Assignment # 1

Book 1 – Orientation to ECD

100 Marks

Pre-school as a place of learning

Farah Baloch

21 May 2021

13 pages

3034 words
 Pre-school as a place of learning

Pre-school:
Characteristics:
Pre-school or pre-K is an important step for children. In pre-school,
children learn social and emotional development, behaviour management, and
academics. Early childhood education plays a key role in a child’s academic
development because he or she learns soft skills, job skills, and develop positive
traits.
Pre-school is not like kindergarten, but instead a stepping-stone that prepares
young students for the years of schooling they will have later in life. Many children
begin school at the ages of 5 or 6, the age when a child enters kindergarten.
However, children’s learning capabilities are at their peak at earlier ages than that.
During the first few years of life, a child learns a lot about themselves and the
world around them, and parents are their first teachers. Parents teach them how to
speak, how to walk, how to feed themselves. They teach them the alphabet, shapes
and colours, and even how to count and spell very simple words. But for healthy
development, children need active stimulation and interaction with others. This is
where early childhood education at a pre-school is the most beneficial.

Early childhood Development:

Early childhood is the most critical time for positive intervention. Children’s
development during this stage is strongly affected by their environment, and that
effect continues to exert a strong influence on the rest of their lives. In a Pre-School,
children gather the building blocks of social and financial literacy even before they
get to primary school.
 Preschool children are also developing time preferences, when they understand
that there are times when it is better to wait for something rather than to have it
now. Children as young as three years of age are exposed to the social values of
giving and sharing, not just with gifts or tangible materials, but also with interaction
with others. Other important life skills include taking turns, making decisions, and
setting goals.
Pre-school as a place of learning:
Children gain a lot from going to preschool because they become exposed to
numbers, letters, and shapes there. But, more importantly, they develop social and
emotional skills and learn how to get along with other children, to share and
to contribute. The 3-6-year olds are like little sponges at that age. They can take in
so much; even more than parents think.
Young children are naturally curious and observant. They want to learn
the skills that their families and society value, such as reading the instructions for
assembling a toy, or selecting the correct bills or coins to pay for a purchase. To
prepare children for the academic demands of school, pre-school teachers offer a
wide variety of games and activities that help them acquire necessary academic but
also social skills.

Pre-school Child:
Characteristics:
A Preschool child has a very tangible and literal thinking capacity. He does not think
symbolically as older kids or adults do. He also does not have reasoning capabilities
yet. At this age, kids love to explore and touch, feel, smell, taste, watch and wonder
about everything around them.
Raising a pre-schooler can be a lot of fun. I have a Four-years-old daughter. She is
becoming more independent and can dress herself, button clothes, and brush her
own teeth without help. Her speech is improving and vocabulary is expanding. She
has started to ask a lot of "why" questions, tell stories and remember nursery
rhymes.
Early childhood development milestones
As a Preschool Teacher you must have a rough idea of what to expect from children
as they reach these milestones, you will be better equipped to work with children
and keep an eye out for healthy growth.
Milestones at 2 – 4 months old
• Try to look at parents; begin to smile
• Copy some movements and facial expressions
• Turns head toward sounds
• Tracks movement with their eyes
• Starts to babble
• Holds head up, can push up while lying on tummy
Milestones at 6–9 months old
• Recognize faces
• Sit without support
• Have favorite toys
• Can pick up objects between thumb and index finger
• Pull themselves to stand while holding on to objects
Milestones at one year old
• Are often shy or nervous with strangers
• Use simple gestures
• Say “mama” and/or “dada”
• Follow simple directions like, “Pick up that toy.”
• Find hidden items easily
• May stand or take a few steps without support
Milestones at 18-months old
• Initiate play by handing things to others
• Point at what they want
• Say several single words
• Know how ordinary objects (telephone, spoon) are used
• Eat with spoons and drink with cups
Milestones at two years old
• Show excitement around other kids
• Repeat words or sentences often overheard
• Begin to sort shapes and colors
• Begin to run, climb, throw and stand on tiptoe
Milestones at three years old
• Exhibit a wide range of emotions
• Show concern for others
• Follow instructions with two or three steps
• Play make-believe
• Dress and undress themselves
Milestones at four years old
• Enjoy trying new things and talking about interests
• Know some basic grammar rules
• Start to understand time and the idea of counting
• Pour, cut and mash their food with supervision
Milestones at five years old
• Like to sing, dance and playact
• Speak clearly in full sentences
• Can print some letters or numbers
• Can use the toilet on their own
 Importance of a Pre-school:
Pre-school is a type of school focused on students who are ages three to five years
old. The primary goal of pre-school is school readiness, or the cognitive and social
preparation of children to be in a school classroom with other students. For this
reason, a specialised teacher is tasked with making sure that her students are ready
to take on the learning and social challenges that come with entering school.
As children grow into early childhood, their world begins to open up. They become
more independent and begin to focus more on adults and children outside of the
family. They want to explore and ask about the things around them even more. A
Preschool is designed to encourage children’s natural love of learning in an
environment where they feel comfortable, confident, and secure. Through a holistic
approach, we promote each child’s emotional, social, cognitive, and physical growth.

