Preschooler Preschool - Lehi, UT

As a former preschool and kindergarten teacher, I can tell you that the most important thing for him to know going into preschool is how to get along with other kids and to follow directions. I could tell which kids had been in preschool coming into kindergarten because they were already used to the expectations that they would listen and follow directions and participate in group activities.

It can also be helpul for him to know colors and shapes, counting by rote to 10, and maybe some letters. He should recognize his name. If you want him to start writing his naame, do it with the first letter capitalized but all the others lowercase (J. not J.) - this will save his teachers a lot of pain in trying to reteach!

One great website is www.starfall.com then click on the ABC blocks. My kids LOVED it (both students and my own). I also really liked the coputer games JumpStart and Reader Rabbit. They both come in several grade levels, just get the preschool ones. (They are around $20 I think, but I usually borrowed them from the library).

I would just work on letters and their sounds with him, and also work on writing his name correctly with uppercase at the beginning and lowercase for the rest of the letters. I don't know about websites but two videos that helped my kids with their letters was leapfrog letter factory and word factory. They teach the letters and sounds and how to put words together.

Along with what everyone else has said about the books from walmart and target I have a website (www.starfall.com) bookmarked. This is a fun website that even my two year old loves...they break down all the letters and sounds. Its very entertaining. Also if you do a search on educational games for preschoolers you will get a list of places to go. I know pbskids.org has some good stuff to. And I think they have just a parents site as well for us to get ideas to help your child learn. Another thing you could do is talk to the school - specifically a kindergarten teacher and as her what he needs to know and then you can go from there just out of books and in day by day activities. Hope all goes well.

There is a huge contingent of people who think of pre-school as a silly waste of money. Certainly I know many of them, and I am one too.

Think really hard -- what's the point of pre-school? Is there anything that low-paid hourly workers can teach him that you can't teach him?

Children in normal households easily learn all that colors & numbers stuff at home. I taught all of my kids to read at ages 3, 4, and 5, and that put them way AHEAD of where they needed to be at kindergarten.

So my suggestion is to pretend that your friends didn't do pre-school, and think really hard as to whether there really is some benefit to do so yourself. p.s. Quiz some kindergarten teachers. I've met many who have agreed with me.

Hi C.. There is a fun activity-based phonics curriculum at youcanteach.com. Basically it is teaching letters and their sounds through fun games, songs, books, etc. It has worked well for my children and me. Good luck.

I agree most kids do not NEED preschool as long as they are ready to learn. Maturity comes with age- 5 is amazing how they can pick things up and apply them with such a love for learning. Other kids do this at 3 years of age but will lose interest a year later.
I do lots of preschool activities with all my daycare kids so they do not have any problems with transitions- etc.. What is expected at circle time- how the teacher will sit and hold the book and the child needs to be able to sit quietly hands to themselves etc.. Exposure to a variety of things is key.
Like PP mentioned story and craft time at the library is a great place to get some experience with a 'teacher' and other kids.
Most libraries also have activity kits for kids- books, and things to do that are related to them.
Craft activity books are wonderful most have an activity for kids of all ages, songs, snack and other things related to the crafts. Some even show gives you a list of skills learned for each age group.
My 4 year old is in preschool mainly because he needs to learn to listen to someone other than me- he has been a handful to his teachers but they all tell me how they are amazed at how smart he is- even the bus driver.
http://www.everythingpreschool.com/index.shtml
http://suspended.hostgator.com/?domain=4momsathome.com
http://www.mcguirezone.com/goodies/toys.html
http://www.sitesforteachers.com/
http://www.childcarelounge.com/Caregivers/circle.htm
http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/

Dollar tree has some cute work books- but remember kids at this age learn in 3 dimensional activities.

You can get curriculum fun books at Target, Walmart and even Sams Club around Preschool level learning. My kids love these, like Reader Rabbits.
My son is four and in Pre K and loves it. Go to the preschool he will be attending and they will have the guidelines of what he will be learning and what he may need to know too to make it easier.
My son just started and there are boys in his class that went last year and some that didn't so there is no pressure of who knows what, but teaching them all the same prep work for Kindergarten.
Don't worry too much, all boys learn differently too.
One boy in my son's class is four, READING AT A THIRD GRADE LEVEL, he is VERY intelligent but they put him in preschool to catch up on his social skills that were lagging.
My son's PreK now teaches, letters, learning to write names, shapes, colors, matching and phonics. Printing letters and numbers.

