did you get a sylabus or curriculum from your preschool?

KathrynMD

I'm a little annoyed w/ DD's daycare/preschool.  She's officially in the 3s room as of yesterday and its supposed to be a more pre-school environment vs. daycare; which is fine, I'm very happy with that (and the reduced tuition!) but I'm annoyed that no one has given me any kind overview of what the academic (or other) goals are for the year. 

They are supposed to be giving us weekly sheets w/ the theme and activities of the week, but it seems pretty obvious to me that there should be some kind of summary of the objectives/goals for the year.  If I were evaluating this place as JUST a preschool and we hadn't already been here since DD was 14 weeks old, I'm not sure I would sign up for a preschool like that. 

n&bcarlson

Yes, we got a sheet with each month and the themes and concepts they'll cover.  Each month has a theme, for example next month will be "Harvest Time", and then the special words they'll cover (apple, pumpkin, tree, grow, farm), a position word or words (on, up), a color (orange), a number (2), a science project (investigate inside a pumpkin) and a field trip (visit an apple orchard).  We also have a weekly schedule that tells when they do what, and which days they have special classes like art, music, or gym.  And we got a whole booklet about the goals, and why they focus on what they do.

KristinKD

No, it's preschool! We get monthly calenders with themes for each day/week, but that's about it -- or at least that's how it was last year in her 2s class. We meet with her teacher tomorrow morning, and we have back-to-school night tomorrow night, so it could be different this year, but I doubt it. I mean, my goals for preschool are mostly about socialization and learning to follow a teacher's instructions, which isn't really syllabus material.

I'm interested to know, what do YOU think the goals for a 3 y.o. class should be?

eta: Actually we may have received a general guideline at the beginning of the year last year, but I don't specifically remember it, and I obviously never referred back to it. Next year, in pre-k, I will probably be a little more concerned with prepping for kindergarten, but for now I'm still satisfied with learning through play.

KathrynMD

KristinKD:

No, it's preschool! We get monthly calenders with themes for each day/week, but that's about it -- or at least that's how it was last year in her 2s class. We meet with her teacher tomorrow morning, and we have back-to-school night tomorrow night, so it could be different this year, but I doubt it. I mean, my goals for preschool are mostly about socialization and learning to follow a teacher's instructions, which isn't really syllabus material.

I'm interested to know, what do YOU think the goals for a 3 y.o. class should be?

hmmm - yeah, I'm not trying to be an_ass - I know its preschool and don't want her doing drills on worksheets all day, but obviously, the teachers have an agenda and a plan for each day, I jsut want to get a sense of what the end result should be.  Like - at the end of  year, DD should be able to recognize letters and numbers, count to 20 consistently; answer questions about what will happen next in a story, sit quietly during circle time, etc.

KristinKD

KathrynMD:

hmmm - yeah, I'm not trying to be an_ass - I know its preschool and don't want her doing drills on worksheets all day, but obviously, the teachers have an agenda and a plan for each day, I jsut want to get a sense of what the end result should be.  Like - at the end of  year, DD should be able to recognize letters and numbers, count to 20 consistently; answer questions about what will happen next in a story, sit quietly during circle time, etc.

Personally, aside from sitting quietly during circle time, I think the rest of that list could set unrealistic expectations for a 3 y.o. class. The teacher will presumably work on all of those things with the class, but I think setting specific goals like that runs the risk of raising parental expectations that may not be met by every child. I think 3 is too early to start the academic pressure, but then again, I'm probably on the opposite end of the spectrum with being too relaxed about preschool. lol.

angelakh

We get a weekly update and a monthly calendar of what they are learning.  DD's school requires her to have certain skills before she can enter k4, but they don't really focus on that stuff until after the first of the year. 

PianoPlayingSarah

My girls attend public preschool.  Here and there papers are sent home to let parents know what they are working on at school.  A few months into the school year, we have parent/teacher conferences where the teachers discuss the curriculum and goals for the year.  The students even receive report cards twice a year.  Each area/goals are rated on a scale of 1 to 4 - with 4 meaning that the student has acquired the goal. 

luvmagoldn

We get a newsletter every month that tells us the books they read, what the themes were, etc.  But a syllabus or skills outline - no.

The school does follow High Scope and NAEYC guidelines so you get a basic idea of their approach.  But even at the parent/teacher conferences there isn't a checklist of things the kids have mastered.  It's more of an open conversation about things they've noticed, issues they have observed, things the kids were good at and things they needed more help with, what their interests are, things like that.

akayf

We just attended preschool orientation today.    His school follows the Creative Curriculum.   They gave us a handout that explained the goals and objectives of the curriculum. 

https://www.creativecurriculum.net/content/downloads/goals_objectives_at_a_glance.pdf

 

anna7602

No, it's a play-based school. We were told during orientation that there are general skills they will be working on throughout the year- drawing lines, using scissors and other things relating to developing fine motor skills and then larger concepts like recognizing shapes, letters, etc. but there's no printed syllabus or curriculum. I get a schedule of what days she has yoga and soccer class and what days she has arts & crafts and am expected to plan her clothing appropriately.

I actually chose DD's current school over another one in our area because of the lack of printed curriculum. The other school seemed way too academic to me for a 2/3 year old (DD started pre-school last year).

KathrynMD

anna7602:

No, it's a play-based school. We were told during orientation that there are general skills they will be working on throughout the year- drawing lines, using scissors and other things relating to developing fine motor skills and then larger concepts like recognizing shapes, letters, etc. but there's no printed syllabus or curriculum. I get a schedule of what days she has yoga and soccer class and what days she has arts & crafts and am expected to plan her clothing appropriately.

I actually chose DD's current school over another one in our area because of the lack of printed curriculum. The other school seemed way too academic to me for a 2/3 year old (DD started pre-school last year).

hmmm - thanks for sharing this.  I guess this is sort of another point, I'm not really sure I understand what their philosophy is at this point.  When I evaluated them as a daycare for my infant, my criteria were different so I'm just a little lost now and I feel like I'm not getting enough information.

Mrs Manners

Yes. We get a lesson plan for each week that outlined the theme and all the activities they will cover in each group center as well as a reminder about the things they cover in circle time (calendar, weather, pledge, etc). It outlines the activity and the learning objective for each. They also mention what number they are focused on, which of the letter people they are covering and what they would like for us to be working with them on at home (right now it's learning their birthday, phone number and address). ETA: they also gave us a "goals" list for the year at orientation that talked about their overall focus and goals for each discipline (ie art = hold pencil correctly, draw shapes from memory; Spanish = identify days of the week, shapes and colors in Spanish; math = identifies coin money, writes numbers 1-20).

KL777

We received a letter from DS's teacher outlining everything that he will be learning (Bible, phonics, beginning writing, math, and the type of curriculum used, etc).  DS is in K3.

dakota01

No we don't get one either. But as another pp mentioned our bus go to Montessori which is a whole other philosophy of learning that is based upon the development of the child. I know that throughout the year the child will focus on practical life, sensorial work, math, and language and culture. He chooses his work and his teacher presents lesson whole group or indiv as she sees they are ready. I love the program and philosophy of their schools, as a 3rd grade teacher I gave learned a lot from him and Montessori that I take back to my own classroom.

Rink08

Last year DS1 was in a P3 class at a private school (P3-12). There they had a primary orientation (P3-1st grade) a couple nights after school started and went over the general expectations then broke us down into the actual classes and handed out folders with the syllabus for the year and any other paperwork we needed to fill out.

This year, we've moved and DS1 is in a PreK class at a P3-K school. He only had one day so far due to the weather but they sent us a monthly calender as well as a broken down day-by-day schedule for next week.