Two little girls on a make-believe trip downtown shuffle by in high heels. To their delight, a bunny scoots by in search of food. In this preschool classroom, mini-social circles of 3- and 4-year-olds play in a loft, admire a turtle, enjoy a morning snack.
These preschoolers at National-Louis University’s Baker Demonstration School in Evanston not only are having fun but are learning social skills that prepare them for kindergarten and beyond.
Nearly two-thirds of children in the United States are in preschool or day care, said Tom Layman, executive director of the Chicago Metropolitan Association for the Education of Young Children. In upper middle-class communities, the number is closer to 90 percent, he said.
“Preschool children learn best through play that results in using new words, speaking in sentences, counting and measuring, organizing friends in imaginary situations and learning about the real world,” he said.
Others agree. “We give young children opportunity within a play-based program to explore, discover and create in every area of the curriculum,” said Carolyn Tripp, assistant professor of early childhood education at National-Louis University’s National College of Education in Evanston and pre-kindergarten instructor at the Baker Demonstration School.
“In my class the children are the curriculum,” Tripp said. “They decide what to learn on any given day.” She said she doesn’t schedule activities because “I don’t know what a child will feel like doing when.” Instead, she said, she makes activities available at all times.
Tripp’s class focuses on socialization and daily living skills. “We give children opportunities to learn practical skills they can use in their day-to-day lives.” Through socialization, children learn how to get along with others, solve problems and think creatively.
Tripp believes preschools need less emphasis on the ABCs. “There’s no research that learning the ABCs gets you off to a good reading start,” she said. Her classroom is rich in print and numbers, but they serve to pique children’s interest, she said.
Tripp’s approach to learning reflects one of three major theories in early childhood education.
Some believe children should learn items such as the ABCs, number facts and songs through memorization, said Barbara T. Bowman, president of the Erikson Institute in Chicago, a graduate school for child development. The teacher tells the child what to learn through direct instruction.
Others let children’s interests drive the curriculum and make all materials available, as in Tripp’s classroom.
In the constructionist approach, an adult helps a child categorize the world. For example, a teacher may pose a problem to a child and solve it with him or her.
Educators say the most important things a child can learn in preschool are social skills, which are the foundation for success in school.
Preschoolers need to learn how to get along with others, cooperate, compromise, resolve conflict, follow directions, take turns and control impulses. “These skills help children function well in our society,” Bowman said.
Social emotional development is critical for success in school, said Alice Moss, manager in Chicago of the state pre-kindergarten program, available throughout Illinois for children at risk of failure in public schools for such reasons as poverty or lack of proficiency in English.
“Children need to be able to play and get along with each other, develop positive self-esteem and learn how to express themselves when displeased,” Moss said.
Liz Hurtig is head teacher at the state pre-kindergarten Demonstration Center, a branch of Woodson North Middle School in Chicago. “Young children’s experiences at this age are preparatory for the tasks they will face later,” she said. “They don’t need a body of information for success in school so much as a set of experiences that helps them physically, emotionally, intellectually and socially.”
Young children need concrete experiences and to be physically engaged in learning, Hurtig said. Throughout her classroom are interest centers that encourage thinking and experience. Each offers the opportunity for social interaction, she said. For example, the block corner, where children play with blocks, offers the chance for interaction, which often leads to conflict.
That’s not to say the ABCs aren’t important.
Children at First United Church Nursery School in Oak Park are exposed to literary activities and writing materials to encourage language development, said director Joan White. Group projects include writing thank-you notes and get-well messages, and sharing observations. Classrooms are filled with books, and the teacher reads aloud every day. Some children keep journals with hand-drawn pictures.
“Our main goal is for kids to have a great time,” White said. “We want them to gain confidence as learners and explorers and to take initiative.”
Children aren’t given instruction for every activity or project. “They learn to trust their own capabilities rather than look to a teacher for all the answers,” she said.
Children at Lutheran General Children’s Day Care in Des Plaines listen to stories on tape before nap time, site director Delores Hermann said. “Children learn to connect what they hear with the printed word,” she said. Hermann is also president of the Chicago Metropolitan Association for the Education of Young Children.
Through these activities, children pay attention to the sound of language. When reading a story or poem, the teacher draws attention to sounds and introduces vocabulary.
Young children are capable of learning pre-math skills such as sorting, counting and matching. Preschool children can learn to count to five, but not as high as 10, Bowman said. “We must instead expand a child’s skills within this number range, such as how to add and subtract,” she said.
Preschoolers can learn the sequence of numbers, but they don’t immediately understand that the last number they count in an array of objects is the total, Bowman said. Eventually, children learn this one-to-one relationship between objects in a group and a number that it corresponds to, such as the seventh item.
Hermann’s pupils sort things into piles or put sets together. For example, children make sure there are a napkin and a cup for every child at the snack table. “When children first learn to count, accuracy is less important than recognizing the connection between an object and a number,” Hermann said.
White’s classroom has cubes, links, measuring tapes, dominoes, dice and games to sort by color and shape. “These items are great for strategy and working together, problem-solving and planning,” White said. Cooking is also helpful for teaching pre-math skills such as measuring.
In preschool science education, Bowman doesn’t encourage experiments anymore, she said. “We do better to help children observe and describe ordinary things in life, such as wind, the seasons and weather.”
Hermann agreed. “Children learn about their world through observation. They observe things that grow like plants or that move like animals.” Her classrooms have fish, gerbils and guinea pigs. “We may go outside and watch the seasons,” she said.
White’s classroom encourages observation and natural experience. “We have collections of shells, pine cones, acorns, rocks and sand,” she said. Children go outside and explore the sun, wind, rain, snow, shadows, bubbles, water, sand and water tables. They discuss how things change when mixed or frozen.
Many preschools have computers with age-appropriate software. Young children can learn computer skills easily. “They enjoy making something happen,” Bowman said. “It begins in the high chair when they drop food and mom leans to get it.”
Computers can help young children learn procedures and vocabulary. But those without access aren’t necessarily held back, Bowman said. “Anything you could learn on the computer, you could learn sitting on mom’s lap and looking at a book,” she said. At this age, learning to work on the computer without fear is more important than what’s learned, she said.
Preschool can help children meet the social demands of kindergarten by making learning enjoyable and rewarding, Bowman said. “It’s very hard for parents to teach self-control and the rules of group behavior at home.” Children who never attended preschool can feel left out when their kindergarten classmates already have a certain skill.
“You can tell the difference between a kid who’s had social and intellectual experiences and one who’s been isolated,” Layman said. “Children need to know how to regulate themselves, be quiet when it’s quiet time, be active when active, and pick up cues from the teacher and other kids about appropriate behavior.”
