Putting Two and Two Together

       Another practice which adds to richness and progress in learning is helping children see how various activities are related. After several of the children wrote out the cows' names, the teacher said, "That will help you spell and read these names, and it will help you remember them too." Recognizing the relationship between meaningful language, reading, writing, and spelling will make a child's world of work seem more reasonable. He will be able to recognize progress not in parts but in a connected, larger pattern: "I can print this sign for myself," or "I can read some of this story for myself." 

       For children there is something fascinating about arranging items in some kind of series or sequence. A three-or four-year-old may pick out all the blue beads from a box and place them in a row, next to all the red ones. Later he may string a chain, first a blue bead, then a red, a yellow, a green, and then repeat the sequence. When it comes to the sequence of the alphabet, he seems naturally to gravitate toward this arrangement too. "What comes after F?" "What comes after R?" He may question his mother or teacher. Many six-year-old children, without being taught to do so, will sit down and write out the alphabet, persisting until they feel that they have mastered it in its correct sequence. 

       Although this learning of letters and their arrangement from A to Z is not a prerequisite for beginning reading, when it has become an interest to children, they should be aided in acquiring success to the degree this interest demands. Children, as a rule, enjoy seeing their names in alphabetical lists. Names are collections of such personal words, no wonder they have special appeal! In many second grades, children keep lists of words in notebooks which they can spell in alphabetical order. At this time, some of them are ready to explore dictionaries and other reference materials, solely for the exciting game which this activity presents, for the fun of seeing whether they are able to find a given word.

• Sequence of Events by Mind Blooming

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