Nursery Schools

The Education our Children Receive

By:
Published March 11th 2010, in Education, Nursery Schools

I was privileged today to be able to spend part of a morning in one of the classes at the school that my 5 year old daughter attends. I call it a privilege, because it opened my eyes as to the wonderful people who are called to teach, the wonderful lessons they give and also the hard work our little ones do at school.

Parents drop children off at school, pick them up after school and then expect our child to be a little bit brighter than earlier the morning. We want to know what number did they learn today and what letter did they learn to write. We ask with who did you play today and what did you draw.

It does not occur to us the way the number and the concept were explained to our child in such a way that she is not bored and can understand it. We do not consider the social skills that they practiced during the course of the morning, like responsibility, sharing and respect. Our children are taught that there are certain rules that we have to listen to and that actions have consequences.

Teachers do not walk into the room in the morning and decide today I will just read a story and then the kids will draw something. It takes immense preparation to have a lesson plan that incorporates the concepts that the children need to learn in a visual, auditory and experiential manner. Our children are not expected to sit still for the whole day absorbing information, they get time for free play and interaction with children from other classes. They are exposed to different authority figures – monkeynastics, kindermusic and computer teachers enrich their lives while they are learning important skills. Above all these children are having fun learning!

Our teachers walk into a class of 22 children in the morning – some who had a good nights rest, some irritable from a lack of sleep, some not ready for mommy to go to work and some that are still hyperactive from last nights pudding. They approach our children with respect and love and do not get irritated (or hide it extremely well) when your child interrupts her for the 99th time. I experienced teachers who enjoy teaching and seeing the light bulb flash for the first time. They are involved in our children’s lives and show keen interest in every new discovery and story that gets told.

As a parent, do stop and consider how easily we get upset with our children in the house when they interrupt, fight or do not listen to us. This happens at school as well, but with many more children to handle at once.

I think teachers are special people filled with love and passion, that humble themselves everyday to teach little people who will be the leaders of tomorrow.

How to Choose the Right Nursery School for your Child

By:
Published February 24th 2010, in Education, Nursery Schools

It takes time and dedication to match your child with the right nursery school which will meet both your child’s needs and your needs.  Researching this decision includes speaking to other parents, looking at the children in the school environment and interviewing the teachers.  You have the right to insist to drop by at any time and observe how things are done at the school.  This will give you an idea of what the atmosphere at the school is – whether most children are playing and laughing or whether they are scared, intimidated and crying.

In interviewing the teachers from the schools, ask about the following issues:

  • Discipline strategy . This is very important to optimize your child’s adjustment and development, seeing that discipline consistency between home and school gives structure to your child’s learning. This does not mean that if you believe in spanking, that the teacher has the right to punish your child in the same way. I have found that nursery schools that focus on reward rather than punishment have better results with the little ones.

  • Routine. Having your child at home with you or a significant caregiver probably ensured that up to now your child had plenty of stimulation and attention during the day. It is important when sending him to a nursery school that he does not now become bored. Therefore, ask about how how they incorporate stimulation that is developmentally appropriate. Remember there is a big difference in level of maturity between a 3 year old born in January and a 3 year old born in December of the same year.
  • Child -Caregiver Ratio . How many children are in the care of one person. Being a parent you will know how unfeasible it is for one person to give proper care and attention to 20 two-year-old’s. The older the children the bigger the ratio may become.
  • Qualifications of Caregivers . You are entitled to give your child the best education possible. Education does begin in nursery school, it is therefore not too much to ask for someone with more than just practical experience. Even though your grandmother raised 5 children and 10 grandchildren does not guarantee that she is up to date with research and what is developmentally expected of children today. It is wonderful if you can find someone with both recent qualifications and practical experience. Remember that it is not important that the caregiver has to be a parent in order to take care of your child – most courses make room for enough practical experience as part of the grading process.
  • References . Ask the school to give you the names of other parents to contact. Often when interviewing a school a much rosier picture will be painted. By talking to parents you will get a true feeling of the school.
  • Philosophy . Schools may follow the teachings of Maria Montesori, Jean Piaget, Rudolf Steiner or a combination of these. It is important that you are in agreement with the fundamentals of this philosophy.
  • Staff and student turn-over . This will be a true reflection of parents and teachers feelings toward the school environment.

In constructing your shortlist of possible schools for your toddler, it is important to take the following  into consideration:

  • Cost
  • Distance from your home or work
  • Do they provide aftercare
  • Do they provide nutritional meals or do you have to pack lunches and snacks.
  • How do teachers effectively communicate with the parents
  • Are any extracurricular activities available.

The final step is to take into account all of this information that you gathered and make an informed decision.  Do not ignore your intuition – even though one school have the highest quality of educational material, it might be lacking the warmth and care you experienced from other schools’ teachers.