is preschool your first year of school?

In the US, preschool is not considered to be a part of the formal education system. It is a foundation of social skills and learning the basic skills needed to build a good education upon. This would include basic concepts of print (including letter recognition, basic phonics, what print means and what it looks like, etc.), basic math and science skills (including number recognition and counting, how numbers work, what a graph is and how to read it, basic information about the world around us), and social skills such as good manners, how to introduce oneself into an activity that is underway, compassion and kindness, respect, etc. Also, basic health and fitness skills such as healthy eating, physical fitness and hygiene are taught at the preschool level. Kindergarten is considered the first year of formal schooling, and is not always required by law. Different states have different rules about kindergarten. In today's educational environment, most children benefit tremendously by participating from the preschool level; however, when there is a caring and involved parent who interacts constructively with their child and provides the needed experiences, preschool is unnecessary, and if no high quality preschool program is available in the area, it SHOULD be skipped. Kindergarten is probably a more needed experience for most children though, since the more formal routine is followed, introducing the children to the routine they will be following for a long time. HOWEVER, if there is a high quality preschool program available and accessible, most children truly enjoy preschool and get a lot out of it. (I have children in my classroom who cry if they must miss a day of school for some reason! And many of the children from my classroom will start kindergarten reading at a first or second grade level, and having all the basic skills they need to breeze through kindergarten without any difficulties. It just makes for a smoother and more positive start to their educational years.)

Gotta give a star for this question! It really is a good question in today's educational environment!

no. foundation stage/reception is the first year at school. pre-school is where teachers get children ready for school. In pre-school children learn to write and spell their name, learn to become more independent doing things such as putting shoes and coats on, using a knife and fork correctly. you do make friends at this age even though the friends you make may not go to the same school as you

Hi,

There are numerous documented benefits and advantages of teaching children to read early on, and teaching them to reading using phonics and phonemic awareness instructions. It is clear that early language and reading ability development passes great benefits to the child as they progress through school at all grades, and that early language and reading problems can lead to learning problems later on in school.

For a simple, step-by-step program that can help your child learn to read visit this web site: http://readingprogram.toptips.org/

Cheers.