Parenting
P"There's increasing evidence that children gain a lot from going to preschool," says Parents advisor Kathleen McCartney, PhD, dean of Harvard Graduate School of Education, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "At preschool, they become exposed to numbers, letters, and shapes. And, more important, they learn how to socialize -- get along with other children, share, contribute to circle time."
Statistics show that a majority of kids attend at least one year of preschool: According to the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), more than two-thirds of 4-year-olds and more than 40 percent of 3-year-olds were enrolled in a preschool in 2005. "Children who attend high-quality preschool enter kindergarten with better pre-reading skills, richer vocabularies, and stronger basic math skills than those who do not," says NIEER director W. Steven Barnett, PhD.
Preschool refers to an early-childhood educational class for 3- and 4-year-olds
Parent involvement in children's out of home experiences has long been heralded as positive for both parent and child. Research suggests that parent participation in a child's preschool program is positively associated with social adjustment and school performance.1 With the increase of families where employment and other commitments reduce both the time and the common experiences a child and parent share, parent involvement may be more important than ever. 2
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT: PARADOXES OF THE PRESCHOOL MINDFor decades, Piaget's descriptions of young children's thinking dominated exploration of the preschooler's mental development. According to Piaget, children's language acquisition reflects their emerging capacity for representational thought. The ways in which children think about the world, however, are still primitive -- dreams come from street lamps, we think with our ears, clouds are alive, and the sun follows us when we move. Piaget proposed that 3-, 4-, and 5- year old children make errors because they are
Statistics show that a majority of kids attend at least one year of preschool: According to the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), more than two-thirds of 4-year-olds and more than 40 percent of 3-year-olds were enrolled in a preschool in 2005. "Children who attend high-quality preschool enter kindergarten with better pre-reading skills, richer vocabularies, and stronger basic math skills than those who do not," says NIEER director W. Steven Barnett, PhD.
Preschool refers to an early-childhood educational class for 3- and 4-year-olds
Parent involvement in children's out of home experiences has long been heralded as positive for both parent and child. Research suggests that parent participation in a child's preschool program is positively associated with social adjustment and school performance.1 With the increase of families where employment and other commitments reduce both the time and the common experiences a child and parent share, parent involvement may be more important than ever. 2
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT: PARADOXES OF THE PRESCHOOL MINDFor decades, Piaget's descriptions of young children's thinking dominated exploration of the preschooler's mental development. According to Piaget, children's language acquisition reflects their emerging capacity for representational thought. The ways in which children think about the world, however, are still primitive -- dreams come from street lamps, we think with our ears, clouds are alive, and the sun follows us when we move. Piaget proposed that 3-, 4-, and 5- year old children make errors because they are