Areas of Development:
Children develop rapidly from birth to seven years, progressing from totally
helpless infants to individuals who can think, speak and solve problems. At the age
of three to five years, every preschool child may acquire certain skills referred to as
developmental milestones. These skills involve physical, Language/literacy,
emotional, social and cognitive abilities. How Kids Develop suggests that a
developmental milestone is a skill that a child acquires within a particular time
frame. All children do not develop at the same rate. A typical pre-schooler may be
ahead in some milestones and behind in others.
• Social/Emotional development.
Pre-school has a very big impact on the social development of a child. While a
child might be able to learn activities from a parent or guardian at home in isolation,
he or she will miss out on the importance of peers being part of the experience. Kids
 in preschool have the opportunity to practice sharing, tying their shoes, using
scissors and getting a backpack ready while being surrounded by other little humans
of the same age. Children are naturally social and curious. They are also packed full
of big emotions and need help navigating their feelings and learning how to react
and respond in social situations.
In preschool, a child learns how to compromise, be respectful towards others,
and solve problems. Preschool provide a place where a child gains a sense of self,
explore, play with his peers, and build confidence. Kids in preschool usually discover
that they are capable and that they can do things for themselves instead of always
asking mommy to step in. They learn wonders from small tasks like pouring their
own juice and helping set snack tables, to tackling bigger issues like making decisions
on how to spend their free time.

• Cognitive development.
Cognitive development, or intellectual development, involves a child’s ability
to solve problems, learn, reason and think. The pre-schooler can participate in
conversations and begins to develop his reasoning skills. He also knows his age and
address, can identify the heavier of two objects and can name the days of the week.
At this age, a child can tell a story with a beginning, middle and end. He also
knows the names of different shapes. Pre-schoolers may not be able to differentiate
reality from fantasy. Brain development is highest during the first four years of life.
The brain is forming important neural paths to help develop the child's ability to
perform and function and learn well.
Children are able to learn at a rapid rate and want and need to learn new
information. The fact is that 4 and 5-year-olds start asking some wonderful questions
about the world around them, like “what happens to the water after the rain? Do
birds play?”. Some parent might become confused when trying to answer some of
their questions, but the preschool makes this job easier. It teaches the children to
find answers through exploration, experimentation, and conversation.
• Physical development.
Physical development typically encompasses Gross (large) Motor and Fine
(small) motor development.
• Fine Motor Skills
These skills involve the use of a child’s smaller muscles such as his fingers or
hands. The pre-schooler should be able to hold a crayon and draw circles, squares
and triangles. He should also have the ability to button and zip or unzip his clothes.

• Gross Motor Skills

The gross motor skills of a preschool child include being able to go up a
staircase with alternate steps-- that is putting one foot on each step as he climbs
up, instead of both feet on one step, throw and catch a ball, hop, climb and skip,
pedal a bicycle and jump over low obstacles. To perform gross motor skills, a
child uses his large muscles.

