Bad Jokes & Early Learning - Part 2 of 2

Yesterday we wrote about activities that use playing with language to engage young learners (see the post here). Today we get a smidge more serious with links to related articles.

Recommended by David Martin:

CNN piece that features the thinking of a Champlain College professor, Dr Laurel Bongiorno about how young child learn best through play. My View: Let Preschoolers and Kindergartners Play to Learn

Short piece form the Science section of the New York Times about how preschoolers learned more about an object when left alone to explore it as opposed to being taught how to use it. Scientific Inquiry Among the Preschool Set

Short article, also from the Times, about children reading on tablets as opposed to books. Digital Reading Rises Among Children


Study shows teachers who had the most positive effects over the long run were kindergarten teachers.  David Notes: This piece came out of a study conducted over many years, but it’s important to remember that the kindergartens that the people in the study attended are quite different from the ones we have nowadays, which stress a lot more academic work. The Case for $320,000 Kindergarten Teachers

Find David online:

Website  http://www.davidzmartin.com
Facebook  http://www.facebook.com/David.Martin.Author

Other Recommendations:

Kirby Ferguson - On building from existing art or inventions to create something new. Like our 5 Little Piggies example from yesterday (sort of). See his TED Talk here and his web series Everything Is a Remix.   

Candlewick Press - Publisher of David Martin's books, has resources for educators here.  

On the topic of $320,000 Kindergarten Teachers we're reprising an earlier book recommendation: Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children's Book 

Do you have resources to recommend on the connection between playing and learning? On having fun with words as a way to master language? E-mail helen.labun.jordan@gmail.com and we can add to the list.