preschool Archives -

Starting Preschool Tips

March 31, 2016 by Young Scholars Academy 1 Comment

For a little one starting preschool, there can be a lot of nerves. In many cases, the first day of preschool is the first time that your little one has been under the supervision of a stranger. This can create separation anxiety.

It can be hard for parents too. Your child’s nerves can induce nerves in you, the parent. You may worry about whether your little one will have separation anxiety, creating a circle of jitters that can be hard to break once started. To help both you and your child deal with the big day, here are some tips for starting preschool.

Get to Know Your Preschool Teacher/Provider

Starting Preschool Tips — Start preschool with smiles, not tears!

Even a little bit of knowledge can help to calm your nerves. This is why it is so important to get to know who is going to be taking care of your children. Make sure you thoroughly research the child care facility your child will be attending. Get to know the staff and ask about their history and training. Most childcare professionals are naturally approachable and would be happy to open up to you. You will be surprised how this can help reduce your concerns.

Now that you are reasonably calm, you can better help your child negotiate any nerves that might come up.

Arrange a Playdate

To help make the first day more familiar for your child, arrange a playdate for your child and another child in the classroom. Even better, enroll your child in a preschool program one of their friends attends.

For children, the playdate exposes them to new children from their class and makes the first day a little more familiar because they already have a buddy –or even a group of buddies- in the class now. This can cut down on the separation anxiety.

Make the whole process fun

Take your child shopping for school supplies and let them pick out a new backpack and their favorite school supplies. While shopping, you can talk to your little one about your first preschool experience and all the fun things they can expect to learn and experience.

Don’t make goodbye too long

This one can be really hard, especially if your little one is upset and bawling as you try to leave on the first day. Your natural instinct is to comfort them. Definitely do this, but don’t drag it out too long. Most children who have fits of tears snap out of it when their parents actually leave. If you stick around too long, you are reinforcing the idea that separation anxiety will only be alleviated by your presence, when the opposite should be the case. And a good childcare provider knows exactly how to get children to calm down by directing their attention to something else.

Starting Preschool at Young Scholars Academy

Young Scholars Academy in Colorado Springs is committed to making the transition for you and your child into preschool life and learning a fun and positive experience. Our professional and caring staff will help your child calm the nerves that can come with such a new experience. Young Scholars Academy encourages parental involvement in all our programs and we welcome you to engage your child’s learning to help ease the anxiety that you both may experience. Come check out our programs and contact us today! We look forward to hearing from you!

Kindergarten Readiness

March 4, 2016 by Young Scholars Academy Leave a Comment

Since that precious moment they were born, your child has been soaking up a lot of knowledge. Much of this knowledge isn’t taught in schools. Though we may not think of it in these terms, something as seemingly simple as learning to crawl and then taking those first steps requires both a tremendous amount of biological development and growth and cognitive acquisition.

By the time a your child reaches three years of age, they are likely talking and interacting with the world and others in ways that are going to have profound effects later in life. At around this stage, you may start thinking about the exciting day that they start their first day of kindergarten. But you may have some concerns about kindergarten readiness. Is your child ready for kindergarten? Below we will examine some of the kindergarten readiness indicators.

Is My Child Ready for Kindergarten?

The question can cause many parents anxiety, especially if this is their first child to go kindergarten. There are both social and cognitive benchmarks that indicate kindergarten readiness. The social indicators include the ability to play and interact with other children in an appropriate way, an awareness of sharing and taking turns, handling toys and other materials properly and putting them in their proper place. Other behavior indicators include an understanding of basic safety and asking for help when it is needed.

Cognitive and intellectual indicators of kindergarten readiness include the ability to sustain engagement with an activity and a genuine interest in learning. The ability to follow along with the words of a song, form complete sentences most of the time, and has little difficulty with simple puzzles.

For a detailed list of kindergarten readiness indicators, check out this great kindergarten readiness checklist. It will help you track and document your child’s progress towards that first day of school!

Kindergarten Readiness Programs

Kindergarten Readiness programs are a great way to ensure that any gaps in our child’s readiness are filled. Preschool is a great way to prepare your child for kindergarten. Preschool programs have been shown to give kids the social and intellectual skills they need to have a successful kindergarten experience.

Choosing a preschool is not an easy task and it is important that you ensure that you are enrolling your little scholar in a quality preschool experience. Make sure you consider the things that indicate a quality kindergarten readiness program. Here is an article that can help you to choose a good preschool or kindergarten readiness program.

Kindergarten Readiness Programs at Young Scholars Academy

Young Scholars Academy of Colorado Springs is dedicated to providing quality childcare programs with a focus on kindergarten readiness. With a comprehensive set of daycare and childcare programs for infants to school age children, Young Scholars Academy is the place for all your childcare and early childcare education needs. Come check out our kindergarten readiness programs and contact us today! We look forward to hearing from you!

Preschool Music Programs

February 3, 2016 by Young Scholars Academy Leave a Comment

Taken by themselves, the benefits of preschool and early childhood education for children are incredible. Children exposed to a preschool setting are given the opportunity to socialize and learn in ways that many children have to wait until kindergarten to explore. Even more, a preschool education coupled with a music education program is highly beneficial for the children who get to participate in them. Music education helps develop the child’s motor and intellectual skills in ways that far exceed the qualities of normal classroom learning.

What are Early Education Music Programs?

Preschool music programs are designed to give young children their first exposure to music as a way of learning. They are also introduced to music as an object of learning. Your child has no doubt by this stage developed an ear for music and perhaps sings along to their favorite songs on repeat, over and over, much to your enjoyment and exhaustion. The next step is to teach the rudiments of music theory. That is what preschool music programs do.

Some Benefits of Preschool Music Programs

According to research compiled by PBS, music education imparts a number of positive benefits on all age groups. In preschool age groups specifically, music programs have been shown to develop the part of the brain involved in language acquisition and speech. Language development, the article continues, is essential for proper social development as well.

Another benefit of preschool music programs has been revealed in measures of intellect. According to the results of a study conducted by E. Glenn Schellenburg at the University of Toronto at Mississauga, six year olds who were given weekly music lessons showed an increase in IQ test scores over children who did not participate in any music education programs. This should come as no surprise. Neuroscience has discovered that the brain of early musicians works more efficiently than that of a non-musician.

Even further, because of the more efficiently functioning brain and neural network of the child exposed to music programs, these children also exhibit improvements in fine motor skills, sound discrimination and spatial temporal skills.

All these subtle benefits of preschool music programs are also displayed academically. According to a 2007 study, students who were involved in music education programs scored 22 points higher in English and 20 percent higher in math scores on standardized tests.

Music Education Programs at Young Scholars Academy

At Young Scholars Academy of Colorado, we are proud to offer quality preschool and school age programs in the Colorado Springs area. The mighty moves program emphasizes the importance of both exercise and music. Our children become active while dancing to music, learning spatial awareness, how to incorporate your 5 senses, stability, loco-motor skills, object manipulation, all while Learning from our Food Friends how to eat healthy! Come check out all our programs and contact us today!