Reply to Would you want a teacher trying to make your 3 yr. old read?

Forum Index » Preschool and Daycare Discussion

Reply to "Would you want a teacher trying to make your 3 yr. old read?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote]
How do I know if my 3 almost 4 year old is getting drilled on letters and numbers too much and not getting enough time to play? In his day care class they have a couple of circle times a day in which they work on identifying letters and their sounds and talk about their shapes. They work on writing their names. How much of this instruction is too much?

He is there for an 8 hour day. For two of those hours he is napping. He loves the free play, outdoor time, story time, looking at books on his own, art projects, music. But I am always worried circle time is a drag.... Not so inspiring.[/quote]

I think some of it is fine.  Our center has circle time, and one of the things they talk about is the letter of the week and the number of the week.  They come up with words that start with that letter.  They do crafts based on that letter (so, for "K" they decorate paper kites).  They might choose the week's theme to coordinate with the letter--so, if "K" is the letter, they might do "Springtime" and talk about kites, and baby kittens, and whatever.  But it's all very laid-back, and no one is getting "drilled."  It's worked in with reading stories, and singing songs, and drawing and painting and gluing.  And it's not relentless--"K" might be the letter of the week, but everything doesn't involve it.

Circle time is really normal, and it shouldn't interfere with play.  And good circle time itself helps develop useful social skills--listening, taking turns speaking, etc.  At our center, circle time for the fours room is about ten minutes in the morning (and much of that is singing their good-morning song, talking about what day of the week it is, reviewing the plans for the day), and about 30 minutes before lunch.  Much of it is spent reading stories, singing songs, etc.  If every circle time is focused on learning letters and writing their names, I'd be concerned.  But if it's just one piece, I wouldn't be worried.  [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics