into to earlu education week5 reflection 4

· Chapter 8

Chapter 8: The Preschool Years

The preschool years are important. Research shows us that children who attend preschool do better in kindergarten and first grade. However, not every state offers public preschool. And, many schools that do offer this, offer it only to children with special needs (and then regular education students may need to win a lottery to get in). Although children who do not have a special need may attend, they are usually screened and placed on waiting lists. Also, there is typically a tuition to pay for the child if he/she does not have a special need.

Your text introduces the idea of universal prekindergarten: providing preschool for every child whose parents want it (preschool for all children) on page. But, keep in mind that universal prek doesn’t mean that your child must attend, it simply means that it is available if you would like it. I point this out because many people (in particular, stay at home moms) think that this is the government’s way of not allowing them the choice to stay home and educate their own child. Therefore, there are parents who are against this. 

In the past, socialization skills were the focus of prekindergarten however; sad but true, today there is a decided move away from socialization as the primary function for enrolling children in preschool. Preschools are now promoted as places to accomplish many more skills than just socialization! This plays a role in my comments above about not all parents favoring universal prek; the stress toward academic success is definitely a concern for many.

Of course, high-quality affordable preschool can be difficult to come by.  We know that children benefit from attending high-quality preschool, but high-quality preschool also often comes with a high price. Thus, it can be difficult for many parents to have the ability to send their child to preschool.

The children of today are different than the children of the past.  Aside from the many academic expectations the children have placed upon them, we may need to find new and innovative ways to teach them - making the learning environment interesting and engaging everyday!

Physical Development 

During the preschool years, children begin to "slim down" as they have a more elongated look.  Their muscle development continues to develop and their actions become more precise.  They enjoy activities such as drawing, painting, cutting, and coloring.  They also learn more about how to take care of themselves as they learn about hygiene - washing hands and brushing teeth - as well as the ability to dress one's self.

Social/Emotional Development

Preschool children are in Erikson’s psychosocial development state of initiative versus guilt. It’s important to keep this in mind because it can be difficult to have patience with young children! You want children to  want  to take initiative and try things. Provide them with freedom and do not make them feel bad (or “guilty”) for having motivation and willingness to try.

Children will also begin to demonstrate self-regulation during this time as they gain the ability to control their emotions and behaviors.

Cognitive Development

It is important to note that preschoolers are in the preoperational stage of intellectual development. Remember: the preoperational stage is Piaget’s second stage of development. Characteristics of the preoperational stage are

1. children grow in their ability to use symbols, including language

2. children are not capable of operational thinking (an operation is a reversible mental action), which explains why Piaget named this stage preoperational:

3. children center on one thought or idea, often to the exclusion of the other thoughts (this also means that children focus on only one attribute when looking at something. A big, red ball is either “big” or “red).”

4. children are unable to conserve (for example, the child does not understand that when you transfer liquid from a round container to a square container it is actually still the same amount of liquid)

5. children are egocentric. Be careful with this one! Although you may already be familiar with this term and may often refer to the children in your class as “egocentric,” try not to do this in a negative way. Remember: the child isn’t doing this to be selfish, he/she honestly does not realize that the world doesn’t revolve around him/her!

Ready to Learn: Ready for School

School “ readiness” may mean various things to various types of people. However, context clues suggest that the term simply refers to when a person believes that a child is “ready” for school. Here is a list of important readiness skills…

· LANGUAGE: This includes…

Receptive language: listening to the teacher and following directions

Expressive language: demonstrated in the ability to talk fluently and articulately with teacher and peers, the ability to express oneself in the language of the school, and the ability to communicate needs and ideas.

Symbolic Language: knowing the names of people, places, and things, words for concepts, and adjectives and prepositions.

Just because you have one type of language, doesn’t mean that you have another. There may be times in which you notice that a child has expressive language, but not receptive language.

Today, it is quite common to have English Language Learners (ELLs) in your classroom. If you do have a child in your class whose first language is something other than English; do not be upset by this. As we discussed in the previous chapter, early childhood is a sensitive period for language learning; children can easily pick up a second language at this time. Always remember to speak with this child just as you would every child in your class who already speaks English. But, remember your skills of teaching language to infants and toddlers: repeat words often, be sure to annunciate and show children when necessary. This will assist in helping children learn English.

It is important to note that different cultures have different values regarding the purpose of school, the process of schooling, children’ s roles in the schooling process, and the family’s and culture’s roles in promoting readiness. Thinking about children and families whom you already know, you may be able to think of some examples of this.

Daily Schedule

Your text goes into a bit of detail in regards to this topic, so I don’t want to be redundant. However, I did want to include this short paragraph in the notes so that you remember that a well-structured daily routine is important. Look at the sample on page 220. This schedule is probably very similar to a schedule that you follow now or have followed before.

Play in Preschool Programs

We hear about play often, but why is play important? We can easily note Froebel here who suggests that children learn and develop through play. And there are so many things a child learns through play! Social skills, how to interact with people and objects, how things work, how to make sense of the world around them: the list just goes on and on! Anita Wadley has a terrific poem entitled "Just Playing."  You can find it here:  http://anitawadley.com/Site/Poem.html

   Keep in mind that although play can certainly be spontaneous, plan for it as well. Integrate specific learning activities with play to achieve learning outcomes. Also, provide materials that provide cooperative play.

