Not happy with emergent curriculum..what is a buzzword that will get us more structure and learning?

[Anonymous]

Check out the book "A Mandate for Playful Learning in Preschool."

[Anonymous]

I teach at a play-based preschool, but I used to work at a more academic preschool. Some kids were fine, but some were actually stressed out by the worksheets and the expectations to hold a pencil right before their little hands were ready. It was really sad—kids shouldn’t be stressed in preschool!

The things they do in a play based preschool are the stepping stones to Kindergarten and beyond. You think playdoh is a waste of time? Squeezing playdoh strengthens their hands so their muscles are developed later to help with writing skills. Same with climbing on the playground—going up those ladders, swinging on the bars—all that is important for core strength, which helps kids sit appropriately in their chairs in elementary school. Listening to stores in story time and retelling them with puppets or felt boards help children analyze content and remember sequencing. It may seem like “just play” but most preschool and daycare teachers are using cross-disciplinary activities (reading a book, doing an art project, science project, and finder play
All on the same theme to solidify concepts in their minds).

Maybe your kid will be fine in an academic preschool, but maybe he/she will end up feeling stressed about school at such a young age, or will miss some of the stepping stones, or be burnt out by 1st grade if two years of
Preschool is all about worksheets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I teach at a play-based preschool, but I used to work at a more academic preschool. Some kids were fine, but some were actually stressed out by the worksheets and the expectations to hold a pencil right before their little hands were ready. It was really sad—kids shouldn’t be stressed in preschool!

The things they do in a play based preschool are the stepping stones to Kindergarten and beyond. You think playdoh is a waste of time? Squeezing playdoh strengthens their hands so their muscles are developed later to help with writing skills. Same with climbing on the playground—going up those ladders, swinging on the bars—all that is important for core strength, which helps kids sit appropriately in their chairs in elementary school. Listening to stores in story time and retelling them with puppets or felt boards help children analyze content and remember sequencing. It may seem like “just play” but most preschool and daycare teachers are using cross-disciplinary activities (reading a book, doing an art project, science project, and finder play
All on the same theme to solidify concepts in their minds).

Maybe your kid will be fine in an academic preschool, but maybe he/she will end up feeling stressed about school at such a young age, or will miss some of the stepping stones, or be burnt out by 1st grade if two years of
Preschool is all about worksheets.

I'm the 9:56 pp and this is a good description - yes of course some kids are fine, but it really does stress some kids out and I don't think it's worth it.

[Anonymous]

I'm the PP who first mentioned Montessori. Our family's experience, admittedly at a non-certified Montessori school which deviates a little bit from the official methods, is that the kids learn as much or more "academics," as any "traditional academic" preschool, but it's done in a way that feels like games and puzzles rather than drudgery, and the kids really enjoy it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It's amazing how American educators are deluded about "learning through play", or what's developmentally inappropriate for young children. Nothing could be further than the truth. I'm a research scientist. I've read the studies. Most studies in the education field are deeply flawed, because unlike the hard sciences, it's very challenging to construct objective studies about something so qualitatively and quantitatively difficult to measure as "developmental learning". This is something all soft sciences struggle with. It's not as easy as counting the rate of infection for the new coronavirus.

Children are going to learn through play no matter what. Every young of every species is hard-wired to do just that. It's not something you can stop or hinder in any way unless you lock a child in a closet or deprive him of basic necessities like food and shelter.

If you add something more structured for a few hours every week, where they need to sit, listen, follow directions, work on fine motor skills like writing, and logical reasoning like math, IT WON'T HURT THEM. It just adds to the learning they're already doing.

Every play based program I've visited does what you describe above. They have circle time, learn how to stand in a line, practice writing through plenty of writing materials available in the classroom, follow directions about what to do in the hall etc. So I'm not sure what you're arguing for here. Of course you are right that there are flaws in this type of research, it has it's limitations, but that doesn't mean it should be ignored. No one is saying kids shouldn't learn all those basic skills you described - of course they should a few hours a week, like you said. But more academic preschools are doing more than that - their goals are on what the OP said - teach certain topics in a certain very elementary school like way. I agree generally no children are HURT in this process ha, but I do think it sets parents on a path of focusing on certain "achievement goals" that are leading to many kids being anxious messes. If you don't work in the school systems you may not be seeing it, but it's a reality.

I do work in the school system, and I've never seen an American preschool setting where there was too much academic work. I have seen it in some other countries. Parents seem to forget that kids play from wake-up to bedtime, and weekends as well. The hours they spend on "work" in preschool actually represent a small part of their lives.

