10 Signs of a Great Preschool

I found this article today while browsing on Education.com:

"If your child is between the ages of 3 and 6 and attends a child care center, preschool , or kindergarten program, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) suggests you look for these 10 signs to make sure your child is in a good classroom.

1. Children spend most of their playing and working with materials or other children. They do not wander aimlessly, and they are not expected to sit quietly for long periods of time.

2. Children have access to various activities throughout the day. Look for assorted building blocks and other construction materials, props for pretend play, picture books, paints and other art materials, and table toys such as matching games, pegboards, and puzzles. Children should not all be doing the same thing at the same time.

3. Teachers work with individual children, small groups, and the whole group at different times during the day. They do not spend all their time with the whole group.





4. The classroom is decorated with children's original artwork, their own writing with invented spelling, and stories dictated by children to teachers.



5. Children learn numbers and the alphabet in the context of their everyday experiences. The natural world of plants and animals and meaningful activities like cooking, taking attendance, or serving snack provide the basis for learning activities.



6. Children work on projects and have long periods of time (at least one hour) to play and explore. Worksheets are used little if at all.



7. Children have an opportunity to play outside every day. Outdoor play is never sacrificed for more instructional time.



8. Teachers read books to children individually or in small groups throughout the day, not just at group story time.



9. Curriculum is adapted for those who are ahead as well as those who need additional help. Teachers recognize that children's different background and experiences mean that they do not learn the same things at the same time in the same way.




10. Children and their parents look forward to school. Parents feel secure about sending their child to the program. Children are happy to attend; they do not cry regularly or complain of feeling sick. "


I was happy to see that my oldest son's preschool pretty much follows everything on this list. The only area in which they deviate in is #6. They do about 1-2 worksheets a day; however, they are optional worksheets and it is the child's choice whether or not he wishes to do them when he is at the certain station in the room.

Grab Bag Numbers

I found this little Grab Bag Numbers math game at education.com and while my younger one was napping I played it with my 4 year old. We started with 1-20 and used beads as the objects to count. It held his interest for about an hour :) I think I will write out the actual words for the numbers next time as that would be much more challenging for him and help him to learn to read as well!



Here is the info:

"Want to help your preschooler get comfortable with math? Get out the grab bag! This hands-on game helps kids learn to associate numbers with sets of objects—a key early math skill. And all you need is a set of index cards, pennies, and a paper lunch sack.

Materials
index cards
markers
scissors
1 paper lunch bag
20 – 30 pennies, buttons, or small blocks

Directions:

Prepare: Gather 10 index cards and write a different number, from 1-10, on each. Get your child’s help on this part. When each card has a number, fold it in half and throw it into the lunch bag.

Play: Give your child some pennies to use as counters. (Buttons or small blocks also work well, if your piggie bank is looking a little slim!) Ask your child to close her eyes and pick a card from the grab bag. Once she’s chosen a card, she should open it up, look at the number, and then use her counters to show the quantity written on the card. For example, if your child picks the number 5 from the grab bag, she should place five pennies next to the numeral card.

This activity may seem very basic. But it’s actually a pretty big leap for young children to move from simply naming the numbers, to associating them with objects in the physical world. This game makes a perfect independent activity when you’ve got a few minutes to fill, and it reinforces one-to-one correspondence, which is just a fancy term for being able to match numeral symbols to their appropriate quantities.

As your child matures, up the grab bag ante with larger numbers, such as 11 to 20. And as she takes her first steps towards reading, make a set of cards that uses the number words along with the number symbols."

Learning to Read

My oldest son has been very interested in learning how to read and I have been looking for some fun ways to help to teach him. While browsing on http://www.education.com/ I came across the idea of labeling things in your house. This sounds like a fun way to teach everyday words!

Here is the full article from http://www.education.com/activity/article/labels_preschool/:

"Have you ever heard someone read aloud and it sounds very choppy? When readers pause to sound out each word, they lack fluency. Building fluency is the key to learning to read smoothly, and learning sight words can help. This activity lets you and your child go label crazy! You’ll pick a set of words to work with, and then play a series of games to help your child remember what they look like.

What You Need:

construction paper
markers
tape

What to Do:Put your kid in the driver’s seat. Ask him to point to a set of ten items around the house that he’d like to learn to “read”. Or, if you’d rather start with a set of suggested sight words, here are a few to consider: dog, bed, eyes, clothes, water, ball, boy, book, food, fire, window, door, tree, desk, table, toys.

Write each word with your child’s help. Talk about the words, by pointing out the letters as you write them. You can also discuss the shape of the words and their letters.

Stick a piece of tape on each of your words and ask your child to help you label the house. Once the words are in place, try these games:

Listen Up!: Say a word and ask your child to hunt for its label. Be sure to emphasize the different sounds that make up the word, to make spotting it easier.

Can You Guess?: This time, instead of just saying a word like “bed” and asking your child to find the corresponding word, give clues to help lead them to the answer. For example, “I’m thinking of a thing you sleep on and it starts with the “buh” sound.”

Rhyme Time: One of the best ways to give kids a boost towards reading is to give them practice rhyming. For this game, instead of saying the word, or giving a clue like the one above, say a word that rhymes with the clue in question. For example for bed, you might say, “This word rhymes with red.” For table you might say, “Try to find me. I rhyme with label!”
Once your child can recognize all then words by sight (without seeing the object attached), add more words to your list. And remember, when it comes to sight words, you can never have too many labels!"