Kindergarten Readiness

We know summer just started but it’s never too early to start preparing for school! In September, many of your children will be “leaving the nest” and going off on their own for the first time. No, not to college…to kindergarten!

For many kids, this will be the first time they spend away from their parents for an extended period. Furthermore, this is the first time they will really get a taste of how school operates as they begin to learn and grow very quickly! At the Children’s Museum in Easton (CME), we spoke to Michelle VanVoorhis and Krissy Cannizzo; both are CME educators and are involved in the Outreach Program. Keep reading for more info on your child’s kindergarten readiness and how the CME works to help with this preparation.

The camps at the Children’s Museum in Easton play a huge part in child development. Michelle says, “Children become better prepared academically, socially, and emotionally for both school and for life…and they have a lot of fun!!”

Each summer the CME offers a series of Summer Mini-Camps. Designed to meet the developmental needs of children ages 3 - 8, the camps offer activities that immerse campers in the theme of the session.  Programs are geared for hands-on exploration and provide open-ended opportunities for children to build understanding and knowledge. Your child will learn while having fun!

 

At camp, children learn a lot of skills: “fine motor skills (cutting, writing, using manipulatives for small motor tasks), large motor skills (large group games, balancing, climbing), social skills (taking turns, sharing, good manners), language skills (speaking in a whole group setting, asking for assistance, appropriate ways to address adults and peers, vocabulary development) reading skills (rhyming, recognizing patterns in stories, print awareness), math skills (counting, patterning, measuring), getting used to school routines, and separating from parents,” Michelle explains.

These skills are honed through camps but also individually. The teachers at camp assist your children in learning, but it’s up to you to continue this learning and preparation!  Michelle suggests, “Encourage discussion of what you did in camp today [and] use newsletters that come home each day for ideas. Encourage further investigation of the topic of camp, for example find some books at the library about that theme. [Furthermore,] Model good reading habits! Read to your child daily. Have other kids over to play. Don’t let your child always go first/ always win/ always get his way. Encourage your child to ‘investigate’ things to learn more about them. Allow plenty of time for free, imaginative play, engage in lots of discussion, count, compare, and sort things when the opportunity arises.”

Krissy expands on these notions, “As a former director of a child care center that offered full day kindergarten, I would tell our enrolling families to focus on the self-help skills like being able to zipper or button their coats/clothes, use the bathroom without any assistance, and be familiar with cooperative play, taking turns, sharing etc."

The goal here is to get your child thinking and doing things on his/her own. Teach them enough so that when they get to school, they can expand on that knowledge on their own. You want to build their confidence so that they are secure in themselves when it’s up to them to continue learning on their own. “[At camp,]” Michelle explains, “A few children have to be peeled off their parent on the first day of camp, but by the end they proudly walk through the door on their own.”

It is important to realize that you do not have to worry about every single detail of kindergarten readiness. Krissy says, “Sometimes parents or families put too much pressure on themselves and their soon-to-be kindergarteners, believing he/she should know how to write, read, and recognize all upper and lower case letters.  These are the things that will be learned in kindergarten.”

Everybody wants to do as much as they can to make their child’s life easier. The best thing to do is give them the tools they need to grow and then have faith that they will succeed on their own! Krissy reminds you, “The next year will be incredible!  [Parents] will be amazed at how much his/her child will grow and strengthen their skills.”

An American Educator in Korea Part 2 - "Born Into Focus"

Click here for Part 1 of "An American Educator in South Korea"

Month 3 of my stay in Gangneung, South Korea has come and gone. The first trimester was noted “The Impossible is Possible.” This upcoming trimester will be deemed “Let it Be.”

Obviously, the education system here is unlike any Western system, because South Korea focuses solely on achievement, the business and the face value of intellect. These children don’t play because they are busy laboring on activity they are expected to succeed in. Their future is determined; training is set and standards are high. If none of the aforementioned are met, it is defamation of family character, societal standards and values, which are not tolerable or accepted.

The children are bright. By far, the most intellectually inclined students I’ve ever had the privilege to teach. They prove that hard work pays off, because this culture reassures them that their education is the foundation for the future of their country. The American belief is geared towards the safety, concern, comfort and level of understanding. However, some students in America don’t believe they have a chance to succeed. This is due to the lack of parental involvement, home environment, and their level of certainty with themselves and peers. As an American educator, I preached every single day to my students that they can go anywhere and do anything as long as they worked hard. Of course some didn't want to work and constantly complained about the level of difficulty. However, if someone , other than their parents, believed they could achieve any goal, then it was mission accomplished! There may not be individuality in South Korea, but there is one goal working for this stern exactness, where is there is no room for failure.

Where individuality is absent, the knowledge of community, togetherness and are present. Complaints don’t exist, only agreement. A child will not tell a teacher there are problems at home, their vision is bad or the uniforms are ugly for that would be too much opinion. There is a recognized unison in this culture, especially the schools, because this is where the training for future success is built. This is a great thing, for the government supports all teachers, administrators and tutors, because the future of their country is of great importance. This philosophy must be implemented in our American educational system. Imagine the possibilities; the doors of success through optimistic attitudes will rise to the surface, smashing through negative situations.

On the other hand, this may be a bad idea, because these children don’t have the opportunity to fail, to learn by doing, to have fun, to use their imagination and freely discover their likes and dislikes. The American child will know their opinion matters. Here, if a child shows interest in art, that student will study every artistic discipline from elementary school through college. If a child shows interest in weight lifting, every physical activity will be studied extensively by this child and graduate with a degree in this field. They have interests, but are allowed to explore only one.

When I was a child, I LOVED reading, writing, dancing, playing, and painting. There was never a single focus on one subject, I was allowed a plethora of passions, and grew well rounded because of it. Here, they chose only one.

Each country has a system that works for them, and both have much to learn from one another. In South Korea, the strictness is a value. In America freedom to explore childhood is a must. What I would like to see in my America, are our children to know that they are the future. They can succeed in anything as long as they are focused. For Korea, I wish for the young to be given the gift of moderation, that they may find new interests within themselves, everyday. But who am I? I'm just their foreign English teacher. I didn't come to change the world; I came to share it!

I’m saying that both work well for their own culture. What I would like to see in my America, are my students, our children to know that they will not fail as long as they are focused. What I would like to see in this country, are the students to have more fun and learn that not everything in life is hard work. Here, the focus was born when they were.