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Early Education What your child actually learns in preschool By Michele Piazzoni When 3-year-old Christopher entered his new preschool for the first time, he stood at the door for about five minutes taking everything in. There was a big table set up with mounds of Play-Do, cookie cutters and other utensils, a water table filled with sudsy water and a few dolls, easels with paint and brushes and another table with bottles of colored glue and cups of glitter and pompoms. And that was only one room. His mother could tell that he would enjoy himself here - but would he actually learn anything? For those parents who equate learning with worksheets, flash cards and alphabet drills, the educational opportunities at preschool might not be readily apparent. After all, how much can a child actually learn from a water table? The answer might surprise you. In fact, many experts in child development believe that your child will learn more at a "play" station than they will doing anything else, and most importantly, they will enjoy the learning experience - the key for eventual academic accomplishments. " Brain research backs up the importance of play," says Donald Murk of The Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI.) "Children should be allowed to explore at preschool. There should be a lot of free play with a massive amount of exploratory materials like blocks, housekeeping, a drama area and reading books - not all teacher-directed activities." These types of activities, says Murk, build skills that are critical for working with other people, skills that often outweigh academic scores when it comes to building a successful career. A water table, for example, is a standard "exploratory" item at many preschools, and a child learns more than just splashing. Preschoolers learn to enjoy learning because while they're having fun they're actually learning about volume when trying to pour water into different-sized containers, which helps build future math skills. With a funnel they learn about water pressure by pouring the water through the large end and watching and feeling it come out the smaller end. They discover how soap may create suds or dissolve in the water. And perhaps most meaningful to many parents, by playing at the table with other children they learn social skills like cooperative play, how to share, take turns and verbalize discoveries to their peers. Developing such social skills is the main reason Audrey Hagler of Lake Forest sent her 3-year-old daughter Natalie to preschool. "It's not that she's shy, I just don't know if she would stand up for herself if she didn't have this experience in preschool," says Hagler. "She's learning social skills like sharing, caring and how to use her words to express herself." DID YOU KNOW? California schools get low marks Is California holding its own in K-12 education compared with other states? This question has been explored in an annual rankings report by EdSource, a nonprofit group that examines education and focuses on public school improvement. The report details the state’s standing nationally in terms of educational challenges, capacity, school staffing and effort to support K-12 education. At a glance, here is how California ranks: • 1st in percentage of English learners • 3rd in teacher salary levels • 10th in proportion of low-income students • 29th in per pupil spending • 49th in teacher staffing ratios • 44th or below in reading and math achievement on national assessments. The report concludes that given the state’s cost of living and level of student needs, it appears that California’s investment in schools is insufficient. Kay Emfinger, another specialist in early childhood education from the ACEI, notes that in her efforts to develop a kindergarten readiness model, interviews with focus groups consisting of kindergarten teachers revealed that these teachers shared Hagler's opinions. Many thought the most important skills children learned in preschool were social skills - skills almost unconsciously learned in play and art activities. Art projects like coloring or painting are another multifaceted learning source. In addition to honing social skills, while painting, children learn their colors and how to blend new ones. When they cut or paste they're sharpening their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Using finger paints reveals a world of slimy textures while glue adds an element of science. Whether creating with artificial or natural products, these art projects naturally induce vocabulary growth and the letters and numbers children incorporate into their artwork help build early literacy skills. Language skills are learned in a variety of simple ways at preschool. For example, "sharing time" helps your child learn expressive language when they describe things. At Christopher's school, they occasionally have "mystery share" and objects are hidden from view so that classmates ask questions to determine what they are, which also builds expressive language skills. Receptive language skills, listening and understanding come about naturally as children play together, but also emerge through the help of teacher-guided activities like listing who has specific "jobs" at school each day. Phonological awareness, the recognition of rhyming, rhythm and matching sounds, is learned through reading and singing at school. Another literacy skill that kindergarten teachers hope preschoolers pick up is known as "concepts of print." These ideals can be learned at preschool (or just as easily at home) by simply reading to your child. They include: being able to identify the front and back of a book, understanding that print tells a story, recognizing that books are read from left page to right page, tracking from left to right when pretend reading, understanding that spaces separate words and differentiating letters and numbers. Asking questions about the story during and after reading times also builds comprehension. Other activities at preschool, like outside playtime, help children further develop large motor skills, while routines like cleaning up and washing hands before snack time help children learn about health issues and following directions. A dramatic play or dress-up area offers children the opportunity to imitate role models like parents, firefighters or even Power Ranger superheroes. In doing so, they learn about themselves as well as their family and peers. Even though a majority of today's 3- and 4-year-olds attend preschool, it is not a prerequisite for kindergarten. And whether you select a school with a developmental or academic emphasis, most experts will agree that the first and most important teacher any child encounters is his own parent. OCF Michele Piazzoni is a freelance writer and mother of two living