When toddlers come of age, parents start scouting for the best preschool for their children. They look for certain traits from teachers that will harness the skills of their children. However, some parents wonder how preschool is different from pre-kindergarten.
Here, Launch Pad Early Education shares the things every parent needs to know about preschool and pre-kindergarten.
How different is preschool from pre-kindergarten?
Most people think that preschool and pre-kindergarten are the same. Others use these two words interchangeably. However, generally speaking, pre-kindergarten accepts toddlers by the age of four (4) and aims to prepare them for the next step, kindergarten, when they reach five (5) years of age. The main purpose of children going through pre-kindergarten is preparation for kindergarten and more formal school.
On the other hand, preschool starts with a much younger age. They introduce children to skills they have and help them develop them. Some begin improving their social skills by introducing them to other classmates and activities. Entering preschool allows children to know the basics of social interaction, reading, and numerical skills.
Preschool
Going to preschool helps children develop their cognitive, social, and emotional skills. A number of factors affect parents’ choices when it comes to choosing the school for their children.
Some of those factors include:
- Distance to their house
- Tuition and fees for their children
- Values taught by teachers
- Curriculum offered by the school
Children benefit from going to preschool
A lot of schools give different benefits to children, especially if they start attending classes. These start with parents learning to help their children get through their anxieties of meeting new people.
Some of the other benefits that children enjoy from preschool:
- Gain friends through their classmates and different classroom activities such as role playing.
- Improve their self-confidence and self-esteem through musical numbers.
- Learn how to focus and extend their attention span, especially with the lessons taught in classes.
- Toddlers get to improve their cognitive skills through different reading activities and numerical activities.
- School encourages them to become more confident about themselves.
- Learn a bit of independence when it comes to potty training.
When is the right time to enter preschool?
Different areas and schools choose the age when kids can start school. Some schools allow toddlers to enter when they’re just two and a half years (2 ½) years old or up to four (4) years of age. Parents choose how soon they send their children to school. School administrators want to remind parents to base it on what the family and children need.
Pre-kindergarten
Pre-kindergarten signifies the next step before children enter a more formal school. It makes children feel excited about the things they will learn, and also happy about their progress. Parents, in turn, feel happy about their progress and encourage children to face the next chapter of their adventure.
What affects parents’ choice for pre-kindergarten?
A number of factors affect how parents choose pre-kindergarten for their children. They carefully study what affects them greatly and what motivates their children to study.
Some of those include:
- A staff that parents trust to take care of their children when they’re in school.
- The school has an environment that will help them learn and become more productive.
- Safety inside and outside the school premises
- Teachers’ attitude towards children, especially how they engage the children to listen to their activities
What benefits do children get from pre-kindergarten?
- Children learn enough to help them through kindergarten.
- It increases their productivity and helps them become efficient.
- Their grasp of the world expands as they continue learning more when they go to school.
When children go to preschool and move to pre-kindergarten, they find a sense of adventure in them. Launch Pad Early Education helps parents learn about preschool and pre-kindergarten. When they discover the different benefits about these two, they know to choose the best preschool in Murfreesboro. The best school helps their children learn so many things about life.