They undertake projects that aren't required ofthem and try to improve the quality of life around them.Why don't you try to be an adult that advances opportu-nities for service learning in your family.

What Parents Can DoChildren first learn about the value of cooperation,about working with others to achieve a common goal,and about enjoying their own rights while respectingthe rights of others by being part of a family. Lessonslearned at home are likely to have a big influence on thekind of citizen a child grows up to become. Here are justa few of the actions you can take to help teach yourchildren how to become productive and reliable citizens.

Set a good example. Let your children know howseriously yoil take your responsibility to be informedabout the issues and to participate in the democraticprocess by going to the polls and voting on electionday. Set an example for your child by participating in

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The Active Learner

her school community. If you are actively involved inyour child's school activities and in parent/teachercouncils, you send her a clear message that beingpart of any group or community entails responsibilityto make the community a better place.

Show your child how democracy works. Startingconversations at the dinner table or in response to TVprograms or reports about current events can be agreat way to teach your children about what it meansto be part of a democracy. You might even invite yourchild to express her views on a particularly importantissue by writing a letter to the editor of your localnewspaper about an issue of special concern to her.

Put the democratic process into practice in yourown family. Some important decisions just can't bemade by giving everyone a say in the matter. Butthere are other things that can be decided by givingeach family member a vote. Many families haveregular family conferences in which everybody dis-

769:2


cusses important decisions and issues that affect thefamily. You can give children a sense of what it meansto be part of a Toup and to engage in group decisionmaking by giving them a vote in decisions aboutfamily activities such as where the family will take itsnext vacation, or who is responsible for what house-hold chore. Family conferences can also be a greatplace to discuss household rules and individual rightsand to air grievances in a peaceful way.

Require your children to do duties or chores at home.Be sure your children know that their work makes avaluable contribution to the household and contrib-utes to the common good of the family.

By Helping Others, Children Also HelpThemselvesWe hear much talk these days about at-risk kidskidswho are dropping out of school, running away fromhome, getting addicted to drugs, becoming teenagedparents. These alienated teenagers feel out of place in aworld where they can no longer be treated as children,but they also know that they are not quite ready toassume all of the responsibilities that go along withbeing real adults.

The "us-versus-them" attitude that so many par-ents perceive in their teenagers has c_Ane to be known asthe generation gap. But when young people feel respon-sible for and become involved in their own communities,the "us versus them" attitudes so many young folkshave is often replaced by new perceptions and under-standing. Research bears this out. The Search Institutein Minneapolis conducted a study that involved nearly47,000 young people in grades 6-12. The Institute wantedto see if service learning had any bearing on kids'

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The Active Learner

behavior problems. Their study revealed that as little asone hour per week of community service lowered adoles-cents' risk of substance abuse, decreased the dropout rate,and cut down the incidence of adolescent pregnancy.

Service learning is a way to both bridge the genera-tion gap and give you,.g people firsthand experience ofthe responsibilities adult maturity entails. It makeskids feel they can create their own future. You can helpyour child believe in her ability to create her own futureby helping her make up her own proclamation for socialaction (see page 80).

Activities for Fun and LearningLook around your community and help your child

find a service learning opportunity that suits her inter-ests. Check out your local newspaper for informationabout cleanup, beautification, or recycling activities inyour neighborhood. Starting or becoming part of a peertutoring program for kids with special needs or learningproblems might be a rewarding project for you and yourchild. Most public libraries are eager to have volun-teers, and every community contains older people whowould appreciate occasional help or companionship fromyoung folks.

But what volunteer activities are best for yourchild? Research done by social scientists points out sixcharacteristics of good service learning programs. Yourchild will get the most out of volunteer efforts thatmeasure up to these guidelines.

Community service should meet real needs and in-volve work that both children and the community atlarge recognize as worthwhile.

Community service should have real consequences.Children's volunteer work should make an impact-

789 4


they need to be made aware that other people arebenefitting from their efforts.

Community service must present real challenges byputting children in new roles, placing them in newenvironments, and calling upon them to develop anduse new skills as well as old ones.

Community service must require that children take ona sense of personal responsibility and engage indecision making. The best volunteer programs givechildren a sense of "being in charge" of some part ofa project.

Community service should ideally require children towork in cooperation with people of a variety of ageswith adults and with their own peers.

Children benefit most from community service whenthey are encouraged to reflect on their service learn-ing experiences through ongoing discussion or inwriting.

79

. '

WIAEREAS,

WIAEREAS,

WilEREAS,

VIAEREAS,

WAEREAS,

CREATE YOUR OWN FUTURE

You are capable of thinking and solving real problems, you should not allow adults (or

anyone else) to put you down. Don't pay attention to those who say you can't succeed

if you're poor. uneducated, or disabled, or because you're a minority, a girl, or a child.

Don't get trapped by those chilling excuses. They can make you numb. You can

succeed.

You can -iake a difference in the world, don't listen to those who insist it's too late to

breathe I 'esh air, control neighborhood gangs, save the rain forests, save the whales.

combat a, ug abuse, and create world peace. It's only too late when you stop believing

in the futul.

You can find your own problems and design your own solutions, be suspicious of

anyone who "gives" you a problem to solve or wants ou to resolve a pet project. Decide

what you want to work on, then invite others to join your team.

You should not feel responsible for solving all the world's problems while you're still

a kid, neither should :i.ou feel excluded from creating solutions. Don't be swayed by

people who say you're "too young." that you should spend these years dreaming and just

being a kid. Remind them of how it feels to be powerless. They will remember. The

ability to solve problems doesn't belong just to adultsand the ability to dream doesn't

belong just to kids.

You have the right to shape your future, don't wait for someone else to do it for you.

Speak up. Speak out. Design a world you want to live in. Don't wait for luck to create

it. Luck is just another word for work. The world needs to see your works and to hear

your voices.

