What Your Preschooler Needs to Know: Read-Alouds to Get Ready for Kindergarten by Core Knowledge Foundation
	List Price:   $15.00 Unit Price:   $12.00 You Save:   $3.00 (20%) ISBN-10:   0385341989 ISBN-13:   9780385341981 Publisher:   Random House [MD]; Delta Series:   Core Knowledge Ser. Category:   Reference, Picture Books Pub. Date:   March 2008 Pages:   224 Format:   Paperback
Awards
2006  American Library Association Notable Books for Children  Winner!  2008  North Carolina Children's Book Award  Nominee/Honoree  2007  Great Stone Face Children's Book Award  Nominee/Honoree
Subjects
READING_PARENT PARTICIPATION
Description/Notes
Introduction Ah, the happy years before school, the carefree time before that dreaded day when the young child becomes, as Shakespeare put it: The whining school-boy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. For children who are ready for the school experience, kindergarten and first grade can be exceedingly happy and absorbing times. No creeping unwillingly for them! But that certainly isnt true of children who are not ready. Usually they will not enjoy the challenging early years of schooling. And even their futures might be compromised, since researchers have determined that children who have fallen behind in first grade tend not to catch up academically. As a consequence, the educational importance of the early years, from 2 to 5, has become increasingly well-known by psychologists and policy makers, and recently by the general public. State legislatures are beginning to offer universal preschool programs, available to all children. What Parents Need to Know about School Readiness During the past twenty-five years, however, there has been a barrier to effective preschooling, whether at home or at a school. That barrier has been a set of romantic ideas about early childhood, ideas that are widespread among some early-childhood experts and the general public. An American parent who picks up this book may have heard things like the following: that teaching pre-literacy and pre-math skills to preschoolers is unnatural, premature, and developmentally inappropriate; that such exposure distracts from healthier, more natural learning experiences; that it can be injurious to the child. These romantic ideas about early childhood have exerted a huge influence in American thought, but they are now thought by leading psychologists to be misleading and oversimplified. There is, in fact, great benefit and great fun to be gained by engaging young children in suitable educational activities. In the United States today, some children do come to school ready to learn; generally, they are fortunate enough to come from privileged and educated families that understand the importance of these early formative years and have the capability to make the most of them. Many, many other children, though, are not ready when they enter kindergarten. While they may come from loving and well-intentioned families, often their parents have neither the financial resources nor the free time to ensure that their children engage in educationally productive experiences, either at preschool or at home. These children enter kindergarten under a severe academic disadvantage. They do not know the words and things they need to know in order to thrive in kindergarten and first grade. They do not understand things that other children understand, and they fall further behind with each passing grade. Research on the Important Preschool Years The significance of this early disadvantage and its deleterious consequences cannot be overstated. One study (Hart and Risley, 1995) followed children from infancy through the elementary grades. Researchers meticulously examined everything that went on in the childrens homes during the early years, then evaluated the children during their preschool years, again in kindergarten, and in third grade. Here are some highlights of their findings: The number of words spoken to children throughout infancy and early childhood varied tremendously from family to family, and the amount of language children heard directly correlated to family income level. For example, children from the poorest families heard less language than children from working-class families. And children from both these groups heard far fewer words than children from families in which parents were professionals. Based on these findings, researchers were able to extrapolate that, by the time children entered school, t Prepare your child for a lifetime of learning and wonder. Designed for parents to enjoy with children, filled with opportunities for reading aloud and fostering curiosity, this beautifully illustrated read-aloud anthology offers preschoolers the fundamentals they need to prepare for a happy, productive time in schooland for the rest of their lives. Millions of children have benefited from the acclaimed Core Knowledge Series, developed in consultation with parents, educators, and the most distinguished developmental psychologists. In addition to valuable advice to parents, including what it means for a child to be ready for kindergarten, special sidebars throughout the book help parents make reading aloud fun and interactive, suggesting questions to ask, connections to make, and games to play to enrich their preschoolers learning experience. Discover: Favorite Poems and Rhymesall beautifully illustrated. Read and recite together from Robert Louis Stevensons poem At the Seaside to limericks by Edward Lear and tongue twisters by Jack Prelutsky, plus fun clap along! and fingerplay verses that parents and children can act out together. Beloved Stories and Fablesread aloud from stories like The Three Little Pigs and the African folktale Why Flies Buzz and open whole new worlds of learning and discovery. Visual Artshelp your child appreciate and talk about art. Beautiful full-color reproductions of great works of art will foster early appreciation of art history while igniting discussions about shapes, colors, and different styles and media. Musicdozens of songs to sing and dance to, including move around songs like Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes and The Wheels on the Bus Historya delightful introduction to American historyfrom the first Thanksgiving to Martin Luther King, Jr., with activities and stories parents and children can enjoy together Sciencefrom the wonder of animals to exploring physical properties of light, air, and waterfun activities that will let children observe, experience, and enjoy the natural world The authors of the wildly popular Core Knowledge series for elementary school students bring the same expertise to preschool, teaching young children life and learning skills at the most critical point in their development.