Preschool Curriculum

[momresource]

Hi parents,


I had sleepless nights after attending my kid’s school event on special parent review meeting on expectations and curriculum last sat… reasons not bcos my kid is not coping well but rather I am frustrated by the overall education structure.

1st of all, I would like to emphasize that I appreciate the school school to conduct such meeting for parents to interact but overall, it is still about the talk to prepare the child for primary school. But how? Why do we have health book for our kid to monitor their development (eg. when they can sit, crawl, climb stairs), why can’t there be a guideline for 1st time parents about the academics at nursery, K1 and K2 levels? This will be useful tools for use to guide our kid to their age-appropriate activities and not over-expect or to drill the kids beyond their level.

So many talk about independent learning, thematic approach, emphasis of "play" or free play, moe approach of word recognition rather than writing (then when will a child need to write), fun learning interactive environment. If preschools are so fun and easy, will the child goes into shock when they enter primary 1?

As there are many emphasis of getting the child to be prepared for Primary One, I have my concern that if it is necessary to send my kid to those preparation class when turns K1-K2 level, just like all school-going children must-have tuition after school. Is it a normal trend for anxious parents or is our preschools now are not preparing well for primary school or educational operators seizing opportunities to cash-in?

Any parents here with preschool going children can share some of the following:

1. When did you child write (letters, words)?
2. Can your child write english/chinese words?
3. Do you emphasize on stroke?
4. When does your child read time?
5. When do your child learns number? eg. 1-20 in nursery?
6. When do your child learns math like addition, subtraction…
7. Does the preschool tell you about your child’s progress?
8. When does your child have spelling?
9. Anyone can remember the words for your child’s 1st spelling?
10. When did your child starts to have homework?

Any parents share here some of your child school activities (pls indicate nursery, K1, K2)?

Let me begin what I know my kid has done in term1 of nursery so far:
English
- knowing the letters and their sound (h, b, t)
Chinese
- recognition of words through reading boy, girl, father, mother
Maths
- Recognise and understand 1 and 2
- identify primary and secondary colours
Pre-writing skills like straight and curvelines and lots of art & crafts work.

Pls don’t ask me what he will learn by end of nursery bcos I am clueless!

[jedamum]

momresource,

you are frustrated over the overall education structure because there is no guide on academic 'milestones' for preschoolers?
many parents are already frustrated over the education system over it's overemphasis on academics. if MOE is to roll out a guide for preschool academic milestones, then parents will start to complain about no childhood for their kids.

One way of charting your kids' progress is to take a look at the MOE's guide on what a kid is expected to know by end of P1 (alternatively, you can refer to http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=117&start=0 too ). Then use that information and plan out what you want your kid to know before P1. With that, you can then supplement the school's teaching with either supplementary classes or home teaching.

[anxiousmummy]

Hi Jedamum

I thought MOE has changed its syllabus a few years ago and some schools are not even having any SA or CA? Even if there are SA or CA, I would have thought that the amount of homework would have gone down.

[kwcllf]

Hi momresource,


I can understand perfectly where you are coming from regarding preschool curriculum and whether our children will be ready for Primary 1.

In Singapore, preschool education follows MOE's \"Nurturing Early Learners: A Framework for Kindergarten curriculum in Singapore\" as a reference. Centres are guided by the desired outcomes of pre-school education in this framework.

For a complete guide of the framework, please refer to the following link:
http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/preschool/files/kindergarten-curriculum-framework.pdf

Among the various objectives in the framework, \"Language and Literacy\" and \"Numeracy\" are some of the key areas.

As I have mentioned earlier in this post, there should be a basic result/objective for preschool to aim for. I am not saying children at such a young age should be subjected to examination. but a Basic standard must be achieved from the many curriuculum touted by the many preschools in Singapore.


Hi jedamum,

I don't think most parents are thinking of the academic \"milestones\" for preschoolers in the strict sense. Although MOE has a framework in place, in my humble opinion, there should be better monitoring of the preschool sector to ensure that the objectives it sets out are met, like I mentioned \"Language and Literacy\" and \"Numeracy\". Otherwise, all the supposedly \"superior\" curriculum are nothing more than a smokescreen.

[momresource]

Hi jedamum,


I nearly faint too hehe… but really thanks for the link to your post and it is really wonderful to have ChiefKiasu listing down the various aspects parent and child to prepare and be ready for primary school education.

My kid is in 3 hr preschool and everytime there is a meeting or preview, the school always say that their program is very jampacked to prepare them for Primary school. But however when I ask about academics at the individual level, it is always "don’t worry, your child is doing fine". I agree school is not about learning english, chinese and maths but with such a guide, at least parents won’t have to panic at K2 level and rush their kids to preparation class… Yes, I have heard parents with K1 kid saying that they are too young, can’t take spelling test, but then again, when will they be ready?

It is important that at least with a guide, parents can actually relax a little rather than driven by the trend of sending kids to countless enrichment and preparation class. I am not against enrichment but it should enhance the kid’s learning rather than duplicating what he learnt in school.

So how do we gauge that? Just like we won’t attempt to get a 6 month old to stack blocks as we know that their motor skills are not ready. Of course, there are some exceptional bright kid or some really lack a particular skills, parents will have a better idea to tackle with it. Ultimately, our kid is our responsibilities. Parents can then create "play" according to their kid standard rather than overdoing it. Pr

Primary school is big transition and life change to the kid but if we as parents don’t do our part to be involved early, I felt injustice to the kid. That’s kind of summarize my frustration and I felt bad for venting these out but I really do learn a lot from many posts in the forum here how to become a better parent.

