A File for the Brain

Gosh, it's been pretty crazy the past couple of weeks. Now with Valentine's Day and Presidents' Weekend out of the way, we can get to our regular schedule. As we were relaxing over the weekend, I had promised my boys a trip to the beach. The boys were studying about the Arctic in preschool. They learned about the different animals that live there like polar bears and walruses. My older son was obsessed with orcas or "Shamu" as he would call it. He wanted to know what they ate. I told him walruses, fish and seals. "Seals?" he said, with a puzzled look on his face. I had to explain what a seal was. "It looks like a walrus but a lot smaller with no tusks." After my efforts in trying to give him a detailed discription of a seal, I managed just to confuse him more. So I thought of an idea...I'll take him to Seal Beach! Both my sons were excited to check out the seals. When we finally arrived at the beach my boys stared in amazement at the seals sunbathing on the sand. We stood there for several minutes as they asked us questions like why are they just laying there? Where are their feet? Why are they in the water? What is the small one? Where is the mommy? It struck up so much conversation than any book could do. I'll bet my boys will always remember the day I took them to Seal Beach. Why is this important? This experience will be useful later on...it's like a file for the brain. When my boys encounter books or discussions in school about seals or orcas, they can refer to their "file" or their day at Seal Beach. It's called background knowledge..this enables readers to tap into their "file" when tackling unfamiliar books. If a reader knows the content of the book, then the brain knows it is limited to certain words that can possibly be used in the book. Basically it eliminates a whole lot of nonrelevant words and eases the "reading work" for the child. If he knows its about seals then there's no way giraffes can be in this book. Taking children out and exploring the world is not only building character, but it's also providing opportunities for them to create "files" for them to refer to. Try taking your children out on "field trips" you'll be amazed how much is out there for them to learn and experience and apply it back into the books they read.