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There have been a flood of studies recently conducted in the past decade on the importance and benefits of young children attending preschool. Childhood experts agree that attending a high-quality preschool program prepares children for entrance into kindergarten and elementary school. However, finding the right school for you child can take some time and research. Not all public preschool programs are the best option for your child. To ensure that your child will be taught the necessary academic and social skills to thrive when entering kindergarten, consider entering your child in a private school in Corona. What Is the Difference between Childcare and Preschool? Child care programs are usually centers where working parents take their children when they need a place for them to be taken care of. Sometimes, these centers offer preschool programs as a part of the center’s curriculum. However, these programs are not usually taught by teachers who are certified in early childhood education. They are usually taught by the teachers hired by the center to tend the children. Child care centers also take children of all ages and not just preschool age children. A preschool is specifically geared towards children ages 3 and 4. Most preschool programs are a couple of days a week for a few hours and usually only from September to May. Some programs will also offer full-time care. If you choose a program that offers full-time care, make sure the teachers are well-trained, certified, and able to offer stimulating activities that are similar to those in a part-time preschool program. Why Is Preschool Important? Recent studies have shown that preschool attendance gives children an advantage when they begin kindergarten. They become exposed to letters, numbers, and shapes. More importantly, they learn how to socialize with other children, share, and make positive contributions to the group. Those children who attend a high-quality preschool enter kindergarten with richer vocabularies, better pre-reading skills, and stronger math skills than those that do not. Preschool will teach your child how to be a student. He or she will learn how to raise hands to speak, take turns, and share the teacher’s attention. Your child will also learn how to be away from you for an extended period of time. This will allow for a much easier transition to kindergarten. What Will My Child Learn? In addition to teaching children how to socialize and interact with their peers, preschool provides an atmosphere where children can gain confidence, explore, and play. They will learn that they can do many tasks on their own with either little or no help. They will learn how to ask deeper questions such as what happens to water after rain? It is guaranteed that children will learn their ABC’s and numbers, but just sitting them down and “teaching” them is the wrong way to tackle this feat. Children learn best by interacting and participating in activities they find interesting--story time, interacting with adults, asking questions, playing with blocks, etc. Children will learn language skills best by playing rhyming games, show-and-tell, and telling stories. This will also give them the foundation of pre-reading skills that will be vital when they enter kindergarten. It is not necessary that a child be able to read by age 4 or be able to cite multiplication facts by age 5. What they need is an environment where they can learn and have fun and acquire social skills--not achieve academic milestones. Children will eventually achieve these academic milestones when they enter kindergarten and beyond. What they need most at ages 3 and 4 is a curriculum in which they can dress up, build forts, and are read to. To find this type of environment, consider enrolling your child in a private preschool in Corona.
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