What does your child do at pre school?

[2tontess]

My DS1 age 3.5 has recently began attending a new pre school. His old pre school was a local village 'playschool' which we were very happy with.

We have recently moved and DS1 now attends a 'nursery' which is much larger and very different to his previous setting. He is in a class with children in the same year group and the day is structured very much like school. He even has a report very much like I would have had in secondary school.

Since starting in Jan he has progressed rapidly, he is up to speed on his phonics (new one each week) and has started to read 3 letter words along with basic adding/subtracting. Although this is lovely to see (he seems to enjoy it) I feel this is what he should be doing in reception class.

I was just wondering what the 'norm' is in terms of pre school education? What does your child do?

Btw, DS attends 1 full day and 3 mornings. Morning sessions are funded and that is when the more structured learning takes place, afternoons are 'free play'.

My dc have left pre-school but they did very little structured learning, that was left for Reception. They did lots of learning through play and activities. ds was there when the EYFS started so total free choice for him (except for small group/large group times) as to when and where he played as there was free flow between indoors and outdoors, a snack bar and free choice of resources.

Afternoons and morning were the same BTW.

My DS1 was four last month. He goes one day a week to a private day nursery and one and a half days a week to the local pre-school type nursery.

At the private one they do tend to be a bit more structured but nothing like you describe as far as I know. They do encourage learning but only through play.

The pre-school they more or less do free play and can play in or out whatever the weather unless it is a meal time or snack time etc. He nearly always comes home from here covered in mud and he loves it! He also learns things here and they do observe what level of ability the children are at (recently had his progress report and it says what approx age group he falls into for certain things, ie 36-50 months or whatever for language and social skills...

ds2 is 3.5 and his playgroup is very play orientated, He doesn't really do any reading and writing apart from attempting to write his name and some letters and number recognition. Which is what I want.
Ds1 (now 5) started school part time just after his 4th birthday and that's when he started phonics etc. I was told by his teacher that starting too early on reading and writing does no good as their brains aren't developed to understand it and alot of schools have to unlearn what private nurseries teach.
How true this is i don't know - I am no expert!
I would quite happily wait another year for my ds's to have started school - I don't know what the rush is. Crazy!

All "learning through play" at dd's nursery. No phonics or maths at all. They are encouraged to write their own name on their pictures (oddly they are encouraged to do this in a complicated cursive script but this is not particularly much enforced), but other than that it's pretty much all free play apart from story time. Could perhaps do with a little more input from the teachers really, but they seem to enjoy themselves which I am sure is the most important thing at this age.

Yours sounds very different, op. Is it private?

2tontess, He should be being observed to find out what his individual likes, dislikes and interests are and activities planned to develop his learning around this, is this happening? It should really be all about him as an individual with them supporting and extending his learning as he goes along.

Is he getting plenty of time to just play and pretend and develop games with his friends?

Thanks for the replies so far, I really do feel DS is doing too much, however, he is a child that has always enjoyed learning, always has books out and loves jigsaws etc and I think he can cope with it.

I am not so sure about how DS2 age 2 will fair, he is far more happy go lucky and has no interest in any puzzles etc Books are for scribbling and ripping pages out of He has just started at the same setting, albeit in a different class and I'm really not 100% about the place. Can't quite put my finger on it, just a feeling.

I am starting to look at other nurseries/playgroups in the area however I am cautious about moving them as we are a military family and they will be moved about more than I would like as it is.

It's very difficult to make the right decision when it comes to our children's education isn't it?

Sorry, missed the last couple of posts there, will pop back later, really appreciate the replies, it's good to know what everybody else's dc' are doing.

yes - it is very hard!!
DS2 had the option of moving up to DS1's school after easter as they have started taking children from age 3. I have turned down his place for the time being as he is happy where he is in a village playgroup and i don't feel he is ready for a school setting.
However - if you have a 'feeling' about somewhere always go with your instincts as 9 out of 10 times you are right.

runs around pretending to be a pirate or a fairy or a hairdresser or a rescue worker. Climbs the climbing frame, leaps off and "swims" along the mats. Makes farms or skateparks or rockets in lego, cars or trains out of popoids or poppa blocks. refuses to do any optional craft activity, reluctantly joins in teh adult directed ones, and enjoys them. Listens to stories and probadly gets ticked off for trying to sit on top of another child. Plays picture lotto or beetle or similar in small group work slot. Rides trikes, kicks balls, plays parachute games,joins in with action songs. Digs in the flower beds, plays bat n ball.

DS is 4, this is his 3rd term of preschool, he attends one setting for 1 full day a week, a city preschool with garden and playground. Another for 3 x 3 hours sessions a week, in a village hall with no outdoor space at all.

Phonics at the rate of a new letter a week sounds a bit schooly.. when do they get to save the world, dig in the dirt, ride trikes and find treasure?

It depends how much of his time is spent on the schooly stuff and whether he also gets to do some free play during the sessions. I would say that if he's learning well and enjoying it then great - maybe he can carry on brilliantly at school. Just as long as he doesn't rebel later because he didn't get to have enough fun at pre-school. I guess a few chats with him to try and find out what he does during the sessions will help and then a chat with the head teacher to find out what they say they do with them will help. I expect some parents want their kids to be more advanced for their age and this may be a selling point for the nursery, particularly if their fees are higher than average.