Preschool Curriculum

[foreverj]

hi insider


thanks for sharing. based on your experience, may i check whether time-out sessions r actually allowed to be carried out for toddlers 18 months to 3 yrs old age group? my daughter’s new teacher actually implements standing in a corner as "punishment"/consequence if a child does not listen to instructions. wat i gather is also based on wat my daughter tells us when we ask her questions about what happens in class. but i want to get a sense of wat is appropriate before i speak to the director of the school abt this. appreciate your thoughts. thanks.

[mom2boys]

Hi insider,


Thanks for the sharing

that's is also one of the reasons why when choosing CC for my kids. I've also chosen one of the franchise by chambridge learning centre..any feedback on this.

The curriculum is quite intensive and the teachers informed that from K1, children will hv spelling, writing etc...so my son (N2) is quite behind time

[foreverj]

hi insider


thanks for your advice. guess my husband and my perception of the new teacher is not just on wat our daughter tells us but firstly based on our own interaction with her. somehow my experiences with her tells me she’s "highly clinical" and although wat she does may fall within wat the textbooks tell her, she falls short of what we feel is a loving and truly sincere teacher. and wat our daughter shares with us are very often things we discover by accident like she will imitate her teacher and shout quite loudly "cannot do this, cannot do that" etc. n when we ask her "just like who", she say "like teacher xxx"

bottomline, i dun think i can fault her for doing or saying some of the things she did, becos she is afterall "human". however, my grievances abt her is more on where is her starting point? did she do/say the things out of sheer frustration and the expectation that "i’m the teacher and u must do as i say" or did she do it out of the hope that the child wil learn about cooperation in the context of the school environment?

i m unlikely to kick up a big fuss over my own opinion of her given that my daughter wil change teacher in a month’s time. it is my firm belief that "no cc is perfect", we just need to find a place where we r willing to work around the limitations they have. ultimately, if its a place that our children r able to flourish n enjoy n learn new things, grow in independence, pick up the right social skills and value system, all at a price that is affordable for us, it is good enough.

[happypoppy]

insider:

mom2boys:

chosen one of the franchise by chambridge learning centre..any feedback on this.


The curriculum is quite intensive and the teachers informed that from K1, children will hv spelling, writing etc...so my son (N2) is quite behind time

mom2boys,

Emmm….I take it that you are referring to Cambridge Child Development Centre as I have not come across a franchise system under Chambridge…

If you are referring to Cambridge, I know they have a full set of updated curriculum coz I managed to take a look at it when helping my friend to evaluate the centre that she is interesting in (think they just updated their curriculum this year coz I remember seeing the copyright statement as 2008). Really having a full set of curriculum is a very important criterion to me when I evaluate centre and so it scored points based on this (I get skeptical when principals can’t show me at least part of the centre’s curriculum or can’t even name the writer of their curriculum). My further dig into their curriculum shows that the curriculum was written by the management team in their HQ and its basically reggio-inspired (project based) with academic objectives weaved into it. A visit to their classrooms showed extensive use of mind maps / kids work and that’s a relatively good indicator that that centre that I visited is preaching what the curriculum says… (One thing that caught my attention was when I was told that Ms Tan, the ex principal of Nanyang Kindergarten, was among the management team and is one of the writers. I have heard many positive things about Ms Tan and so the inference maybe there that she will not generate rubbish…)

Personally, I prefer a project base centre than a thematic one. The first five years of my experience were on thematic and subsequently with the learning of new approaches in preschool education, I am more inclined towards project base as I have seen the greater benefit that a child can get in a project base one instead of otherwise. Nevertheless, a 100% project based centre is quite impossible in Singapore coz we have to prepare kids for P1. A 100% project base centre will not have spelling…

At what part of the K1 will the centre you visited start spelling? In the beginning of K1 or the later part of K1 (I didn’t see this in their curriculum)? I don’t quite like spelling in preschool years but can still accept if it is done after mid of a child’s K1 instead of the beginning part of K1 (too stressful for those just graduated from N2 to K1 to start spelling – not necessary).

Having said that, I am not saying that all Cambridge centres are good. It’s just that at least they have a full curriculum to begin with and the rest is pretty much in the hands of the staff of the individual centres (the theory vs application part). The rest of the considerations pls refer to my earlier post.

Insider, thanks for taking the time to share with us on the going-ons in the preschool sector. It has indeed been very useful and informative for 1st time clueless mummies like me.

However, coming back to the question posed by Chief Kiasu, can you give us some pointers as to what a full set of curriculum should comprise? How do I go about assessing the quality (ie. continuity, logic, 'comprehensiveness' etc) of the curriculum in the short span of time that I spend visitng the cc/ discussing with the administrator? Should I also make an effort to meet up with the principal rather than just the administrator only?

[panicmum]

dear insider

thanks a lot for your sharing. have you encoutered any cc with full curriculum which satisfy ur criteria?? what do you think of Creative O which is located in Jurong East?

[dolphin]

Any comments on the cirriculum for the following :-

1. PatSchoolhouse
2. Brighton Montessori
3. Eton

I find it’s difficult to assess as I notice some schools may not follow strictly to the planned timetable at times while I was on school visits. Hope to get some pointers.

[ngchris]

Insider, I just received my boy’s cultural topics (eg plants, animals, musiscal instruments) for 2009 and they are almost 80% same topics as this year’s. Is it norm?

[kwcllf]

Hi,


Just wants to find out from other parents about reading programmes in childcare.

I have a kid in K1 and moving to K2 next year. the teacher hardly teaches them to read and only read to them some times. Is this normal?

Also, we have given forms to sign up for optional English and Chinese Language programmes next year. Aren’t these programmes supposed to be part of its curriculum…and why should we fork out additional money for these "optional" programmes.

Hope other parents can share their experience with me. Thanks

[phantom]

kwcllf:

Hi,


Just wants to find out from other parents about reading programmes in childcare.

I have a kid in K1 and moving to K2 next year. the teacher hardly teaches them to read and only read to them some times. Is this normal?

Also, we have given forms to sign up for optional English and Chinese Language programmes next year. Aren't these programmes supposed to be part of its curriculum...............and why should we fork out additional money for these \"optional\" programmes.

Hope other parents can share their experience with me. Thanks

My kid is not exactly in CC, but in a Montessori based Kindergarten, and they teach reading and phonics. I have a friend that has his child in Montessori based CC, and are taught phonics and reading and his son can read quite well at age of 3++. After knowing this, I switched my child's Kindergarten, as they are the same age and my kid don't know how to read :roll:

So I suppose it depends on the CC you send him and the program they offer.

[metz]

kwcllf:

the teacher hardly teaches them to read and only read to them some times. Is this normal?

Hi,

I am surprised to hear that. The few preschools I came across do actively teach K1s to read. For my son's kindy (K1), the kids are taught to read a set of English and Chinese readers.