Pre-k

Hi C., my little guy, Brody, is starting Pre-K this Fall too. I hope to get him into Ball Ground Elem (where we live) because he is already enrolled there with a Speech Therapy program. They do a lottery there and only pick 20 kids. I'm nervous about him getting in... we don't have alot to choose from when it comes to Pre-K programs. Anyways, back to your question... I had the same questions earlier this year and started searching on the internet. I found this website: http://www.decal.state.ga.us/PreK/PreKMain.aspx It is really good in describing the PreK program in Georgia. Check it out.

You're doing good, Mommy! Your little guy will have so much confidence after attending Prek-K.

Hugs,
T. Blackwell
Your Pampered Chef Consultant for life!

Besides the alphabet, shapes, etc, they also teach the days of the week and the months of the year, they count up to 100 (but don't recognize them all by site), and they learn how to spell their first and last name (if you use a nickname, be prepared for him to still have to learn the full first name). They also need to know their address and phone number pretty early in the year. Those are the main things they really work on in the pre-k.

oh- and I also made a point of teaching my kids to tie their shoes before they headed to pre-k. I could imagine the teacher having to tie the shoes of 20 kids throughout the day, and figured every bit that they could do themselves helped.

I have taught Pre-K for 6 years. The most important things your child can know before entering Pre-K are independence, a desire to learn, and how to use scissors. A good teacher will assess where your child is at and then make sure she includes activities to move him forward. Good Luck!

Also, even though it looks like play, center time in Pre-K is very important. It provides children with basic math, literacy, science, creative, social, and cognitive skills that they need to be successful. In Pre-K childen also develop expanded vocabularies, strong communication skills, learn classification, and other various higher-order thinking skills. Pre-K is an opportunity for children to develop a love of learning while acquiring background knowledge and schema that they need in order for future scaffolding of knowledge to be built upon. The basic things, like letter and number recognition really aren't that important, it's creative and critical thinking skills that Pre-K children need to be refining in Pre-K

I have been a pre-school teacher for 2 years and you are doing great. He will probably also learn the solar system, weather, animals, and dino's.

my daughter is in prek this year and its basicly a lot of play time with some learning snuck in. we've seen writing numbers,letters, her name, counting, shes starting to write other words from sounding them out BUT remember this is the end of the year shes been taught all this stuff in class.

I totally agree with the last poster they dont really need to know anything before they go in there thats what the class is for.

if you teach him too much he will be bored and bored kids have a tendency to act up.

My son is finishing up his year at prek. He attends a private daycare but does the ga prek one. I think it was a good thing that we enrolled him really for the social skills not necessarily the education. I was really shocked at how low the standards are on what they are supposed to know. The teacher said that just to know what letters go in there name not necessarily what order they go in. He gets a lot of free time to play in what they call the centers. He has increased his social skills. They learn sight words or the ability to read short little words like "like", "on" "off" etc. They learn numbers up in the 100s. They take a little test at the beginning of the year and at the end. He just had his assessment. They are expected to have social skills, say abcs, recognize some words, write letters somewhat, say numbers up to 20. I really dont know if dylan learned the things that they assessed in school. I think he already knew it, but he has been able to take trips like to fernbank and learn cool stuff about things like dinosaurs, bugs, martin luther king, etc. That i would never think to tell him about. If you are a stay at home mom and can take your child everywhere and really pay attention to teaching them the weird things you wouldnt normally think about.

I have an seven year old boy and I think everything that you have tought him is good. That is everything that Pre-K pretty much teaches them. You might want to teach him how to write his name. And that is it. Don't over do it because than he might not want to go to school. You have to make it fun for them because that is how Pre-K does it.

My son is in Pre-K right now in Walton County. So far this year they have learned shapes, colors, counting and a few other things. Pre-K is mainly just trying to get them prepared for "real school", for instance they learn how to get in a line, sit quietly in the lunchroom and eat there lunch, taking turns and things like that. They also do not really sit them down and teach them, they have to teach them more through playing. I hope this helps some.

I know some schools are actually teaching them Spanish now in Pre K. Just like the numbers 1-10 and colors

Help him learn to tie his shoes. That was a really big deal for our children's pre k.

Hey C.,

Both of children went through pre-k just a couple years ago. Here they do their numbers, letters, colors, math (sorting counting) shapes, sight words ex. car dog cat hat bat etc. They also learned to write their letters using the D'Nealian method. Im trying to think is there anything else but I really dont think so! Hopefully this helps you!! Your baby is growing up!! :)

Have a great day!

My nieghbors son is going into pre-k this year as well. she was telling me what they need to know. counting, colors, add and subtact, shapes and sizes, writing short words such as his name, last name, middle name if has one, how to write cat, dog, cow, and they have to know what animals they are. hope this helps you little boy!

i'm assuming your school did the lottery and if so, just be glad you got him in. Our school had 46 kids names in the box and only 19 names were pulled. luckily, both my daughter AND step son got in. My daughter was overly prepared and she gets bored quite often. My step son was very clueless. I was quite conerend over his writing, over his drawings, over his speech, everything! and at every conference i would take examples of what i did when working with him at home and ask the teacher, is this normal?!? she assured me it was. sometimes i fear my step son is a demon child from hell but everybody at school just eats him up. they tell me how cute and sweet he is. i am constantly in the counselors office seeking help with dealing with step parenting issues and they must think i'm crazy. your son will learn the things you mentioned but all in a playful relaxed way. preK has absolutely zero pressure. i think preK is mainly about socialization and preparing them for the elementary environment. dont worry about one single thing. volunteer in your child's class as often as you can. enjoy the family projects, enjoy the holiday programs. enjoy the songs and rhymes they learn. enjoy the field trips. it's all fun! let him pick out a super cool bookbag and make it exciting for him. your preK teacher will give you lots of insight about your childs abilities when you go to conferences. and if you're in coweta county, get to know the resource coordinator, Dot Herring. she a very valuable resource.

He does not have to be prepared at all for Pre-K. I was a Georgia Pre-K paraprofessional for three years, and depending on the type of curriculum that his particular school uses, he will learn the same things in different ways. In the curriculum that we used(High-Scope), we would introduce the basics like colors, numbers, letters, etc. but most of the learning came from interaction and playtime, which may sound like a waste of time, but it really does work. I have seen kids leave Pre-K reading, and I have seen some leave not knowing how to write their own name.It really depends on the child's learning abilities, and the parents willingness to reinforce the things that they are learning. I wouldn't worry about preparing him, as long as you continue to give him opportunities to learn new things at home. If you have any other questions, feel free to send me a message.
A.

GA PreK is also known as Bright from the Start. Here's the link to their website or you can Google GA PreK... http://www.decal.state.ga.us/PreK/PreKMain.aspx

I am a former elementary school teacher and a HUGE fan of Ga PreK for all children.

Good luck.