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From the teachers……
We were recently asked, “What does my child need to know for preschool ?” The following,” Three S’s,” would be top of our list! 1. Sitting Still One of the components of preschool is circle time, when children sit and listen to a story or sing songs or even do some simple academics as a group. The act of sitting in a circle calms the children down and helps them focus. Practice sitting still by having a circle time at your home. Okay, you're wondering how you and your one child can sit in a circle. Well, this circle time is not so much about the circle as it is about the time. Plan a time each day to sit with your child and sing or read. Set specific times for snacks, so that your child will learn to sit and eat as he/she will for snack time at preschool.
2. Self-Care The children would have more time to review the day and sing goodbyes, if parents would do this one thing at home: teach the children how to put on their own coats. Maybe you can use pretend play for this skill – play going to a coat store, or the “It’s hot, it’s cold” game, or the upside down / over your head jacket trick. (Just ask for a demonstration, if you need one.) And too, children need to take care of all their own bathroom use and hygiene. They should tell the teacher when a bathroom trip is needed and always wait for an adult to accompany them out of the room. Children need to be able to use the toilet privately, use toilet paper, pull up undies, and wash and dry their hands with minimal help.
3. Sharing It's difficult to teach sharing. When you teach a child a letter, you may have to go over it a couple of times and they get it. When you're teaching your child to share, you'll be repeating yourself 50 times, and the child still won't always share. (Not that sharing is a piece of cake for adults either, but, it's important for adults to model good sharing behavior, of course.) It's not that children don't understand sharing, it's just that they are so into what they're doing and having such fun, they don't want to share. So, preschool is a natural place for children to practice sharing, especially when the parents and teachers work together. We don’t need to be heavy-handed about it. Just encourage kids to ask for toys rather than grab them, and to let a friend play with them. Character building is a lifelong process, and preschoolers are just beginning.
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