European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 15, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Preschooler skills can vary widely by Marianne and Stephen w. Garber and Robyn Freedman Spizman Cox news service Reader s letter As a kindergarten teacher this is a problem i contend with each year. How can i help parents understand that the child who is having great difficulty with the work is not a failure but s not really ready a teacher dear teacher unfortunately Many parents believe the preschooler s level of achievement Marks his academic accomplishments later parents Are pleased when they see their youngsters pursuing studies thai look More academic at earlier Ages. Completion of workbooks and primers becomes the hallmark of the Young child s achievement. Other parents fears Are More immediate will my child pass the new first Grade placement test Given by the stale or Georgia until 10 or is years ago parents assumed children would learn to read during the first Grade. Now though in Many schools parents assume Little scholars Are lagging behind ii they Don t have a stack of sight vocabulary cards under their Belt by the time they enter the elementary classroom. Ideally learning at any age should be propelled by interest and motivated by questions. For Young children the Cycle should begin with a Challenge to the mind through the senses. The developing mind learns Best through Concrete experiences where the child is encouraged to use his hands Eye. Ears and maybe his whole body to manipulate materials. Playing and counting objects precede Pencil and paper tasks with numerals. Passing and falling Are inappropriate concerns. There Are no right and wrong answers to this kind of play Only a growing base of facts and new insights about these strange things called numbers exposing the child to the world around him and then building on his natural desire to learn is important to the child s development what a particular child is ready or is the crucial Factor. Some children Are Able to absorb vast amounts of information and use ii in very sophisticated ways. In the Long run though the fact that a child loves to be read to plays with books and shows interest in print is often More significant to his future As a Reader than the accomplishment thai he could read on the second Grade level by the age of 5. Like you we have met a number of children who would have benefited from an additional preschool building on the natural desire a learn is important to a child s development. A photo year. If you watch a group of a year Olds the disparity among skills is quite apparent. A Lew months age advantage can make a lot of difference in control Over Fine motor skills for example one youngster May draw elaborate pictures another May be writing and Reading his invented Spellings while a third child May awkwardly hold a Crayon. In six months that same child May be writing fluently eagerly showing Oil his print work. There s no reason to consider him a failure because his interest and skills needed a Little More time to develop. Nor should the child be placed in a position where he unfavourably compares his efforts with the prowess of a few classmates. Other times children struggle with tasks because they Haven t developed the preparatory skills that would allow them to function in a structured classroom. Following directions attending in a group setting and waiting Are important prerequisites for the elementary years. In fact these learning How to learn skills maybe More significant to Mure Success than being Able to sing the abcs. An extra year in preschool May reinforce budding Confidence and provide a stronger foundation for learning later. While you certainly have the child s interest Al heart parents have neither your years of experience with Many children nor your overview of the skills the child will need to be successful. Share with the parents the process you went through to arrive at your conclusions. A selection of work samples and notes from classroom observations Are helpful. You May also recommend a full evaluation of the child s ability to Rule out underlying learning problems that would hinder Progress. If learning disabilities or some other problems do exist it is unlikely another year in the preschool classroom will resolve them. Another course of action might be More appropriate. Decisions about a child s future Are never easy to make. Parents strive to provide opportunities for their children they May not have had themselves. Quite understandably they want their child to feel special. From there though it s a Quick jump to ii misplaced emphasis on achievement. Later these same children May have difficulty recognizing their own Progress misjudge excellence and never Icet Good about their own achievements. Children have Many years to be adults but they have Only a Little while to be children. If a child needs the extra time that an additional year in preschool might provide then it is certainly time Well spent if it prepares the child Tor later Success and protects his self esteem. Elementary by Julia Rubin associated press he puce rings with the sound of Cham machines gobbling the contents of Piggy Banks. Three Levels of counters allow Ever smallest customer to see the Teller. There s an entry Blank on the loan application form or  Al the Young americans Bank to Denver colo., i Bills itself As the first in the world geared entirely to children the average savings account customer is i years old. All it takes to open an account is $10 and the signature of an adult sponsor. On display Are pamphlets with titles like a you i elementary school this is your  Margaret Hoover 10, brought $31 in savings fro lemonade stands allowance and All Over the place the Bank on the Day it opened almost a year ego. Since then she says i be saved a of of Money. Usually i would take the Money to the store end whatever i d see i d buy but now hat it s in the bar can t spend  the Bank has opened nearly 5,000 accounts for customers age 21 and younger from 23 states end 1hr foreign countries says its president Linda Sanders. The average savings account balance la 1126.1 average age for checking accounts la 14 and for Tot not including the most popular category of student Loans 16. Asked what kind of kids Bank there Sanders ans very serious  kids who apparently tossed As or. Seuss for Horatio Alger. Adam Fingersh 11, took out a loan to launch a Ai designer sweat shirt business Adam f. Designs in Denver Home. Flag ssh offered his Apple computer the Bank As collateral Lor the loan and negotiated if terms within four months he had paid off the loan c received a revolving line of credit. Chris ulane 16, of Denver borrowed $200 lob i Puppy and have a Best Friend he repaid the loan earnings from a part time Job after school. Half the Young americans Bank s loan portfolio consists of College Loans but the other half include Loans for horses Back to school clothes and Slot used vow bugs Sanders says Gregory Phelps 21, of Littleton needed capital to St computer company when he graduated from High sch i had no credit history but i d been an sex capt the stars and stripes How do bal by Joseph Berger new York times baby learning to talk tackles a task might be compared to learning a Orelar language without a translator or a dec to or even a command of a Natl a language use a base yet virtually All children understand scores of to and can speak simple sentences by the time they years old How do they do it for two decades now secret psychologists linguists and anthropologists Indue such thinkers As Jean Piaget Noam Chomsky and Jerome Bruner. Have been probing this mystery 01 that May hold significant implications about How children learn and How they can be taught belter. Researchers videotape babies eating in High Cha taking Baths and playing with toys. They spend thousands of hours transcribing dialogues Between babies and mothers they meticulously count nouns verbs and gestures dra intricate graphs and charts and subject their finder computerized analyses worthy of the scrutiny Ellve Federal budget. After All this the essential process remains a m and the researchers hypotheses remain a matter debate. Some researchers believe a baby form concepts about the world and then matches the w heart to those concepts. Others think a baby hear words first then matches concepts to those it Fra Ando hers believe both happen concurrently still the researchers have begun uncovering so wednesday