School Newsletter - April 2024 | ||||||||||||||
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"Spring is Here!"
Talk, Read and Sing Together Every Day!Tips For Preschool Teachers & Other Early Childhood Education Program Providers A language rich environment is one in which children are surrounded by talking, singing, and reading and have many opportunities throughout their day, across all activities, to communicate with others and engage in back-and-forth conversations. A rich language environment is important to children’s early learning, and can have strong effects on early language, vocabulary, reading, and math skills, as well as on children’s social-emotional development. Research shows that some young children are exposed to more language in their homes, early learning programs, and school settings, than other children. This difference in the number of words and back-and-forth conversations to which children are exposed is called the “word gap”. Below are some tips that you can use to help bridge the word gap by enriching the language environment of all young children in your care, including children who do not speak yet, children with disabilities or delays, and children who are learning more than one language. Partner with families and encourage them to try these strategies at home, in their home language. For children with disabilities or delays, communicate with their other service providers and keep each other informed about the strategies you are using to enhance their language environment. ENGAGING CHILDREN IN CONVERSATIONSTeachers and families play a critical role in developing language-rich learning environments. Try these strategies to engage all children in rich conversations in English or in their home language.
EXPAND ON CHILDREN’S WORDSExpanding on children’s language, nonverbally, in English or in their home language, is a meaningful way to extend conversations with children. Here are some key ways you can extend a conversation by expanding on what children say or communicate.
Repeat what the child says, and add a little MORE. You can add words that: Describe: Name: Provide more information: *Excerpts taken from “Talk, Read and Sing Together Every Day” www.ed.gov – U.S. Department of Education. We’re here for all of your staffing needs.
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