The right kindergarten
Kindergarten is a great landmark in your child’s life. It marks the first shift into formal education, that happens in the bigger part of the rest of his life. If your child has an easy time being in kindergarten then they will have an easier transition to primary school, overflowing to the rest of their schooling. Therefore, there is need for a solid foundation-one that impacts the best effects on your child. To achieve that, consider the following:
Teacher-students ratio
The less the children a class teacher/ instructor has, the better the attention each child gets. This puts the teacher in a position to identify weaknesses and strengths, which helps to know how best to expand their love for learning. It helps her to group them according to their learning pace and attention spans. This reduces the strain in teaching and instructing them, in the process bringing the best out of them.
Progress reports
The kindergarten should give a report of your child’s progress at least weekly. The teachers should also give prompt responses to any concern you have expressed. The school should also create an opportunity to discuss your child’s progress at length. This helps you know how best you and the school can assist your child.
Location
The school should be, as much as possible, near home and easily accessible for your child so that they attend on time without getting fatigued. If not so, the school should provide transport. It should also be in a secure place for your peace of mind-even when you are late to pick your child.
Play activities
A good kindergarten will not only lay emphasis of developing a child’s mind through books, but balance that with creative play.
Play should be encouraged daily as it teaches your child to share items, inspires their imagination, helps them to practice responsibility and generally aids in assessing the rate of their maturing. Should the weather be bad for outside play, the school should have provision of indoor games such as toys, block-building. puzzles. hide-and-seek, among others.
Social skills
Teaching your child to cooperate through group work. compromise and harmony when interacting with other children will help him grow emotionally intelligent. This helps him to develop positive character early. There should also be emphasis on teaching nutrition and good grooming. Check for evidence of these by looking around the classrooms’ charts and in general both the teachers’ and the students’ grooming.
Instruction method
A teacher should guide every child to learn at his own pace as opposed to forcing all of them to go at the same pace, which makes the weaker ones only do a lot of cramming. The curriculum used should be flexible enough to adjust to your child’s interests.
Children should also be allowed to assess themselves and understand their grasping abilities through use of materials such as their own charts and self-made picture books and the like. This way they become part of their own progress, which makes learning fun.
END: BL 28/6