Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Teaching Tuesday--Preschool Revisited

After asking for some opinions on preschools, I found an article in American Baby from the April 2008 issue.  It offered some helpful ideas and I thought I'd summarize them here.  These are just a few concepts that should be developed in the early years of preschool.

Two year olds:
  • focus on social skills: sharing, group identity, making friends, taking turns in conversation and in activities, respect for each other
  • develop pre-reading skills
  • fine motor skills developed by coloring, painting, etc.
  • exposure to print-rich environment
  • polishing on potty training
Three year olds:
  • developing the world of friends
  • writing develops further, using a variety of elements: crayons, pens, finger in the dirt, etc
  • understand permanence of words and meaning
  • recognize rhyme and beginning sounds
  • understanding that numbers have meaning, begin counting objects
  • putting items away
Four year olds:
  • identify beginning sounds of words
  • rhyme words
  • begin understanding how letters are formed
  • increased attention span, following rules and directions
  • planned out play: "you're the mommy and I'm the daddy.  We're going for a walk in the park.  Let's go to lunch at the restaurant."
  • increased empathy

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