And there are definitely all different types of play! Carefully review the Parten Scale of Social Participation (page 229 where it states “Kinds of Play”) . You should be able to recognize the types of play that you see happening amongst preschoolers. In my opinion, you’ll hear people use the term “parallel play” the most (whether or not they use the term appropriately!). But, there are 5 other types of play that are also part of this Scale.

Along with the Parten Scale, we also learned about Functional, Symbolic Informal/Free Play, Sociodramatic and Outdoor Play.

And in the next chapter, we move on to Kindergarten!

·

Chapter 9: Kindergarten Today

Today, kindergarten is very different than the kindergarten you remember attending. You may have heard before that kindergarten is “the new first grade.” This is because kindergarten now has an academic focus instead of a social/emotional one. And, many kindergartens have transitioned from being half-day programs to full-day ones.

There is a great emphasis on reading.  In the past, reading was considered something that was taught in first grade.  Today, children are expected to know how to read upon first grade entrance!  

Kindergarten children are energetic and they continue to learn how to regulate their emotions.  Their ability to work with others continues to grow and thus; you will see them cooperate more often with peers (compared to younger children).  Their language development continues to be rapid and they love new words... and BIG words!  Of course, not all kindergartners enter kindergarten with the same amount of skills and abilities.

As you (hopefully!) remember, Friedrich Froebel is an important person to kindergarten because he is the founder. He believed that learning could be child centered (learning could be based on play and children’s interests). He was also the first to advocate for a communal education for children outside of the home. 

As you read about kindergarten, you will be reminded of a number of theorists whom we’ve already learned about. For example, The K classroom is typically arranged to promote interaction and cooperative learning. Which theorists have influenced this idea?

Along with Froebel, you will also read about Margartethe Schurz (who established the first K in the U.S.), Elizabeth Peabody (K’s main promoter in the U.S.), Susan Blow (who founded the first public school K) and Patty Smith Hill (K should be open to innovation).

Once again, your text describes for us what children at this age are like in the developmental areas. The Portraits of Kindergarteners on pages 270 & 271 provide good descriptions to explain this type of development, so please take a look at that.

Kindergarten Entrance Age

In most states, the kindergarten entrance age the same state-wide. However, a few states allow each school district to decide this age (Massachusetts in one of them). Regardless of when an area’s “cut – off” date is, we all have our own ideas about when a child is “ready” to enter kindergarten. You may have already noticed the other document (with this week’s notes) entitled Education Commission of the States. Download this and look it over – I think that you will find this interesting!

Another point of interest here is redshirting. Redshirting: Being held out of school for a year . Keep in mind that research studies comparing age and school effects suggest educational intervention contributes more to children’s cognitive competence than does maturation.

Universal Kindergarten

Just as universal preschool is on the rise, so is univeral kindergarten.  Of course, this can be difficult to implement due to funding.  However, at a time in which we have higher academic expectations of children, a full day of school can be quite beneficial to them.  More importantly, full day kindergarten can provide time for children to still experience the extra curricula activities such as music and art... And of course, recess!  Children in half-day programs are expected to learn just as much as those enrolled in full-day programs; therefore, the extra curriculas are often cut from the half day program.

ENVIRONMENTS FOR KINDERGARTNERS

Make your learning environment engaging and hands-on. Social-learning is important in the kindergarten years and, therefore, you want your environment to provide (and encourage) opportunities for children to work together. Also, it is important for you, as a teacher, to promote positive relationships with each student in the class.

CURRICULUM IN THE KINDERGARTEN

The text goes on to discuss learning in the areas of literacy, math, social studies, art and technology. I would like to highlight a few points from some of these sections.

Literacy and Reading in Kindergarten

Literacy has replaced reading readiness as the main objective of many K and primary programs. The term “literacy” refers to the ability to read, write, speak and listen.

Your text discusses the following literacy models. Please pay particular attention to each of these:

Sight word approach (whole word): children develop a sight vocabulary

Phonics instruction: stresses teaching letter-sound correspondence.

Language experience approach: follows the philosophy and suggestions inherent in progressive education philosophy. This is child centered.

Whole language approach: this can be difficult to quickly wrap-up. It is a philosophy that is best understood by referring to page 249.

Shared Reading: instructing young beginners to reading, using favorite books, rhymes, and poems. This follows a routine that the book outlines beginning on page 288.

Balanced approach: balance between whole language methods and phonics instruction and that meet the specific needs of individual children.

 

Social Studies in Kindergarten

I typically find that, when I ask students how to incorporate social studies into the classroom, students cannot quickly answer this question. However, this is not because the student hasn’t implemented social studies into the curriculum, it’s because many teachers do not realize they’ve been incorporating social studies. Page 294 presents some ideas as to how to teach geography, economics and history. These are great examples of how easily one can incorporate social studies into the curriculum.

Arts in the Kindergarten

Although I am certain that you have many ideas as per this topic, I cannot pass up the opportunity to stress one important point about art: It is about the process , not the product. Therefore, art in the early childhood classroom should be open-ended (meaning, there should not be a finished product that every child’s must look like). Art is about exploration: Children should be given the opportunity to use paint, glue, glitter (etc.) and discover what they can do on their own. Avoid projects in which everyone must follow the same directions as to where things “go.” Also, if you find that you are doing most of the work for the project (cutting things out, showing children where to place objects), then that’s a sign this project is not developmentally appropriate.

Remember: each child in your kindergarten class will arrive with his/her own knowledge, learning experiences and home life. Therefore, it’s important to work closely with each child and his/her family in order to help each child be successful!