Pre-K Is A Great Head-Start!

By Suki Wessling

From Growing Up in Santa Cruz, May 2005

A 1989 summit hosted by President George H.W. Bush called for universal pre-kindergarten education for all children by 2000. That goal, of course, has not been reached. A U.S. Census Bureau estimate in 2001 put the number at 52%. But in those years parents who have embraced preschool education for their kids have been turning more often to an innovation in preschools: the pre-K only classroom.

The traditional preschool puts children from age two to five into a mixed-age classroom where the children gain skills in important developmental domains: social, physical, and academic. But as any parent knows, the developmental needs of two-year-olds are quite different than a child about to enter kindergarten. "Children thrive in a setting that challenges them to reach just beyond their skill level, while still honoring their current abilities," says Ali Spickler, director of Simcha Preschool in Aptos. "A two-year-old's classroom, for example, should allow for children to help pour and mix during a cooking project, there should be rich language around the foods being prepared. A four-year-old's class can expand on that rich experience by including a recipe chart for children to track measurements or to dictate stories of the tastes and smells and cultures of those foods and make comparisons."

A child in a pre-K classroom will have the opportunity to develop more skills. "Pre-K education is a bridge between the freedom of preschool and the structure of kindergarten," says Midori Tetreault, pre-K teacher at Secret Garden Preschool in La Selva Beach. "Pre-kindergarten education offers children exposure to concepts that they will need to master in kindergarten without the pressure or necessity to perform at a particular level."

Pressure to perform in kindergarten? A lot of parents are worrying about just that as concern over the performance of California students has led to increased emphasis on academic learning in kindergarten. Joni Hyerle, co-teacher in the pre-K classroom at Simcha Preschool, has had to change her teaching to keep up. "With the change in standards for kindergarten, children entering school need to be familiar with many kinds of academic learning which used to be the standard curriculum for kindergarten," Hyerle says. "It is appropriate for children who will be starting kindergarten to have at least a year to learn letters, symbols, the associated sounds, how to use a pencil for writing, scissors for cutting, number symbol recognition, one-to-one correspondence, operations, measurement, comparisons, data collecting and graphing, patterns, and basic geometric shapes."

But a pre-K classroom isn't just about academics. Deborah Ivie, whose daughter just entered pre-K at Secret Garden, says her daughter is thrilled that the pre-K classroom can offer more variety. "Grace loves being a 'big kid'. The kids do more sophisticated circles, they have poetry book for each season and they memorize poems and illustrate them." Mark Silberstein, whose two sons are at Simcha, agrees. "I walked in one day and the kids were taking apart a bicycle! What a great way to teach them about materials, tools, construction, and how things work."

"Socially, I work with children to become problem solvers with their peers. The children are encouraged to use their words, express their feelings and ideas, and they are expected to interact with everyone with a high level of respect for feelings as well as personal space," explains Tetreault. The level of dialogue is also higher, allowing children with developing verbal skills to express themselves. "One day, between all the rains, we had an outdoor nature hunt," Hyerle recounts. "One of the items we were looking for was a feather. We could hear birds. The teacher directed attention to listening to the birds and then asked if we went close to the birds, "Do you think we will find a feather there?" One girl replied, 'I don't think we will find any feathers. You know, those feathers are screwed in tight!'"

Many parents fret about whether their children will be ready for kindergarten, especially because it's unclear to a lot of us what "kindergarten readiness" is. According to Tetreault, "Kindergarten readiness requires that a child self-regulate socially, emotionally, and physically to the best of his or her ability and this is no small feat. In my opinion, for many children giving them this year makes the difference between being a leader versus being a follower." Pre-K teacher Darlene Hall of A Child's Reflection in Santa Cruz says that the academic achievements of her students are not the key to their success in kindergarten. "It's maturity -- learning to get along with other children, to share, and learning compassion for each other. In our school, when one child gets hurt, another will run and get ice to help them."

Hyerle says that in theory, a state mandate for universal preschool is a fine idea, "So that all children, and not just the children from families who can afford to pay, have the preparation to be successful." But teachers agree that there's a downside to government intervention. "I enjoy the freedom I have in creating my own curriculum," Tetreault states. "I would be afraid that we would have to give up our autonomy if the government was involved."

The debate may rage on in government and academic circles over what appropriate curriculum is, but there are a lot of satisfied parents whose pre-K graduates have succeeded in kindergarten. Tetreault states it plainly: "Children who have been in my pre-K class do better in kindergarten than they would have without it. I can't say that they are doing better in comparison with other students but in terms of their own personal growth the benefits are immeasurable."

Elise Atkins, whose daughter is in the Simcha pre-K, sees kindergarten-level work already happening. "Today, when I picked her up, Sonja was making a chart with them about items that float and items that sink. Charting seems like a pretty advanced mathematical skill, one that is just barely touched on in kindergarten, yet it is brought to them in a way that is meaningful and easy to understand."

And Silberstein, whose sons will be off to kindergarten in the fall, has no worries about their readiness. "They have learned the basic lessons about being in a classroom and getting along and being responsible for clean-up and cooperation. They are excited about kindergarten and I don't think there is any anxiety about what otherwise might be the "unknown." Simcha has prepared them for this next step and at the same time, engaged them fully."

Suki Wessling is the owner of Chatoyant, a small publishing company located in Aptos. Her writing has been published in nationally distributed journals and anthologies. She is also the mother of two children, one of whom has graduated from a pre-K program and is enjoying life as a kindergartener.

About Simcha | Take a Look | Calendar | Contact Us | For Parents