Nov, TAEREFORE, Be it resolved that the Decade of the Nineties shall be proclaimed as:

TIIE KID'S DECADE FOR SOCIAL ACTION

tor a l l kids v.ho heliee in themsels es, each other, and the t utulre. Don't allow lac to

happen. MaAc it happen!

SIGNED AND SEALE D this dm

1,)91 ItitIsir A I I Irc 'spud PUNI,11111g_ tin liii, r.Igs tin I,

u cio !win /he fad i ( Oink hi ha 4,11,41 I, liii. it., A I ott, hi IQ'tI Itvrt mud mitt n mr.o., ol I it, Spud CuIlm,hing liii%fumy 4.lts. Itnn St I MIMI,. HI St HS I I)

91;


Books for ParentsLend a Hand: The How, Where, and Why of Volunteer-

ing, by Sara Gilbert. This comprehensive guide-book for parents lists more than a hundred na-tional and international groups that welcome youngvolunteers. Arranged in fifteen categories of in-volvement, the range of opportunities for volun-teering is described extensively.

1000 Facts about the Earth, by Moira Butterfield. Funand informative, this book is crammed with factsabout volcanoes, rivers, deserts, rainforests, moun-tains, oceans, and the weatherplus it all takesplace right inside our planet! Parents will enjoyusing this book with their children to teach themabout the planet they live on and ways that theycan protect the Earth.

Earth Child: Games, Stories, Activities, Experiments &Ideas about Living Lightly on Planet Earth, byKathryn Sheehan and Mary Waidner. This guideis designed to help adults share with children thewonder that a deep awareness of their environ-ment can bring. Included are suggestions, games,facts, recipes, and activities for preschool andelementary kids.

The Kids Can Help Book: Lend a Hand, Volunteer,Share a Skill, Make a Difference, by SuzanneLogan. Filled with many resources to get yourchild involved in community service and volun-teering, this book also includes information oncommunity resources that parents can use whenhelpin kids choose the right area to volunteer.

Hands around the World 365 Ways to Build CulturalAwareness & Global Respect, by Susan Milford. Aresource guide for parents to use with children.Children can experience, taste, and embrace thedaily lives of children from the far corners of the

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earth. They will learn to plant and grow, write andtell stories, draw and craft, and cook and eat asthey learn to live in an atmosphere of global re-spect and cultural awareness.


The Furry News: How to Make a Newspaper, by LoreenLeedy. Big Bear appoints himself as the publisherof the city paper when he discovers that none of thearticles are about their neighborhood. He assignsjobs to his animal friends and they hurry to gatherinformation, writu news and feature stories, andprint the Furry News by the deadline. Childrenwill learn how to create their own newspaper andget involved in their community.

The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth, by Joanna Colewith illustrations by Bruce Degen. Rock collectingon their class trip, Ms. Frizzle's crew digs rightthrough the Earth, identifying sedimentary, meta-morphic, and igneous rocks all the way. At the endof their journey there is a section of dialogue called"A Word with the Author and the Artist" to readaloud with children.

The Green Magician Puzzle, by Susan Pearson withillustrations by Gioia Fiammenghi. Ernie and herclassmates must solve a series of riddles to becomethe Green Magicians of the Earth Day parade.Read along as the group tries to discover how tosolve the riddles given to them.

Kids for Saving the Earth Guidebook, by Target. Thisinformative book tells how to join this kids' organi-zation or start your own KSE neighborhood club.Environmental information and activities are alsoincluded in this guidebook.

82


Ages 6-8The Ox-Cart Man, by Donald Hall with illustrations by

Barbara Cooney. This story is about a New En-gland family whose well-being depends on makingsure nothing is wasted. Travel with the family asthey take their goods to market to sell and theirreturn home. Environmental themes such as in-terdependence, living in harmony with nature,and recycling can be incorporated into discussionsabout this story.

Celebrating Earth Day: A Sourcebook of Activities andExperiments, by Robert Gardner. This book is agood source for discussion on issues concerningglobal problems such as conservation and over-population. Included are experiments that chil-dren can use to explore these issues in more detail.

Ecology, by Susan Diffenderfer. A hands-on book full ofactivities that children can use for self-directedlearning :-,bout ecology and their environment.

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50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth, byJohn Javna and The Earthworks Group. This bookis full of facts, experiments, and exciting thingsthat children can do to save the Earth and theenvironment around them. Simple illustrationsand ideas are presented for children to use andunderstand.

How Green Are You? by David Bellamy. Kids an theirfamilies can use this guide to learn how tu saveenergy, protect wildlife, and reduce pollution. Sug-gests activities for children and parents to dotogether to help save their environment.

Ages 8-10The Kid's Guide to Social Action, by Barbara A. Lewis.

This book offers useful guidelines to help kidsbecome involved in their community. Children willlearn how to turn their creative ideas into action.Included are topics on fundraising ideas, an up-to-date resource guide with addresses and phonenumbers, and material and l,:arning resourcesthat can be used for all sorts e f fun projects.

Who Cares: AJournal of Service and Action. A magazinefor the youth service movement that seeks to "in-form, provoke, and inspire nonprofit profession-als, students, activists and volunteers across thecountry."

Save the Earth: An Action Handbook for Kids, by BettyMiles. Provides information about land, water,atmosphere, energy, plants, animals, and people,and the effects each one has on the entire environ-ment. Gives several projects that children can doto help save the earth.

84

1 U

Active TelevisionViewing

Did you know that most children spend at leasttwenty-five hours a week watching television? That'sthe equivalent of a halftime job for an adult! By the timean average teenager graduates from high school, shehas spent approximately 3,000 more hours in front ofthe tube than she has in school. What effect does all thisTV time have on our children?