The ultimate budget-friendly resource is your public library. They will have a whole wall full of books with developmentally-correct ideas. The ones that are reference-only and cannot be checked out will be OK to photocopy a few pages from. You can also ask the librarian for book suggestions--s/he will probably have alist ready to give you! Reading is the most important thing you can do with your child--study after study shows worksheets are not developmentally appropriate, but we continue to use them because they are convenient even though they burn kids out on real learning. Anytime you have a choice between using a worksheet or using real things, (like, say, to talk about colors) go for the real objects.
"The Read-Aloud Handbook" by Jim Trelease will surely be at the public library and it is a gold mine of information about pre-literacy skills and book suggestions.
It's fun to use the posters from teacher-supply stores, too. They are only about $2 and I stick them on bedroom walls and to the side of the refrigerator so we can always talk about numbers or letters or shapes, etc.
Brain Quest brand puts out workbooks, but even better they have cards with logic questions to ask your child. They are really well-made and encourage conversation. PLus, theya re attached together so they can't get spread all over the place. I got a set of these cards at Costco for $7 and they gave me a lot of ideas of things I could do with my child. Really, living real life and involving your child is the regular duties of cooking, cleaning and shopping and leaving the TV off are the very best preparation activities you could do. Sounds like you're doing that already! What lucky little men! (You'll love having three--I had my third little guy in August and a houseful of brothers is fun.)
Have fun!

He is ready for kindergarten if you live in Utah. THey have low standards and my son that was in preschool and didn't want to learn and had no interest, didn't know all that but within the first month of Kindergarten got it all down. It is all good. Your child will be great

C.,

If you can find them, get Glenn Doman's books on early childhood education. He has a lot of really good ideas on how to stimulate your preschooler's mental growth.

I agree with those who say that preschool is all about learning social skills and how to work within a classroom setting (i.e. sitting down and being quiet during circle time). I would just make sure the teachers pay attention during his first couple of weeks to make sure he's socializing appropriately with the others.

I started my son at 4 yrs old at a Montessori preschool and it was a disaster -- this Montessori had certain expectations of how you spend your activity time which my son simply didn't understand since he hadn't started at 3 when most of the other children had. The teacher basically excluded him as punishment for acting like he was 4.

The good news is that we pulled him out after 2 months and he did really well at his next play-based preschool.

abcteach.

Some things I know:
-hop on one foot, jump with two feet, kick a ball and catch
-helpself with toiletting and blowing nose
-write first name
-Know full name, mom and dad's name (some times start to know address)
-stack ten bocks
-cut a straight line for about 8 inches
-count to ten
-basic abc knowledge and can sing the song
-sort by color and sort by size
-oreder from small to big
-some patern recognition..red blue red blue...
-recognizes writen numbers 1-5
-holds pencil with a pincj pinch tuck tuck
-traces horizontal, vertical lines and circles and crosses.
-recognizes name written
-recognizes colors and shapes
-complets a simple puzzle

This is from our testing check list they are currently doing in 3 year old preschool and will test agin at end of year fot four year old readiness.

I have 7 kids NONO NO don't think that...we are very mainstreams. I say that I am raising 7 only children.
BUT I have only sent one to preschool. They were all well prepared. I StRONGLY recommend LOTS of trips to the library for story times. Your little boys will both learn to sit and listen,not interrupt (that is not a sign of being bright it is obnoxious...) and keep their hands to themselves with other little people around and to LOVE books.
Cleaning up after their OWN play at home is also very important.
Being able to handle little scissors, a reasonable amount of glue and recognize their letter are musts.
Kumon has some great workbooks (at Barnes and Noble) and there is this AWESOME book called teaching Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons...it is great and works.
Have fun....

Hi C.
It sounds like you're working on things and he's getting along well. PBS kids offers a lot of different activities. Also, starfall is great. Your preschool teacher can also recommend websites/activities that would reinforce what she's doing in the classroom. Other considerations for getting your kiddo ready include:
cutting paper on a line using scissors
tying shoes/using velcro strips
dressing himself (buttons, zippers, etc.)
holding a pencil properly
recognizing/drawing the letters to his name

We bought an easel with a white board/chalkboard and the kids use it every day to practice their letters. I put it right in the kitchen so they can "play school" while I'm doing dishes, cooking meals, etc. I have strict rules about where/when they can use the markers (to avoid any unwanted murals on the walls...:)Good luck!

Preschool is glorified daycare. When my son started kindergarten (after not going to preschool) he was way ahead of the kids who went to preschool. His teacher told me she can always tell which kids stay at home because they are usually ahead and better behaved. If you want to have an idea of what to teach him, get some preschool workbooks (available @ walmart or lot's of other places) and teach him to write his name and recognize his upper and lowercase letters. He will benifit more from time with you that time @ daycare.

