Preschool v. prekindergarten

[Deleted]

So I know preschool is for three year olds and prekindergarten is for four year olds but what else is the difference between them? Additionally what did you look for in a preschool for your three year old versus what you wanted in a prekindergarten?

I am (forever) researching options for the future and we always said we would keep Ben at his daycare for preschool because Ethan would be there, he knows a bunch of the teacher and will know some of the kids I assume, it's close to home and work and then we would start him someplace new at four for prekindergarten.

THEN my pediatrician was pimping out the school her three year olds go to and her husband works at and said she thinks the kids will be reading by next year (at 4).

On the one hand I'm like "whatever heifer, I didn't read until I was almost seven and now I love to read."

On the other hand I don't want to disadvantage the kids in the interest of having an easier morning routine.

Is reading at 4 a thing that people are striving for now? Should I be?  I've always tried to just let Ben go with the flow in terms of development and he always gets there in time. But I don't want my BREEZY attitude to mean he's gonna be the laughingstock of First Grade.

Calm me down (or not).  What is preschool all about? Is it a bright place with toys and finger paint or do they need to LEARN shit?

[redheadk]

Here, it's preschool 3 and preschool 4.

You want something that is play-based. Learning activities should be intentional but should not look like learning. For example, students should be working on writing by strengthening their fine motor skills, not by doing handwriting worksheets. That sort of thing.

[spk926]

No, you shouldn't be aiming for your child to read at 4. I would side eye the shit out of my doctor who was trying to promote something to me that directly impacts the money their spouse makes. That crosses a line IMO.

It sounds like keeping Ben at his daycare is a fine option so I would do that. Don't get caught up in the early academics push. It's not always a good thing!

[hermione]

I would not make any decision based on whether it would impact a four year old's reading ability. Let them be little and all that.

[pugz]

Not for learning academics, learning social skills, classroom routines, and learning concepts through play

[ilikedonuts]

We have 3 year old and 4 year old preschool. The few "real" pre-k programs I've seen are for kids whose parents are redshirting them so they will do an extra year of preschool.

[redheadk]

I'm going to venture a guess that the daycare you send your kiddos to is a great place with lots of activities and learning going on.

[Deleted]

Aug 13, 2015 22:06:48 GMT -5 redheadk said:

Here, it's preschool 3 and preschool 4.

You want something that is play-based. Learning activities should be intentional but should not look like learning. For example, students should be working on writing by strengthening their fine motor skills, not by doing handwriting worksheets. That sort of thing.

I agreee. Reading early has no correlation to future academic success. I think many people believe their preschool is super awesome and everyone should go because they picked it!!!

[Deleted]

Aug 13, 2015 22:08:27 GMT -5 spk926 said:

No, you shouldn't be aiming for your child to read at 4. I would side eye the shit out of my doctor who was trying to promote something to me that directly impacts the money their spouse makes. That crosses a line IMO.

It was a little awkward!  And when I was like "oh that's nice" she was all "they have financial aid."    I think she mostly just got carried away in talking about her kids.

[turtlegirl]

DS1 is in Transitional Kindergarten at the elementary school. It's specifically for the 4 year olds with fall bdays that miss turning 5 by the Sept. cutoff for Kindergarten.

They stressed at orientation last week that it is all very play based and that is what they strive for. All the teachers said they think actual K is too academic now and that we should be thankful our kids get this "extra" year of play based learning.

[swank]

Aug 13, 2015 22:10:13 GMT -5 @this said:

I've had some wine.... I think that's legit.

That is a unity horse.

[lauralala]

We kept DS at a regular daycare through preK - it had the hours we needed, whereas most separate preschools here are not full-time. Most daycares work on kindergarten prep - numbers, letters, fine motor skills, etc. They may approach it in a hundred different ways, but skills and knowledge are still being gained.

Don't give in to the pressure! Your plan right now is great, and I bet he'd be fine even if he stayed where he is until kindergarten.

[caramia17]

We looked for socialization and attention span work.

Caramini is a fairly independent kiddo (read: loner kid) and as an only child the socialization is important to us. She is not a joiner.

She also lags on fine motor skills, but she can sight read a fair number of words/phrases.

Kids all are going to have things that are easier and harder for them, but we work on them. Your boys will be fine!

[anna7602]

Because we were in France, we ended up doing "preschool" at age 4. DD was perfectly ready to start K here when we returned. I wouldn't stress about it too much.

