Best Pre-Schools

     Question Answered:  How do you pick a good Pre-School?
     1- The main thing to look for is a loving teacher and a nurturing atmosphere for learning.  Children at that age cannot learn if they are not comfortable with their surroundings.  No more than 8-12 students per adult is a very comfortable ratio.
     2- Children who enter Kindergarten recognizing their letters and realizing that letters have sounds are the most successful.
     3- Counting 1-30 each day with the calendar is very important.  Numbers 11-20 are the hardest numbers to learn so when counting do not stop at 10.
     4- Make sure concepts of print are taught:  this is the front of a book; these are words; these are spaces; letters make up words; this is the way I move my eyes when I read (from left to right).
     5- Choose a school that has story time daily, 3-5 stories a day.  Included in this group are Nursery Rhymes and Fairy Tales.
     6- Help children write their name.

     7- Children are just beginning to write letters, so just make sure they can hold a pencil and start to write a few letters.
     8- Make sure there is lots of time to play and interact with other students.
     9- Look for many diverse hands on activities.  Things like play-doe, blocks, housekeeping, puzzles, painting, crayons, markers, glue, scissors.

     In Pre-School let children be children, but make sure they have a foundation on the above skills taught in a loving nurturing environment.