What is your 4-7 yr old's immediate answer to this question?

stem

Sun, Feb 17 2008, 9:52 pm

6 year old daughter said "rain" with a big smile.
3.11 year old first said, "what?" then I repeated and he said "I don't know". Then I said "What falls from thy sky and makes things wet?" and he finally said "rain". This is a boy who knows that when it's 9:43 it means hat there's 17 minutes left till 10:00...

amother

Sun, Feb 17 2008, 10:28 pm

Okay, but to be honest here, the test GR, that you are referring to, has a whole practice section, with directions and much easier questions before this one. So the 4 year old is not really expected to answer this suddenly, only after answering a whole bunch of other easier ones.

gryp

Mon, Feb 18 2008, 9:25 am

amother wrote:

That's news to me. I have no idea what else is on the test except "This is something you use to cover a cut on your finger," to which he quickly answered: "I don't know."
He probably lost her after "This is something." And we've never used the word "cut" for when he gets hurt, I can't remember him ever getting a cut. Banged, scraped, pushed, and punched, yes. Cut, no. A cut on his finger probably completely confused him. Also the words "you" and "your" probably got him nervous, like "why is she telling me about myself? what does she want from me?"
It doesn't seem like he got any of these right, although since yesterday he's gotten better at easier ones.

Thanks anon, for the link.

amother

Mon, Feb 18 2008, 9:39 am

It starts off with examples. This is something that says meow. what is it?
This is something that you say when you are leaving. what is it? If he does not answer, the answer is given to him and he gets another chance to repeat the answer. The one you are mentioning about falling from the sky is about 12-15 questions in, which means he must have gotten a whole bunch correct in order for him to get to that point because if he gets five wrong in a row, that subtest is over.

gryp

Mon, Feb 18 2008, 9:47 am

Good to know, amother, thanks for speaking up. I guess that from just reading the results of the evaluation you don't get a clear picture of what went on.
This is why I wanted to have the test done at home and we scheduled it that way, but it didn't end up happening. I wish it did so I could have overseen it.

leomom

Tue, Feb 19 2008, 12:14 am

OK, I asked my 3.5-year-old.

Me: Here's a riddle. What is it? This falls from the sky and gets things wet.

Her: Leaves. (pause) Oh, rain! (pause) Also lightning, because it comes down down down... Do more riddles!

Me: OK... What has a beak and makes a nest?

Her: Bird.

Me: What has a trunk and branches?

Her: A car! Oh, a sukkah! Do another riddle!

(Then I wanted her to go to sleep, so I came up with one that she would definitely get right away, and know she got, and that would be THE END)

Me: What has wheels, a steering wheel, a trunk, windows, doors, and windshield wipers? Very Happy

Mama Bear

Tue, Feb 19 2008, 12:49 am

1. it's a really cute idea, all these riddles, my son is too young for them but this is a great idea when you want to spend some time with your kid(s) without any fancy toys or games, when tyoure in the car, etc, who wouldve thought kids would like this.

2. Today it was raining and ds and I were on th eporch so I decided to try again. I asked him, Shimmie, what's falling from the himmel? He looks at me and says, A TATTEH!

LOL!

leomom

Tue, Feb 19 2008, 1:05 am

Mama Bear, that is really funny!

You know, I think as adults we don't realize how words and combinations of words come across to kids... To us it seems so simple that rain falls from the sky and gets things wet. But to a young child, first of all the sky is just so much higher up Very Happy

so leaves fall from the "sky" too... also, they might generally hear "It's raining" but they might not necessarily hear just "rain" as a noun. And then "falls from the sky" can be confusing, too. Maybe a child thinks of rain as coming from the sky, or coming down from the sky (or from a cloud), and maybe the concept of rain falling is similar to what someone else said about the "getting a cut" -- it might sound strange and jarring.

The same kid who doesn't seem to know that rain falls from the sky and gets things wet, might know that rain comes from clouds and makes the flowers grow... Maybe the same kid knows about the water cycle, or that water has two hydrogen molecules (atoms? ) and one oxygen molecule (atom?)... So is this really an intelligence test?

GAMZu

Tue, Feb 19 2008, 1:14 am

I think it's a different way of thinking than is used in everyday life. The child has to think backwards.

I played this game with my son today. He loved it. I started with "Something that says Meow, Moo, etc."
Then I went on to "Something that is round and makes cars go" and "Something that helps you smell" and "Something that is green and grows from the ground." "Something that keeps you warm when you sleep," "Something that makes wet clothes dry."

Honestly, think from a child's POV. If you ask them to describe grass, that's really easy.
But when you give a couple of hints, they have to narrow it down from ALL the things in the world! From their entire database of knowledge! It takes time and practice to master such thinking.

And it's fun, too. My son kept asking for more.

leomom

Tue, Feb 19 2008, 1:34 am

I see what you mean, Gamzu. And I think that's definitely a big part of it. Especially when the clue has two parts, like when I asked my daughter what has a trunk and branches and she first said "car" (has a trunk!) and then "sukkah" (has branches) -- and then asked me whether a sukkah has a trunk. So little by little, she was trying to piece it together and find something that met both conditions.

I do think the other part of it is the specific language that is used. For example, I realized after asking my daughter the trunk & branches question, that I don't think the trunk of a TREE is actually in her vocabulary yet! I don't think we've named that for her. So she immediately thought of the trunk of a car. (I guess she also might have thought of an elephant.)

And when you asked your son what is round and "makes cars go" -- that's open to various ways of understanding it, too. A steering wheel makes a car go (in a certain direction). Wheels let it roll, but don't actually make the car go. So the specific language we choose can be a big factor in whether the child "gets it." And on a standardized test, there's a strong chance that any particular question will be worded in a way that even a highly intelligent child might not get the answer right.

gryp

Tue, Feb 19 2008, 9:20 am

Quote:

Honestly, think from a child's POV. If you ask them to describe grass, that's really easy.
But when you give a couple of hints, they have to narrow it down from ALL the things in the world! From their entire database of knowledge! It takes time and practice to master such thinking.

Right, Gamzu, that's exactly it.

I've given thought to making some kind of card or board game, but I don't see how it would work. After the first time of figuring out all the riddles, it wouldn't be much fun to play again. I'm trying to come up with a way that the riddles could change from game to game, like let's say there are a few spinners with parts of clues on each one and you would have to spin each one for the clues to make up the entire riddle, but there would still be a limited number of riddles.

Anyway, it's a great skill and I'm glad I can work on this with my 4 yr old, and even my 2 yr old can guess extremely simple ones, like something that is right in front of him and the clue would have to do with the color or something like that.

yersp

Tue, Feb 19 2008, 1:03 pm

I asked my almost 4 yr old yesterday and the first thing she said was the leaves from the trees. I repeated the question and told her to listen carefully to what I'm saying. She thought a second and then answered: snow, rain with thunder and lightning.

cassandra

Tue, Feb 19 2008, 1:06 pm

My 5 year old: "Why are you asking me this question" and then "Rain"

My 4 year old: "Rain"

And whoever said that her son answered birds: Unfortunately, I am a testament to the fact that sometimes birds are responsible for things falling from the sky and making things wet.

Atali

Tue, Feb 19 2008, 1:16 pm

This reminds me of my three year olds (he was three and one month at the time) response on an IQ test:

He was asked to point out a rabbit that was small and yellow, so first he pointed to a small green rabbit and said "this one is small" and then he pointed to a large yellow rabbit and said "this one is yellow"

She asked the question several times and he kept giving the same answer.