PreK – The Real Picture

So you have a little one beginning preschool in September.  Wonderful!

Preschool / Prekindergarten /PreK   – those labels all mean that this is a program for children who will be entering kindergarten in September.  This is an important year because, together, families and program are giving young children 2 important things:

• A chance to explore, create, dance, play and learn in an environment that is designed for learning outside of the formal and required K – 12 classrooms.
• A wonderful experience that will provide incredible and critical opportunities to build skills that will continue to lay solid foundations for children’s success in K – 12 classrooms.

PreK is wonderful and here is the real picture of what this looks like and means to your children:

• A beautiful and organized classroom with centers (areas) of the room that are designed to invite and support engaged play and learning around a particular focus.                                                              Ex: the block area.  This center contains multiple shapes, sizes, weights and colors of building materials, toys and props.  Children have considerable tools and visuals that spark interests in construction and design of bridges, buildings, towns and roads.

Here are skills supported and built in the block center:  

Eye – hand coordination

Appropriate measure, size and scale- often through trial and error

Sequential completion of goal i.e. garage, farm, home

Ordering, numeracy, spatial awareness

Sort, classify and organize

Working with others to plan and do

• Carefully planned, developmentally appropriate and reflective lessons that are based on NYS Early Learning Guidelines, accreditation standards of naeyc and the NYS Foundations to the Common Core Learning Standards.

Here is a sample:    

Now you see it – Now you don’t

Games of memory in sequential steps of difficulty

PreK Benchmark: children demonstrate that they recognize familiar sounds and objects, look and listen intentionally and follow spoken directions.  Children make inferences and draw conclusions based on visual and auditory media.

Skills supported:

Memorization

Recall

Attention and follow through of directions

Symbol, sound, object recognition and labeled vocabulary

Patience and perseverance, turn taking

• A schedule of the day that supports both active & quiet learning, indoor & outdoor experiences, eating, sleeping and personal hygiene habits and independent skills & choices.

Here’s why this is important:

This creates a rhythm in the classroom, for the group and for your child.

Routines support prediction and accomplishment – young children thrive in this rhythm.

While this schedule of the day umbrellas the experiences of prekindergarten, special events and individual celebrations are important too.

• Dedicated, motivated and highly skilled teachers and staff.

 This means:

Our national accreditation through NAEYC and the universal prekindergarten state guidelines set standards of qualifications for all members of our team and guides hire, orientation, expectations and training.

All staff is part of ongoing training that focuses on your child’s prekindergarten learning and friendships.

One First Aide CPR certified staff member is in the classroom with your child at all times.

MAT (medical training) certified staff is in the center with your child at all times.

Your child’s teachers are early childhood professionals.

• You are a welcome partner at all times and in everything your child does in preK! We have an open door policy and offer many, many opportunities for you to be with your little one in preschool. We hope you will come in often and play and learn together with your preschooler!

What does this mean to your child?

Success!