C.,

You are your child's most important teacher and what you are doing with him at home is so much more than what he can learn in a classroom. The purpose of preschool is more for social skills and day care anyway. You can easily meet his social skills needs in a play group or Sunday School or MOPS or AWANA or similar setting.

Talk to your boys. Talk about everything all the time and let them talk to you. Make up stories together. Use big words. Count. Sing. Rhyme. Read. Read. Read. Go places and explain to them what they are seeing. Go to story hour at the library. Take them to Sunday School.

There is also a wonderful, FREE program called Parents as Teachers. It is a nationwide (and international as well) program based on Neuro-science. It's purpose is to support parents in being a great teacher to their little ones. Most programs go from birth to age three, but some go as high as age five depending on the grant they have. I don't know what county you are in, so check their web site to see if your county has this.
www.parentsasteachers.org
This is a great, free resource. Use it if you are able.
Other moms have given you great websites. Learning occurs more quickly with personal interaction, so everything will be more effective if you are with your sons while they are on the web sites. I hope this helps.

T.

In my opinion, preschool is NOT necessary. Your child needs you. Many kids go to preschool for a couple of hours a couple of days per week just to visit friends, to give mom a break, etc. Time with you on everyday things will help him learn what he needs for Kindergarten. AND he needs time to bond with his baby brother or you will find that he may begin to believe that the new baby means that he has to leave for a while. You can find workbooks and colorbooks anywhere (Dollar Tree is my fav), or online (www.familyfun.com), but time in the car, at the grocery store, at the library, walking around the neighborhood will be super beneficial to him in learning the basics. You can talk about the numbers on the houses to learn addresses, why our phone rings and no one else's (phone number), color of cars, sky, grass, rocks, etc when walking, counting buildings on the block (for numbers), etc. The list is long and what your child needs to be ready for Kindergarten (which IS required in many states; check with your local school district) can be learned at home. Go to the library, Mommy and Me classes (YMCA), the park, to get socialized. You can then observe what you will only hear second hand from a preschool teacher.
If you are using preschool for a reason that makes sense to you, go for it. BUT, if you are thinking you need to send you baby to preschool because it's the "right" thing to do or because everyone else is doing it, think it through. Visit a few local preschools and daycares before you make the commitment; see what is right for your child. And trust you instincts.
PS...happy birthing! Keep us updated! :)

If you have a moment to go to the store. Any of the big workbooks that are Pre-K or K are great. They are fun and they learn at the same time. A great learning website is www.starfall.com My daughter is in K and that is what she is doing at home and at school. I am so proud that she is almost reading. Yeah her! I would recommend an ECE class of a preschool program with a learning and playing cirriculum.
Have fun with your boys! I have 2 boys and my third was a girl. Take care, M.

The most important skills that a preschooler needs to have are not academic, they are social and self-care skills. Can you leave your son with a babysitter or playgroup without having him cry excessivly? Can he put his own shoes and coat on? Can he express his needs to adults in a manner that they can understand (not just you and your husband, other adults too). Does he have problems with biting, hitting, kicking, or aggression? I have known one child who was kicked out of preschool for repeatedly biting the other children, it did not matter that he knew his alphabet and colors, he was making school an unsafe environment so he had to go. Learning to share, play nicely with others, communicate with teachers and peers, listen attentivly, and take care of some of his needs independently are some of the most valuable lessons that your son will learn in preschool, and these are skills that he will use his whole life long. You can start teaching him these lessons at home, but it is also good if you can get him involved in a playgroup, library story hour, church group, or gym class where he can interact in a group of children.

As far as academic skills, don't push him too hard, you want to encourage a love of learning. You should not ever force him to learn colors or numbers or letters if he is not in the mood for it, just keep his lessons informal and fun, he should not even realize that he is learning, he should jsut think that you are playing together! Like when you play with blocks you can ask him to hand you the blue square or the yellow triangle, or the block wiht a B on it if you have the alphabet blocks. He will be most interested in learning the letters of his own name because they will have the most meaning to him, so you can point out on a sign or a book, "look, that word has an M in it, just like your name, Mikey." When you are driving you can comment on signs that you see "There's a stop sign, s-t-o-p, that means I have to stop the car, isn't that stop sign a cool shape? It's called an octagon." When you are baking have you son help put in the ingredients "Now we need to add 3 cups of flour, one...two...three, OK, now 2 teaspoons of vanilla" That kind of everyday learning is going to teach your son more effectivly than any worksheet ever can. Good luck and have fun teaching your children!