Reading stories with children introduces them to the complex nature of Parents should try to include a variety of books in their read aloud experience. Picture storybooks remain children's favorite books long after their preschool years. . Story Book Party · Newsletters · Preparing Your Child for Kindergarten: An Online .
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- What Kids Learn in Preschool
- Preschool . Grade by Grade Learning Guide . Education | PBS Parents
Program B relied on portfolio-based information as well. Teachers could list multiple methods of training Theme 6: Of the 16 parent participants, 11 expressed concern about the upcoming kindergarten experience and whether their children would be ready for the expectations regarding behavior and academic performance that they believed to be part of kindergarten.
Of the 11 parents who expressed anxiety, all focused on the new tasks and expectations that children would encounter in kindergarten, particularly in regard to reading and literacy skills. In addition, concerns about social maturity emerged among parents. Parents and teachers expressed concern about kindergarten expectations for mastery of reading, and at the same time, described the extensive focus on literacy skills in their respective preschool programs.
Teachers described the importance of reassuring parents that children were adequately prepared. However, none of the 13 teachers expressed concern about the developmental appropriateness of their programs or the breadth and depth of experiences they provided to children. Beliefs among parents and teachers were generally consistent within each program. In each program, teachers and parents described social and emotional skills as being essential to readiness. Teachers and parents generally agreed that literacy skills and school-related routines were important elements in readiness.
Parents and teachers had similar positive perceptions of preschools, and shared some anxieties about kindergarten expectations. Teachers and parents also agreed that communication about developmental progress, as related to readiness, was an important part of their programs. Differences within programs among parents and teachers also emerged. While teachers in Program A expressed beliefs that parents expected more literacy skills from their program and were less concerned with social and emotional readiness, parental interviews did not confirm this.
Parents in Program B associated literacy skills with readiness, while teachers more often emphasized social and emotional factors. Teachers and parents in Program B were united in describing the practice of holding back as a way to help a child whom they feel may not be ready for kindergarten, while no teachers in Programs A or C did so. Two parents in Program B discussed the relative youth of their children compared with other kindergartners.
Because parents in Program B reported the highest income and highest educational levels of the three groups see Table 2 , this finding is consistent with research by Diamond, Reagan, and Bandyk and Hatcher and Engelbrecht , who reported that highly educated parents are more anxious about school success and more likely to delay kindergarten entry for their children. Most parents and teachers agreed that they maintained close communication about readiness issues. In Program C, both parents and teachers emphasized attainment of literacy skills as the predominant goal of readiness.
All five teachers described in detail the work they did helping children to gain basic self-help skills. In contrast, parents discussed literacy and math skills attained in preschool with minimal discussion of self-help skills. Parents described their responsibility in preparing their children for kindergarten, although teachers did not mention this aspect. This is in contrast to research by Diamond et al.
Programs A and B were both university lab schools but were located in different cultural contexts rural vs.
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Responses from participants from Programs A and B suggested that they perceived developmentally appropriate practice and play in preschool to be important to kindergarten readiness, while participants from Program C, a multisite Head Start program, emphasized specific literacy skills and school behaviors. While all groups noted the importance of literacy, parents in Program B and C discussed literacy extensively, particularly citing the need for children to gain early reading skills before kindergarten.
We speculate that this is likely influenced by highly publicized national-level conversations about early education. In its report, Transforming Public Education , the Pew Foundation set out an ambitious and comprehensive plan to include prekindergarten as part of an overall continuum of learning through grade The National Institute for Early Education Research provides annual summaries of initiatives to establish publicly funded preschools across the United States. Participants in all programs shared a multidimensional definition of kindergarten readiness, citing social and emotional factors as the core of readiness, combined with perceived academic components such as literacy skills.
This finding has implications for both preschools and kindergarten. It confirms and justifies the priority given to social skills in many preschool programs. Because social interaction opportunities for young children often occur in the context of play, the role of play, in particular center-based and free-play experiences in preschools, remains essential to meeting the social readiness goals most parents and teachers express for preschoolers. Maintaining direct links between social skills, play, and future school success in the minds of parents and the practices of teachers will assist preschools that may be experiencing pressure to align curriculum with K—3 programming and to include more direct instruction of specific academic-based skills.
Two of the three programs in this study, Programs A and B, are accredited by the NAEYC, which advocates developmentally appropriate, play-based experiences. Yet, even in these programs, when asked about kindergarten readiness, teachers initially cited literacy skills and cooperation with school routines. While a few parents cited play as important to preschool experiences, a direct association of play with school readiness was not mentioned in the interviews.
Most participants linked prereading skills and kindergarten readiness. Intense attention has been paid to early literacy and language acquisition in preschool McClelland et al. In all three programs, teachers, and parents alike expressed the belief that children should have multiple opportunities for building literacy skills in preschool. Contextual factors may have influenced different responses across programs. In addition, no private schools or bridge programs were available in the area.
What Kids Learn in Preschool
Program C is a Head Start program designed to serve low-income families whose resources may be too limited to provide children with an extra year of schooling before enrollment in public school. In both of these groups, delaying kindergarten entry may have been discussed less because there were no or limited alternatives to starting kindergarten.
