Preschool education is the provision of education for children between the ages of 2 and 4, dependent on the jurisdiction. Also known as
nursery,
day nursery,
day care center or
kindergarten, preschool provides education before the commencement of statutory education.
Day care
Child Care centers often work with Preschools in providing Early Childhood servies to children whose parents work or go to school. Some Child Care Centers have a preschool program built into their morning routine. Still others collaborate with different preschools, child care services, Head Start programs, or Special Education Programs to provide children with the best quality programs they can be provided for an entire day.
Developmental areas
The areas of development which preschool education covers varies by jurisdiction, however the following main 'themes' are represented in the majority of systems.
[1] [2]
- Personal, social and emotional development
- Communication, including talking and listening
- Knowledge and understanding of the world
- Creative and aesthetic development
- Physical development
- Mathematical awareness and development
Ages for and importance of preschool education
Preschool is generally considered appropriate for children three to five years of age, between the
toddler and
school stages. During this stage of development, children learn and assimilate information rapidly, and express interest and fascination in each new discovery. These qualities make them prime candidates for education, although most are not ready for structured elementary schooling.
Aspects of preschoolers' abilities
At the age of four the practice of vocabulary and grammar starts to become very important. For four- and five-year-olds, the average vocabulary span is between 1500 and 2000 words. In this age group, the curriculum should focus on past tenses and pronouns of words. One word concept that becomes very confusing to the preschool age students is
literal statements, which are those phrases that explain something figuratively but not realistically. An example is “when pigs fly”; if you say this a preschooler will picture a pig actually flying.
Mathematical skills also come into use a great deal at this age. Preschoolers begin to recognize numbers better and understand the concept of numbers and their use.
Rote counting, the ability to recite numbers in their proper order, is a very popular part of the curriculum for this age.
The physical development of preschoolers should include more challenging activities. They like to do more things on their own. They love to help with anything they can and have responsibility. At this age their coordination has improved a lot and their body proportions have changed. They also become responsible for their own simple hygiene.
Preschoolers are gaining better fine motor control. They can use scissors to cut on a line. Draw people with 2 to 4 body parts. Able to draw circles and squares and beginning to write some letters.
Can pour their own drinks from a small pitcher or container. Able to use utensils during meals. (From CARING FOR YOUR BABY AND YOUNG CHILD: BIRTH TO AGE 5 by Steven Shelov, Robert E. Hannermann, © 1991, 1993, 1998, 2004 by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Used by permission of Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc.)
Methods of Preschool Education
Parents are a child's best resource for education before school. Research shows that the more time and effort parents, caregivers, or teachers at preschools give to the child, the better a preschool child will be able to adjust to their environment.
Some preschools schools have adopted specialized methods of teaching, such as
Montessori, Waldorf, High Scope,
[1] The Creative Curriculum
[2] Reggio Emilia approach,
Bank Street and various other pedagogy which contribute to the foundation of education. In the United States most preschool advocates support the National Association for the Education of Young Children's Developmentally Appropriate Practices.
Universal Preschool is the notion that access to
preschool should be available to families in a similar way as
Kindergarten. There are different perspectives on priorities for access and how it is to be funded.
References
See also
worldwide view of the subject.
Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page.
Day care or
child care is care of a child during the day by a person other than the child's parents or legal guardians, typically someone outside the child's
..... Click the link for more information. nursery,
day nursery,
day care center or
kindergarten, preschool provides education before the commencement of statutory education.
Day care
Main article: Day care
..... Click the link for more information. Toddler is a common term for a young child who is learning to walk or "toddle",[1] generally considered to be the second stage of development after infancy and occurring predominantly during the ages of 12 to 36 months old.
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school is an institution where students (or "pupils") learn while under the supervision of teachers. In most systems of formal education, students progress through a series of schools: primary school, secondary school, and possibly a university ,
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Mathematics (colloquially, maths or math) is the body of knowledge centered on such concepts as quantity, structure, space, and change, and also the academic discipline that studies them. Benjamin Peirce called it "the science that draws necessary conclusions".
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Montessori method is an educational method for children, based on theories of child development originated by Italian educator Maria Montessori in the late 19th and early 20th century.
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The Reggio Emilia Approach is an educational philosophy focused on preschool and primary education. It was started by the parents of the villages around Reggio Emilia in Italy after World War II..... ....
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Bank Street College of Education, or simply Bank Street is located in upper Manhattan in New York City. The college is a specialized institution offering graduate degrees in education.
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Main article: Preschool
Universal Preschool is the notion that access to preschool should be available to families similar to Kindergarten.
..... Click the link for more information. nursery,
day nursery,
day care center or
kindergarten, preschool provides education before the commencement of statutory education.
Day care
Main article: Day care
..... Click the link for more information. Kindergarten (help info ) Kindergarten was invented in 1892. (German, literally means "children's garden") is a form of education for young children which serves as a transition from home to the commencement of more formal
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Child development is the study or examination of mechanisms that operate during the biological and psychological process of growth of a child to adolescence, from dependency to increasing autonomy. Pediatrics is the branch of medicine relating to the care of children.
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Early childhood education (ECE) is a pedagogical approach to cover the education of children from the period from birth to six years of age.
What, Exactly is Early Childhood Education? According to NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children), early
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worldwide view of the subject.
Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page.
"Pre-school" redirects here. For the South Park episode, see Pre-School (South Park).
..... Click the link for more information. Main article: Preschool
Universal Preschool is the notion that access to preschool should be available to families similar to Kindergarten.
..... Click the link for more information. Comenius Foundation for Child Development, or Comenius Foundation for short (Polish: Fundacja Rozwoju Dzieci im. Komeńskiego, or Fundacja Komeńskiego
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