What Should 4 Year Olds Be Learning In Preschool

What Is The Best Way For Preschoolers To Learn

Each kid will have a unique learning style. While one child may have intense concentration for their age, another might have little interest in anything that doesnt include running and jumping. Observe your child and when they are the happiest and most engaged and try to choose a preschool curriculum and schedule that fits joyfully into their lives.

Daily Schedule for Home Preschool

The first thing you should think about is how much time can you reasonably devote to the different activities you might want to include in a homeschool preschool day. For me, the thought of a homeschool schedule was scary and seemed counter-intuitive to the freedom that homeschooling would bring to my preschool children on a daily basis. BUT when I got into it, the daily routine a good thing. It put boundaries around the homeschool schedule and held me accountable to the things I wanted to accomplish.

Here are are a few great resources for developing your home mom schedule:

Our favorite learning program is on sale! You can try it out with 2 months for only $5!

What Adults Can Do

Be a model of literate behavior for your children: write notes, keep a calendar and daily planner, post lists of food and household needs and children’s responsibilities, introduce new vocabulary words during routine conversation and bookreading, and subscribe to a local newspaper and magazines the entire family will enjoy.

Sing songs, make up silly rhymes, read books, and play with words and sounds every day. Discuss printed text, words, and sounds as “objects” that can be thought about, manipulated, altered and explored. Help children build and use their ever-growing vocabulary.

Provide children with the tools of literate behavior and engage in daily literacy activities with your children .

What Kids Learn In Preschool

Sean Justice / Getty Images

From learning how to take turns to counting to 10, preschool is about discovery. By the time your child graduates from pre-K, they will have learned a lot. The entire span of lessons and content that your child will be taught during the course of preschool education is what’s known as the preschool curriculum.

Depending on the preschool you choose and the early childhood education philosophy it follows, your child may explore a wide variety of academic, social, physical, and emotional lessons. In addition to academics and social skills, many preschools also work on critical speech and fine motor skills.

In some settings, preschools are also able to help children complete their toilet training. By the time they get to kindergarten, children who participate in preschool should be ready to speak in longer phrases and sentences, use a pair of scissors, follow instructions, and kick a ball.

Don’t Miss: Preschools For 3 Year Olds

Math Skills For Preschool Curriculum Homeschool

The math learning in a preschool curriculum is about setting up a solid foundation for numbers and math principles. Kids should learn basic sequencing and patterns and how to match two things that are alike. They should be able to sort items and count to 10. Preschoolers will learn to order numbers 1-10 and realize what pile has less or more. They explore how numbers related to items and can add and subtract items in play.

Socializing And Sharing In Preschool

Developing important social skills is necessary before starting kindergarten preschoolers will learn how to share and cooperate, work together, take turns, participate in group activities, follow simple directions, and communicate wants and needs. “When they start kindergarten, they get dropped off alone, so children have to be able to speak up for themselves,” Meade says. “They need to know how to ask for help.”

Helping at Home

Develop your child’s social skills by arranging playdates and going to the playground. At home, be consistent about simple rules your child must follow, such as making the bed or putting toys away. Let your child take responsibility for cleaning up, but remember to model appropriate social interaction and politeness.

Also Check: Play N Learn Preschool San Jose

What Curriculum Should I Use For My 4 Year Old

Recently on TheHomeSchoolMom’s Facebook page someone asked for recommendations for her soon to be 4-year-old. It took me back to when I had a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old and had recently decided to homeschool.

I. Was. So. Excited.

What curriculum should I use? How should we schedule our days? I made lesson plans and felt organized and believed that my kids were going to get the best education ever. And honestly, we had great fun with some of the activities – but none of it was better than what we could have done by just living and playing.

So after all these years , what curriculum would I suggest for a 4 year old?

None.

The work of a 4-year-old is play. Studies show that play is how children learn. Take this time to engage your child. There will be plenty of time for setting and meeting goals later, should you choose to do that , but now is the time for play.

When To Be Concerned About Your 4

All children grow at their own pace and in their own way, but there are certain signs that your child may be experiencing a developmental delay.

I worry at this age if children are not playing cooperatively or have a hard time interacting with their peers or other children, says Dr. Ball. I am concerned when children’s speech at this age is unintelligible or if they have a hard time following directions or understanding commands.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists some red flags when it comes to growth and development. In terms of motor skills, if your child cant jump or has trouble writing or scribbling, you should bring this up with your pediatrician. Other concerns include children who cant dress themselves at all, arent able to use a potty, or are not able to answer simple questions.

Lacking social skills that may prompt a call to your pediatrician include not being interested in pretend play or playing with others, and not socializing with people outside of the immediate family. If you or others cant understand your child when they speak, if they arent using pronouns correctly, or if they dont seem able to recall stories that were told to them, reach out to your pediatrician.

