The Full Day Kindergarten Program

You just worked a 12-hour shift, you’re tired as your walking to your car, you realize the glass is shattered all over the floor. You take a closer look and see that someone threw a brick through your windshield! The next day you get a call from the police saying the person who vandalized your car was a classmate of yours. You later find out that person dropped out of high school. Therefore, should quality preschools become required? Most students who do attend a preschool end up receiving better social and emotional skills; therefore it helps to develop the structure of brain for future events. Furthermore it should become mandatory for students to attend preschool.

Doing field experience at St.Mary’s Preschool has taught me a lot not only about the educational system but about myself as well. I’ve learned over these couple of months that in order to become a wonderful teacher, you have to have an enormous amount of patience and dedication. Teaching isn’t an easy profession and through this experience, my respect for my teachers have grown tremendously. Many students often take their teachers for granted but they don't realize what they do for us.

Healy, C. (2015). Who benefits most from head start programs? Chicago Policy Review (Online), Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.durhamtech.idm.oclc.org/

The place I observed was the Infant Development Program in their preschool program called Stepping Stones Preschool in Lock Haven, PA. I observed in one of their three to five year old preschool programs that is held on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons from 11:30am to 2:30pm. This particular classroom had two head teachers; Mrs. Kate and Mrs. Lisa. The teacher call their students Owls this is because their class name is Owls. When they want to get the kids to listen to them or they want to get their attention a teacher will say “Owls Owls Whoo Whoo” and the kids will say “Owls Owls Whoo Whoo”. Another thing the teachers will also refer to the students as friends. In this classroom there was four boys and four girls. I observed two

Thesis Statement: Children benefit more from a high quality full-day pre-k program because their daily attendance rate is better than average and have reduced chronic absences, their social-emotional development is better, and their achievement scores in language and math are higher than their peers who attend a half-day or no pre-k program.

In the article “School Readiness for Infants and Toddlers? Really? Yes, Really!” by Sandra Petersen, she discusses how from birth to age three are crucial for school readiness. The “exuberant period” which is the months before and after birth is the time when the brain creates connections, “each capturing a moment of learning.” During infancy, foundations are built in each developmental area – language, motor, cognitive, and social-emotional. These later develop into skills such as curiosity, paying attention, memory, gathering information, problem solving, and working through frustration are learned. These skills are established in infancy and toddlerhood, but they are used throughout your whole life. These are essential skills that teachers look for.

Early year’s provision for these very young children varies greatly from the education they will receive in KS1 as it is play focused as opposed to formal learning, which is how these very young children learn best.

The interaction a preschooler has with the surrounding environment, whether it be physical or social, has a significant impact on the child’s development. Ramani (2012), had taken a look at playful environment versus a structured environment to see which one benefited children more when it came to social interaction and joint problem solving. The interaction shown in the experiment showed that a playful environment benefits children more because they are free to communicate and interact with other children, they were more observant of their environment, would imitate more to get their point across, and were overall more positive. Denham, Bassett, Zisser, and Wyatt (2014) evaluated the child’s engagement with the surrounding physical and social environment, along with taking a look at the ways social-emotional learning can predict how academically ready the children are.

On February 12th, 2012, in his State of the Union address, President Obama discussed the long-term benefits a universal preschool would have on today’s society. “In states that make it a priority to educate our youngest children…studies show students grow up more likely to read and do math at grade level, graduate high school, hold a job, form more stable families of their own. We know this works. So let’s do what works and make sure none of our children start the race of life already behind.” (Obama) Unfortunately, an overwhelming number of children, from low-poverty areas, are unable to access high-quality early childhood programs for their preschool aged children. Consequently,

Explain how the range of early years settings reflects the scope and purpose of the sector

The article Preschool is For Real by Julie Poppe is based on how we should create high quality preschool. It states that over the years funding for early childhood education has went up and enrollment has increased as well. Teachers today have a lot of responsibility when it comes to teaching preschool. They need to making learning fun and simple, but they also need to follow state guidelines and curriculum. With preschool becoming more popular, states are changing their curriculum. Many researchers have found that preschool is incredibly important to young children but only if the program is of high quality. Poor quality can actually have a negative effect on the children. They article outlines what it means to be a high quality preschool

On September 2010 more than 600 schools across Ontario opened their doors for a new program full-day kindergarten. This project is supposed to help parents to build a better future for their children. Almost every parent has a daydream in which she or he wants to see his or her child’s success. The project of full-day kindergarten can drive this dream to a reality. This program has been approved in the USA and given a significant result; this program became very popular, according to Viadero` and Debra (2005), because it is affordable for families with low income. Today parents in Ontario are given a hope to see

The evidence for positive economic, educational and health benefits from targeted preschool interventions is substantial (Barnett, 2010; Campbell, Conti, Heckman, Moon, Pinto, Pungello & Pan, 2014; Finn, 2010). However, the current research does not provide evidence that universal preschool will give the same long-term benefits as targeted preschool (Armor, 2014). This writer argues that universal preschool is not appropriate in the American context because the current government preschool programs have limited long term benefit, it subsidizes those who can afford to pay for private preschool and it takes money from targeted preschool for the neediest.

Several people may ask the question, “What makes the difference in a family centered preschool?” This paper will help outline the importance of a family centered program versus a preschool that focuses only on the child. The learning of the children in family centered preschools are enhanced due to the focus points not only being on the child, but the family too. Educators can best help children achieve effectively by meeting the nine essential elements(Morrison, 2009). One of those nine elements is to develop a partnership with parents, families, and friends of each child. The focus of this paper is Abraham Maslow’s whole child

Early childhood is a time full of curiosity, exploration, creativity, excitement, and rapid development. During these formative years, children develop attitudes about education that remain with them for the rest of their lives (Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2011). High quality early childhood education programs and highly effective, passionate teachers or care providers will not only promote young children’s development and academic achievement but will also foster a lifelong passion for learning. ECE programs and educators utilize learning centers to contribute to young children’s acquisition of literacy, numeracy, creative thinking, problem solving, and motor skills as well as a number of other skills and knowledge (Jarrett, 2010).