{"id":241920,"date":"2026-04-22T15:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T15:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/241920\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T15:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T15:12:10","slug":"investing-in-how-children-communicate-free-press-of-jacksonville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/241920\/","title":{"rendered":"Investing in How Children Communicate \u2013 Free Press of Jacksonville"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/teniyah-christian-255x381.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"teniyah christian\"\/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-93391 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Classroom-Educational-Newsletter-in-Pink-Brown-and-Cream-Simple-Graphic-Style-6-1-1-1-1-1-232x300.pn.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"232\" height=\"300\"  \/><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"112\" data-end=\"335\">As a VPK educator for more than a decade\u2014and a current teacher at Jacksonville Classical Academy\u2014I have seen firsthand that the foundation for a child\u2019s success is built through the conversations they have with one another.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"337\" data-end=\"613\">My recent research on facilitating peer-to-peer dialogue shows that when we move beyond strictly teacher-led instruction and intentionally encourage children to negotiate, collaborate, and problem-solve together, their language and social development accelerate significantly.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"615\" data-end=\"872\">Within our local classrooms, these interactions are where essential \u201csoft skills\u201d\u2014such as empathy, communication, and collaboration\u2014are truly developed. These are not secondary skills; they are foundational to both academic achievement and lifelong success.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"874\" data-end=\"1073\">To extend this growth beyond the classroom, I have developed a specialized newsletter for parents that offers practical strategies to help foster these same language habits and social skills at home.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1075\" data-end=\"1426\">It is important for our community to recognize that quality early childhood education is a complex, research-driven field. By investing in local VPK programs and supporting ongoing professional development for educators, we are ensuring that Jacksonville\u2019s youngest learners gain the communication skills they need\u2014before they ever reach kindergarten.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a VPK educator for more than a decade\u2014and a current teacher at Jacksonville Classical Academy\u2014I have seen&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":{"0":"post-241920","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-jacksonville","9":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","10":"tag-jacksonville-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}