Regarding the increase in mental health diagnoses, there are two probable causes:
1. The progressively more child-centric parenting that has emerged in all countries with more knowledge about pediatric development and more parental wealth to raise a smaller number of children. Parents are more likely to focus on - and WORRY about - their child's wellbeing and tie their current state to future success. They are highly motivated to secure the transmission of generational wealth because they understand that this is key in our unequal society. Therefore they have every incentive to observe their child and seek help/treatment for any possible obstacle to that success. The progress made in mental health research of course facilitates diagnoses and treatments, which is a good thing!
2. Globalization and automatization: the world has shrunk and populations can move and work more freely than before, leading to the perception that children must out-achieve others in order to secure financial freedom and safeguard themselves against growing automatization and the ongoing decrease in manual jobs.

[Anonymous]

Just FYI- they learn those things in Kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the PP who first mentioned Montessori. Our family's experience, admittedly at a non-certified Montessori school which deviates a little bit from the official methods, is that the kids learn as much or more "academics," as any "traditional academic" preschool, but it's done in a way that feels like games and puzzles rather than drudgery, and the kids really enjoy it.

Yeah I agree Montessori could potentially be a good fit for the OP. It definitely leans more academic, but does it in a more age appropriate way. I know she said she didn't like it but maybe she has misconceptions about it.

[Anonymous]

Don’t listen to these ridiculous posters, the handwringing over anxious preschoolers completing reams of worksheets is just a reflection of parents worried other kids are outpacing their own. My child went to an academic preschool where they played but also spent an hour writing, reading (letter sounds) and adding small numbers. My child also *gasp* spent 30 minutes at home practicing phonics and a K math book daily. When did he play? The rest of the whole day! He missed absolutely nothing, and went into K reading chapter books. I really don’t get the Only Play thing with kids.

[Anonymous]

Also, if you‘re looking for a buzzword, try Gifted; none of the preschoolers are gifted, but 100% of the parents care about a challenging and interesting curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, if you‘re looking for a buzzword, try Gifted; none of the preschoolers are gifted, but 100% of the parents care about a challenging and interesting curriculum.

There are “gifted” preschools? Well now I’ve seen everything.

[Anonymous]

What you want is futile when it isn’t abusive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t listen to these ridiculous posters, the handwringing over anxious preschoolers completing reams of worksheets is just a reflection of parents worried other kids are outpacing their own. My child went to an academic preschool where they played but also spent an hour writing, reading (letter sounds) and adding small numbers. My child also *gasp* spent 30 minutes at home practicing phonics and a K math book daily. When did he play? The rest of the whole day! He missed absolutely nothing, and went into K reading chapter books. I really don’t get the Only Play thing with kids.

Okay, tiger mom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, if you‘re looking for a buzzword, try Gifted; none of the preschoolers are gifted, but 100% of the parents care about a challenging and interesting curriculum.

Sounds a bit harsh. Surely there must be some that are gifted? Like, statistically, given enough of these types of schools and enough preschoolers...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, if you‘re looking for a buzzword, try Gifted; none of the preschoolers are gifted, but 100% of the parents care about a challenging and interesting curriculum.

Sounds a bit harsh. Surely there must be some that are gifted? Like, statistically, given enough of these types of schools and enough preschoolers...

There are no gifted preschoolers, only adults who parent "giftedly". Gifted tests measure a very specific set of cognitive skills which can be taught at a young age. Most parents with gifted preschoolers (barring the extreme outliers) teach their children these skills very early without even realizing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
It's amazing how American educators are deluded about "learning through play", or what's developmentally inappropriate for young children. Nothing could be further than the truth. I'm a research scientist. I've read the studies. Most studies in the education field are deeply flawed, because unlike the hard sciences, it's very challenging to construct objective studies about something so qualitatively and quantitatively difficult to measure as "developmental learning". This is something all soft sciences struggle with. It's not as easy as counting the rate of infection for the new coronavirus.

Children are going to learn through play no matter what. Every young of every species is hard-wired to do just that. It's not something you can stop or hinder in any way unless you lock a child in a closet or deprive him of basic necessities like food and shelter.

If you add something more structured for a few hours every week, where they need to sit, listen, follow directions, work on fine motor skills like writing, and logical reasoning like math, IT WON'T HURT THEM. It just adds to the learning they're already doing.

The issue is that a lot of academic preschools really just replicate kindergarten and so kids end up doing a lot of the same activities for several years. And focusing on academics is often to the detriment of learning social skills