TV viewing can cut into time kids should be spendingactively developing their minds and bodies rather thanpassively absorbing TV images. Parents may worry thattheir youngsters are being exposed to too much sex,violence, and hard-sell advertising. Certainly these con-cerns are valid. However, parents who are willing to takean active role in their children's TV viewing can turn thedetrimental effects TV has on kids into positive influences.

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Television and School PerformanceParents are concernedwith good reasonabout theinfluence TV can have on kids' academic achievement.A study of the effect television viewing has on children'sschool performance revealed that the amount of timekids spend vatching TV definitely influences their abil-ity to do well in school.

But you may be surprised to hear that TV's influ-ence is not all bad. In small doses, television viewingcan stimulate learning when parents take care to moni-tor kids TV time and discuss programs with them.Studies have shown that kids who watched one to tenhours of TV a week learned better than those studentswho viewed no TV at all. But an increase in viewing timebeyond ten hours results in lower grades for kids.Research reveals that students who watched televisioneleven to thirty-five hours a week showed decliningachievement levels.

What Parents Can DoClearly, unplugging the TV set is not the best answer;nor is such action likely to result in family harmony.Experts agree that parents can use TV as a tool forlearning and for spending quality time with their kidssimply by following a few simple guidelines.

1. Set your child's TV viewing schedule. it is a goodidea to limit children's TV viewing to eight or ten hours aweek. Make time to sit with your kids on Saturdays orSundays, go over the TV listings for the week, and discusswhat your children want to watch. Teach selective viewing:get your kids in the habit of using a television guide to makesome judgments before they switch on the TV set. Youmight even want to write the schedule down so you canshare it with daycare personnel, sitters, or relatives who

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Active Television Viewing

will be caring for your children when the programs theyhave chosen are televised.

CIAMAR 5

-00e

Your weekly viewing schedule will serve as a guide,but don't expect your kids to follow it to the letter. They mayforget now and then, or they may be tempted to watch othershows they've heard about. You will be more effective ifyou provide guidance rather than making ironclad rulesthat cause resentment.

2. Get involved in what your child watches. Showan interest in your children's TV viewing by talking withthem about the shows they watch. You can use TV as a toolfor discovery and as a springbozo d for quality-time discus-sions. Your "TV talks" will be more two-sided and reward-ing if you ask open-ended questions like the followingones: "Which character do you like best on that show?Why?" "Do you think things like that happen in real life?Can you think of some examples?" "What do you think you

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would do if you were in a situation like that?" "Which partof the show did you like best? Why?" "What do you thinkabout the way that family lives? Do you think you would becomfortable in a family like that?" "Can you think of a betterway for the story to end?" "Why do you think that characteracts that way (silly, dumb, violent, nasty, thoughtless)? Doyou think someone like that can change the way hebehaves?"

3. Use TV to spur kids' interest in reading. A fewyears ago, the Public Broadcasting System surveyed li-brarians to see if PBS shows such as Reading Rainbowinfluence kids' interest in books. Ninety-five percent of thelibrarians surveyed about Reading Rainbow respondedthat the series stimulates children's interest in reading.Science and nature programs can serve a similar purposeby leading children to books, especially if an adult helpsstimulate the child's curiosity and helps her find answers toher questions.

4. Use TV to promote writing. Here's another way tocounteract passive TV viewing. Point out to your child thatno show ever gets on television without writers. Ask yourchild to compose a description of a TV program, or ask herto write a scene that extends or changes a show she haswatched that week.

Older children might enjoy writing reviews that evalu-ate a program. Or they might compose a new episode forone of their favorite TV series and then act out the episodesfor friends and family. Such activities may even helpreduce tension over school writing projects.

Young children will enjoy drawing pictures of whatthey have seen on TV. Their pictures can serve as aspringboard to talks with adults about what they learn fromTV and how they feel about what they see.

88 104


5. Use TV to explore the world. Television providesthe most fantastic scientific field trips and geographicalexplorations most of us will ever take. It gives us a chanceto visit exotic places, see unusual creatures, explore thesolar system, and swim across the ocean floor. If you keepan atlas or globe near the TV set, you can help yourchildren locate the places referred to on the programs. Thiscan be a real boost for kids' school performance in. an erawhen most teachers lament their students' ignorance ofgeography. The library will offer further information aboutthe intriguing places, people, and creatures your familyencounters on their TV "excursions."

How Kids Understand TVParents who take an active role in their kids' TV view-ing will probably need to consider how kids of differentages make sense of what they see on TV. Until the ageof eleven or so, children understand what they see on TVin a much different way than adults do. See if thefollowing descriptions reflect your child's understand-ing of TV.

Ages two to five: Confusion between reality andfantasy is common for most two- to five-year-olds. Thus,kids of this age tend to think TV programs are real. Forinstance, they believe people can fly just like Superman.Because young children see a show as a sequence ofseparate incidents and are not yet very good at followinga story line, they do not mentally separate commercialsfrom the TV shows that surround them. They see thecommercials as part of the story portrayed on the show.Children of this age enjoy repetition and love watchingthe same show again and again.

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Because most small children respond to their envi-ronments in an all- or-nothing manner, they perceivetelevision characters as either all good or all bad, withno grey areas. They may, for instance, think all cowboysare good and all Indians are bad.

Ages six to eleven or twelve:Kids show a gradualincrease in their ability to understand a plot as theygrow older. Most six-year-olds understand the story lineof a TV program: they can retrace the events they haveseen, guess what might happen next, and then predicthow the show will end. Thus, six-to-eight-year-olds loveprograms that follow simple, predictable formats andallow them to anticipate what will happen next.

Through the age of nine, kids tend to focus on theconcrete, physical behavior of actors. At around age ten,they become more sensitive to the feelings and motiva-tions of characters.

Ages twelve and older: Researchers seem to agreethat adolescents aged twelve and older understand TV

90 106


in the way most adults do. Kids of this age use TV, inpart, to enhance their social skills. Adolescents say theywatch programs like Home Improvement and The FreshPrince of Bel-Air for two reasons: so they can talk aboutit with their peers and because the show helps themlearn new social behavior such as asking for a date,being popular, or getting along with parents.

