It seems like only yesterday you were holding your baby safely in your arms, taking in his smell, relishing the newborn moments. It makes you wonder how you actually got to the last day of preschool so quickly. What next?
In Michigan, where I teach, families who are sending their children to public school must make a choice between pre-kindergarten and kindergarten. So, what’s the difference? And how do you decide?
- Children who enter either pre-k or kindergarten must turn five before December 1 of the year he begins school.
- They are both full day programs in a regular school setting.
…and the similarities pretty much end there.
Pre-K in Michigan is considered an intervention year. Children who just need a little more time are a good fit for the pre-k classroom. Curriculum and daily schedules allow for children to ease into learning what a school day feels like. They include play-based, developmentally appropriate learning opportunities in a context that allows time to develop socially and emotionally.
In my classroom, my pre-k students arrive in the morning and begin their day with a soft start. A soft start involves choice. Some students will choose to pull a tub of Legos or Strawbees and build, some students may choose to grab a puzzle, and some might just need some quiet time in the book nook, snuggling in with a favorite story or coloring a picture. This gives me time to make my rounds and touch base with each child to greet him personally and meet his needs if I am needed in any way. Just like adults, children need time to ease into their day and a soft start allows children to do just that.
As we move into our day of learning, children in my pre-k classroom are rarely in their seat. We practice academic rigor in developmentally appropriate ways that meet the needs of children through a variety of learning styles (Brown, Feger & Mowry, 2015). You will find us on the classroom rug singing or reading rhymes and poetry, clapping to syllable beats, subitizing numbers with a magic cloth. You will find us up on our feet, spread throughout the room so that we can jump up and down or clap to count big numbers. You will find us at the post office center practicing our letters by writing letters. But you will also find us engaged, at different times of the day, in learning centers that meet the children developmentally where they are and push them to the next level while working cooperatively with peers and receiving assistance from the teacher (NAEYC, 2009).
In contrast, if your child is ready for more challenge, then kindergarten may be the right spot for her. In a kindergarten classroom, you will see more seat time and formal instruction. Of course this comes with appropriate, manipulative-based instruction and practice, but a kindergarten classroom will challenge a child to solve problems in his math journal, or write in his writing journal for a selected amount of time. It is said that kindergarten may be “the new first grade” (Bassok, Latham & Rorem, as cited in Repko-Erwin, 2017). There may be some truth here, and perhaps that may help you in your decision making.
In a pre-k classroom, your child will still have a rest, or nap, time. He will have breaks throughout the day to have a snack and sing songs. She will experience a large chunk of time at the end of the day to engage in free play with her peers, exploring her own interests and collaborating with others independently. In a pre-k classroom there will be frequent, whole group and small group social emotional lessons and learning opportunities to practice strategies.
A year in pre-kindergarten is meant to expose children to what a school day feels like, to expose them to preliminary skills that they will build on in kindergarten, and to allow for time to grow socially and emotionally. A year in pre-kindergarten for many children is a gift. As a parent, you have a difficult decision to make for the right placement of your child. Your school district can help you through a screening and recommendation process, but in the end, you know your child best and what is best for him. Equip yourself with knowledge of what both pre-k and kindergarten looks like and feels like in your school district, and you are sure to make the right decision for your child and family.
References
Brown, C.P., Feger, B. S. & Mowry, B., (2015). Helping others understand academic rigor in teachers’ developmentally appropriate practices. Young Children, 70( 4), 62-69.
NAEYC. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/resources/position-statements/dap.
Repko-Erwin, M. E. (2017). Was kindergarten left behind? Examining US kindergarten as the new first grade in the wake of no child left behind. Global Education Review, 4(2), 58-74.
