How infants learn from facial expressions

Research shows that faces are important - special, even - to infants right from birth.  They learn to distinguish their mother's face from those of others after only a matter of hours, and begin to distinguish between emotional facial expressions after only a few days.  This awareness and expertise quickly becomes an important tool for learning.  Infants learn to read faces around them for cues about their world - is it safe? is it fun? is it a good idea?  And they learn to trust those faces most familiar to them the most.  

Get the full scoop here!.

The Conversation - Face time: How infants learn from facial expressions

Closing the gap: Teaching phonics skills alongside reading raises literacy achievement among Indigenous children

In New Zealand, a literacy program is being used to close the gap between the literacy skills of indigenous, disadvantaged children and their elementary school peers.

By teaching phonics alongside repetitive reading, where the words become recognizable to the students, they are being taught HOW to sound out words.  Their skills began to approach average levels, including reading accuracy, comprehension, and spelling (The Conversation, 2016).

To find out more about this approach and its benefits to these students, check out The Conversation. 

The Conversation: Teaching phonics skills alongside reading raises literacy achievement among Indigenous children