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📙 Mindful Reading

The other day I was talking to my friend who was planning to take the GMAT to get into the master’s program. While talking to him and looking at his book, I could not help but notice that quite a few comprehension questions though called by different academic terms, were concepts that we start to introduce as early as elementary school.

Nowadays, the educational system focuses quite a bit on the modeling and teaching of comprehension strategies in the elementary setting.

It is not just about how fluently you read, but also how well you understand what is being read. The focus from kindergarten to second grade is learning how to read. From 3rd grade on wards, it is reading to understand the text. For this reason, comprehension strategies are introduced at a very early stage in the elementary setting.

The best way to acquaint and get the child to feel comfortable with this process at an early age is to introduce it at home when the parents sit with their child and read with or to them.

Here are a few simple steps you can integrate to make reading more meaningful. The idea is to have a natural flow of conversation about the book being read.

Predicting:

Look at the title and the picture on the cover page. Ask the child to make a prediction. Have a conversation such as, “From the title and the pictures what do you think the story could be about?”

During the reading ask the child what they think will happen next and why.

Making Connections:

Here you and the child would continuously try to find similarities between the story and their own experience. It could also involve making a connection between two books. When a child connects what is being read to something they experienced or can relate to, it makes the reading even more meaningful and understandable.

Asking Questions: These have to do with the who, what, why, where and how questions. Again the key is to be as natural as possible while reading. Keep it light, and make it fun.

Think Aloud: This involves voicing your thought process while you are reading. For example, “I wonder why…”

Making Inferences: Try to understand what the character might be feeling at a given point. Also, try to figure out what might be going on, even though the story might not say so.

End of the book: Talk about the part you liked or did not like in the book. Always give a reason for the opinion.

There are quite a few strategies that could be easily incorporated during this natural discussion. Your child will enjoy the quality discussion, and it takes reading to another level. Understanding and comprehending come naturally to adults, but for a child, they have to be modeled at first. Using these simple strategies would not only enhance your reading time together, but also set the stage for an active, fluent reader in the later years.

🔔 Vocabulary in Everyday Living

Usually, when we think in terms of academic vocabulary, we think they are words that are separate from the ones we use in a regular conversation. However, in the elementary years, they can be very easily be integrated into the daily conversation.

There are several websites that give you the vocabulary words that your child should be familiar with in a particular grade. You could ask the teacher to provide you with that information too. The more the word is used, the more the child is comfortable with the word, and then it can be transferred to the academic setting.

When you look at your child’s standards for the year, pick up a few words that you can easily use in your conversation. Understand how the word is being used in academics, and its meaning. Now start using it whenever you talk to the child.

Here is an example. Opinion is a word you will be seeing coming up a lot in all writing prompts from 2^nd – 5^th grade. When you first use the word for the first few times, give the meaning of the word too, so the child can associate with it. You could say something to this effect, “Mike, in your opinion, and when I say your opinion I mean what you think we should do this evening?”

Give the meaning of the word a few times in the same sentence that you use the vocabulary word, until you feel the child has got the meaning. After that, you could just use the word itself. This way, when the word comes up in an academic setting, the child transfers their understanding of the word.

If one looks at the elementary curriculum and standards, it can be seen that at least 80-90% of the words can be easily integrated in everyday conversation.

😌 Calming Down

I have all these feelings within me,

That I do not know how to explain,

The only way you might understand,

Is if I rant or rave.

Children very often go through emotions of anger and frustration that could result in tantrums and anger outbursts. Usually, the first instinct would be to correct the child as to why this behavior is not acceptable. There might be consequences such as no TV time, which adds fuel to the fire as the child is already very angry or frustrated.

Stress and anxiety are other emotions that young ones face. They might not be willing to listen to the logic of an adult. Talking to the child might be useless until the child has calmed down enough to listen.

Although there are quite a few techniques that teach a child how to quieten their mind, I am going to mention two simple methods which are quite effective. These techniques should be done in a quiet environment.

Fill in a Shape Method: All you need to do is to draw a rectangle on a piece of paper. Ask the child to fill the rectangle with long, even, very slow strokes. The idea is to go in one direction, make the strokes long, and in slow motion. The pencil moves up and down very slowly. When the child is doing this, they look at the motion of the strokes, and gradually calm down. After they have calmed down, you can address the issue. This also works well for children transitioning from outdoor to indoor activity.

Meditation: Just as adults, children too benefit from meditation. Regular meditation has been shown to reduce reactions such as anger, anxiety, and stress. However, a child might not be able to meditate for long. Choose a piece of meditation music from the youtube site, which is only five to seven minutes long. The music should be slow, soft and soothing. Guide the child to focus on the breathing, or just close their eyes and listen. If they are not in a mood to do so, they can just listen. Gradually, the calmness and soothing music will help them relax. Address the issue only when they are ready to listen.

Both these simple, inexpensive, effective techniques help children to be more in control of their emotions.

So, basically, instead of reacting to a situation, you are letting the child calm down before handling the issue. In the beginning, you might see that the child is not receptive to the idea of calming down. However, when you show that you do not want to talk about the matter until the child is ready to listen, the child too will soon see the benefit of calming down. It is easy to say that you will talk to them only after they have calmed down, but you also need to give them some tools on how to do so.