Academic subjects can be introduced in an integrative way - that is, by combining cognition with feeling, physical/sensing, and intuition. The table below provides examples of activities that enhance integrative education in a preschool curriculum for children ages one through three.
| Caregiver Activities | Because |
| Provide objects for manipulation, such as blocks, bowls, and boxes. | Through touching, moving, and banging coordination is learned; relationships can be experienced. |
| Label your actions as you do them; label the child's actions as he or she does them; encourage talking while thinking. | Facilitates the use of language for thinking. |
| Model use of print showing the emotional and social meanings; encourage children to explore and experiment for themselves; encourage writing to communicate and play. | Modeling promotes and encourages reading and writing activity. |
| Use the children's intuitive insights and personal language to teach mathematics; promote self-confidence and autonomy for mathematical thinking; use sticks, stones, and other physical materials. | children bring considerable mathematical experience to school with them; it should be acknowledged and used. |
| Teach the relationship between art and academic skills; transform their experience into artistic representations. | Enriches academic understanding and skills. |
| Provide intellectual peers to interact and play with. | Facilitates development of language, self-concept, and sensory-motor thinking. |
| Provide opportunities for drama and storytelling. | Promotes language, imagination, and the integration of thinking and emotion. |
| Allow children to make decisions and take increasing responsibility for learning and behavior. | Helps children develop independent thinking and action. |
Excerpted From:
Excerpt from Growing Up Gifted: Developing the Potential of Children at Home and at School, by B. Clark, 2008 edition, p. 108.
© ______ 2008, Merrill, an imprint of Pearson Education Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The reproduction, duplication, or distribution of this material by any means including but not limited to email and blogs is strictly prohibited without the explicit permission of the publisher.
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