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

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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This is OP.  I am not surprised by the responses, but I will give more info on my view then bow out. I do agree emergent curriculum and play based can be excellent for children.  But, bluntly, you need very strong teachers and low student teacher ratio for it to be more then essentially babysitting kids while they play with toys or on a playground. You need creative teachers who are fully invested daily and ensure learning themes come up during exchanges with children.  Sounds like some of you have that.  Our school is lacking in that department.  It's teachers letting kids "chose" to play dolls, build, etc, while teachers sit around and watch.  And I think this is what goes on at the majority of preschools using this curriculum, unless they have an extensively trained staff which is frankly unlikely given what we pay providers in the US.   Again, I think its great in theory, but rarely implemented professionally or appropriately so I am hesitant to go to another school touting this.

My other child started K this year in northern virginia.  Every single child could write there name on day 1, and its a large class.  Most kids were 6 yrs old or soon to be.  Our PK has let us know quite directly that they do not think a child needs to write their name by K, that is not necessary or age appropriate.  This to me goes back to what is theoretically ideal, but is not operating in the local reality my kid (any many of yours) will enter.  As I said, my kid will be a very young K - and will be entering a class with mostly 6 year olds thanks to this red shirt epidemic in N. Va.  It's not out of the line for me to expect her PK to ensure she is prepped for K.  They have said bluntly they will not because they disagree with the reality of what K is now... So I am looking for a place that will make sure my child is not behind peers.  Im taking the advice to re-look at montessori, as one PP noted many places claim to be that with no certification so I will look closely.[/quote]

You're either nuts or you live in an outlier try-hard community like McLean or North Arlington.  I live in Northern Virginia, there is no "red shirt epidemic" except in some very wealthy communities and here on DCUM.  My child has a summer birthday (turned 5 right before K) and her friends (male and female) turned 6 in Kindergarten.  She had ONE kid in a class of 21 children that had been redshirted, and he had an August birthday. She could write her name (learned in preschool) but did not know how to read.  She was most certainly NOT the only kid in K who didn't know how to read.  It was probably about half and half, and even the readers weren't particularly advanced except maybe two or three. The red-shirted kid, by the way, was a good friend of hers and they had several playdates.  I really didn't see much difference in their behavior even though he was 14 months older than her.  I doubt he was any more prepared for school than she was.[/quote]

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