Toddler getting ready for preschool

Ready for preschool? (excerpt)

How to choose a high-quality program

[ By Susan Phillips for Connect for Kids ]

Kim Hughes teaches in Raleigh, North Carolina. And while she's teaching her young students, she's also teaching teachers: her classroom is part of a demonstration project, so people come to watch her in action throughout the school year.

The project is part of an early-intervention program of the Wake County public school system. Though it's called a preschool, the next stop for the children in her classroom is kindergarten.

Says Hughes, "If they called it a pre-K, I'd be doing exactly the same thing."

Many parents of pre-K children didn't go to preschool or pre-K themselves. What should they expect? What does a good pre-K program look and sound like?

What's Pre-K?

Right now, there is no common definition of what pre-K is. I think the terms of preschool and pre-k can be used interchangeably. People hear the word pre-kindergarten and they get a more academic picture in their mind.

The No. 1 thing is a really strong emphasis on social and emotional development and interaction. Without that, children will struggle later on.

 

Read the rest of this article at the EduGuide website (next)