Remember learning skills to help you find the main idea in a piece of writing? I was never good at that. What I got as the main idea was totally different from the teacher’s or her manual’s idea. Not sure who was right or wrong but there is some new evidence that integrating reading and writing into other subjects helps children find and understand the main idea.

Holly Korbey’s article in the July 28, 2020 issue of Edutopia says “background knowledge is more critical to comprehension than general skills like ‘finding the main idea’.” Her idea is that English Language Arts (ELA) should be part of what is learned in other classes or subject areas. She also quotes Natalie Wexler, author of The Knowledge Gap, as saying “knowledge – like Velcro – sticks best to other related knowledge.”

So how can we increase our children’s background knowledge? What is background knowledge? Background knowledge is something with which we are familiar. Korbey’s example was a fourth-grade class studying anatomy that could more easily read and write about the human body because they were familiar with anatomy from their science class. I’m guessing they were also looking at x-rays and handling bones (plastic bones). This gave them a more hands-on approach to understanding anatomy before they read or wrote about the subject.

The picture at the top shows the classic old red schoolhouse. Think for just a minute what kind of background knowledge those children attending that school might have had. I’m thinking of animal husbandry, life cycles of plants and animals, growing seasons, measurements in gallons, pecks, and bushels, etc. Our children today do not have this type of knowledge making the understanding of literature and writing about such things very difficult. An example: Children in my church who sang “This Little Light of Mine” thought the line “Hide it under a bushel, NO!” was “Hide it under a bush, Oh NO!” Though we live in a rural area agriculture is declining. Children are no longer familiar with a bushel. So how can we increase our children’s background knowledge and improve their reading skills?

Here are just a few tips:

• take trips
  • The Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum
  • Cades Cove, TN which has historic buildings and camping in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park
  • Hagood Mill, Pickens, SC which includes petroglyphs, an old working grist mill and special attractions like Military History Apreciation, Old Time Fiddlers Convention, and a  Native American Celebration
• Visit museums
• Find guide books for trees, plants, birds, butterflies, etc and go hiking
• Look for crafters at farmers’ markets and ask questions about how to make pottery or soap. You may get an invitation for a field trip.

Then the next time your child can’t think what to write about, remind them of what they encountered on their excursions. When they’re looking for something to read, help them find something you know is about their enjoyable experience. Even better, let them find those books in the shops where they are visiting.

Our children can be better readers and writers who will enjoy the tasks if we give them the background knowledge they need to comprehend the written language.

Blessings, Gail Cartee