Most researchers who study the effects TV has onkids agree that television can be a wonderful addition tofamily interaction and to a child's learning processunder two conditions: that the parent limit the child'sviewing time and that parent and child watch and talkabout programs together. Parents prepared to let theirkids view TV representations of reality without com-ment have only themselves to blame if their childrenbegin to accept TV values over parental standards.

Activities for Fun and LearningRate the shows

Keep your own rating chart next to the TV set. Eachnight you can sit with your child and list the programshe watched that day. Let your child rate the programson a one-to-five-point scale from "disliked very much" to"liked very much." Then ask your child what he learnedfrom watching that program.

What's in a superhero?With your children, list the superhuman powers theyfind appealing. What characteristics do superheroes havethat your kids want to imitate? Watch and discuss somesuperhero shows with your kids, and then use theirinterest in superheroes to turn to books. Discover theworld of classic "superheroes" by reading Adventures ofthe Greek Heroes, by Mollie McLean and Ann Wiseman(Houghton Mifflin, 1973); Tales of the North American

91

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Indians, by Stith Thompson (Harvard University Press,1966); Time-Ago Lost: More Tales of Jadhu, by VirginiaHamilton (Macmillan, 1973); or World Folktales, byAtelia Clarkson & Gilbert Cross (Scribners & Sons, 1980).

What's in an ad?Encourage your children to become more critical of TVcommercials by talking with them about what the com-mercial is trying to get them to do. Asking questionssuch as "What are these folks trying to make youbelieve?" will encourage critical judgments.

Evaluate advertising claims by helping your childtry out and compare two similar products that are bothhyped as better than one another in TV ads. Encourag-ing your child to write his own commercial for a newproduct (glow-in-the-dark toothpaste, a motorized skate-board or a banana-flavored soft drink) can also offerfurther insight into the advertising game.

92 1 S


Books for ParentsThe Family Guide to Children's Television, by Evelyn

Kaye. This book is a helpful guide for parentsinstructing their children what to watch, what tomiss, and what to change. Included are helpful tipson how to develop wise television viewing withinthe home.

Television: How to Use It Wisely with Children, byJosette Frank. Parents can give pertinent andperceptive suggestions on television viewing byusing the hints this guide offers on how to wiselychoose what your children watch on television.


The Berenstain Bears and Too Much TV, by Stan andJan Berenstain. Concerned that the family is spend-ing too much time in front of the television andneglecting other activities, Mama Bear decidesthat there will be no television viewing for oneweek.

The Bionic Bunny Show, by Marc Brown. An ordinaryrabbit becomes a super TV star thanks to makeupmagic. Children will find this story delightful asthey follow the bionic bunny through his adven-tures in the world of TV.

Nibble, Nibble, Jenny Archer, by Ellen Conford withillustrations by Diane Palmisciano. Jenny Archeris about to make her break on TV, but in a commer-cial where she is eating gerbil food. A very funnystory that will keep children laughing as they readon to find out how Jenny solves this dilemma.

The TV Kid, by Betsy Byars with illustrations by Rich-ard Cuffari. A young boy, in his loneliness, escapes

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The Active Learner

into the world of television watching and soon hehas difficulty distinguishing fact from fiction.

My Co-Star, My Enemy, by Ilene Cooper. Alison discov-ers that her co-star on a TV series is out to sabo-tage her. Read on about how Alison finds a solutionto her problem.

What Happens at a Television Station, by Arthur Shay.A behind-the-scenes look into television that chil-dren in the lower grades will find useful when theybegin to wonder how TV programs fly through theair from the studio to their home.

Ages 6-8The Secret Life of the Underwear Champ, by Dan Jones.

Larry finds himself about to make a TV commer-cial for ChampWin Knitting Mills, makers of sportsclothing and underwear. Follow Larry's adven-tures as his commercial airs, his friends tease him,and he hits the winning home run for his baseballteam. Larry becomes the true underwear champ.

It's New! It's Improved! It's Terrible, by Stephen Manes.An alien who looks like a boy talks constantlyabout TV commercials and is driving Arnold andhis buddies bonkers. Read and find out how Arnoldand his buddies learn to communicate with thealien and how they all become friends.

Eureka! It's Television, by Jeanne Bendick & RobertBendick. This book teaches children about theinvention of television. It talks about the lightaround us, how we see things with our eyes, whatwe hear, the earth's magnetic field, and sound andlight waves. Includes a discussion on how puttingall these things together enables a TV show to bebroadcast and transmitted through a satellite intoyour home.

94 1


Germy Blew It! by Rebecca C. Jones. Germy's organiza-tional talents prove insufficient, until he misses achance to be on a local TV show. Germy finds a wayto make up for his mishap and gets another chance.

Ages 8-10Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White. A web-writing spider

named Charlotte spells out messages in her webthat help save the life of Wilbur the pig. Along theway, Charlotte and Wilbur get some help from theother barnyard animals in this children's classic.

Almost Starring Skinnybones, by Barbara Park."Skinnybones" Frankovitch doesn't get the celeb-rity status he envisions when he wins a contest tostar in a Tv commercial. See how Skinnyboneshandles his situation.

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The Active Learner

Old Yeller, by Fred Gipson. A stray dog becomes theinseparable companion of a Texas farm boy in the1860s until their bitter separation. This book alsowas made into a classic children's movie.

Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O'Dell. An Indiangirl spends eighteen years alone on an island offthe coast of California. This story is about Karana,who learns about nature and herself as shestruggles to survive. She both tames wild animalsto combat her loneliness and battles animals forher life.

