Chapter 1: Play, Projects, and Preschool Standards

There are many things that I found interesting while reading this chapter.  I am amazed that my own professor was a part of writing this book, that is just awesome!  While reading chapter one, the first interesting fact that caught my eye was that childrens early experiences influence their future learning.  This made me think about when I was younger, and I wonder what early experiences have helped to mold me into who I am today.  Knowing that the early experiences are vital in a childs life, as a teacher I will do my best to create a happy, healthy, creative and fun learning environment for the children in my class.

Another thing that I found interesting is that preschool standards are not ment to hold a child back from entering kindergarten if they are not able to perform all of the tasks under the standards.  This made me realize that the standards are more of a guideline than a determination as to whether or not a child will move on to kindergarten.  As a future educator, I will keep this in mind and remember to be aware of each childs progress and do my best to help them succeed and understand the material.

While reading this chapter, I also learned that there are more ways to assess a childs progress than just tests and standards.  A creative way to assess a childs development is to create a portfolio for that child to see where they are at the beginning of the school year, and how they progress to the end of the school year.  This is a great way to keep records of a childs development, and the children can also be involved in this project.  Maybe at the end of the year, after going through the childs portfolio, the child could even take it home to show their parents everything they have done during the school year.

Chapter one was very interesting, and I appreciated the shorter chapters becuase it is easier to digest all of the information that is presented at once.  I will take what I have learned while reading this book into my own classroom.

Question:  One question that I have is that if a child does not meet the preschool standards by the end of the year, are they forced to be held back from kindergarten, or is that the parents choice?