Preparing your Child for Preschool

Preschool is very different from day care centre so, don’t confuse between the two. A preschool teaches skills to your child and prepares it for kindergarten and elementary school. A day care centre on the other hand takes care of your baby while you are away. Both may provide food while you are away as some preschools have mid-day meal schemes. Others expect you to pack your child’s Tiffin.

Your child’s entry into pre-school may be slightly daunting for the child and a source of worry for you as well. You may worry whether your child will adjust to the changed environment. There is no need for you to worry, if you prepare your toddler for preschool with certain activities that ensure his transition to playschool is smooth. Keep all learning activity playful, Make sure that you don’t make entering a preschool a chore; it should appear like fun where your child will get other playmates his age and will play and learn things like art, reading and several other social skills. Also check the preschool you are sending your toddler to, what is their medium of instruction, do they have many play activities. Have a detailed conversation with your child’s teacher.

Plan some social activities where your child is exposed to other children the same age. If your child has not been exposed to peers, this is the time to introduce the concept of doing activities and playing cooperatively.

Use role play activities to familiarize your child to the preschool, take turns playing the parent and the teacher, so your child is familiar with the concept of teacher and school.

Introduce the concept of pre-school gradually so that the child feels he is in familiar environment when he gets to pre-school. He will feel comfortable with his school because you have gently introduced the concept to him. Act out all the activities the child will do at school, like saying good bye to parents, singing songs, reading stories, playing with friends and also taking naps. Make all these activities fun so that your child takes part in everything enthusiastically. Reassure your child that nursery school is fun and they will learn many exciting things at the playschool.

Play with your child and discuss playschool with him. Introduce the idea that playschool will teach him new things and also act out all the activities your child will do at school. Like taking off her coat, wearing shoes and keeping them, in fact you could race your child to shoes wearing and say let’s see who wears shoes faster and reward him suitably when he does as desired.

If your child has some kind of worry regarding the new place he is going to hear him out and reassure him that it is normal to be apprehensive about a new place. Go and buy the school gear with your child and try and let your child choose the backpack he will be taking. Ensure that your child is completely at ease about the new phase that will begin in his life.

Preschool and your child

A good preschool strives to make your child more independent, builds a sense of self-esteem and confidence which will foster learning at your child’s own pace. Learning that is fostered at the child’s own pace by changing the role of adults in the classroom. It has been found through research that children who have attended good pre-schools show better academic performance than those who never attended a nursery school, or those who went to the neighbourhood nursery schools. So it is essential that you carefully check the pre-school, you are sending your child to. A child who has attended a high quality preschool has longer attention spans and is more socially well-adjusted. Such a child shows better math skills, and grows up into better individuals as they are more likely to attend graduate school and become successful adults.

Check the credentials of the school you are sending your child too. The teachers should hold degrees in teaching Montessori kids. Also check if the school is accredited.

Don’t mix up day care with nursery school. Day care services are meant for taking care of the child when the parents are away, whereas nursery school is more than mere taking care of the child. The hours of day care are not pre-defined, where as nursery school has shorter hours and it teaches different skills to the child. If you are looking for day care don’t send your child to a pre-school and if you want to send your child to learn then don’t send them to a day care center.

Find out how the school deals with undisciplined behaviour. When the child hits or bites, what does the school do? How does the school deal with conflict between kids? Do they let the kids resolve it themselves or the teacher intervenes. It is very important that you trust the schools way of dealing with your child.

Does your child’s school have a mid-day meal scheme, what do they serve. Don’t send your child to a school that serves mid-day meal, if you don’t want your child to eat a certain kind of food. Find out also whether the food served fulfils the nutritional needs of your child.

Check whether the school, fosters the child’s imagination. Does it encourage the child to imagine? See the pictures on the wall, does it show encouragement of the child’s imagination or the child is guided into drawing in a specific way.

Also find out whether the school encourages the parents to visit the school anytime or the school has a fixed schedule when you can visit the school.

What does the school do about the safety of the child? Do they have attendants who look after the safety of the child and what does the school do after school pick-up?

Find out what is the philosophy of the school, does the school encourage the play way method of learning or the school makes the child learn numbers and the alphabet by writing them out. Each schools philosophy differs and you should choose a school that matches with your philosophy of how you want your child to be treated. As a final word choose a school that has a scientific curriculum to teach the children.

Will Preschool education make your child ready for school?