Finally, if your childs skills have regressed in some way, the CDC advises that this is a warning sign that something may be wrong.

Recommended Reading: Dr Seuss Books For Kindergarten

How Time4learning Helps You Homeschool Your 4 Year Old

Time4Learning offers an online curriculum that can be the basis for homeschooling your 4 year old. Although it requires early levels of attention, fine motor control , and language, the curriculum is designed so that your child will be able to use it without much adult supervision. It assumes no prior knowledge and was created for pre-readers.

Here are some reasons why Time4Learnings preschool curriculum can be ideal for your 4 year old and your family:

• Time4Learnings preschool lesson plans are organized into two levels, with an additional alphabet level. Level One themes include School Time, My ABCs, My Colors, and At the Zoo. Level Two themes include All about Me, In My Neighborhood, and Measurement. You can use the curriculum as a two-year program to prepare your child for Kindergarten.
• Each theme is introduced by a song and show or story, including professional music and animations, and then your child can choose among activities like games and puzzles to deepen learning.
• A lesson planning worksheet helps you to plan the number of lessons per day in each subject to complete the curriculum.
• Your child can save snapshots of work onto a dashboard to share with you.
• You receive information on all completed activities, including time on task and the date and time of completion.

What Can My 4

As your child continues to grow, you will notice new and exciting abilities that your child develops. While children may progress at different rates, the following are some of the common milestones children may reach in this age group:

4-year-olds:

• Start to help with chores around the house
• Start to lose their baby teeth

Also Check: Free Printable Kindergarten Addition Worksheets

How Long Should My 4

4 to 5-year-olds should be sleeping around 10-12 hours at night. Those who get enough rest may no longer need a daytime nap and can benefit from some quiet time in the afternoon. This is the age where they might be in preschool or in kindergarten. As they give up naps, they may go to bed at night earlier than they did as toddlers.

Check out our guide about Healthy Sleep for Children for more info.

Inside A Preschoolers Day

Our caring teachers set a daily rhythm for preschoolers that consists of group time, story time, outdoor play, meals and snacks, and naps, and most especially, lots of unstructured playtime.

Group time

Group time happens every day in eachof our classrooms. Preschoolers cometogether to do a group activity or listento a read-aloud.

Meals and snacks

Every day, preschoolers sit down to a meal, where they eat healthyfruits and vegetables, lean proteins, andwhole grainsnever juice or fried foods.

Outdoor playtime

Most of our classes spend 2030minutes outside at least twice a day,weather permitting. They can really getgoing at this age! Its a time to exploreand play using their imaginations.

Recommended Reading: Free Preschool Resources For Parents

What Does My 4

As a childs vocabulary increases, so does his/her understanding and awareness of the world around them. Children at this age begin to understand concepts and can compare abstract ideas.

While children may progress at different rates, the following are some of the common milestones children may reach in this age group:

4-year-olds:

• Begins to understand time
• Begins to become less aware of only ones self and more aware of people around him/her
• May obey parents rules, but does not understand right from wrong
• Believes that his or her own thoughts can make things happen

5-year-olds:

• Curious about real facts about the world
• May compare rules of parents with that of friends

Play To Learn Preschool At Home Curriculum Ideas Learning Shapes Colors & Vocabulary

The homeschool preschool curriculum for learning shapes, colors and preschool appropriate curriculum is just this

Play, play and play some more! This will help kids learn in a creative way and become a well-rounded student. A sense of curiosity in learning is the most effective preschool student strategyeven if you are preschooling at home.

A well-rounded student of play!

And while you are playing, talk to your child about what they see. Your kids are learning their shapes, the colors, their body parts, the animals in the world all through play.

• Get a set of stones out. Paint them, adding shapes. In play, sort the colored rocks by size, their shapes, etc.
• Play street, print up road shape cards. Your child can drive cars along the shapes.
• Build with shapes. You can use a pack of straws and pipe cleaners if you dont have anything else.
• Explore shapes with a flip book make a visual kaleidoscope.
• Use dried out playdough or salt dough to create shapes and craft with them to make a mosaic.
• Print colorful patterns onto transparency pages and layer them with your child to explore shapes and colors.

Also Check: When Does Kindergarten Start Age

Abcs In The Preschool Curriculum

One of the first steps to learning to read is recognizing the letters of the alphabet. Children should be able to identify letters, sounds, and to be able to match the capital and lower case letters to each other.

• Start with toddler alphabet activities to help identify letters and sounds.
• Exercise through the alphabet with these activity ideas.
• Make an alphabet museum. Search through your house and fill the boxes with a different item each day.
• Play a lid matching game. You can even fill the jars with alphabet letters.
• Print a set of alphabet workbooks. These are perfect for kids who sit still.

What To Look For In A Preschool

No matter which philosophy your preschool follows , the preschool curriculum should promote learning while helping children meet the various language, social, physical, and cognitive goals. In an ideal situation, a quality preschool curriculum will be taught by certified teachers and be based on the most up-to-date childhood education research.

