Originally Posted by daycarediva:
this this this!
As a preschool teacher with a mixed age classroom, yes! My older children learn and grow in ways you cannot possibly imagine.
Also, I am so sad at your lack of understanding about how learning happens. Your child can learn only what her brain is ready to learn. Most children at 3 can easily rote count higher than 10. Do they understand the 1:1 correspondence? No. Most children know some/all letters. Some know letter sounds. Does it mean they learn to read faster? No. I have had children know these things at 18m, and NOT reading at the end of Kindergarten. I have children who come to me at 4 knowing nothing and are reading in a few months, well before K.
K readiness is a buzz-phrase developmentally inappropriate centers use to tout their academic program to unknowing parents. YOU/THEY cannot get your child 'kindergarten ready'. Your child is ready when she is ready.
Also- far more important than academics for kindergarten readiness-social and self helps skills and emotional intelligence. A child who is a good friend, a good listener, who can follow rules and directions well, can be kind and assertive when needed, shows empathy and compassion, is responsible, respectful and courteous is FAR more valued than a child who has none of those skills who knows the alphabet.
The academic playing field is leveled by grade 2-3, regardless of what child learned the ABC's earlier.
Yes!! I believe a child that says please and thank you is smarter and more mature than a child that rotes the ABCs.
I think the number 1 things parents should be worried about teaching their children(PARENTS not a center) is all the things you mentioned. These things hold way more value to a young child's development than anything else. They have many years of school ahead but will go nowhere without these life skills.