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What are you doing at home to prep your child for Pre-school?
cattiva June 4, 2008
My 3 year old daughter will go to preschool sometime in the next 6 month, i think. i'd like to get her ready. she's been going to daycare in a home since she was 3 mos old, so she is already used to spending the day away from me. but i want her prepared as far as her abc's and 123's... and holding a pencil correctly etc.
but i don't really know the standard for what is a good level for a child to be when entering pre-school . or if there is even a standard. i don't want her to be upset that everyone can do something that she cannot, or be unfamiliar with some of the very, very basics.
but am not sure how or where to being.
any thoughts on what you are doing. what you may have found out through experience or research, or if you teach preschool --what you may offer as advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
firststep October 9, 2008
I am a preschool teacher. The students in my classroom are ages 2-5. The students have a structured time that consists of: Calendar, saying the days in the week, the 12 months, shapes, colors, letters, fingerplays, nursery rhymes, art, science, history, story time, sight words. I do the same letter, shape, color, and sight word for 2 weeks. This seems to work well so they remember it. I also print off worksheets from edhelper.com. I bought a child's dictionary and choose a new word each day and repeat what it means several times a day. The students also have a time for freeplay so they can socialize and explore. They can choose blocks, legos, housekeeping, sensory table, books, writing, coloring, painting, puzzles, ABC and number games. Let me know if you would like any other information.41566
debrasuefitzge October 14, 2008
ive been teaching her abcs and to count to 10and her full name and her age and birthday and her colors my daughter is 3 and will be 4 in november shes on a waiting list so it will be about around august before she can go.41567
cnamom October 25, 2008
My daughter is 4 year old and attending 3 days preschool. They're doing color of the week then next week the alphabet. She's also taking Acro class and playing soccer. We practice writing her name, play board games, reading, coloring, painting(especially her pumpkin), etc. Pretty much, she's doing whatever her older siblings doing.41568
m14evans November 11, 2008
I am an early childhood educator and I have a 3-year old daughter. I am teaching her ABCs by using flashcards and having her glue yarn and peas or beads in the shape of the letter. I teach her numbers by showing her flashcards and by couting a variety of different objects. While reading a book, have your child count the number of birds, flowers, etc on the page. You may also want to begin to practice cutting. Just let your child cut up paper and practice holding scissors. Other things they should learn include recognizing and writing their name, working with puzzles, shapes, colors and gross and fine motor skills.41569
purelegance November 16, 2008
I have a 22 month old son who already knows his numbers 1 thru 5, I use books with numbers and letters in which I go over it with him on a daily basis. I also use stair climbing as a format as well. Each step we climb we count starting from one. We sing songs together. He picks them up very quickly and enjoys it.41570
tjlove November 18, 2008
I want to second the use of flashcards. At my daughter's daycare the children are enthralled when the teacher does flashcards. My daughter started recognizing letters and objects somewhere between 15 and 18 months because of all the time spent on flashcards at daycare.
41571
isabellayessi December 5, 2008
She is now 5yrs old.She was in Mexico and now she is back home.She will be starting school soon in one week.I'm nervous for her.She will be a full time student.She knows colors,ABCS and english and is learning with the leap frog to type on keyboard and knows how to play games on nickjr.com and preshool at home.She is so ready and being the ONLY CHILD.I don't blame her.I hope she comes out like a butterfly in her concoon.41572
AShelter December 24, 2008
My daughter started a preschool program at age 2 *more of a daycare than a preschool, but it goes to age 4/5 which is considered the preschool program* so fortunately she was already prepared for this specific preschool program.
But to help reinforce at home, we practice writing. A lot. When my daughter cooks with me, we spell out the ingredients. When we go out to eat, instead of coloring the pictures, we write everyone's name out *mommy, daddy, etc* and she spells out the words. In the car, we look for signs with letters or numbers on them. Make learning into a game or associate it with a fun activity.
Flashcards are a great idea; however, they don't work for us personally. Someone else mentioned counting stairs and whatnot, which I think is an excellent idea!
You should try to keep the communication lines open with her teachers when she starts so that they can keep you updated or ensure your awareness of any problems or achievements. Once you are aware, you will have a better understanding of what needs more focus and attention.
I think if you just show your daughter that school is fun, it is important, and you enjoy it as well, she will succeed =)41573
pepelephew January 15, 2009
Wonderful ideas! I didn't think of using flash cards. My granddaughter loves her books. I was telling my son about the one book she wanted me to read over and over. All of the sudden, she gets up and picks out the book I was talking about. She just turned one. My son is teaching her Spanish along with English. He was good in language and was going to school during the ESl years...so he took Spanish in grammar school, middle school, high school and continued through college. I read a book years ago called School In The Home that was written in the late 1800's. There was a wonderfull suggestion; the author suggested that when your child is playing with dolls or trucks etc. help your child by giving their toys real names from history or the Bible. Kids love to make up stories so you give them real facts. It is still playing not forced.
I think that is what everyone is expressing. Just try something and see what happens. My eldest son loved cars and learned his ABC's from reading the letters of the tires and license plates. I was so surprised that I didn't force them and they learned. They wrote their letters by three and read by five. It didn't matter to me what age they did these things. We just didn't have much to do. We went to the library and the most exciting thing was getting their first library card.
Of course now I am a grandma and loving it. It is so much fun watching my son enjoy his daughter. He tells me ...leave her alone, Mom...she is just exploring...of course I just want to hug and kiss her...learning? oh yeah...this grandma loves this site...helping an old dog learn some new tricks and share some of her old ones. Pepelephew41574
yoyorocketgirl January 17, 2009
When teaching your child how to write their name remember not to do all capital letters. It is very difficult to teach a child lower case once they have learned all uppercase.41575
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