How Do Preschoolers Develop and Learn?

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• By interacting with caring adults. Teachers help your child feel secure and important every day. They listen to your child and get to know him well. When children feel safe and cared for, they grow in all areas of development.

• Through active, hands-on, “minds-on” play and learning. As your preschooler plays, experiments, and interacts with children and caring adults, a lot of learning happens. She develops skills that will help her think, question, and explore the world.

• By connecting new ideas and skills to what they already know and can do. All of us learn best when we can link new information to what we already know. Teachers help preschoolers do this to build knowledge and connect learning to what interests your child, like bugs or machines!

• By exploring and making sense of their world. As your child explores materials, he comes up with ideas about why things happen and tests them out. Teachers help him make sense of his experiences by asking him to explain his thinking, encouraging him to try something different, and adding small challenges.

• Through teacher-guided learning. Teachers plan small- and large-group experiences that stretch children's learning. 

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The preschool years are all about independence and mastery of basic skills. Preschool children begin to develop their identity and gain control of their environment.  Curriculum in our preschool classroom will go a step further in complexity.  Themes and topics will be more in-depth and cover more complex topics (ex. Toddlers may have a basic jungle animal theme covering monkeys and tigers, preschoolers may take that a step further and learn about the rainforest and it’s unique ecosystem).  Art/Sensory and/or Cooking projects will be done daily as well as reading and writing activities.

 

Centers will be more defined in the preschool room.  Children will be split into groups and move throughout the centers in an organized direction.  This will help prepare them for Kindergarten. Teachers will be involved in these centers and use their prescence to help initiate learning through scaffolding. Teachers use children’s play to scaffold a learning experience. 

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The classroom becomes a third teacher - each experience is a learning experience

• teachers use children’s play to scaffold a learning experience

• I see you are cooking with lettuce. What color is lettuce? Can lettuce be other colors. How many more green things can you find to cook with? Can we count everything you found?

• Wow that is a lot of blocks in your tower. How many did you use (child counts). How many would be in your tower if I added 2. (count again) Thats right because ___+ 2 equals ____

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