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Tips and Resources
Early Childhood Intervention/Homespun: ECI is a statewide program for families with children, birth to three, with disabilities and developmental delays. ECI supports families to help their children reach their full potential through developmental services. For more infromation visit their website at www.dars.state.tx.us/ecis
Top ten reasons to read to your children http://www.kinderiq.com/reading-to-your-child.php
Information on child development www.dars.state.tx.us/ecis/resources/library.html
Parenting information www.parenting.com
Child development www.zerotothree.com\
National Institute for Literacy www.nifl.gov
Childcare resource www.childcare.about.com
US Consumer Product Safety Commission www.cpsc.gov this websit will let you look up recalled items, as well as, give you information about reporting an unsafe item.
Will Preschool Education make a child ready for Kindergarten? By Robin McClure, about.com
Are Pre-K Skills Important?
Parents are sometimes concerned about whether their child will be ready for kindergarten following a preschool education. In fact, early child care experts are noting an increased pressure by parents to teach preschool children how to count, name letters, make letter sounds, and even learn to read.
The Children's Courtyard, a preschool and afterschool childcare program, provides parents with information suggesting that those preschool education skills, while sometimes impressive, are not the most important skills needed for kindergarten. Instead, the center suggests that children will learn numbers and letters easily in kindergarten or first grade.
So, what is important to learn in preschool education?
The empahsis during the preschool education years should be learning important items that will help children develop a strong knowledge basis needed for academic success. They cite these Essential Cognitive Foundations, adapted from the Essential Congnitive Skills for School Readiness:
* A strong knowlede base sufficient to support comprehension, drawing inferences, and making predictions.
* Problem-solving skills
* An ability to "inter-translate" between language and mental images so that knowledge and thoughts can be expressed through language (productive language) and knowledge can be formed from incoming information (receptive language).
* A set of attitudinal and self-managment skills that include: attention managment, comprehension monitoring and presistence.
With these cognitive foundations in preschool, children will be more prepared to conquer the demands places on them by school Children will also think of themselves as capable and independent learners. Teachers find it easier to teach a child who possesses a strong preschool education background in language skills, listening comprehension, attention managment skills, and a positive attitude toward learning.
Infant Sleep Awareness
A Child's Place Learning Center... Where Learning & Playing Come Together!
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