Depending on the school and the preschool philosophy employed by the preschool, the preschool curriculum can be developed by administrators, teachers, and in some cases, even parents. If you ever have a question about the curriculum or anything that’s going on at your child’s preschool, reach out to the teacher or preschool administrator.

Read Also: Wordsearch For Kindergarten Sight Words

When To Be Concerned About Child Development At 4 Years

See your child and family health nurse or GP if you have any concerns or notice that your 4-year-oldhas any of the following issues.

Seeing, hearing and communicating

• has trouble seeing or hearing things
• doesnt use sentences of more than 3 words.

Behaviour and play

• cant understand 2-part commands like Put the doll down, and pick up the ball
• doesnt pretend during play for example, doesnt pretend to be mum or dad
• has very challenging behaviour for example, has big tantrums over very small things or still clings or cries when you leave
• seems very afraid, unhappy or sad a lot of the time.

Movement and motor skills

• is clumsy for example, trips over a lot when walking or running
• finds it hard to handle small objects for example, a pencil or crayon
• has trouble drawing shapes for example, a circle or cross
• has difficulty eating, dressing or using the toilet.

What Kinds Of Preschools Are There

In Australia there are several different types of preschool programs and kindergartens. All preschool programs are run by qualified early childhood teachers:

• Sessional preschools: these offer programs ranging from 2½-7 hours a day, a few days a week.
• Long day preschools: these programs run for an entire day and include a lunch program.
• Preschool programs in long day care or child care centres: some centres offer preschool programs.
• Steiner, Montessori and Reggio Emiliapreschools: these offer programs based on individual philosophies about childrens learning. The program models and hours vary.
• 3-year-old groups: these programs might include an activity group run by a trained coordinator or a qualified teacher at a kindergarten or preschool.

Most preschools operate in purpose-built facilities, although in more remote areas they can be mobile or online. Preschool programs might be managed by a volunteer parent committee, local government, state education department, independent school or private company.

The Australian Government provides funding to all states and territories to ensure all children have access to early childhood education, particularly in the year before they start school. There might still be a fee, and your local preschool can tell you about the fees it charges.

Also Check: Preschool Learning Activities 3 Year Olds

Social Skills And Conflict Resolution

Preschool is the perfect time to help children learn how to get along with others, to share, to take turns, and to work through conflict peacefully. The National Association for the Education of Young Children offers many resources to help teachers foster social and emotional development in preschool children.

How Does My 4

A very important part of growing up is the ability to interact and socialize with others. This can be a frustrating transition for the parent as children go through different stages, some of which are not always easy to handle. While every child is unique and will develop different personalities, the following are some of the common behavioral traits that may be present in your child:

4-year-olds can:

• Be very independent and may want to do things on his or her own
• Be selfish and do not like to share
• Be moody mood swings are common in this age group
• Be aggressive during mood swings towards family members
• Have a number of fears
• Have imaginary playmates
• Enjoy exploring the body and may play doctor and nurse
• Run away or threaten to do so
• Fight with siblings

• Dress self completely without help
• Get along well with parents
• Enjoy cooking and playing sports
• Become more attached to parent as they enter school

Also Check: Daily Lesson Plan For Kindergarten

How Many Hours A Day Should I Homeschool My 4 Year Old

A traditional preschool may spend 3-5 hours in the classroom each day, but at home the one-on-one learning happens much faster. My recommendation is to choose a consistent time block each day for targeting preschool lessons that fits into your family and schedule and then adapt it to your child. For us, I would start with a rough outline of about an hour a day to do a learning activity or a series of activities around a theme. With one of my boys that might turn into something that we talk and laugh about most of the day while another one would breeze through everything in 15 minutes and want to do something else. Both boys went on to be great students and earn scholarships to college! I think the main thing is to foster a love of learning when kids are 3 or 4 instead of forcing information.

Preschool Curriculum 3 To 4 Years:

The Preschool Curriculum consists of learning goals categorised for different age groups in the pre-school.

The principle on which the curriculum has been designed is based on the foundation stage profile. The young childrens learning is best promoted in a setup by creating a learning environment that is well planned, organised, has scope for purposeful play and routines both indoors and outdoors which match the childrens needs and interests.

Children should be encouraged to make choices and have the freedom and confidence to plan, make decisions, think creatively, explore experiment and express themselves. Play activities should be designed to build on what children already know and can do and encourage positive attitudes towards learning. Children should be able to participate in both adult led as well as self-initiated play. Activities must support and extend the childrens knowledge, skills and attitudes towards learning. Knowledge, in the preschool setting, is the information that teachers believe children should acquire to be successful both in preschool and in the primary grades.Educators should create the right environment to develop appropriate learning goals.

You May Like: Readiness Programs For Preschoolers Focus On