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Child Development What are our children learning? Will they be ready for kindergarten? What is the most important thing my child learns in pre-school? Why don’t they do dittos? These are a few of the questions I am asked when parents are searching for a pre-school. When a parent visits, information about our program is explained in detail. At our parents’ night in the fall, more information is given. I know that the concern is great in a world where children are pressured to perform, move faster than they are meant to move and the fear that a child will not be ready to learn. I heard a quote today from the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He said “we get so caught up in the end results of the game, what will the score be, will we win, and we forget the process of going through the game.” (Guess they forgot.) It is much like children’s learning. It is a process. Think about your child learning to walk. During their eights or ninth month, they just didn’t get up and run. They took baby steps whether at nine months or eighteen months. They rolled over, crawled, held onto furniture, grabbed mom or dad’s hand then after practice and when the mind and body was ready they took their first unsteady step, practiced, fell down and then one day they just walked from the chair to the couch to see something and they were off. Children learn in many different ways, slowly and at their own pace. Scribbling is pre-writing. Muscles must be developed for writing to take place. Children need to use glue brushes, markers and paint brushes. Large muscles in the arms are developed along with the small muscles in the hand for children to eventually begin to write. For some children this will happen when they are three, three and a half, or four, for others it may not all come together until they are four and a half or five. Each child develops these muscles on their own schedule. No matter how much we push, without the time to develop these muscles and this skill, your child will not write. Some children love to hold a pencil or pen, want to write and they are given every opportunity to do so. Teachers encourage them and provide the best materials for this purpose. Others are not ready until much later. Reading is another concern. We have some children who can read at three and a half. It means that all the skills are lined up. They have been read to, love books, have a great memory and find it fascinating to be able to do this. It is not common for threes to be reading. However, because a child is four and not reading does not mean he/she is slow, not developing age appropriately or will have a difficult time when reading is required. He/she is just not ready. Reading begins with interest. Children who are read to on a daily basis, have access to good books and are encouraged in their language development will read. Learning the alphabet, recognizing that letters make words, words make sentences and that sentences put our thoughts together are the beginnings of reading. Children at Chestnut Grove learn all the skills that lead to reading and writing but they also learn other skills. Think about the children who have no social skills, is unable to express themselves in a positive manner or is unable to intrinsically make decisions about how to handle a situation. These children become frustrated, use physical reaction to solve problems, get discouraged and struggle with studies. Children who have been pushed to hard lose interest in schooling as they grow. Learning should be fun, exciting and a life long experience. It begins with hands-on. Ever sit in a lecture then go to a class where YOU participated? Children who do well in school generally do so because they are able to understand language, follow directions and have developed a desire to learn. When a parent comes into my office, I ask about a child who went to Chestnut Grove. My first questions is, are they enjoying being in school? When the answer is yes then we have done our job. Children who have self esteem do better in school then children who do not feel they are living up to expectations because they are not ready to reach those expectations. In a recent study published in Educational Eesearch, Vol. 46, Winter, 2004, titled The relative age effect and the development of self-esteem, found that children who were given time to develop, spent time maturing before entering kindergarten and were not pushed into physical activities too soon, were better at studies and sports. (Thompson, et al). Children that were provided with an age-advantage (meaning those who entered school later) had greater self-confidence and got along better with peers. (Barnsley & Thompson, 1988) The article suggests that "younger children will seek to leave or avoid an activity in which their competitive position is hampered by their relative age.” Thompson continues “Later investigations show that school children with a relative age advantage are more likely to have higher achievement, to be place in programs for gifted children (Maddux et al., 1981) and to be placed in more challenging educational streams or classes.” (Freyman, 1965; Sutton, 1967) Children who are pushed ahead are more likely to be evaluated as a slow learner, likely to be retained in kindergarten and often recommended for remedial instruction. (Maddux, 1980) This phenomenon is long lasting. Effects have been found in children studied in their teens. (Kalk et al., 1982) There is another clue to your child’s success. Parents! Parent’s attitude towards learning and child development has a great impact on children. Allowing a child to progress at his/her own pace is a most important component to children’s development. Providing children with a caring, nurturing environment that has space and time for a child to explore, share and experiment is vital to whole development. Each day is part of the process of learning, growing, developing in mind, spirit and body. Comparing children is unfair to parents and particularly to the child. We do not compare children. Each child is considered for who they are and what skills they have mastered. We evaluate children where they are and with knowledge and experience, project cautiously where the child may be in a month or by the next school term. This comes from years of experience, knowledge of research, caring about a child’s growth and an understanding of early childhood development. A Good Beginning: Sending America’s Children to School with the Social and Emotional Competence They Need to Succeed (The Child Mental Health Foundations and Agencies Network, 2000, p.7) provides evidence that social/emotional readiness is critical to a successful kindergarten transition, early school success and even later accomplishments in the workplace. Children need to be allowed to grow away from their parents. This is a positive thing. Children who can trust others, enjoy being in school with peers, trying new things and being able to feel secure about themselves will be successful in school. Each day children achieve. They may be separating successfully. That is an achievement. They may have gone to the easel for the first time or successfully built a block construction. That is achieving. We take great joy in watching the face of a child who is calling us to come and look at what he or she did. At this point in the school year, second term, midway through, most of our children are sharing these experiences and their successes with each other. Children are evaluated and a recommendation for present or future placement
is made. This means that the teacher has observed a child from the first
day of school. She knows a child’s strengths and weaknesses and
can project with some relative certainty, the best placement for the
child. She has conferred with the director and/or the director has directly
observed the child. Expectations are certainly a part of the evaluation.
Challenging a child is important as is encouraging a child to try new
things. These things include the physical as well as the intellectual.
Based on my own research and interviews, kindergarten teachers in public
and private settings want children to be able to follow directions,
be socially ready, able to separate and eager to learn with a basic
knowledge in readiness skills. Archive of Past Articles
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