Teaching Preschoolers

Lucille Fisher

Three-year-olds in a classroom? No, three-year-olds surrounded by caring teachers trained to meet their immediate needs in a homelike atmosphere.

How can you stimulate a group of preschoolers without academic pressure? Pressure in early childhood education has been a point of debate for many years. Examples of children who have learned to read at the ages of three or four are often cited. This does happen, but it is not the norm.

Remember that very young children mature at varied rates. Each child must be allowed to mature at his own pace. Placing undue stress on a child with premature reading instruction could falsely label him as learning disabled. Also, pushing him into premature social situations and decision making gives him too much responsibility too soon and could cause devastating consequences even into adulthood.

Why not let a child be a child? Too soon he will grow up and find that he does not have much time for play. A child's play is his work. Through block play a child can learn concepts of size, height, weight, width, classification, and even balance--with a little help from you. Involving children in cooking projects (noting the labels, discussing the sequence, and eating the product) can provide numerous prereading skills, a sense of accomplishment, fun.

Classrooms for three-year-olds should offer skill development in a variety of games, using a Heritage Studies or a science theme. Children learn language and vocabulary as well as premath, motor, art, and music skills. Teachers should remember that no child of preschool age should be occupied with all teacher-directed group sessions.

Preschool children are busy learning cause and effect in the physical world and in interpersonal relationships. They need to explore their world and initiate their own learning in hands-on experiences. In most of these, teachers should facilitate learning by setting the stage with appropriate materials as well as appropriate time allotment for the activities.

The teacher, who is called of God, can provide many unpressured art activities where the children will listen to directions, see comparisons, interpret pictures, "read" labels, sort, classify, and sequence and analyze. They will also develop large and fine motor skills and at the same time have a great deal of FUN.

Thresholds for Threes

I stand upon the threshold
Of the life God gave to me.
The doors through which I enter
Will determine what I'll be.

Be very cautious, Teacher,
What you are, and say, and do.
You may know the world I enter,
But to me it's all quite new.

Don't pressure me, don't push me.
It will take me time to grow.
The Lord has made me special,
And the way I take He knows.

Reprinted from Teacher to Teacher, March 1998.

Used with permission from BJU Press. For permission to reproduce this article, please write BJU Press.