Preschool Question

[HIU8]

DS's turned 4 in November. The cutoff for K here is 5 by Sept. 1, so he has one more year of preschool to go. His current preschool has a 4 yr old class that is an extended day. However, they do not label it as Pre-K. They are a NAEYC accredited school. Does anyone have experience with Pre-K? If a program says 4 yr old, does it not mean it's Pre-K? I'm obviously going to be speaking this week with the program director to get clarification about it, but it has me worried that the program will not prepare him enough for public K. Just FYI, it is a JCC preschool program. Anyone BTDT? I am really looking for some guideance.

Thanks.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I wouldn't stress over terms (preschool vs pre-k) and even content. I believe that kids will learn when they are ready wrt things like reading. I don't think that kids need a lot of prep or foundation to do ok in public K. Public schools should be used to kids coming from very diverse preschool experiences (nothing to repeating kindergarten). I think so long as the kids are exposed to things like writing- watching someone else write their name, for example- that lays a great foundation for skills they need for k (letter recognition and letter sounds).

My ds went from a 4yo program, not a pre-k, to a private kindergarten and was right on track skill wise.

Beth

[MamaKath]

DS's turned 4 in November. The cutoff for K here is 5 by Sept. 1, so he has one more year of preschool to go. His current preschool has a 4 yr old class that is an extended day. However, they do not label it as Pre-K. They are a NAEYC accredited school. Does anyone have experience with Pre-K? If a program says 4 yr old, does it not mean it's Pre-K? I'm obviously going to be speaking this week with the program director to get clarification about it, but it has me worried that the program will not prepare him enough for public K. Just FYI, it is a JCC preschool program. Anyone BTDT? I am really looking for some guideance.

Thanks.

As a K teacher, I wouldn't stress too much. In many states K is not mandatory to go to before first grade. Lots of kids head into K with varying experiences; home with mom, daycare with no academics, daycare with some academics, very academic daycare, pre-k halfday 2-3 days a week, full day pre-k, etc. Kids learn in all different ways also.

If you want to help prepare your dc, work on simple things within your environment. Read, talk about things in your home and the sounds the words start with (stove starts with s, etc.), count, talk about the days of the week (today is, yesterday was, tomorrow will be), months, seasons, weather. All of those things can be very natural interactions between parents and children and help to prepare them at the same time.