The home or family is basically the first school, and the primary teachers are the parents. Children who are not yet into formal or conventional learning are considered as emergent learners. From conception to birth, children acquire knowledge through the senses, and as the years unfold, they acquire learning from observation and experience. The philosopher and educator John Locke considered a child’s brain as “tabula rasa” meaning a blank slate, capable of absorbing knowledge from any reliable source.
Brookvales best Kindergarten is happy for you and your children in their last year as pre-schoolers. One more year and they will be entering their primary grades sooner or later. As of today, changes in the curriculum have mandated teachers and other educators to make their lessons fun and interactive with the child-centred or learner-centred curriculum and should incorporate teaching strategies that make learning wholistic in all aspects.
Kindergarten defined
It is a school or class that prepares children prior to entering the first grade. Children enrolled in this level is typically five (5) to six (6) years old. In Australia and Britain, it is considered as an establishment where children below the age of compulsory education play and learn with other children of the same age bracket.
History and Etymology
The word was first used between 1850-1855, probably of German language origin. Literally spoken as “children’s garden,” that is equivalent to Kinder (children) + Garten (garden).
Why do they call it kindergarten?
Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel or Froebel was a German pedagogue, a student of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, who laid the foundation for modern education based on the recognition that children have unique needs and capabilities. At one instance, Froebel called on the German women to come together and support the kindergarten because he considered children as plants and teachers as gardeners. The term kindergarten emerged, kinder, meaning child and garten, meaning garden (Headley, 1965).
Difference between preschool and kindergarten
There is a key difference between the two forms of early childhood education. A preschool refers to an educational institution that has been designed for children between the infancy and age of formal education. On the other hand, kindergarten is a type of preschool for children from three to five years of age. The focus is for children to develop language skills and vocabulary skills development.
Lower Kindergarten (LKG) and Upper Kindergarten (UKG)
These are the first two parts of education which are mandatory for every child before entering into the primary or first-grade formal education.
Rationale behind Kindergarten
The purpose of the new kindergarten is to teach children a rich, meaningful and balanced curriculum of skills and information through age-appropriate activities that encourage children to want to learn more.
What a child should learn in Brooksvale Kindergarten
- Reading – At the age of five or six years old, the child should have learned the standard alphabet. This will be enhanced further with worthwhile interactive activities.
- Mathematics – the main objective is for children to learn to count and they are taught the concepts of count numbers with colorful and engaging objects like toys or animals.
- Science – at this stage, it is understood that children are not yet that ready to perform experiments on their own. Instead, by using colorful and engaging instructional materials like television or movies, they build curiosity and interest on the things around them.
- Social studies – simple greetings and songs pertaining to build friendship and love for country are taught at this stage in a gradual and constant manner.
