Preschool-aged children learning essential language skills lays the foundation for building their literacy skills as they move through their early school years. 

“It lights up those language processing centers on the left side of the brain, which is where reading happens,” said Janea Gray, who was the keynote speaker for the Kinders Can! conference on Dec. 4, in Lawrence. “It's getting that great vocabulary in there, which is a huge part of structured literacy.”    

Gray, of ESSDACK in Hutchinson, works in several school districts as a Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling® (LETRS®) structured literacy trainer. Her central message to the early childhood, elementary school teachers and Parents as Teachers educators gathered at Greenbush Education Service Center was “when we’re having conversations with kids, we’re automatically making them better readers.”    

“We’re setting them up to have a great vocabulary and helping them regulate their emotions,” Gray said. “We’re improving their comprehension and listening skills.” 

In addition to taking the Kinders Can! attendees through activities to improve their skills with 5-turn conversations and parallel talk versus self-talk exercises, Gray also provided some of the following tips for engaging young children in learning-based conversations: 

• Talk about what you are doing and thinking. 
• Comment on what they are doing or looking at. 
• Notice things about them or what is around them. 
• Get down to their level, face-to-face. 
• Wait – Give them time to respond. 
• Repeat and add to what they are saying. 
• Encourage them and be positive. 
• Follow their lead – They will tell you what interests them. 
• Use expression – Make faces and use gestures. 
• Be silly! Relax and have fun. 

Jennifer Whiteford Houk is a parent educator with the Paola Parents as Teachers consortium in southeast Kansas who works with families in Garnett USD 365 and Central Heights USD 288. She said Gray’s comments about educators having 5-turn conversations with their young students was insightful because parents having enriching spoken interactions with their children is just as vital, if not more so, for their growth.  

“That can be really beneficial to teach that skill explicitly,” Houk said. “I think it's just as impactful at home as it could be in the classroom.” 

Crystal Johnson, a kindergarten teacher at Elmont Elementary, Seaman USD 345, said what resonated with her from Gray’s presentation is that higher level vocabulary with young children “doesn’t hurt them,” but also making conversations with her students “fun and silly” engages them the most. 

“Because that’s what they remember,” Johnson said. “They're not remembering what you're reading from the textbook. They're remembering that self-talk and those stories that you connect to yourself.” 

Kansas Education Commissioner Dr. Randy Watson opened the Kinders Can! event with praise for the work educators of young children do every day. 

“You’re juggling a lot of needs,” he said, “and doing so in such a graceful and artful way. The way in which we teach early childhood is important. It’s very purposeful.” 

Watson said data is showing that students who reach second grade with limited reading skills are more likely to struggle throughout the rest of their time in school.  

“I’m telling superintendents we’ve got to put more emphasis in the early grades but there are heavy demands on their budgets,” he said. “We can’t have 55% of our kids at risk of reading going into middle school. We’re going to do better with what we know.”