I will send DS to pre-K one day because it's free and full-day in NYC and that works for my schedule, but otherwise, have no strong opinions on one curriculum v. The other. I figure it's mostly about getting them used to interacting with other kids and learning about things like speaking in turn, following simple directions, working on fine motor skills and things like that at age 4.

[ECB]

I've never really heard of that differentiation. In my area, it's just preschool for 3 and 4 year olds. Some schools may call it pre-K, I guess, but it's really all just pre-school IMO.

[jackie011]

Any worthwhile program for that age will be play based and child centered. If there are children ready for reading at that age, a teacher will plan developmentally appropriate activities for those children. Those activities will focus more on letter recognition and some of the prereading skills PP mentioned- letter vs word, directionality of print, structure of a book, etc. it would not look like worksheets and flash cards. Just because some children are possibly reading at that age does not mean all children must read at that age.

Prekindergarten simply means the year prior to kindergarten. I'm sure that you did your research when choosing your current program and it will prepare your child for his future in kindergarten!

[zarapipe]

calm down, calm down. No reason to stress. Your boys will be fine at the daycare they are at if there any structure at all- I'm positive they aren't running around like wild apes. Free play, pretend play, arts and crafts, story time, etc. are all good things to learn in pre-k and I'm sure B is already doing those things. I'm willing to bet that their DC will be teaching numbers, letters and some sight words in their 4-5 year old class.

Oh and Preschool and prekindergarten are interchangeable in my eyes.

And from what I have seen and been told the kids that go into K out of preschool and straight out of SAH are obviously different the first day but the ones that have not had any prek catch up pretty quickly.

[penguingrrl]

My experience has been that preschool is for 2-3 year olds and preK is for kids one year before they enter K (theoretically 4 year olds, but sometimes older). Any daycare center I've seen will do the same curriculum as an independent preschool, but also is open full time for parents to work.

Nobody should be stressing reading at that age. Kids hit that developmental milestone at different times and pushing it before a child is ready is foolish and could be harmful. My oldest read early, my middle is just barely starting to really read at 6 and about to start 1st grade. I have no concerns about either right now. I would run from a school that claimed it would get a 4 year old reading.

[Deleted]

Do what's easiest for you! It won't matter in the long run whether he reads early or not. 

[somersault72]

DS went to 3 yo preschool (2 mornings a week) and 4 yo preschool (3 mornings a week). There was nothing actually called "prekindergarten." Now, I have a couple of friends where there kids JUST missed the cutoff for kindergarten and I believe are in a program called "prekindergarten" or similar. As far as reading at 4, I'm glad my kid didn't. They talked about teaching it in preschool, but didn't really. If my kid would have already known how to read before starting kindy he would have been bored to tears, because that's a big part of what they learned that year.

[Deleted]

Aug 13, 2015 22:10:13 GMT -5 @this said:

ETA Not like a unity horse on this board. Like a unity horse among science.

I've had some wine, but I think that's legit.

I'm pretty sure desire for early play based learning is a unity horse on this board too, lol. 

[Deleted]

The only reason preschool exists is for people who don't send their kids to daycare.
Okay maybe that's not all.
But most of the people that send their kids to preschool that I know have a nanny or SAHM so they have no structured learning or social interaction (for the most part)

I also know a SAHM that just waited until school started and her daughter was just fine too.

In other words, keep it easy.

[leonard131]

We are sending M to preschool at his daycare.  Once they move up to the 3 year old room they start a preschool curriculum.  Whatever that is.  He will go 3 mornings  week instead of just a full day on Friday like he does now.  People we know who have sent their kid to our daycare have sent them all the way through until K and their kids seem to be doing fine.  We are doing this because like the PP mentioned most traditional preschools aren't open year round and we need that.

[spankswife]

In FL we have VPK (voluntary pre kindergarten) vouchers that all children are entitled to, no income req. You may want to look into this. The school has to provide a specific curriculum and it's free. Often times it's half day, so you pay the extra to make it full day. I know a lot of people love the 4 yr old year bc it's "subsidized" by the voucher, but you may need to switch schools. It might also be called universal pre-k.

Maybe ask the school you're at now if they take it/know if it. Also ask them if they do any kindergarten readiness. I'm sure they do.

[iheartbanjos]

DD1 did Montessori until 3.5 and then transitioned to preschool. Preschool was very much play based and getting a child acclimated to a classroom. She moved to pre-k at 4. It was still a lot of playing, but the morning reminded me of the Montessori work period, only during this time, they focused on kindergarten readiness, which has a pretty specific checklist for our state.

