Kristin Grabarek - Early Learning through Play

Copyright 2019 by Kristin Grabarek and Mary R. Lanni

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Control Number: 2019001507

ISBN: 978-1-4408-6582-4 (paperback)

978-1-4408-6583-1 (ebook)

23 22 21 20 191 2 3 4 5

This book is also available as an eBook.

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The publisher has done its best to make sure the instructions and/or recipes in this book are correct. However, users should apply judgment and experience when preparing recipes, especially parents and teachers working with young people. The publisher accepts no responsibility for the outcome of any recipe included in this volume and assumes no liability for, and is released by readers from, any injury or damage resulting from the strict adherence to, or deviation from, the directions and/or recipes herein. The publisher is not responsible for any readers specific health or allergy needs that may require medical supervision, nor for any adverse reactions to the recipes contained in this book. All yields are approximations.

To my daughter, Stella Grace, whom I carried while writing this book; and to my son, Wesley David, who inspired so much of my work in the first place.

Kristin

To my daughter, Ava Risn, who was born as this book took shape: may play be the great work of your childhood.

Mary

Early learning, or early literacy, as it is sometimes known, has become something of a buzzword in public libraries and across our country in recent years. We are beginning to recognize the fact that many children are entering school unprepared for the social and intellectual requirements that entails, and often those children are not reading on grade level by third grade.

Third grade is a critical marker in students careers. As it is popular to say, up to third grade, children are learning to read. After third grade, children are reading to learn. Children who find themselves behind with third-grade reading struggle the entire rest of their school careers to catch up to grade-level work in all subjects. This struggle then in turn contributes to significant learning attrition in high school.

This lack of high school success can lead to low-paying jobs and low quality of life after students leave school. In order to prevent this, the focus on learning has turned to the earliest years, particularly those leading up to third grade, as the place to begin improving the lives of children. For the purposes of this book, we define early learning as learning that happens between ages zero and five.

This is indeed a critical time period for learning! The Harvard Center for the Developing Child offers this intriguing fact: 90% of a childs brain development happens before age 5. Now, please do not panic. It is never too late to learn. This fact simply emphasizes that the younger a learner is, the easier the learning is. Consider how many times you or a friend has observed a toddler and remarked something like, Their brains are little sponges!

This jump start on childhood learning has to do with learning pathways within the brain. Our brains create learning pathways even before we are born. Each time a child has an experiencethat is, seeing, tasting, touching, smelling, or hearingthe learning pathways multiply and strengthen. Each different experience creates a new learning pathway, while repeated experiences strengthen existing ones. Learning pathways increase and increase, strengthen and strengthen, throughout babyhood, toddlerhood, and childhood.

Around age five or six, the brains of our young learners begin to innately understand that they do not need each and every learning pathway they have developed. For example, consider how many of us as adults could list out 10 different types of dinosaurs off the top of our heads. Now find a precocious four-year-old and challenge him or her to do the same; you will likely have a list of even more than 10! This knowledge is a pathway in a young learners brain but is not exactly necessary to retain into adulthood or even adolescence. Our brains, then, do us the natural favor of pruning our learning pathways, again around age five or six.

This natural pruning means two things, one positive and one a bit challenging. On the bright side, our learning pathways become smooth, streamlined, and confident. Without a jumble of knowledge, the knowledge we do have is reinforced through practice, repetition, and frequent use. All of us know how to count, can recite the days of the week in order, and sing the alphabet song out loud; far more of us are able to do this than are able to recite the names of 10 dinosaurs. This is because these sets of knowledge were important learning pathways, and our brain retained them and strengthened them so that we can use them throughout our lives.

The second outcome provides us with a bit of a challenge. Concentrating on retaining and strengthening important learning pathways comes at the expense of easily creating new learning pathways. For example, consider how many of us have mastered our primary language, whatever it may be. Now consider difficulties encountered while trying to learn a second language as an adolescent or an adult. This is a frequently cited example of the increasing difficulty of learning that comes with age. While our brain is preserving our important learning pathways, it is doing so at the expense of creating new ones with ease.

This simply means that learning from ages zero through five is of critical importance. The more learning pathways we can enable our young learners to create, the more knowledge they will have inside their brains when the pruning begins. Furthermore, the more learning pathways that exist when children start kindergarten, the more able they will be to retain critical knowledge by strengthening existing pathways, rather than having to face the challenge of building new pathways after their brains have begun the pruning process.

This is the particular situation we refer to when discussing school readiness. We want our young learners to enter kindergarten with as many learning pathways as possible to ensure that they are ready for the social and intellectual requirements of their school career. The critical time period to build these learning pathways is the ages between birth and preschool.

Librarians have been watching the information on the importance of kindergarten readiness and school success come in without surprise. In fact, librarians in general have long recognized the importance of learning and the ways in which libraries can support learners.

To back up a bit for a wider perspective: public libraries are designed and built to facilitate lifelong learning. This certainly includes early learning, as well as learning throughout a students school career. Not only do libraries innately provide these opportunities, but librarians also intentionally seek out ways to support learning.