Kindermusik and Your Child: Scaffolding
Scaffolding is an interactive means of learning that occurs between adult and child. In this process the adult gently guides and supports the child’s learning, responding to the child’s level of participation by asking questions, making observations, and issuing new challenges according to the child’s responses. Together, one layer at a time, the adult and child discover new ideas, experience new emotions, learn new language, and strengthen their trusting bond.
Steps to Scaffolding…
As a parent, you have probably used the process of scaffolding without even realizing it while helping your child do something that he couldn’t have done on his own. You have used scaffolding when you have helped your child put a puzzle together by asking questions, making suggestions, and giving hints. You may have noticed that the next time your child put that puzzle together, he needed less help. Through scaffolding, skills are mastered.
As a parent, you have probably used the process of scaffolding without even realizing it while helping your child do something that he couldn’t have done on his own. You have used scaffolding when you have helped your child put a puzzle together by asking questions, making suggestions, and giving hints. You may have noticed that the next time your child put that puzzle together, he needed less help. Through scaffolding, skills are mastered.
Examples of scaffolding strategies include:
- Asking questions to help children clarify or extend their learning;
- Making suggestions or providing materials that lead children further in their explorations;
- Encouraging and sustaining effort with [your] presence;
- Supporting as children struggle with new challenges;
- Demonstrating and teaching new information and skills that children need to proceed; and
- Reinforcing learning by providing opportunities for children to practice or communicate about their learning.
-The Essentials of Early Education, by Carol Gestwicki,p. 98.
Compiled by Theresa Case, whose Kindermusik program at Piano Central Studios in Greenville, SC, is proudly among the top 1% of Kindermusik programs worldwide.
Sequence Development
Sequencing is the ability to remember an order of events or instructions. If you’re wondering how long of a list your child should be able to remember or follow, a good rule of thumb is that young children are able to remember a sequence with approximately as many steps as their age. For example, a two-year-old can likely complete a two-step direction, three-year-olds can often sequence three steps, and so on.
Tips for parents: Like most skills, learning to sequence is a skill that can be practiced. Look for ways throughout your day to help your child practice following steps or remembering a sequence. This “practice” can come in the form of giving instruction (i.e., Pick up your socks and then take them to Daddy.), giving a sequence of events (First, we’ll eat breakfast, then we’ll get dressed, and then we’ll go to Kindermusik!), or discovering the sequence in a story book.
- Contributed by Theresa Case, whose Greenville, SC program, Kindermusik at Piano Central Studios, is proudly among the top 1% of Kindermusik programs worldwide.
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Posted: 24 Feb 2012 11:00 AM PST
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Stephanie says…Funnily enough, considering we're such book nerds, my husband has ZERO parenting books (to be fair, I don't have any, either). I looked around online and found two that seem promising:Depending on how he's approaching parenthood, ThinkGeek's The Baby Owner's Manual might be totally perfect. The book, which I'm assuming has to be a little tongue-in-cheek, has diagrams and instructions for baby swaddling, helping your baby sleep through the night, and tips for when you should bring your baby to the doctor for "servicing." There's also a follow-up for the next stage in life, The Toddler Owner's Manual. You guys tell me! What books did your baby-raising partner love while you were pregnant? |
Reading Time and Children
Reading to young children is such a valuable tool, not to mention a delightful activity with all kinds of benefits. Research shows that children who are read to do better in school, and that reading is also a calming, wonderful way for parents to bond with their children. Reading provides the experience of different types of language, rhythms, and sounds, as well as teaching about many topics that might not come up naturally in conversation.
Reading to young children is such a valuable tool, not to mention a delightful activity with all kinds of benefits. Research shows that children who are read to do better in school, and that reading is also a calming, wonderful way for parents to bond with their children. Reading provides the experience of different types of language, rhythms, and sounds, as well as teaching about many topics that might not come up naturally in conversation.
Ideas for parents: Why not establish a “Reading Ritual” with your child? Make the ritual even more special by designating a reading chair, by setting aside a specific time each day to read, and by having a basket of favorite “read-aloud” books from which to choose. Even a few minutes a day spent reading to your child will have a lasting effect on your child’s emotional well-being and potential for academic success.
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