Get real folks...pre-K kids don't need "academics". What do you expect, that your 4 your old is going to start reciting Shakespeare and doing trigonomitry for fun? Or do you think that sending your 3 year old to an "academic" preschool will give them a leg up on the other 3 year olds and put him on the fast track to Harvard?

Let your kid have some fun in preschool if you want them to make it through the rest of their schooling intact.

As a PreK teacher I dont agree that ToM should be used as a curriculum. As stated earlier it's a set of strategies. I have a balance of academics and play in my classroom. I teach in a place where my students cannot afford to play catch up in K, and need as much of a head start as they can get. 90% of my students last year mastered 100% of the objectives stated by GOLD (the assessment tool). A few of my students were reading by the end of last year.

If they are reading and writing, it is most likely something they learned at home. So stop complaining about PRE-school and teach your child what you think he/she needs to know. Don't leave everything up to a school. If you do, you will most likely be disappointed.

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't worry about it b/c your child is in pre-K. Kids in pre-K are not supposed to be doing academics. You could teach your child all they need to know for K in a long weekend or two. I second reading A Mandate for Playful Learning. The author gave a talk a year or two ago and it was fantastic. My child went to a private pre-K 3 mornings a week for 2 and a half hrs per day. There was very little academics but we did some at home.

I disagree...I feel there needs to be a balance of both, self-regulation and academics. Whether we like it or not, kids are actually reading when they enter K, writing their names at 3. I think it definitely varies per child, and their level of socialization also plays a part. Not to start a big argument, just expressing my opinion...

I wouldn't worry about it b/c your child is in pre-K. Kids in pre-K are not supposed to be doing academics. You could teach your child all they need to know for K in a long weekend or two. I second reading A Mandate for Playful Learning. The author gave a talk a year or two ago and it was fantastic. My child went to a private pre-K 3 mornings a week for 2 and a half hrs per day. There was very little academics but we did some at home.

Tools of the Mind is a great program, but I'm disappointed that DCPS is calling it a curriculum. It's a set of strategies. There's nothing in TOM that will help children achieve foundational academic skills that are outlined in the standards. Now that kindergartners are expected to read, children in prek really need a jump on these skills. Not sure why kids can't have a balance of activities throughout the day - some where the child takes the lead and explores and others where the teacher leads, hopefully in a fun and playful way?

Read the chapter in Nurtureshock by Po Bryson about it - it sounds like a great program, and I wish I had access to it for my child. Executive functioning (which is what Tools of the Mind is all about) is key to doing well - kids can grasp the "academics" but if they don't have the executive functioning skills to be able to focus, learn, stay on task, and execute, the academics don't mean squat.

OP here. Class hasn't started yet, but according to the schedule they will be doing a lot of self-regulation exercises. I'm less concerned after reading these responses. I'm sure our kid will love the focus on play, and we can do some academics at home. The play aspect sounds a little like Montessori to me but maybe it's different because it's not as self-directed.

Thanks, everyone!

Does your PK classroom implementation of Tools of the Mind look like this? http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=76838288

It's certainly different.

We went the Appletree route which does heavy academics as much as anything because that was what was available. However from what I have read about tools the other skills it imparts are just as important or maybe more important that being able to read at age 5 versus 51/2.

I am not familiar with Tools --but I will say that I was initially disappointed when my son was placed with the kindergarten teacher at our DCPS that is well-known for her philosophy that K students should be playing more than doing more "academic" things. I felt like he was ready to do much, much more - to start reading and do math, etc. However, he had a fantastic year with her and his reading and math absolutely took off in first grade. He is happy to sit and read for hours now and he adores school.

I wish my child could be in that classroom! Young children learn by playing and doing. A good predictor of future academic and social success is how well children learn to regulate their emotions and work well with others. As unbelievable as it may seems, foundations for later literacy skills are formed by conversations children have with each other. To relieve your anxiety, you might want to read A Mandate for Playful Learning (Oxford Press).

personally, i think this sound great for so many reasons. i think social/emotional education is wonderful thing for individual kids and our society as a whole. most of the data that has been piling up about early childhood indicates that we think of as "academic" is really barking up the wrong tree for this age. let their minds develop in a more holistic way. if you want to supplement at home with some basic reading and writing, you can.

That is one of the reasons why I opted not to send my children to another DCPS who was using ToM last year. I was not happy with what I saw in the classroom.

I am not sure whether to say for you to be worried. I guess it depends on your child. For my children I wanted a balance-academics and play based. Academics because they have always been in an environment where they received some type of academic training and I did not want them to slip in that area.

I had heard great things about this preschool curriculum that emphasizes self-regulation, and I was excited that our DCPS school is one of twenty that will adopt Tools this year. But this morning our PreK teacher told us that there will be very little academics this year because the emphasis is on self-regulation excercises. She said we won't get to letters until the end of the year! They're not even supposed to practice writing their names. Of course they learned to write *last* year, our child knows letters already, etc. So I guess they'll just stagnate this year.

Should I be worrying about this or not?