[hopecounts]

Pre-K (at least in my area) is more of a jr. kindergarten more academic focus then preschool.
A lot of parents who have a kid who just misses the cut off (say turn 5 in Sept. just after the Sept. 1 cut off for kindy) or who have a late Bday and are redshirting will send their kid to a Pre-K program instead of preschool.

DD's ABA school has basically a preschool program then Pre-K. She's in the pre-k room this year and they basically do the equivalent of what we had in kindy.
they do HWOT for handwriting/Literacy Block (letters and early reading)/Math Basics/play centers/rest time/Circle Time/etc

[DarcyLongfellow]

I haven't read replies, but I'm answering anyway because this is a bit of a soapbox issue for me :-)

First of all, I'm not sure there's a universal distinction between preschool and pre-kindergarten. I called it all preschool, and I think most other people did too. But that's not a big deal :-)

As for the question of "is reading by 4 a goal now?" sadly, the answer to that is yes. For many parents, they want their kids reading before kindergarten. But that is NOT A DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE EXPECTATION!!! And yes, I'm yelling. (Parenthetically, this also just plays into the insane redshirting problem. If your kid is six and a half when he starts kindergarten, sure -- maybe he should be reading. But if your kid is 5, no way is that necessary.)

When I researched preschools for DD1, I left one place in tears because it seemed so inappropriate in terms of its expectations. Worksheets instead of playtime. And kids were expected to leave their last year of preschool before kindergarten already reading. Since then, I've gotten to know a lot of families who sent their kids there. I'll admit, I felt a little insecure last year when DD1 was in kindergarten because all those kids were already reading, and DD1 was not at all. Those kids are still ahead of her in reading in first grade -- a lot of them are on simple chapter books while DD1 is on very simple sight word books.

But that's okay. Really. By 2nd or 3rd grade, all of that evens out. And kids who are forced to read early often don't enjoy it later. I'd much rather have a kid who learns to read at an appropriate age and loves it for the long term. I'm not looking for my kids to peak in 1st grade.

Children who are preschool age learn best by playing. Should there be some educational aspects to preschool? Yes, of course. But good preschool teachers can teach through play and make kids enjoy it.

[whitemerlot]

My older one had the same teacher for three-year-old and four-year-old preschool.

For the pre-school year, when he was 3, it was really play-based. He learned to sit in the group, follow directions, some very basic things like colors. They talked about frienship and things like that. This was twice a week for 2 1/2 hours at a time.

The pre-kindergarten year,they started to focus more numbers, letters, and letter sounds. There is a lot of structured and unstructured interaction time still. They did more cutting and fine motor work. This was 3 times a week for 2 1/2 hours at a time.

He's headed to kindergarten in a few weeks and I feel very comfortable that he is ready.

[SJ]

Aug 14, 2015 8:05:22 GMT -5 h said:

My kids go to the same school starting at 3 yo. They have a 3 day a week class for 3 yos, and a 5 day a week class for 4 and 5 yos. Neither is technically called preschool or pre-k. Depending on when their birthday falls, many kids stay in the 4 and 5 yo class for two years before kindergarten (July 1 cutoff means relatively new 5 yos and almost 5 yos don't start K).

There is no stark difference between the 3 yos class and the 4 and 5 yos class. The school is Montessori up until first grade (when they begin a "gentle transition" from Montessori to a more traditional classroom), so all of the preschool, prek, and kinder classes feel very similar in terms of how they are set up and how the day is organized.

Our school does not push early reading and sends home articles about why pushing early reading is not a good thing. They do have Montessori "works" based on letter recognition and sounds that the kids can choose in the 4 and 5 yo class--things like sorting a basket of objects based on their first letter. That said, despite not pushing reading, a fair number of the kids can read at 4, though certainly not all. I have no idea how many of the early readers are the result of a parent pushing it at home, versus just a very precocious child.

Are all the classes separate? Or are the 3/4/5 year olds together in one big room?

DD is at a Montessori daycare, and my understanding was that in most/all Montessori set-ups the mixed age classroom was a cornerstone. But I have one 13 month old, so just curious!

[lo]

As a kindergarten teacher, no, definitely don't worry about reading at age 4. I only ever have 1 or 2 kids that can read at the beginning of kindergarten but everyone gets there eventually during the school year. As long as you are exposing your kids to books and reading to them frequently, that's all they need at this point.