youngest in preschool- feeling intimidated??

[oops]

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does he have any friends there and does he play with them? At ds' nursery there was one painfully shy boy, who was actually one of the oldest there and he seemed to spend most of the time holding teacher's hand. I think if they are sending your ds off to read by himself then that's not good, they should be encouraging him more to get involved.

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How long has he been there ? If he has been there since Sept then I would imagine that the staff should be encouraging him to the other children by now, If he has just started then the staff may be just letting him find his place .

I wouldn't worry about the school thing yet.

You could ask him if he would like someone who is 'nice ' to come home and play , that might encourage him a bit more at preschool.

what does he like doing at home besides books , perhaps pre school can try and engage him in an activity that he likes, the problem is that he needs encouragement , he can't be made or forced to join in.

Also I would say that the preschool needs to develop some plan on how to deal with the children who re starting to read.
How qualified are the staff ?
Well done your DS , my Ds is August born and in reception year, just about picking up a few keywords.

My DS didnt like the other children initially but now has a best friend who he plays with. His lack of friends bothered me far more than him!

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Emmmm, Oops

Does he feel worried, or do you? Because it is very normal for a boy of barely 3 to have no special friends. And although he can read, he is still little more than a toddler, emotionally, and therefore isn't capable of making and maintain strong bonds with children his own age, as older children are.

He may look dreadfully lonely, flitting from group to group, but it's normal, honestly, and I would be surprised if he felt at all lonely.

The reason I ask if it is him or you is that he is showing no real signs, as far as I can tell from your messages, of feeling intimidated, but you seem very very anxious for him - understandably because he is your little boy, but perhaps unnecessarily?

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But, and I see what you are saying RE the books, children tend to gravitate to things that are familiar to them. If he can read at 3, he obviously reads a lot at home. He doesn't have the same associations with reading that you do - for him, it's not escape from a horrible situation, it's familiar play.

My ds1 is 3.10 and gravitates to construction toys - because he is familiar with them, and good at making things with them. He often plays on his own with them, but he's not using them to escape bigger, rougher children, he just likes them. Maybe this is true of your ds and books? That's where I would have been found, had I attended playschool. Lots of books I hadn't read yet!

I really wouldn't worry at this stage. We have plenty of 3yo's at our pre-sch who watch rather than participate. One fairly new starter hides in a tent for most of the morning but has started to join in with some group activities. As long as there is some progress, however small, over the term as a whole.

Children don't develop all their skills at once, if your DS1 is academically ahead, then it would be perfectly normal for his physical or social development to perhaps be a bit behind the average. It all evens out in the end. There are rules to be learned about making friends and joining in games and he'll get there soon enough.

As for school, our reception class has 12 summer-born's out of 28 children. You'd be hard-pressed to pick them out though, they are all doing really well.

I've an August boy and did nothing but (needlessly I must say) worry that he would be the youngest at school etc. etc. He too could read before he started school which eased my thoughts as to how he would fare at big school. He is now in year 1 and a very confident reader but he is still young emotionally. What I'm trying to say is that all learn different skills at different times. I think the thing with pre school is that it is all about 'learning through play' so the child tends to lead in what they would like to play with. They don't teach/assist reading because it is isn't usual for such young children to be able to. Your ds will be fine. At that age they are quite happy looking on rather than 'playing with'.