1. Chapter 8 The Preschool Years
Getting Ready for School and Life

2. Focus Questions What are preschools and why are they so popular?
What are preschoolers like and how can you support their physical, motor, social, emotional, cognitive, and language development?
What is school readiness?
What are preschool standards and how do they affect teaching and learning?
What does the preschool curriculum consist of?

3. The Popularity of Preschools
Parents in the workforce
Highly educated workforce equals economic growth
Intervention programs work best in the early years

4. What Are Preschoolers Like?
Physical and motor development
“slimming down”
Learning to use and test their bodies
Social and emotional development
Initiative vs. guilt
Learning Self-regulation
Cognitive development
Preoperational stage
Language development
Language skills grow and develop rapidly

5. Ready to Learn: Ready for School
School Readiness Skills and Dispositions
Approaches to learning
Curiosity/ initiative
Persistence
Attention.
Self-direction
Problem solving
Creativity

6. School Readiness Skills and Dispositions
Early Literacy Skills
Alphabetic knowledge (AK)
Phonological awareness (PA)
Rapid automatic naming (RAN)
RAN of objects or colors
Writing or writing name
Phonological memory (PM)
Language
Receptive language
Expressive language
Symbolic language
Vocabulary development

7. Teaching English Language Learners (ELLs)
Keep ELLs active and involved
Create a buddy system
Teach daily living and vocabulary words and phrases
Incorporate children’s culture into classroom activities
Integrate technology into children’s English learning

8. Preschool and State Standards
statements of what preschoolers should know and be able to do
Preschool goals and learning standards
being set by state departments of education,
Preschool curriculum
more academic focused.

9. The Preschool Daily Schedule
Opening activities
Group meeting/planning
Learning centers
Bathroom/hand washing
Snacks
Outdoor activity/play/walking
Bathroom/toileting
Lunch
Relaxation
Nap time
Centers or special projects
Group time
Good-bye time

10. Play in Preschool Programs
T 8.10
Play in Preschool Programs
Learning through play
Accommodating play
Planning play
Kinds of play