Some parents in Program B mentioned the option of delaying kindergarten entry as a means of ensuring readiness. Program B is in a small city with multiple schools and programs. These parents might be able to explore other options for delaying kindergarten entry that are not possible or realistic for participants in the other programs. Parents from the two university lab schools discussed play-based learning, in contrast to Head Start parents, who cited specific literacy skills and rarely mentioned play. No parent participants were unsure about their images of what a kindergarten-ready child should be like.
Preschool educators can reasonably assume that parents will have definite beliefs about kindergarten readiness that may be shaping their expectations from their current programs. In contrast to the lack of teacher training directly related to kindergarten transition or readiness found in previous research Early et al. More seamless transitions to kindergarten could be facilitated by broadening teacher training to include specific connections from preschools to receiving kindergarten programs. This could prove more challenging for preschools such as Programs B and C, which send children into a variety of kindergarten programs.
All participating teachers had some form of degree and training beyond high school. Fifteen parent participants had education beyond high school.
Preschool . Grade by Grade Learning Guide . Education | PBS Parents
Teachers in Program A, for example, could capitalize on the fact that almost all enrolled children will attend the same public kindergarten by planning multiple opportunities to connect with the local school or conduct joint training with kindergarten teachers. Because parents in Program C rely heavily on assessment information to ascertain whether their children are ready for kindergarten, teachers should maintain a priority of regularly communicating assessment results while also including information showing connections between play with readiness.
Participants indicated that preschool goals should be consistent with those of kindergarten. This may reflect the current policies stressing aligning preschool with K—3 programs Wat, Participants noted the importance of school routines. Descriptions of behaviors such as waiting in line, following directions, and participation in large group activities indicate that teachers and parents viewed kindergartens as structured social and academic environments. This finding is consistent with McBryde, Ziviani, and Cuskelly , who found that parents and teachers rated behaviors such as the ability to concentrate and pay attention as key readiness skills.
Teachers conveyed that they received some specialized training in the concept of readiness—understanding it, assessing it, and incorporating ideas about readiness into programing. It was not clear from the interviews whether teachers intentionally used this information when talking to parents about readiness or whether teachers felt informed about their local kindergarten expectations.
To meet parental expectations for specific readiness information, preschool programs can develop clear and consistent plans for communication, ideally based on a shared vision of readiness based on common beliefs among parents and staff. In qualitative research, it is often appropriate to note what is missing from interview responses; in this case, what was missing was the eager anticipation of kindergarten. Analysis revealed images of kindergarten as a place of high expectations and task-oriented assignments.
Graue confirms this image of kindergarten as a place where children spend most of their days engaged in reading and math activities, at the expense of play. As described by Goldstein , kindergartens are often places with rich, engaging learning experiences, with supportive, nurturing teachers who skillfully embed learning experiences and required standards in developmentally appropriate ways.
Such nurturing environments, however, may not be typical of the receiving kindergartens in the locations highlighted in this study. It is significant that one group of parents Program C did not associate kindergarten readiness with play-based activities. This is not to suggest that preschools abandon an emphasis on play and social development, yet awareness of what could be markedly different approaches to learning in kindergartens can be essential to preparing children to enter school.
Amid sweeping changes in national early education policies, voices of teachers and parents should continue to be essential in the discourse about kindergarten readiness. State Profiles of Child Well-Being. The predictive validity of the Phelps Kindergarten Readiness Scale. Psychology in the Schools, 41 , — Steven, Epstein, Dale J. Each introduces the reader to the sounds of language. Rhyming poetry, especially ones with playful words, help children develop phonemic awareness.
Sing a Song of Popcorn: Every Child's Book of Poems by M. They are often recited from memory by parents or grandparents. Mother Goose rhymes are some of the most familiar, but most cultures have some form of nursery rhymes and songs that are passed down from generation to generation. There are a wide range of alphabet books from the most basic that show the letter and objects beginning with the letter to very sophisticated books that tell a story using the alphabet format.
Creative artwork is often used to illustrate and bring new interest to the alphabet. Some alphabet books are themed and use familiar and interesting objects to highlight the alphabet such as fruits, vegetables, colors, animals, the ocean, or flowers. Beginning counting books often provide fun illustrations of everyday items and objects that feature the numbers from or Counting books for young children are important because they introduce the language associated with numbers.
They also help preschoolers begin to understand the concept that numbers are symbols for counting, just as letters are symbols for sounds and word. They benefit from hearing rhyming language and repetitive sounds. Science Preschoolers are scientists. They learn about the world by observing and experimenting. Natural things fascinate them, from rocks, to animals, to their baby brothers and sisters.
They also notice the many ways that they can influence the natural world. Preschoolers may plant seeds, or watch what happens to an ice cube in a warm room. Social Studies Preschool social studies is where children learn about their place in the world. Children learn how to resolve conflicts and practice skills like sharing, taking turns and cleaning up. They figure out how to express their feelings using words. The class may also explore its community and the people in it by taking short field trips around the neighborhood.
I can find problems to solve. I can master a difficult task. Learning through Play If you want to know how your preschooler learns at school, just think about the way she learns at home. In school, preschoolers learn through play in the same ways, with the guidance of their teachers. They experiment with the properties of matter at the sand and water tables.
- Pesticides In Agriculture And The Environment (Books in Soils, Plants, and the Environment).
- What Kids Learn in Kindergarten?
- The Rapture.