Preschool structured activities help!

[julie4travel]

hi

i helped out at my dds pre school today. they had there own free time to play outside prior to the doors being opened they had the choice of painting pictures glueing crayoning dressing up and a general play.

at the end after fruits time they had a 10 min sing song before hometime

I was suprised there was no structured activities or practising letter formation etc. am i expecting too much from a pre school. i thought it would be a good base ready for when my dd starts school. i do more writing and numbers etc at home with her.

what sort of things should she be doing - is this normal from a pre school? any advise from pre school helpers etc would be great.

i personally are wondering should i get her in a private nursery like she used to be in before we moved to give her the level i would prefer. am i expecting too much? she is so eager to learn!

to me it was more of a creche /cheap childcare service

I think play based exploration like this is vastly preferable to any formal or structured activity. Did your dd enjoy herself?

she loved it cause i was there! she did enjoy it - i think maybe i am expecting too much!

DD went to a private day nursery and did little structured activity there. She's an alert little girl who culd have been learning at nursery, but they didn't push it. They did some rpreschool work but not every session - a bit of writing over letters and numbers, some counting and matching work, writing their names, etc. And you know, I am really happy they didn't push it. She had such fun at nursery, learning to play and socialise with her friends.

She started school at the beginning of September. She is reading now, and doing Mtahs. But best of all she has the confidence and experience to make friends. We have pklaydates several times a week. She is happy and thriving, and her nursery exerience, I believe, has really helped her settle in well. I really think that was more important than learning to do school work at this age.

I would relax julie. She has plenty of time to learn her letters and so on. Early formal education doesn't necessarily lead to the best results later anyway - we are a bit obsessed with early schooling in this country and our literacy rates etc don't compare that well with other European countries where the school age is higher.

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The main focus in pre-schools and day nurseries is generally learning through play. Many places are now doing away with actual planned themes and activities, allowing the children to mke their own choices as to what hey want to do during their time there. I think Montessori nurseries do it the other way round and tend to be more academic, but I don't personally have any experience in working within Montessori settings.

I think, in my own honest opinion that you are worrying over nothing. If your lo is forced into number work and reading and writing too early on, she may regress when the time comes to actually learn it. Think how precious these pre-school years are! They'll be plenty of time for all the academic stuff when they go to formal school.

Any good pre-school/nursery will provide equipment to foster children's learning and development in these areas, without having structured activities written and performed for them.

It is widely researched that learning through play is more beneficial in the early years in comparison to formal education. This is one of the reasons that schooling doesn't begin here until children are rising 5. Children are simply not developmentally ready to handle 'taught' lessons at this age.

Hope this helps, and is largely my own opinion!

my DS has just left a nursery school and they did mostly the type of things you're talking about until after Easter when the ones who were going to Reception the following Sept did a bit more schooly type stuff.

Ds2's pre-school has a mixture of structured activities and general free play. They don't sit them down to practise writing letters but will do pre-writing skills such as tracing shapes in the sandpit or give encouragement to a child who wants to write their name on their drawings.

They do some letter and number recognition but it's in the form of games and fun rather than sitting them down at a table. They also do counting but again it's usually as part of a game. If a child wants to take these activities further then they are encouraged to do so. If they would rather just go off and play with something else then that's fine too.

Personally I prefer this approach to anything formal. Ds2 is only 3yrs old and IMHO should be playing.

Again, Tommy, this is generally the procedures in pre-school. The rising 5's are prepared for school in a variety of ways and are encouraged to sit for longer periods of time, answer to a register and all sorts. I think this is good practice really, providing practitioners do not get too involved in preparing the older ones to the detriment of the younger ones. This is what key groups are used for!

thank you all for your help and advise- maybe i am being paranoid. i know confidence etc and playing is fine with my dd as she has been going to play groups and a private nursery before we moved.

they didn't do any writing over numbers or letters yet i do that with her at home and she does stuff like writes her name over the dots etc.

they didn't do a register at the beginning of the session yet the children pick up their name on entry into the building and put it on a velco board so thats a good start to recongnise their name.

i know when my ds left his old nursery he did know his days of the week and alpabet and did daily writing so maybe i shouldn't be comparing the two too much.

Maybe i am thinking she is older as she is copying my ds so much

thanks again!

I see preschool as teaching children how to 'be' with other children socially and follow a routine. School doesn't start until I think 7 in Germany and I am so happy that there is not too much emphasis on 'school' type work at a young age. I would gauge it by how happy she seems, how vibrantly she discusses preschool. You could look into doing some other stuff withoher outside of preschool if you are worried.

It sounds so like our preschool which I adore. I wouldn't worry too much. Also remember things go in trends and patterns, learning through play is a newish thing so could be why it was different for your son.

Don't worry.