Physical development skills are an important part of any preschool program.

Preschool teachers and parents are mindful of important milestones in the
physical development domain and provide children lots of opportunities to practice
physical development skills.
During the early childhood years, children learn to manage and take control
of their bodies. They become more aware of what their bodies can and can’t do.
Coordination and balance play an important role alongside fine motor skills when
children are learning life skills like buttoning or using silverware.

• Language and Literacy development.

It’s important to include language development in any pre-school program
because language skills have a direct impact on reading and writing success. Even
though children don’t need to learn how to read until they are in kindergarten or
first grade, teachers and parents should be reading to their children every day. Doing
so develops their speech skills, teaching appropriate pronunciation and articulation,
as well as exposing them to important emergent reading and writing skills that will
 prepare a way for them to learn how to read and write with ease once they enter
elementary school.
young children learn letters and numbers in preschool, but at their own pace
and through playing games. Preschool teachers do not sit kids down and ‘teach’
them because that would be the wrong way to do it. Instead, they teach them
through doing various kinds of activities the kids find interesting, like story-time,
talking to the teachers about stars, playing with blocks, etc.
For example, to help kids learn language and strengthen their pre-reading
skills, teachers in preschool play rhyming games and let kids tell stories. To help kids
learn pre-math skills, teachers ask their little students to count food items during
snack time, use calendar to count down days to their long-awaited preschool play,
or play memory games with them.

Activities For communication, Language & Literacy

• Games that encourage children to listen out for sounds

• Regular opportunities to learn new nursery rhymes & songs
• Exploring sounds made by musical instruments
• Role play with adults sometimes joining in
• Sharing stories & books with small groups of children or individual children
• Story sacks for children to recall and enact stories
• Making chalk marks outdoors
• Large scale painting to help children’s manipulative skills
• Writing notes & Massages to teddy

Different types of areas found in early years settings.

• Imaginative play area – dressing up clothes, home corners, pushchairs etc
• Small world play – farm sets, dolls houses, toy cars, train sets
• Creative play area – gluing, painting, collage, musical instruments, junk modelling,
tools, sewing
• Exploration – items for sorting, scales for measuring, magnifying glasses
• Literacy – book corners, mark making tables, chalks, white boards, story tapes
• Natural materials – sand tray, water tray, peat or mud, pasta
• Physical play – climbing frames, balls, hoops, tricycles, wheeled toys.
• Construction area – duplo, Lego, large wooden bricks, jigsaw puzzles

Researches:
Research shows that children who graduate from preschool have improved
academic readiness, lower incarceration rates, and higher earnings. There is more
and more scientific research that clearly indicates the existence of a sensitive period
in the development of the brain in the early stages of human life, which determines
the optimal development of the cerebral cortex.

• Alison Gopnik, a professor of psychology at the University of California at Berkeley

says, “Children learn more in their early years than they ever will again.”

• Jean Piaget, who is the psychologist credited with forming the Theory of Cognitive
Development in the late 1920s, created a list of what children at each stage are
capable of, and what they are not capable of. He found that a pre-schooler’s thought
process does not always make sense, and they are not capable of going back through
their thought process to see if all of the steps made sense.

• Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes, PhD, LMHC, LPC-MHSP, EIP Says: “By being aware of
development, educators and caregivers can understand what types of environments
children need”. Dr. Snipes explains. “Understanding early childhood development
can help you more effectively support your young ones, but more importantly, it helps
children develop a strong sense of confidence and determination.”

• The Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute's Abecedarian Project is one
of the world’s oldest and most oft-cited early childhood education programs.
Children born between 1972 and 1977 were randomly assigned as infants to either
the early educational intervention group or the control group. Children in the
experimental group received full-time, high-quality educational intervention in a
childcare setting from infancy through age 5. Each child had an individualized
 prescription of educational "games" incorporated into the day. These activities
focused on social, emotional, and cognitive areas of development but gave particular
emphasis to language. Researchers monitored children's progress over time with
follow-up studies conducted at ages 12, 15, 21, 30, and 35. The findings continue to
demonstrate that important, long-lasting benefits are associated with high-quality
early childhood program.