ZAP! A Brief History of Television, by Marian Calabro.ZAP! explores every aspect of the powerful me-dium called television. This book takes the readerthrough the invention of TV and into the twenty-first century. ZAP! also takes a look into whattelevision is like in countries around the world.

961 1.

8

TeamworkLearning

Anew kind of learning is taking place in classroomsacross the country. It's not so new, really. It is actually thekind of learning that was commonplace in the one-roomschoolhouses where many of our great-grandparentslearned reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic. In the old one-roomschoolhouse, students who had already learned a certainskill or mastered a concept helped others to learn it also.There, everyone was a teacher and everyone was a studentbecause they all learned from one another. Families wholearn and work together have always been like that.

Today's educators are using this old and provenlearning model in modern classrooms. Because theseteachers recognize the value of team learning, they areorganizing students to share their knowledge and skillswith one another.

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The Active Learner

Here are some examples of activities going on incooperative learning situations:

In a first-grade classroom, two children sit in a corner onlarge pillows and hold between them a book which hasboth pictures and words. Each child has a pencil in hishand, and as they look through the book together, eachof them stops now and then to circle a word he hasrecognized.

They talk about the pictures and about what they thinkis happening in the story. As they help one anotherfigure out what is written in the book, they look at thewords they have circled. When they cannot understanda sentence because they don't recognize enough of thewords in it, they ask another child for help.

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Teamwork Learning

These boys are not afraid to say to a classmate or ateacher, "What does this mean?" because they areused to asking for help from others. They have beentrained to see learning as a teamwork activity.

In a fifth-grade classroom it is math period, and theteacher presents a lesson on decimals. After the lessonis finished, students work in small groups doing decimalproblems. They help each other put what the teacherhas told them into practice. Because the students workin teams, each member shares his or her understandingof decimal problems with other members who are hav-ing trouble getting a grip on the idea. They studyworksheets and work problems together. Helping eachother seems quite natural to these fifth graders.

Even though they study together, students take theirtest on decimals individually. The teacher rewards theircooperative effort. She gives special recognition certifi-cates to the team whose members show the largesttotal improvement over their previous test scores.

A classroom of sixth graders has been reading differentbooks that deal with the common theme of survival inthe wild. After each of the students has finished hernovel, they all meet in small groups to write storieswhich explore the same theme of human beings tryingto survive in the wilderness.

Each child plays a different role as they decide about thesetting, characters, and main challenge or predicamentwhich will face the characters in their story. After theyhave talked these problems out, they spend severaldays composing their story; then they read it to the restof the class.

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The Active Learner

These sixth graders have not only learned somethingvaluable about how literature is created, they have alsolearned important lessons about how to work with andget along with others.

All of these students are learning cooperatively. Theycooperate in order to learn, and in doing so they share theirknowledge and understanding. Learning in a team helpsthese students accomplish a common and clearly definedgoal, and it helps them learn how to help one another. Yourfamily can also act as a learning team in which individualmembers help each other learn and grow and accomplishimportant goals.

Children Learn Better in TeamsStudies indicate that there is less rivalry and more friend-liness in classrooms (and families) in which people learncooperatively. Cooperative learning also seems to encour-age students who are overly aggressive or especially shy tointegrate themselves into the group more easily than theydo in a more competi tive situation. Teamwork learninghelps children realize that they need to listen to oneanother, and that they need to work through difficultiesand misunderstandings if they are going to accomplishtheir goals.

1001 I 6

Teamwork Learning

Studies prove that children who help one anotherlearn

have higher motivation

show academic improvement

experience increased self-esteem

develop a more positive view of the intentions of

othersmore easily accept that others may be different

feel less dependent on their teacher or parent

achieve higher test scores

Cooperative learning seems especially valuable inactivities that pose problems which need to be solved. Itpromotes critical thinking because learners must worktogether to define a common goal and then devise strate-gies for reaching that goal. In my family, when a thirdgrader got the assignment of figuring out what earlyexplorers in the Canadian Yukon could find to eat, we allgot involved. An older brother said he would search theencyclopedia. Mother called Uncle Bob who worked on anoil pipeline up there. The third grader called the librarian foranswers. Together, we solved the problem and in the processwe taught each other a lot more than the answer to this singlequestion.

Help Your Children Claim Ownership ofWhat They KnowHave you ever had the experience of helping your childwith her science project and then discovering that it hassuddenly become your science project? The example of thefamily solving the Yukon question shows you ways ofhaving several participants without taking the project out ofthe hands of the true owner.

101

L

Learning is an active process. Research indicatesthat children more easily learn and most effectively re-member knowledge which they have in some way drama-tized or performed. Acting out, talking, singing, or writingabout new knowledge is a way for children to claimownership of new ideas and incorporate them into theirown understanding of the world in which we live. The giveand take involved in teamwork learning promotes thiskind of ownership.

What Is the Parent's Role in TeamworkLearning?In most classroom situations, the members of a learningteam are of more or less equal status in knowledge andexperience so that they can trade off roles as tutor andstudent, leader and follower. But in the case of parents orteachers involved in cooperative learning with children,the roles are more clearly defined.

When one member of a team has greater knowledgethan the others, that member can lead the initial conver-

Teamwork Learning

sation in such a way that he helps the a her members tothink and talk until they arrive at their own conclusions.In this way, adults enable children to come up withprocedures, knowledge, or skills that will be useful inother situations beyond the immediate one. If I give mydaughter the answer to a long division problem she isstruggling with, I have helped her' through her immediatedifficulty but I have not helped her learn how to think aboutlong division problems.

The major goal of the teacher or parent in collabora-tive talk is to direct the conversation so that members ofa learning team are able to make connections which leadthem to conclusions of their own making. In this way,children become progressively more capable of taking re-sponsibility for their own learning.

How can parents be most effective in leading childrento their own conclusions? Try following these simple guide-lines:

Take the child's attempt to solve the problem on his ownseriously. Give him credit for putting forth his best effort.Say to him: "You are right in asking for information. Keepasking and searching until you have what you need todecide on your answer."

