What Kids Learn at the Table
February 18, 2008
Did You Know...Preschoolers increase their vocabulary by being part of dinner table conversation. This larger vocabulary helps them in school – in kindergarten and beyond.
Twenty years ago, the folks at the Graduate School of Education at Harvard began to follow a group of three-year-olds to find out how they learned new words. It turned out that the kinds of simple stories we tell each other around the supper table are an excellent way to expand our vocabulary. Kids learn more words that way than when people read to them.
When the kids entered kindergarten, their larger vocabularies made it easier for them to learn how to read. That early success at reading set them up for more effective learning, and higher expectations, throughout their school careers.
Sound too good to be true? One of the researchers told me, half-joking, "At one point, we thought about calling the book [about the research] Everything I Learned I Learned Before Kindergarten."
Mealtimes Matter Video
from Miriam Weinstein
About Miriam
Miriam Weinstein is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. As a journalist, she has won several awards from the New England Press Association. Her work has appeared in Boston Magazine, the Boston Globe magazine, Hope, and ParentSource. A former staff member for North Shore Weeklies and freelancer for Essex County Newspapers, she writes restaurant reviews and food columns as well as features on a wide variety of subjects. She lives in Gloucester, Massachusetts, with her husband and has two grown children.
The Surprising Power of Family Meals
In her book, The Surprising Power of Family Meals, Miriam Weinstein shows how this basic human institution helps nourish and strengthen our families today. You can buy this book from our friends at Smucker's® Online Store.