in Folsom. She is a regular contributor to The Early Years and, in the Family News section, Getting Started... To reach her: mpiazzoni@hotmail.com Zero tolerance Harsh discipline policy loses some steam By Amy Bentley In the early 1990s, as a rise in published media reports of campus violence terrified parents and communities, “zero-tolerance” discipline policies firmly took hold on public school campuses across America. Kids were getting bounced from campuses for showing up with a screwdriver. The term “zero tolerance” referring to policies that severely punish all offenses began with federal government drug enforcement policies in the 1980s. Harsh discipline policies were later adopted by thousands of school districts that wanted to send the message that any offenses on campus from the most serious involving weapons and drugs to the most trivial involving paper clips and cough drops would no longer be tolerated. Students who fought, swore or brought a nail file to school would be expelled, suspended or punished severely. Many educators and academics, however, now believe zero tolerance isn’t without zero defects. Research found little evidence that zero tolerance makes schools safer. Many public school districts in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties have moved away from zero tolerance, even though it has led to some positive changes regarding school safety. Zero tolerance fell out of favor as critics grew alarmed about the many reports of what seemed like zero tolerance abuse. For instance, in 1994, a 5-year-old kindergartner from the Centralia School District in Buena Park was expelled for finding a razor blade at his bus stop and bringing it to school to show his teacher. The boy violated the district’s zero tolerance policy regarding weapons; his parents got the punishment reduced to a mid-year transfer. Solomon need not apply Resources The Parenting section of the National Education Association’s website (www.nea.org/parents) has several education guides for families, including “Raising Ready Readers,” “Helping Your Child Learn to Read,” “Raising a Scientifically Literate Children” and “Helping Your Child with Today’s Math.” Books “Mrs. Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten,” by Joseph Slate, Ashley Wolff “The Night Before Kindergarten,” by Natasha Wing, Julie Durrell “Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come!” by Nancy Carlson “What Do We Say? What Do We Do? Vital Solutions for Children’s Educational Success and Creating Positive Home School Connections,” by Dorothy Rich Source: National Education Association Critics say zero tolerance leaves little room for flexibility in discipline and ignores a student’s record, the circumstances of the offense and alternate solutions. A study conducted by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University found that, in addition to the risk of students being unfairly punished, zero-tolerance policies affected a disproportionate number of minorities. “Zero tolerance in its purest form violates students’ rights. Kids have rights to due process. Zero tolerance also does not mean zero incidents. When you’re dealing with kids, it’s never going to be black and white,” says Mike Runyen, director of Child Welfare and Attendance for the Temecula Unified School District. Last November, the discipline policy at Tesoro High School in Rancho Santa Margarita created a public controversy after two seniors on the football team were suspended and threatened with expulsion. A teacher reported that journal entries they wrote for an English class contained violent, threatening and sexually obscene material. The issue divided the Orange County community. Many students protested the harsh discipline while others backed expulsion to support the teacher. Tesoro High’s principal also recommended expulsion, but in mid-December, the students and district reached a confidential settlement, says David Smollar, spokesman for the Capistrano Unified School District. He would not reveal the terms but says Tesoro officials feel the safety of all students and teachers is essential and that the school acted appropriately. “We don’t label our policy zero tolerance or non-zero tolerance. We call it ‘consequences of bad behavior,’” says Smollar. A Tesoro High student told OC Family Magazine that the students in question no longer attend the school. Another Orange County school district has recently made the news. Twenty students at TeWinkle Middle School in Costa Mesa received two-day suspensions, and another student faces expulsion, for allegedly posting graphic threats against another student on the MySpace.com website. The 20 suspended students had viewed the posting on the youth networking site. By the numbers About 10 of the 28 public school districts in Orange County claim to have zero tolerance regarding serious offenses, but even those polices include variations for punishment, says William Habermehl, superintendent of schools for the Orange County Department of Education. Zero tolerance has led to some positive changes that many educators believe have made campuses safer. For example, Habermehl says Orange County schools now do a much better job of investigating every incident and informing students and parents of campus rules at the beginning of the school year. “Before, we just made assumptions,” Habermehl says. “You have to have very clear rules and we have to spell them out.” In addition, due to the heightened awareness of school safety issues, most high schools now employ “resource officers,” or police officers on campus who get to know and keep tabs on students, and this deters crime, notes Cami Berry, director of the Safe Schools Project for the Riverside County Office of Education. Using more discretion and offering alternative forms of punishment or intervention programs for troubled students is also increasingly common in schools today, notes Alan Young, director of Human Resources and Student Support for the Murrieta Valley Unified School District. “It’s more than punishment. We need to give kids more support.” Adds Cami Berry, “You have to look at the child and the situation and investigate what really happened. I can’t think of any other place in our society where there’s no discretion.” In San Bernardino County, school districts do not employ zero tolerance. The county Office of Education uses Sherman Garnett, coordinator of Child Welfare and Attendance, to help train educators about disciplining offenders and offering alternatives such as paying fines, losing driving privileges or attending anger management classes. “Give the kids all the rights in the world. Give them a chance to explain themselves and offer alternatives,” Garnett says.m Amy Bentley of Temecula is a regular contributor. |
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