February/March 2008

FREQUENTLY ASKED S.M.A.R.T. QUESTIONS by MLRC Mentors

As mentors travel to many schools watching teachers masterfully integrate their required academic content with S.M.A.R.T. activities or using S.M.A.R.T. methods to teach their curriculum, they encounter questions from teachers, many of which are common and frequently asked. We've compiled some of these frequently asked questions below with answers agreed upon by our mentors in the field. We will add a FAQ section to future newsletters, as well, so if you and your team have some nagging questions you would like clarified, let us know by emailing charvey@actg.org.

Q: Why do number ladders need to be read from the bottom up?

The early learning of anything is foundational to what follows in that curriculum.   Many of the math problems seen in later grades have their beginning in kindergarten and pre-k. Reading ladders from bottom to top helps children visualize that numbers go up to infinity.

Reading numbers and understanding quantities are first understood by young children as height, and height = quantity = amount. The thinking of young children regarding the concept of more means higher. From age one, this concept is understood automatically. So, we are proceeding from the child's level of understanding and development.

Another aspect of vertical arrays is that the energy in our bodies and in nature goes up, and the body and mind are stronger with an upsweep and are weaker with a downsweep. This strength and weakness is easily demonstrated to children and they enjoy "brushing up" to put themselves in strong acquisition mode. This strong/weak learning can be demonstrated easily merely by noting how quickly pupils learn new material in vertical arrays. The vertical array is useful at all grade levels for several sequences requiring math automaticity, not only skip counting (clock reading, fractions, compass directions, etc.).

Of course, ANY CONTENT may be placed in a vertical array, including logos, pictures of animals, geometric shapes, dominos, sight words, word families, direction arrows, etc. Some teachers are concerned that when the ladders have words, they should be read from top to bottom, more like real reading. In our experience, reading all ladders from the bottom up has not transferred to any difficulty or confusion in children's classroom reading. And, it's probably less confusing for children if ALL ladders go up, instead of number ladders being read from the bottom up and other ladders from the top down. However, if this is a problem for you, it's not the end of the world to have children read ladders from the top down. What IS important is that they are using a variety of ladders daily to practice academic content they currently are working on mastering AND with some physical movement (jumping, ball bouncing, etc.), as MOVEMENT ANCHORS LEARNING.

(For more details on this topic, please contact Cindy Harvey at charvey@actg.org for information provided by Doctor Lyelle Palmer, Research Scientist for the MLRC.)

Q: We've received some funds from (parent group, local service club, etc.) to purchase some equipment for our S.M.A.R.T. Program. What would you recommend for our school to purchase?

If you have the basics already (enough mats, creep tracks, balance beam, trouble lights for Basic Vision, etc.), you may want to consider purchasing a Telebinocular machine to screen children for 15 different vision targets (as opposed to the Snellen chart often used as the "school vision test" which only screens for distance acuity). This would be very beneficial to add to your current kindergarten screening and to use for "ruling out vision" for your special needs referrals. One can be ordered from:

Keystone View, Inc.
1-866-574-6360
Keystoneview.com
The cost is $995. (Card sets are $100 each - one for PK/K, one for school age. Record forms are $45)

You can download a brochure about the Telebinocular from their website
This is a piece of equipment often considered by the Lion's Club, since they have strong vision as a priority.

If you don't have the basics above, consider those items also.

Other suggestions for smaller amounts of money would be peg arcs, rebounders, fine motor manipulatives, black lights, dominos, music CDs, etc. Also, outside funds can supplement future training costs for additional teachers.

Q: Is there any problem doing Basic Vision with children who have or have had seizures?

There is no evidence that the Basic Vision activity triggers seizures. Unlike strobe lights, which feature continuous blinking lights and could possibly affect a person with a seizure disorder, Basic Vision flashes a light from a 75-100 watt bulb for one second with a five second delay between the next one second flash. The purpose is simply to stimulate the basic function of the pupillary reflex to light and dark. This said, if a parent still has concerns or their Dr. recommends that the child not participate in this activity for any reason, the parent's prerogative always applies.

Q: Why isn't skipping a CORE activity since so many children have difficulty with it?

You will recall on the Ontogeny Chart, that skipping is listed near the top of the chart at ages 5-6. SMART activities are designed to stimulate the brain stem area that controls unconscious and automatic coordination and is where readiness skills are developed and controlled. These activities serve as the "foundation" for those higher-level motor skills and coordination patterns such as skipping that then become automatic. When a child cannot skip, the problem is not because of a lack of "practice" in skipping, but that a reflex may be interfering and the reflex must be inhibited before the student's limbs can reciprocate and coordinate. Skipping requires alternating lifting one leg while hopping on the other while swinging the arms. Uncoordinated moves may signify an uninhibited STNR or a student who can only gallop may have an uninhibited ATNR. The Rocking Horse and Giraffe Stretch CORE activities can help mature both these reflexes and therefore improve the ability to skip. When a student exhibits an inability/immaturity, always look to a lower underlying foundation level for the source of the immaturity problem.