Some parents are concerned whether their children will be ready for school after they have attended a nursery school. So, they go through increased anxiety and are on the lookout for good pre-primary schools. Little millennium is one such school that specializes in training children, through a scientific curriculum that they practice in their school.

 The school’s early development training ensures that the child is able to read write and comprehend once it has attended their pre-school. They focus on the all round development of your child. A good pre-school should ensure that there is complete cognitive development of your child.

Through a planned and systematic curriculum the child should develop problem-solving skills. Developing a capacity for a strong knowledge basis which would ensure academic success in future is essential in a good preschool education. Education should have horizontal relevance to the child rather than vertical relevance. In other words, you should not view your child as an adult in the making but whatever it is doing now should be valued and should have relevance in the present rather than living for the future.

Besides learning to read and write children also learn social interaction in a pre-primary school. The classroom should be considered as a place where the teacher and the kids socially interact with each other and together negotiate the school curriculum.

Little children should be given a chance to learn skills which would help them, make sense of their world. Learning is most effective when it is taught by the play-way method. There should be a relationship between what is being learnt and the learning environment. Knowledge and understanding of the subject should be developed through social interactions. The final goal should be to create a learning environment in which the teachers and students have opportunities to make decisions, connect the known to the unknown, and test out new ideas by interactive methods. The role of the teacher in the learning process is to provide guided participation. The role of the children is to interact by play and informal learning new ideas and activities.

Children should be allowed to develop ideas and concepts which help them understand their world. The process of teaching is effective when children build concepts on the basis of their understanding of the world. The teachers provide situations that enhance the experiences of children which makes them reconstruct their experiences and express.

Children’s curriculum should be designed to foster factual knowledge and should build their conceptual understanding of mathematics and science. For instance children should learn representational systems in the early stages of learning literacy. Children should also develop skills which make them gather information like identifying numbers and letters and different ways to acquire information about their natural and social world.

Pre-primary education should make children learn by participating in activities that are meaningful to them. The activities they indulge in should develop knowledge, skills and ways of learning and thinking and develop a disposition of learning.

Good preschools like Little Millennium develop children’s ability through interactive systems and thus contribute towards their learning.

Making your Preschooler resilient

Your preschooler is encountering and experimenting with everything for the first time. In the preschool your child meets new friends, learns new skills and activities and also is introduced to a new environment for the first time. Though the preschool age is a little early to introduce resilience to your child, it is the right time to gently plant the idea of resilience in your child.

The concept of resilience is like the concept of a rubber band, your child should be strong enough to go to school, learn concepts, make friends and come back home the same child who left for school. The ability to stretch their imagination, interact with peers and develop new skills is all a part of the concept of resilience.

Teaching your child the concept of resilience is similar to teaching him to fall down and get back again, without making a hue and cry about it. You can teach your child that if they don’t win they have the inner strength to improve and win the next time. You can teach your child how to rebound when something doesn’t go its way.

Here are some tips on how you can make your child a strong and more resilient child. If you wish to foster resilience in your child, don’t offer it a quick solution every time he faces a problem. Let it learn to find solutions. For example, if you go out with your child, and he falls down, wait for a minute and see whether he makes attempt to get up on his own or waits for you to help him. If he gets up on his own and goes about his way, you can admire him and appreciate his ability to get back again. Help him clean the mud of his knees but admire his running skill and generally don’t focus on solving his problem for him.

Teach your child the concept of persistence over perfection, he should not be taught the concept of perfection, which will unnecessary confuse him; instead teach him that participating is as good as winning. Praising your three-year old will build his self-confidence, which is essential in making him more resilient. Set example of resilience and show your resilient behaviour to your child.

Use words that encourage persistence rather than perfection. Don’t use words like always and never. Avoid saying I can never make it, instead encourage making efforts, when you make efforts your child too will learn to make efforts.

Pushing perfection on the child means, setting examples in front of and asking your child to be like them, instead allow your child to develop his self-confidence. Allow your child to make choices and appreciate them, this will make him more confident and resilient. If your child shows a choice for wild colours, let him wear the colour it likes, this will foster his self-confidence and make him more resilient. A confident child is a resilient child. Your pre-schooler can also become more resilient, if you encourage him to be more self-confident, by avoiding solving his problems and encourage him to make independent choices.

The importance of Pre-primary education

Pre-school education is essential for your toddler because it is the building block of your child’s elementary education. It helps in laying down a healthy foundation for the all-round development of your child. It is necessary to provide your child with good pre-primary education for him to be prepared for future education. Here are some reasons why your little one should be provided with good nursery education.