Listen carefully as your child tells you what she under-stands about the problem or the project. Ask her toexplain or provide examples for certain points which youfind a little hazy. Ask lots of "why" and "how" questions.By explaining things to you, she may understand whatshe still needs to investigate.

Make sure you have clearly understood your child'sexplanation of his goals by rephrasing what he has saidto you. Using his own account as a starting point, repeat,extend, or develop what he has said. Encourage your

1 Lo103

The Active Learner

child to push his own ideas further if necessary. You cando this just by echoing his own statements. Say some-thing like "So I hear you are going to do thus and such

. .," then pause to give your child time to further explainor clarify his plan if he needs to do so.

"Lead from behind" by offering only enough feedback tohelp your child figure out the problem for herself. Yourrole is to be an "active" listener who repeats and reviewsand occasionally gives advice. To "lead from behind"you must be careful not to take over the project. Respectand support your child's efforts to work through her ownproblems.

Remember the old saying, "Give a person a fish andyou feed him for a day. Teach a person to fish and feed himfor a lifetime?" When it con es to our role in cooperativelearning, we contribute mo.3t by helping our childrenrealize that they can solve ma school problems vvith justa little guidance and help from Mom and Dad. Teamworklearning means that everyone has a chance to do his or herown part.

104

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Teamwork Learning

Activities for Fun and LearningTry a few of the following activities with your children tohelp them learn together.

Who's Next?Practice your cooperative learning and thinking skills bymaking up and telling stories together. On an eveningwhen the whole family is having dinner together, take sometime after the meal to do this fun activity.

One person begins by imagining and then describingthe setting of a story you will all tell as a group. This firstperson talks about where and when the story takes place.The next person describes the characters in the story andgives them names. Then the rest of the people at the tabletake turns telling the story. Each of you makes up two orthree sentences which tell what happened to these people inthis place. Go around the table and give everyone a turn tocontribute until someone decides how to end the story.might even want to ask one member of the family to write thestory down as it is told (or you could record the story moreeasily by just turning on a tape recorder).

If you do this on a regular basis, the written down orrecorded stories will make a wonderful addition to yourfamily memory scrapbook or photo album. Wouldn't it befun to be able to share these memories with your childrenwhen they are grown up, or to pass these stories on to yourgrandchildren?

Journal JottingHelp your child learn that writing i5 a meaningful activitythat he can use as a tool for personal expression. Begin adialogue journal that you and your child can both contributeto on a daily basis.

Li 105

The Active Learner

Reading Co-opReading aloud can be a cooperative learning activity whenyou and your child discuss what is happening in the story, orwhenyou let your child read toyou. As you read a story toyourchild, pause now and then and ask him to interpret part of it.Ask him why he thinks a character does what she does. Askyour child to interpret or draw conclusions about the story asyou read it, and then ask him to summarize it after you havefinished reading. Share your ideas and learn about the storytogether. You may be surprised by your child's interpretationof what happens in the story. You might also ask your childto read the story to you so that you can be the one to answerquestinns and offer opinions.

Your TurnWrite a story with your child. Here is how: each of youwrites a sentence, or part of a sentence, of the story. Youmight begin by writing, "Once upon a time there was . . . "

For example:Once upon a time there was a beautiful . . .

. . unicorn named Rebecca, and she was sobeautiful that her horn and her heels were golden.

She lived in an enchanted woods, where . . .

. . . all the unicorns play. But she was sadbecause she had no wings to fly with.

And so many of the other unicorns teased her .... . But all of the other unicorns were not as

beautiful as her, and so she decided to make apair of wings.

Every day for many moons Rebecca gatheredgolden pieces of straw.. . .

. . . to make wings with. But the other unicorns didnot think she could do it, so they laughed at her.

106

Teamwork Learning

She did not give up, though; she kept working,and one night when the moon was full she .... . . reaNzed she had grown beautiful wings, soshe did not need the straw.

Rebecca tmid, "What shall I do with all of thisstraw?"And suddenly from the grove of tulip trees shesaw a . . .

... fairy who said to her. Let me take the straw,please, anc; I will weave it into a golden castlefor you to live in because .. .. . . you worked so hard to make wings and nevergave up.

Besides, I love yeti, and I want you to livehappily forever.... . . And the other unicorns didn't tease Rebeccaever again, and they wished they were as beau-tiful and they had a castle, too.

THE END

Books for ParentsLearningames for Threes and Fours: A Guide to Adult 1

Child Play, by Joseph Sparling and Isabelle Lewis.Presents a hundred games and play ideas that coin-cide with child-development patterns. Supports learn-ing through play with emphasis on self-image, inde-pendence, reasoning, creativity, sharing, coordina-tion, and language.

Time Out Together: A Month-by-Month Guide to Activitiesto Enjoy with Your Children, by Jan Brennan. Pre-sents pastimes and activities for parents to sharewith their children. Most can be done at home usingeveryday materials.

123107

The Active Learner

How to Help Your Child with Homework, by Marguerite C.Radencich and Jeanne Shay Schumm (Free SpiritPublishing). Offers charts, resources, games, andstudy tools to help parents assist their children withhomework. Topics include reading, spelling, writing,math, science, social studies, reports, and tests.

Helping Your Child Achieve in School, by Dr. BarbaraJohnson. Deals with motivation, reading, testing,and beginning school. Also covers parents and teach-ers as partners, gifted children, and computers.

Books for Parents and Children to ShareTogether

Ages 4-6Across the Stream, by Mirra Ginsburg (Mulberry Books).

A mother duck and her three baby ducklings worktogether to rescue a hen and her three chicks from afox. Each duck carries a chicken on its back andswims across the stream to safety. Includes colorfulillustrations and large, bold print.

