Communicative skills develop when there's something meaningful for children to communicate about-when they are taking an active role.

Communicative skills develop when there's something meaningful for children to communicate about-when they are taking an active role.

Of course children benefit from positive feedback. But praise and rewards are not the only methods of reinforcement. More emphasisshould be place on appreciation--reinforcement related explicitly and directly to the content of the child's interest and efforts.

When children are truly involved in the scientific process they gain understanding, knowledge, and life skills. They deepen their awareness of what's going on around them and how others contribute to their well-being.

Experts generally agree that taking all opportunities to read books and other material aloud to children is the best preparation for their learning to read. The pleasures of being read to are far more likely to strengthen a child's desire to learn to read than are repetitions of sounds, alphabet drills, and deciphering uninteresting words.

As you consider whether to move a child into formal academic training, remember that we want our children to do more than just learn how to read and write; we want them to learn in such a way that they become lifelong readers and writers. If we push our children to start learning these skills too far ahead of their own spontaneous interest and their capacity, we may sacrifice the long-range goal of having them enjoy such pursuits.

Curriculum should help children make deeper and fuller understanding of their own experience