National Network for Child Care's Connections
Newsletter
Peggy Patten, M.Ed.
Staff Development Coordinator
School of Human Resources and Family Studies
University of Illinois
Copyright/Access Information
Parents and child care professionals serve as children's first
teachers. Children become ready for school through the environments
we set up and the activities we offer. Therefore, it is important
to understand what does and does not lead to "academic readiness."
Studies of children have shown repeatedly that young children
learn best through active involvement with real objects in child-directed
play. Children learn to read by being exposed to stories, books,
and language from very early in life, rather than phonics drills
or worksheets. They learn math by sorting, counting, and dividing
real objects, not through completing problems on paper.
Does that mean then that there is no place for worksheets in a
high-quality child care setting? No - for two reasons.
First, worksheets can provide opportunities to reinforce
skills children are already working on - writing letters and words,
identifying numbers in a sequence, identifying shapes and colors,
etc. Worksheets should not provide the primary way children learn
letters, words, colors, and numbers. Paper and pencil practice
with these concepts can, however, reinforce awareness of concepts
they are gaining through exploration and play.
Second, not all worksheets are created equal. Well-designed
worksheets can encourage children's creative thinking and problem-solving
skills. Useful worksheets encourage children to expand their creativity
or sharpen their thinking skills. These worksheets usually allow
children to complete a task in many different ways. Here are some
worksheet ideas that can foster children's development in positive
ways
The above examples encourage creativity in children. They will
also help children develop flexible thinking skills. These skills
are sometimes called divergent thinking skills and are important
to children's intellectual development.
Worksheets can also help children develop problem-solving skills.
Familiar examples are worksheets with dot-to-dot activities, pictures
out of sequence, word scrambles, and riddles to be answered. These
tasks can range in complexity from easy to difficult. Unlike the
divergent thinking process described above, these kinds of activities
call for organizing information to arrive at one answer. This
process is called convergent thinking and is also important to
children's development.
There are several sources for worksheets that provide these creative
thinking and problem-solving opportunities. Two that come to mind
are the series of coloring books by Susan Striker and Edward Kimmel
called the *Anti-Coloring Books*. They are available in many children's
book catalogues and in many local bookstores. Highlights for Children,
Inc., publishes a series of books for children called *Highlights'
Puzzlemania*.
The goal, then, is to use worksheets as you would any other learning
tool - as a resource that supplements a rich and varied program
where children are actively exploring and interacting with adults,
other children, and materials.
No article on worksheets would be complete without discussing
how to respond to parents' requests for worksheets. Many caregivers
say that they would prefer not using rote worksheets but feel
that parents expect them to. There are probably two major reasons
why this occurs. First, parents often do not understand how children
learn to read, write, or do math. Many mistakenly feel that children
who do many worksheets will learn earlier or faster. An important
role we serve as child care professionals is to help parents better
understand what is and is not good for children at different ages.
Here are some quotes from a pamphlet published by the United States
Department of Education that may be helpful to share with parents:
"The best way for parents to help their children become better readers is to read to them - even when they are very young. Children benefit most from reading aloud when they discuss stories, learn to identify letters and words, and talk about the meaning of words... children whose parents simply read to them perform as well as those whose parents use workbooks..." (*What Works*, p.9).
"Children who are encouraged to draw and scribble 'stories' at an early age will later learn to compose [write] more easily, more effectively, and with greater confidence than children who do not have this encouragement" (p. 14).
"A good way to teach children simple arithmetic is to build on their informal knowledge. This is why learning to count everyday objects is an effective basis for early arithmetic lessons" (p. 13).
As you can see, each of these statements suggests that creative,
child-initiated exploration, rather than worksheets, contributes
most to the early development of reading, writing, and math skills.
The second reason that parents often prefer worksheets is because
worksheets are a source of information about their child. Remember,
parents are not sitting in a corner observing all the wonderful
things their children are learning. The feedback they receive
about their child is limited to brief conversations at the end
of the day and the "products" their child brings home.
Parents' insistence on worksheets may be due, in part, to their
desperate need to know what is happening to their child during
the day. Find ways to let parents know what their child did during
the day, and what the child learned from those activities.
You can help children grow and develop by providing developmentally
appropriate worksheets, educating parents about how children really
learn the three Rs, and providing feedback to parents about their
children.
U.S. Department of Education (1986). *What Works: Research
About Teaching and Learning*. Washington, DC: Author.
FORMAT AVAILABLE:: Internet
DOCUMENT REVIEW::
Level 3 - National Peer Review
DOCUMENT SIZE:: 14K or 4 pages
ENTRY DATE:: February 1996
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