Communicative skills develop when there's something meaningful for children to communicate about-when they are taking an active role.

In both cooperative learning and project work, the teacher encourages children to talk to one another. This helps them pay attention to each other's efforts and ideas. Children take to these kinds of exchanges very readily, but the teacher really needs to encourage this interaction.

Children involved in project work are encouraged to serve the group needs and share responsibility for what's accomplished.

When children are truly involved in the scientific process they gain understanding, knowledge, and life skills. They deepen their awareness of what's going on around them and how others contribute to their well-being.

Young children are unlikely to have their self-esteem strengthened from excessive praise or flattery. On the contrary, it may raise some doubts in children many children can see through flattery and may even dismiss an adult who heaps on praise as a poor source of support-one who is not very believable.

When a teacher tries to teach something to the entire class at the same time, chances are, one-third of the kids already know it one-third will get it and the remaining third won’t. So two-thirds of the children are wasting their time.

Curriculum should help children make deeper and fuller understanding of their own experience

In cooperative learning, you have a purposeful, meaningful, and authentic context in which children can sharpen their communicative skills.

Experts generally agree that taking all opportunities to read books and other material aloud to children is the best preparation for their learning to read. The pleasures of being read to are far more likely to strengthen a child's desire to learn to read than are repetitions of sounds, alphabet drills, and deciphering uninteresting words.

Learning to deal with setbacks, and maintaining the persistence and optimism necessary for childhood's long road to mastery are the real foundations of lasting self-esteem.