Pre-primary education prepares your child for kindergarten and future school. It allows your child to build a base for his future education.

It allows the child to expose his inner skills so that the child develops his personality. It allows a child to give vent to his inner desires in positive ways. Some pre-school franchisees have activities designed for children in such a way that their inner talents are exposed.

Pre-primary education exposes the creativity of the child, thus allowing the child to develop his personality in a natural way.

The child learns to adjust with his peers and learns to interact with outsiders. He learns to find a life outside of his home. The child develops an independent personality outside of his home. Becoming independent is the first stage of growth and besides learning to eat independently, sleep independently, child learns to exist independently.

It is essential to the growth of the child that by the age of three, it starts showing signs of independence.

A good pre-primary school like Little Millennium comes to your aid here. Their scientific curriculum ensures the all-round development of the child. Your child is well on his way to attending kindergarten and regular school. 

Pre-schools like Little Millennium who have franchisees all over India, ensure the physical, mental and emotional growth of the child. The child develops his cognitive skills in the scientific curriculum that nurtures the child. 

Good pre-schools teach  a child not only social skills and develop its ability to adjust in its social environment but also teach it how to deal with bullies. Your child may be facing bullies in his pre-school, but may not be telling you about it. Find out whether your child is hesitant to go to school. Does it try and avoid school. The reason could be there is a bully at the school. Good pre-primary schools, ensure that bullies are not scaring other children so that they avoid school. 

Pre-primary schools are also responsible for teaching social etiquettes to your child. Some of the group activities involve teaching manners and etiquettes to your child. 

The group activities that nursery schools conduct are what develops the complete personality of your child. The children may be taken on field trips, where they are taught the importance of discipline. The children also learn to eat independently and many are also potty trained by this age, so they know how to handle themselves to an extent.

Pre-primary education is one more step in the growth of your child. For your child to grow into a healthy, socially well-adjusted child and individual, it is essential that you send him to a good nursery school.

Tips for Pre-school

Pre-school curriculum that nurtures and stimulates your child’s mind is not followed in many schools. Pre-school education in India is often very limited. One school that ensures the proper development and growth of your child is Little Millennium. Pre-school curriculum that ensures the proper growth of the child will ensure, your child is successful when it goes to regular school. 

Selecting the correct pre-school is not an easy task. Here are some pointers towards choosing the correct nursery school for your child. 

Start Early: Good pre-schools in India are in great demand. Especially those who have a good reputation may have a long waiting list. Many schools register just after the birth of the baby or by the time the baby has completed two years of age.

Visit the pre-school you are keen on admitting your child to. This will give you are clearer picture of what your child is in for. Go with your child and see how your child adjusts initially. Talk in advance to your child about the visit and tell him what he will see and learn at the school, and let him see if it finds the same features in the school. After the visit, listen to your child’s comments before deciding on the school.

Check out the curriculum, the student and staff turnover. How many teachers per student are there. What kind of health and safety arrangements do they have. Do they have meal arrangements for the kids. Opt for the school only if you are comfortable with the answers provided to you.

Talk to parents whose kids are already enrolled at the school. Ask them, how they like the arrangements at the school, do their kids like the school are they happy and are they learning there. Do their kids show keenness to attend school, or they want to avoid school. Ask if they have any concerns from the school.

Find out if your child can try out the school curriculum, before it takes the final admission to the school.

If after all the research you like the school schedule, them give your child time to adjust to the new school. Your child may be shy or just plain reluctant to go to school. He may simply not want to attend school.

Pre-schools, teach many social skills to children like being independent and sharing and following directions, see whether your kids preschool has activities built into their curriculum which teach your child these skills.

When do I apply?

Many pre-schools start taking admission applications in January and some take in the month of April. Find out about your chosen school and apply in time. 

No matter what everybody says, you are the best judge to decide what kind of school environment is suitable for your child.

Keep your child’s personality in mind. Is it shy? Does it make friends easily? Is it an extrovert, or does it show tendency to bully. Knowledge of your child’s personality will help you decide whether your chosen pre-school caters to these aspects of its personality. For instance, if your child is shy do they have activities that help the child get rid of its shyness? Choosing the right nursery school is a daunting task, but if you do your homework, before you admit your child to a school, you shouldn’t face any problems.