Frederick, by Leo Lionni. Frederick helps his family offield mice see that creatures need more than justshelter and food supplies to survive. Frederick con-tributes to the group's survival by using his imagina-tion to create poetry and stories that sustain themduring the long winter.

Hocus Pocus: A Pop-up Book, by Julie Lacome (Tambou-rine Books). As a parent reads the text that asks aquestion about what the rabbit magician is doing, achild will be able to answer the question by manipu-lating the flaps, tabs, and wheels. This enables bothto contribute to the "reading" of the book. Touches oncolors, counting, and other basic concepts.

108

12,1

Teamwork Learning

Guess What? (a Pee-A-Boo book), by Taro Gomi (ChronicleBooks). Parents and children can take turns or try tofigure out together answers to clues that appearthrough the die-cut holes on each page. This book issmall and the sturdy cardboard pages are easy toturn.

Guess Who? (a Peek-A-Boo book), by Taro Gomi (ChronicleBooks). As in Guess What? die-cut holes appear oneach page, but in this book, the holes are the eyes ofvarious familiar creatures. Pictures, clues, and wordshelp children identify each of these creatures.

Guess What? by Mordicai Gerstein and Susan Yard Harris(Crown Publishers). Parents and children togethercan determine what might be in each surprise pack-age the young girl in this book receives. Elevenfold-out flaps help to illustrate the numbers onethrough ten.

Ages 6-8Who Is the Boss? by Josse Goffin (Clarion Books). Two

p assengers argue over who is in cherge and who isbetter, until their ship crashes and sinks. This short

5 109

The Active Learner

story with simple text demonstrates the importanceof teamwork in reaching a goal.

While You Are Asleep, by Gwynne L. Isaacs (Walker andCompany). Presents different night jobs some peoplehold, and indirectly shows the importance of theirjobs to the community. Descriptions include thepositions of bus driver, police officer, phone operator,nurse, and doctor.

Oh, What a Mess, by Hans Wilhelm (Crown Publishers).Franklin the pig shares some ideas with his familythat help them clean up their house and themselves.In the process, Franklin becomes a talented artist,and his family learns how to remain neat and clean.

Underwear! by Mary Elise Monsell. Zachary Zebra, OrfoOrangutan, and Igor Egret like silly underwear.Together they teach Bismark Buffalo how to laughand have fun. Bismark not only learns how to enjoylife, but also how to be a cheerful friend to others.

Moose on the Loose, by Carol Partridge Ochs (CarolrhodaBooks). A moose has escaped from the Zown TownZoo, and a chartreuse caboose is missing from therailroad. An unlikely group join forces to form asearch party. They have a great time in their searchfor both adventurers.

New Kid on Spurwink Ave., by Michael Crowley (Little,Brown). The kids in Leonard's new neighborhoodthink he is boring and doesn't know how to play.When Leonard teaches them other ways to play, theylearn a few things about having fun, and finally theyaccept him into their "gang."

Ages 8-10Shadowgraphs Anyone Can Make, by Phi la H. Webb and

Jane Corby (Running Press). Each page shows howto develop a shadow character using the hands.Short rhymes accompany each black and white illus-

1101 2

Teamwork Learning

tration. Children can work with each other or withtheir parents to make the characters.

Bee Bopp, by Stephen Cosgrove. When Bee Bopp moves toBuggville and begins Buttonwood school, she gets introuble the first day and is suspended. Lord andLady Bugg become her private tutors and help hersee that a bugg doesn't have to be rude and loud to getattention from others.

The Rag Coat, by Lauren Mills (Little, Brown). Minnadoes not have a winter coat, so the Quilting Motherswork together to make a rag coat for her out of theirquilting scraps. When the children at school hurtMinna by making fun of her coat, she tells themstories about the origins of the different scraps. Theyshare memories with each other and learn what itmeans to be a real friend.

The Long Red Scarf, by Nette Hilton (Carolrhoda Books).Pop wants a scarf to keep him warm when he goesfishing, but he can't find anyone to make him one.Cousin Izzy ancl his friend Jake teach him how toknit so he can make a scarf for himself.

The Berenstain Bears and the Missing Honey, by Jan andStan Berenstain. Papa Bear's blackberry honey isgone and Papa Bear, Sister Bear, Brother Bear,Cousin Fred, and Snuff the sniffer hound form adetective squad to find out what happened to it.Together they search for clues and eventually solvethe mystery of the missing honey.

Charlotte's Web, by E. B. White. The Zuckermans plan tokill Wilbur the pig and turn him into bacon and ham.Charlotte leads a group effort to save him, andWilbur assists her family in return. This is a touch-ing story and works well as a "read aloud".

111

IndexActivities

exploring your neighbor-hood, 66-68listening, 34-39reading, 6-7speaking, 34-39teamwork learning,

105-107television viewing, 91-92testtaking, 22-23vocabulary expansion,

54-56writing, 7-8

Antonyms, 51-52Anxiety, test, 17-18

Books for parents andchildrencommunity participation,

81-84exploring your neighbor-

hood, 69-72listening and speaking,

39-44reading, 8-11study skills, 23-26teamwork learning,

107-111television viewing, 93-96testtaking, 23-26vocabulary e-cpansion,

56-60writing, 8-11

1

Childrenhelping themselves and

others, 77-78listening and speaking to,

29-31television, understanding

of, 89-91Community participation,

73-84activities, 78-79books on, 81-84children helping them-

selves and others,77-78

parent's role, 75-77problem solving, 74-75

Environment, 64-65Exploring your neighborhood,

61-72activities, 66-68books on, 69-72going places, 62-64

Homonyms, 50-51Homophones, 49-50

Language models 31-32Listening and speaking, 4-6,

27-44activities, 34-39books on, 39-44

113

language models, 31-32skills, 32-34to children, 29-31

Organizing for study, 14-15

Parent's rolein community participa-

tion, 75-77in problem solving, 74-75in study skills, 16-17in teamwork learning,

102-104in television viewing,

86-89in vocabulary expansion,

48-54Practice tests, 18-19Proclamation for Kids, 80Problem solving, 2-4,74-77

in the real world, 74-75parent's role, 75-77

Reading, 1-11activities, 6-8books on, 8-11problem solving, 2-3

Service learning, 77-78Speaking and listening, 4-6,

27-44activities, 34-39books on, 39-44language models, 31-32skills, 32-34to children, 29-31

