Pointing Out the Obvious

What's obvious to us - common knowledge - may not be for our little ones.  This is easy to forget, as we've known basic concepts for a lot longer than our children have been alive.  There's a way to consistently ensure that our children develop common sense.

We can talk through our tasks.

It's essential to model correct language and look for teachable moments - anything that will give our children background knowledge for the real deal.  We want that transition to school to be seamless, and for the concepts to gel in their heads.  The way to do this is to give children as many real experiences with the material as possible.

One example is feeding our two dogs.  My son usually likes to help feed them.  I don't discourage this because it teaches responsibility, measurement, shapes, and right/left. 

1. Responsibility - He knows taking care of animals takes discipline and work.  When you have an animal, it's your responsibility to ensure it has food and water.

2. Measurement - My son insists on carrying the scoop of food and dividing it in half between the two bowls.  He says, "Half for Jacob and half for Rosco."  He got this phrase from me, because instead of just making sure each bowl had enough food, I had previously used my language to model and describe what I was doing.  This way, my son understood the process, and started practicing it himself.  He may not be able to do division or fractions, but when 2nd grade comes along, he'll have an idea of what the teacher is talking about when she/he introduces the concept. 

3. Shapes - The container of food is round, like a circle, and the lid has triangles on it.  Instead of just returning the scooper to the container, we point out these shapes.

4 Right/Left - My 3-year old insists on opening and closing the container.  We say the phrases, "Lefty loosy" to open and "Righty tighty" to close.

Talking through our chores can get really old, but it's essential to ensure language development and understanding of new concepts.  This way, our children go to school having some idea of how things work and solutions to problems.