When, What & How To Teach Your Preschooler
A while back LeeAnn from Las Vegas asked my opinion on just when is the right time to begin teaching her 2-year-old daughter. She has already begun teaching basic concepts such as alphabet, colors, and numbers, but some members of her family feel that she is pushing her little girl.
In my opinion, the easiest way for LeeAnn to test whether or not she is pushing her daughter can be found in this quote: "Is it too soon, or should I let her keep going as long as she is interested and is having fun?"
If LeeAnn's daughter is interested in the concepts that she is learning and having fun while learning then it is definitely the right time to teach her.
Learn more about activity preschool education here.
Contents at a Glance
Hooked on Phonics
Build On Their Interest
Remember, young children are learning a great deal about themselves, their family and caregivers, and their world ever day. For most of those lessons you are the teacher. By the time your child has reached the age of 2 you have already taught hundreds, even thousands, of important lessons about how to function in the world and society. Indeed, many of the everyday activities you perform with your child also have academic implications. For example, the books that you read to your child and the songs you sing with your child have a lasting impact on literacy. It is no great stretch to add other concepts into your repertoire and this can make a great deal of difference in how prepared your child is for preschool and kindergarten.
Click N Read
3 Things To Remember
~ Keep it fun Making learning into a game and your child will always enjoys what you have to teach her.
~ Keep it light Educational products and activities that are actually games are wonderful but don't force your child into spending time each day with flashcards or the like. They'll most likely learn faster and more meaningfully if you have an alphabet scavenger hunt at the supermarket.
~ Embrace the teachable moment but don't schedule lessons and force educational activities on your child. When the opportunity presents itself (and it will countless times in a day!) take advantage and use it for a lesson. For example, simply putting on socks can be a lesson in right and left, colors, or counting!
Preschool Program
How To Teach
What is the teachable moment? It is simply an opportunity that springs out of normal, everyday life or as children become older and more verbal a timely question or comment.
Time when you and your child are in the car, for example, is a wonderful teaching opportunity that many parents overlook. If you are reunited after a day's separation then you can share stories about your day-and in the process work on vocabulary and literacy skills as well as teach your child about the world around them. You can also use cars and trucks to teach colors, road signs to teach shapes, and so on.
Mealtimes are also wonderful teaching opportunities. Counting is easily worked into almost any meal, such as telling a child they can have two cookies or giving them five tater tots. Shapes and colors can also be brought into mealtimes. For example, my son likes to choose the shape for his sandwiches-triangles or squares? As a child grows older you can also do letter sounds with the various foods, such as milk starts with "mmmmh".
Photo Memory Books
What To Teach
~ Social/Emotional Skills, which will be the greatest predictors of success in life.
~ Self esteem, which is crucial for all learning.
~ Physical Skills
~ Communication Skills: listening, speaking, singing, drawing, gesturing
~ Basic Concepts such as colors, letters, numbers, vocabulary
~ Categorizing Skills, what is the same and different
~ Compare and Contrast Skills, which is the higher order level of Categorizing
~ Experiences on which to draw. These are perhaps the most important of all, as they provide a frame of reference for future learning. The more experiences from which a child can draw, the better s/he will understand both learning and the world.
These are all literacy skills and they are all key to your child's future success. If you need still more help identifying concepts that your child should master then study the developmental milestones for your child's age at http://PreschoolersLearnMore.com.
So rest easy, LeeAnn, you are doing exactly the right thing for your daughter!
Great Preschool Books
Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills, Preschool (Comprehensive Curriculumà )
Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 10/10/2008)
Brighter Child Learning Activities, Preschool (Brighter Child Workbooks)
Amazon Price: $3.99 (as of 10/10/2008)
Big Preschool Workbook
Amazon Price: $8.25 (as of 10/10/2008)
More Preschool Education Articles
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Questions or Comments About Teaching Your Preschooler?
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StephenC
Terrific Lens! Liked the information. Will come again! Posted September 19, 2008 |
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tbryson
Great information here about Preschools. We will use this info for our school at Preschool Costa Mesa. Thanks for the info Posted August 30, 2008 |
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gmarlett
Nice job and very useful lens! Welcome to the Squidoo All-Stars Group! Posted August 08, 2008 |
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sstoark
Very well thought out lens, nice work. I am looking to complete my lens series about buses for sale. Posted June 23, 2008 |
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Evelyn_Saenz
Fancy Nancy loves inspired Teachers that are as creative as you. I can hardly wait to read the rest of your lenses. Posted April 17, 2008 |
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