Study skills, 13-26books on, 23-26organizing space and time,

14-15

114

1 2

parent's role, 16-17Synonyms, 48-49

Teamwolk learning, 97-111activities, 105-107books on 107-111parent's role, 102-104

Television viewing, 85-96activities, 91-92books on, 93-96children's understanding,

89-91parent's role, 86-89school performance and,

86Testtaking, 13-26

activities, 22-23anxiety, 17-18attitude and health, 20-22books on, 23-26 (

parent's role, 16-17practice, 18-19success, 17

Vocabulary expansion, 45-60activities, 54-56antonyms, 51-52books on, 56-60homonyms, 50-51homophones, 49-50need for, 46-47parent's role, 48-54synonyms, 48-49word map, 53word relationships, 52-53

Writing, 1-11activities, 6-8books on, 8-11to solve family problems,

3-4

Books for Families

The Curious Learner: Help Your Child DevelopAcademic and Creative Skillsby Marjorie R. Simic, Melinda McClain, and MichaelShermis

Shows parents how to develop children's natural curiosityabout math, science, and history, plus ways to spark theirinterest in poetry, music, art, and writing.BB-100-1013, $9.95

The Confident Learner: Help Your Child Succeed inSchoolby Marjorie R. Simic, Melinda McClain, and MichaelShermis

With this book, parents help their children develop strongmotivation, self-discipline, good health and fitness, and theability to deal with stressall of which affect success inschool. Includes ways to develop a good relationship withyour child's teacher and school.BB-100-1023, $9.95

Help Your Child Read and Succeed: A Parent's Guideby Carl B. Smith

This book offers guidance for parents of beginning and in-termediate readers. Lots of activities help with comprehen-sion, study skills, phonics, vocabulary, and book selection.BB-100-1019, $12.95

Family Book Sharing Groups: Start One In YourNeighborhood!by Marjorie R. Simic and Eleanor C. Macfarlane

A step-by-step guido to conducting a book sharing group inyour school, community, or place of worship. Includes de-tailed agendas for six meetings.BB-100.1337, $6.95

130

Expand Your Child's Vocabulary: A Tweive-Week Planby Carl B. Smith

A dozen super strategies for vocabulary growthbecauseword power is a part of success at all stages of life.BB-100-1015, $6.95

Connect! How to Get Your Kids to Talk to Youby Carl B. Smith with Susan Moke and Marjorie R. Simic

This inspiring book shows parents how to make booksharing and open communication a reality with theirchildren.BB-100-1265, $14.95

Elementary Grammar: A Child's Resource Bookby Carl B. Smith

A handy source of answers, explanations, and practice foryoung learners and their parents.BB-100-1016, $13.95

Intermediate Grammar: A Student's Resource Bookby Carl B. Smith

A student's grammatical lifesaver! Includes completeexplanations and examples, plus a handy punctuationguide.BB-100-1017, $16.95

Grammar Handbook for Home and Schoolby Carl B. Smith

A quick reference with concise explanations of the basicsof English grammar and punctuation. The perfect compan-ion to intermediate Grammar.BB-100-1018, $8.95

1 3

Ordering informationOTY. TITLE TOTAL

The Active Learner: Help Your Child Learn by Doing (BB-106-1609, $9.95)

The Curious Learner: Help Your Child Develop Academic and CreativeSkills (BB-100-1013, $9.95)

The Confident Learner: Help Your Child Succeed in School (BB-100-1023,

$9.95)

Help Your Child Read and Succeed: A Parent's Guide (BB-100-1019, $12.95)

Family Book Sharing Groups: Start One in Your Neighborhood!(BB-100-1337, $6.95)

Expand Your Child's Vocabulary: A Twelve-Week Plan (BB-100-1015, $8.95)

Connect! flow to Get Your Kids to Talk to You (BB-100-1265, $14.95)

Elementary Grammar: A Child's Resource Book (BB-100-1016, $13.95)

Intermediate Grammar: A Student's Resource Book (BB-100-1017, $16.95)

Grammar Handbook for Home and School (BB-100-1018, $8.95;

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The Family Literacy Center at Indiana Universitywas established to promote family involvement in lit-eracy, which includes all kinds of family activities relatedto reading, writing, and general communication. TheCenter engages in research on family literacy, promotesactivities and events that encourage family literacy, andsells and disseminates parent involvement materials.

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1 3 '3

Parenting/Education

The active learner is . . .... a child who has strong learning skills.

. . a child who is motivated to learn.. . . a child who is successful in life!

In our fast-changing world, children

need to learn more than information.They need to learn how to learn. Youcan help your child prepare for the

future and become an active, self-directed learner with the simple ideaspresented in The Active Learner. Your

child will become an independent,energetic, lifelong learner!

644A!

The Successful Learner Series will help you to help your

child get the most out of his or her learning experiences.

The Confident Learner: Help Your Child Succeedin School

The Curious Learner: Help Your Child DevelopAcademic and Creative Skills

The Active Learner: Help Your Child Learn by Doing

ISBN 0-9628556-9-3

GRAYSON BERNARDPUBLISHERS

$9.95 9I

78096 815696

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Documents

DOCUMENT RESUME ED 392 021 CS 012 354 … Education; Language ... terize passive learning by the lecture ... own inner sense of personhood she must establish her own values and knowledge