Hi,
I’ve just found an interesting article about using worksheets with young children which I thought you might find interessting.
Here it is:
WORKSHEETS: GOOD OR BAD?
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
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
* How many different ways can you complete this picture? (graphic of two cloud-shaped designs in opposite corners)
* You have just returned from a trip in outer space. You discovered a new planet. What does it look like? (graphic of spaceship, stars, and a planet)
* This is a magic wand. What did it make? (graphic of magic wand)
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.
* Save the child’s artwork or products to send home.
* Use a tape recorder to capture children’s conversations while they play. Or tape the questions they ask while you read a story. Send the tape home with parents along with a note about what skills the child is gaining (e.g., vocabulary, social problem-solving skills, memory skills, etc.).
* Put up a bulletin board where parents can see it when they walk in. List each child’s name and one activity they really enjoyed that day. Next to the activity write the skills the child gained from it. Add pictures taken of the children engaged in the activities.
* Videotape children engaged in play. Send the video home with parents or schedule a time for parents to view it in your home.
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.
REFERENCES
U.S. Department of Education (1986). *What Works: Research About Teaching and Learning*. Washington, DC: Author.
DOCUMENT USE/COPYRIGHT
National Network for Child Care – NNCC. Part of CYFERNET, the National Extension Service
Children Youth and Family Educational Research Network. Permission is granted to reproduce
these materials in whole or in part for educational purposes only (not for profit beyond the cost of
reproduction) provided that the author and Network receive acknowledgment and this notice is
included:
Reprinted with permission from the National Network for Child Care – NNCC. Patten, P. (1993). Worksheets: Good or bad?. In Todd, C.M. (Ed.), *Day care center connections*, 2(6), pp. 1-3. Urbana-Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Service.
Talk soon,
Mary Nightingale
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