Reading ready for Pre-school

Nobody can forget their child’s first word, which is usually ‘mama’ or ‘dada’, however it could also be ‘baba’, which made you smile with happiness. It is natural to rejoice when your toddler shows first signs of growing. Whether they speak for the first time, or start walking for the first time. Your enthusiasm for your child’s acquisition of language skills, motivates your child to learn. Your pre-school child’s acquisition of words, shows its preparedness for pre-schooleducation. 

It is important that as parents you should do everything to prepare your child’s vocabulary as he reaches the stage to join nursery school. In a study it was found that children who were exposed to challenging words at age three performed well in standardized tests than children who were not exposed to difficult words.

An interesting mealtime game could be introducing interesting new words, when your child is comfortable. Do not serve a dictionary at mealtime, instead talk with your little one, describe something that you saw, and strategically introduce new words. This will make your child curious and he may ask the meaning of the new word, thus your little one is on his way to learning new words.

Read to your child

Reading a story to your child, brings the story to life for both of you. Your child benefits by the growing vocabulary.His imagination is also stimulated, thus story reading provides double benefit, first the growing vocabulary and the second stimulation of the imagination. You could ask lots of questions while reading and thus nurture your child’s reading comprehension. While reading if your child can’t make out the meaning of a word, ask your child to study the illustration to find clues. While reading ask open-ended questions like,“what do you think will happen next?” making your child listen carefully and also trying to comprehend the meaning of words and comprehending the story as well. These kinds of interactions with your child along with introduction of new words to enhance your child’s vocabulary, will ensure your child is successful at school.

Play guessing games

If your child is stuck with the meaning of a word, don’t give out the meaning, instead encourage your child to guess the meaning from the context. Give out words that are related to the word, or synonyms. Thus your child will come out with the exact meaning, reward when your child guesses the meaning.

Show objects and tell

Show your child objects, and then explain its function. For instance show your child the mixer, tell how it eases your workload in the kitchen. This will add one word to your child’s vocabulary where it is sure what a mixer is. 

Play make believe games

Playing make believe or role play can expose your child to many new words. It is fun and a great way to enhance your child’s vocabulary.

All these activities will ensure your child has a good vocabulary and better prepared for pre-school. This will also result in his future performance being better.

Pre-school Learning

Do you have a toddler at home, who is between three to five years of age? Is he or she attending pre-school? Before you decide on a school, look for these qualities in your chosen school:

The school has properly trained staff like teachers, administrators and ayahs. These people should know they are dealing with toddlers and not grown-ups; hence, they should be loving, understanding, kind and caring. Your little one shouldn’t start missing home when it is away at school.

One such school that provides a culturally sound environment,the right values, love and protection which are needed for a healthy body, mind and soul in the most critical phase of a child’s growing up years is Little Millennium.

Unlike other pre-primary schoolsthat just look after the kids while the parents are away, Little Millennium aims at enabling, enhancing, and energizing childhood by fostering growth of mind, body spirit, which leads them towards becoming lifelong learners.

The school should have access to different activities throughout the day. When you visit your child’s school, look for games like building blocks, props for pretended role play, color books, picture books and other material that allows the child to draw and paint. Other games like puzzles, matching games etc. should also be there.

The school should have teachers who work with individual child, small groups of children and occasionally with a large group of children. They shouldn’t just deal with large groups.

The classroom should be decorated with children’s own drawing work, their writing work and not with bought material.

For children to learn alphabets and numbers they do so within the context of their day-to-day life experiences. Everyday activities like taking attendance, serving a snack, plants and animals provide an environment for learning.

Children should be given projects to learn from and there should be play and activities for more than an hour.

Schools like Little Millennium follow the eclectic approach when dealing with children. Their teaching method embraces the following teaching principles: 

·         Project Method

·         Montessori Method

·         Theme Based Method

·         Multiple Intelligence

·         Play Way

It makes sense to deal with different children differently as all children are not the same. Similarly the learning need of each child differs.

Children should be given enough time for outdoor play. No amount of activities or instructions can make up the need of outdoor play.

The teacher should read books to children individually and not just when they are in a group. Children love listening to stories.

As a parent you should feel secure about sending your child to school. Similarly your child should be happy attending school and not cry and complain every day.

Sending your child to school is an activity that both the child and parents should look forward too. You should understand your child well, so that you can identify areas where your child is facing a problem. There could be a child bully at school; however that shouldn’t mean your child comes back crying every day or avoids school. It should be guided in such a manner that your child knows how to deal with the bully. A sound knowledge of your child, its likes and dislike would make its joining school a joyous activity.