• A document gleaned from a Neuroscience Symposium organized by UNICEF on April

16, 2014, where 16 leading international scientists from different fields of
neuroscience presented their latest evidence on the influences of experience and
environment on child brain development

• Dr Pia Rebello Britto, neuroscientist, UNICEF senior advisor on ECD Says: “Every time
a parent speaks to a young child, it sparks something in the child; it’s stimulation to
the child. It forms brain connections.” UNICEF is working to increase investment in
family-friendly policies, including paid parental leave and access to quality,
affordable childcare; it makes good sense for governments because it helps
economies and businesses, as well as parents and children.
• The National Association for the Education of Young Children External link (NAEYC)
defines “early childhood” as occurring before the age of eight, and it is during this
period that a child goes through the most rapid phase of growth and development.
Their brains develop faster than at any other point in their lives, so these years are
critical. The foundations for their social skills, self-esteem, perception of the world
and moral outlook are established during these years, as well as the development of
cognitive skills.

Studies show that the more intellectual stimulation a child receives at the age of
four, the more developed the parts of the brain devoted to language and cognition
will be in the next decades of life, especially the brain region associated with
semantic memory, processing the meanings of words, and responsible for general
knowledge of the world.
An early childhood surrounded by books and educational toys will leave positive
fingerprints on a person's brain well into their late teens, a two-decade-long
research study has shown.
Scientists found that the more mental stimulation a child gets around the age of
four, the more developed the parts of their brains dedicated to language and
cognition will be in the decades ahead.
 Conclusion:

Preschool is necessary for starting a child on a path to success. children at this

age are so little, and the things they’re learning seem relatively simple. But there’s
more that goes into teaching preschool children. The time kids spend in pre-K
programs is used to develop a foundation for a lifetime of learning, and that matters.
Early childhood is considered to be the most important phase of development.
Healthy early child development, which includes physical, social/emotional, and
linguistic/cognitive development (each equally important), strongly affect mental
and physical health, literacy and numeracy skills, life success. The lack of proper care
at this early stage can lead to many problems, such as obesity, heart disease, crime,
and more. What happens to a child in the early years is crucial to the trajectory of
their development.

Bibliography

• Tassoni, Penny, Diploma in Pre School Practice, 2nd edition, Heinemann, Oxford 2006.

• Bruce, Tina, Meggitt, Carolyne, Child Care and Education 2nd edition, Hodder &
Stoughton, Oxford 2000.

• Hobart, Christine, Frankel, Jill, A Practical Guide to Child Observations and Assessments,
3rd edition, Nelson Thornes, Cheltenham, 2004

• Jones, Annette, Diploma in Pre School Practice Core unit 1, Peartree press Ltd,
Stevenage, 2006
• https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/education/blog/why-preschool-important-myths/

• The Effect of Pre-primary Education on Primary School

Performance. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222011848_The_Effect_of_Pre-
primary_Education_on_Primary_School_Performance
Gutaa, Tarekegne, Tegegne 2017

• International Survey: U.S. Teachers Are Overworked, Feel Underappreciated.

https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2019-06-19/international-
survey-us-teachers-are-overworked-feel-underappreciated
• https://wehavekids.com/education/Why-Preschool-Education-Is-Important-For-Your-Child
• Developmental skills for Pre school https://stayathomeeducator.com/developmental-
skills-for-preschoolers/#cognitive
• Early Childhood Education https://teach.com/careers/become-a-teacher/where-can-i-
teach/grade-levels/early-childhood/
• Early Childhood Developmental https://www.aflatoun.org/goals/early-childhood-
development/?gclid=CjwKCAjwtJ2FBhAuEiwAIKu19rfA6ISK1_cbgjh0zeBvAA51Qnh3Yejthb
2Z28oksdkqxyaOrQG7ixoClD8QAvD_BwE
• https://www.ourkids.net/pl-en/preschool-importance.php#maincontent