Home Visitors Promoting the Creative Process and Conceptual Thinking in Head Start Children
Sheri Noble, Education Specialist/Consultant, Region VIII TASC, Lakewood, Colorado
In the home and center settings many things can be done to promote the creative process in emergent literacy, along with conceptual thinking and problem solving skills. It is logical to consider emergent literacy and conceptual thinking together as they are related developmentally, and because children of preschool age (3, 4, and 5)are naturally developing these skills. In considering ways to promote emergent literacy and logical thinking/problem-solving skills, the physical environment and the learning environment created by the teacher are critical.Knowing that children are active learners and use their senses to construct an understanding of their world, some examples of an enriched environment include:
- Play: Providing props which invite the use of labels, signs, and writing utensils in a meaningful context.
- Music: Showing relationships between music, written music symbols, and words in music.
- Movement: Suggesting movements like those described in stories and poems.
- Drama: Providing opportunities for dramatic play with puppets, props, furniture, and costumes.
- Visual Arts: Having good quality art available for children to experience.
To enrich a learning environment, children's efforts should be recognized and they should be encouraged to explore, create, and think. Adults do this in large part by the kinds of questions they ask. Open-ended questions are imperative in developing conceptual thinking and problem-solving skills. (Questions such as: What if?.. .How could we solve that problem?.. .Is there another way to do that?. ..What might happen if?.. .What does it feel like, taste like, sound like?) Adults should resist the impulse to simply answer children's questions without letting them think about and answer their own questions.
Since the home is where "real" problems occur and are solved, what better laboratory than the home to promote conceptual thinking and problem-solving skills using everyday activities and situations.
The real "strength" of the home-based program consists of what happens in the home between the parents and their children. The home visitor's role is to assist the parents in knowing the importance of providing a stimulating and caring environment, and in recognizing and using the resources that are available to parents, such as time, teaching opportunities, everyday activities, and materials in the home.
Some examples of the ways in which home visitors can fulfill their roles include:
- Home visitors can share concepts with parents on the importance of play, reading to children, listening to children, and providing learning materials. They can use examples and written materials, and share their own knowledge of child development principles and appropriate practices.
- Home visitors can help parents recognize ways to take advantage of everyday activities, whether to reinforce the creativeprocess, emergent literacy, concept development, or problem solving.
- Home visitors can help parents plan ways to expand and enrich the environment with activities in and around the home, such as gathering and suggesting materials to be used for creative experiences, collecting props for play, using labels, or planning special experiences for the children (field trips, reading time, etc.)
- Together home visitors and parents can plan home activities which foster the creative process in emergent literacy and conceptual thinking/problem solving for the children.
- Home visitors can help parents plan the learning environment and suggest activities when children and parents are brought together for socializations. If socializations are held in a Head Start classroom, a rich learning environment can be provided using the creative materials, props, music, and activities available in the classroom.