[jedamum]

anxiousmummy:

Hi Jedamum

I thought MOE has changed its syllabus a few years ago and some schools are not even having any SA or CA? Even if there are SA or CA, I would have thought that the amount of homework would have gone down.

Syllabus is mainly what the kids are supposed to know (eg for math, suppose to know how to read time, do multiplication up to a result of 40 etc etc). SA or CA is only a form of test. Scraping of the SAs or CAs and the amount of homework is independent of the syllabus.
Even if there is a change in syllabus, it will not be a 100% full revamp as the what the kids need to know for their basics should roughly be the same.

[momresource]

Hi kwcllf,


I have in fact download and printed out this 40 over pages to read 1st before attending my kid's parents meeting. The framework is a very broad guidelines for schools in general but I guess I went to the school with high expectations that they will reveal to parents on detailed curriculum.

Sometimes, it is hard not to have parents not to do comparisons in such instances.

:roll:

[buds]

kwcllf:

There will always be very kiasu parents.


However, I believe the majority will be happy that children are well taken care off and given the age-appropriate activities and programmes so that they will be ready for Primary 1.

There are so many programmes out there but ultimately, they must deliver a basic result/objective. For me, this basic result/objective should be children that are confident, enquiring and have an interest to learn new things, ability to read/write simple words or Chinese characters.

Of course, there will always be different expectations but to me, this should at least be the basic standards chlldcare centres are required to achieve.

In a nutshell, i suppose you got it all in.

[buds]

momresource:

Pls don't ask me what he will learn by end of nursery bcos I am clueless!

Good schools have this briefed upfront, to equip parents what will be
covered at every level of their childrens' pre-school education, so they
will be assured that their children will be sufficiently ready for Pri 1.
They would also have regular updates/newsletters to notify parents
of their children are doing in school.

momresource:

Hi Insider,
Thank you for your reply. I really value it and I have since, try to reduce TV time for my kids. I have seen some benefits for TV in my kid but we also shouldn't abuse it... use it wisely and to the minimum.

I do agree with this. Cause i see it in both of mine too.

momresource:

Hi Buds,
I did go to MFC at Newton during my search for preschool 2 years ago but the distance and logistic put me off apart of the long waiting list. I had my concerns then about the teaching styles and whether my child can fit into those primary school setting. (eg. instead of sitting on floor vs table
& chair arrangement/ individual task based vs group teaching) level of
their centre's preschool years..

Contrary to the belief of many parents with regards to the so called
atypical Montessori setting, the structure of Montessori schools now
is different from how it first started from when Dr Maria Montessori
herself. Even why it was first started is different. Dr Maria Montessori
provided her teachings free to underprivileged and special children
then. She for one believed every child should have a go at a good all
rounded education, whether or not they could afford to. After her
success, her followers continued her legacy and up till today where
it has turned out extremely commercial.

Montessori is all about not being totally rigid with its learning structure,
where flexibility in teaching is much encouraged compared to the
usual teacher directed settings. Floor work and table work are now
mostly no longer an issue. Montessori setting today has adapted
the needs of our childrens' preparation for formal Primary education.
Group work, table work and also some time for teacher directed
lessons within the whole group tho may not be 30 children exactly.

Having said that different Montessori schools would have different
preferences as well, similar to the usual kindergarten programme.
The one who started the pre-school or the person in charge of the
centre's programme have a vision for their own centre. Hence the
reason of the variety of pre-school set ups here..

Just to add, the complete Montessori education not only prepares for
Primary education, but for life long learning. The objective is to allow
for learning to come from the heart. To inspire life long learning.
The soft skills included in the Montessori teachings are beyond what
is being taught by normal schools and maybe the home itself. The
Cultural Studies itself covers even Geograpy.

Unless we are IN the system, we will not be able to really know exactly
what goes on in the industry. Let me just share a little..

I've been on both sides of this industry - mainstream and Montessori.
Tho i had my doubts abt the works of the Montessori system then
when i first started (cos i was from mainstream), i had the pleasure
of combining both systems i have learnt, to my students and have had
good reviews that many of our Montessorians had done well in their
primary education (from parents) due to the concrete grounding
of the basic knowledge of early education. There is no one way to
for a perfect early education set up, but a combination of both the
normal teacher directed and Montessori has benefitted some of ours.
Coupled with parental involment, our children become more confident
students. Just my two cents from the teaching point of view.

Just like learning reading..... there is no one fixed way to learn it.
So just like preparation for our children, be it pre-school, primary
or secondary..... there will be many ways for different children to
excel in different ways, routines and emphasis. We cater to how
our children may learn best as no two children are alike.

One centre may have the best Mandarin approach while another centre
provides fun learn thru play with their speech and drama like lessons,
and another thru good drilling children develop good penmanship, etc.
The pursuit for the perfect methodology is really subjective. Just like
how insider has put it in a nutshell - ... in the eyes of the beholder.

Every methodology has its strengths, and its good if we can adopt
the best of each if we can. Methodology aside, a superb teacher is
what we need to inspire our children to life long learning every step
of the way...

[momresource]

buds,


Thanks for your detailed advice.

I am currently sourcing out for another school for him. Ultimately as what many parents have pointed out here, I wish the same for my kid to enjoy and looking forward to school everyday… instead he begs me not to leave him in his current school and his behaviour are getting very bad; sometimes I am unsure if he picks up from classmates or imitates the teacher or simply to spite me for leaving him there. Luckily we are having 1 week school break!