Menu
The expanding role of early childhood education
By Rayma Silvers
Herald-Tribune
In today's schools, students are required to reach far above the standards that were required several years ago.
According to the National Governors Association's Governors' Forum on Quality Preschool, www.nga.org, educational institutes have been increasing educational standards, a process which requires students, teachers and administrators to do more than ever before. Years ago, children were prepared for school during a year of kindergarten classes. However, more recently this tide has shifted making it necessary for children to have a solid educational foundation before entering kindergarten, NGA said.
"Kindergarten is no longer preparation for school; it is school. Children need a firm foundation of skills and knowledge to succeed in school and beyond. Too many children in the United States enter school without the skills and knowledge they need to do well," the NGA Web site said.
NGA said pre-literacy and the ability to understand and work with numbers are important skills for children to gain. About 20 percent of all children who enter kindergarten, do so with no familiarity of basic reading skills, which include not knowing to read the words left to right and top to bottom. In addition, one third of the children are unable to recognize the letters of the alphabet. NGA said without these basic skills, children run a risk of entering school behind their classmates.
"Starting off behind can exacerbate the education achievement gap and increase early referrals to special education," NGA said.
New Generation Pre-school and Daycare Co-owner and Director Amy Boyd said from birth through five years old, children are experiencing a time of extraordinary growth. Adding that young children develop not only a basic knowledge of themselves, but also of the world around them during this time in their lives. This basic knowledge creates skills, which are essential in order for the children to become successful learners, Boyd said. Knowing this, New Generation has set excellence in early childhood education as a top priority.
"All young children deserve positive experiences and developmentally appropriate activities that will help them be successful students," Boyd said. "New Generation strives to provide quality early childhood classrooms that give children the active learning environment they need in order to acquire a strong academic foundation."
New Generation graduating class lead teacher Tonya Defebaugh and assistant teacher Susan Benson have worked diligently this past year teaching the preschool students in their class both academic and social skills, which they will need when they go to kindergarten in the fall.
With 19 children in her class, it is important for Defebaugh to teach in a way that meets many different needs as all of the students are unique in their own ways, Boyd said. The differences in each child is evident when considering the students' personal dreams for the future. For instance, Sterrett Bryant, who enjoys playing with interlocking blocks, hopes to one day become a firefighter, while Drake Cotter, who likes to participate in the class' dancing and singing activities, said he would like to become Batman one day. Like Bryant, Blake Fernandez and Grayson Quick both would like to become firefighters someday. However, their favorite preschool activity differs from Bryant as the two boys enjoy painting activities.
Although both Natalie Chapman and Makenzie Drozdowski want to work with animals when they become adults, their plans are slightly different from each other. Chapman wants to be an animal doctor whereas Drozdowski would like to be a zookeeper when she grows up.
Since Brayden Hymer wants to become a Monster Truck driver someday, his favorite preschool activity, playing with the blocks and trucks, seemingly is helping to prepare him for his future.
Both Will Wunderly and Tyler Harvey someday hope to participate in cowboy-type occupations. Wunderly enjoys playing with the blocks and Harvey enjoys participating in the singing and dancing activities at school.
Caleb Geiger, Kelsey Madison and Lily Nash all have hopes of various medical careers when they grow up, but their favorite past-times differ.
While Selena Gooderl, who would like to become a Power Ranger someday, enjoys the dancing activities at the school, future Ninja, Weston Pellett, enjoys spending time playing with the toy car garage.
Seth Westbrook who likes to slide and dance, wants to be seven someday. When AnnaMarie Simon becomes an adult, she would like to become an artist, while Emma Scott would like to follow in Defebaugh's footsteps and become a teacher someday.
Although Defebaugh's students have many different personalities, she has one common goal for all of them -- to ready them for the next step in their educational journey.
To celebrate the completion of the school year and the students' graduation from preschool, the preschool students performed several academic songs for their parents and family members Wednesday night. According to Boyd, this gave the children a chance to illustrate the different things they learned this year.
"Our year-end program is a special evening for parents, children, and teachers to celebrate the culmination of growth of the children through the year. Our program allows children to demonstrate what they have learned and receive the recognition for a job well done." Boyd said.