Brightside Academy Ohio offers preschool programs as well as Head Start and Early Head Start for the communities. If you are a parent of a young child, you may be wondering why preschool is important. Here are the reasons that you should consider sending your son or daughter to Brightside Academy for preschool.
1. Develop a Solid Foundation For Education
Preschool prepares your child in many ways for a life-long pursuit of education. With a solid foundation, they can easily build and grow their academic skills. During the school day, there is a lot of hands-on learning that will help them get ready for grade school.
Some of these activities can include:
- Money recognition – this includes both dollars and coins
- Learn the alphabet – letters and sounds are introduced
- Refine motor skills; both fine and gross – working with crafts and writing helps to develop these skills
- Social skill development – peer exposure fosters relationship and connection
- Independent work skills – we provide quiet time where kids can work on their own
- Learn shape names – shapes are all around us and our teachers use many objects to teach these concepts
- Color recognition – whether it is with crayons, posters, flashcard, or toys, they will learn their colors
- Basic counting – preschoolers can learn basic counting with small objects
- Learning and following rules – every classroom has rules that are gone over often and followed
- Group learning – kids can sometimes be the best teachers for other kids that are struggling with concepts
- Sitting still during teaching time – circle time and teaching time provides a great opportunity for kids to be still and listen
The days are not spent just coloring or playing outside, rather, the preschool teachers put together solid lesson plans for each day that help your child develop.
2. Create Discipline Through Structure
At home, your child is much more likely to lead a fluid life with limited structure. Daily routines are created in a preschool environment that lends itself to greater structure. While there is free-time and self-guided play, there is a schedule. Children learn discipline through a variety of means, and structured teaching times and schedules can help them.
During our school days, we lead children through a series of structured activities and free play. They engage in circle time, quiet activities, inside and outside play, as well as science, writing, math, and music. We work hard to provide them a well-rounded education to build that solid foundation.
3. Paves The Way For Literacy
The sooner a child is exposed to letters and letter sounds, the better. This paves the way for them to start reading in Kindergarten. Exposure to letters and sounds comes in many forms such as:
- Letter of the week
- Basic hand-writing sheets
- Finding letters throughout the class
- Following along with rebus readers
- Learning the alphabet by heart
- Being exposed to upper and lower case letters
- Hands-on activities using playdough, blocks, and other tangible props
It’s never too early to help a child recognize the letters of the alphabet. While they will read in their own time, giving them a good foundation is important to their success.
A great way to support the teachers is to make certain you are going over their letter of the week each night. Find ways to point out those letters around your house or while you are out and about. Look for the letters on billboards and businesses so you can point it out to your son or daughter.
Allowing your child to be around other kids is essential to their social and emotional development. They are placed in a situation where they are not with mommy and daddy all day. It helps them to become autonomous and get away from relying so heavily on their parents. This type of setting helps them become independent and feel confident about their skills.
Be exposed to other kids puts them in situations where they have to learn how to work through problems as well as experience friendship. The more social interactions they have, the faster they can develop. Our preschool teachers help each student to feel welcomed in the classroom.
5. Preschoolers Learn to Find Answers
This is the time of your child’s life that they will ask a hundred questions a day if you let them. It can be exhausting to come up with a basic answer to satisfy their curiosity. At preschool, they will have resources to ask these questions and find answers to some of the things they want to know about the world around them.
Our teachers will help your child explore things that they find interesting. It’s our goal to provide them with resources and encourage their curiosity. Classroom settings provide great atmospheres for them to discover new things about the world. In fact, being in the classroom can spark even more questions for them.
6. Gives Parents Connection Point With Their Child
Sending your son or daughter to preschool can be great for both of you. Asking them to describe what they did at school during the day can be a great connection point for you. When you are with them the entire day, it can make it hard to have deep and meaningful conversations.
Allowing them to be in a classroom setting and experience new things will get their little minds working. Naturally, their conversation skills will increase, making it easier for you to have good discussions with them.
Get in Touch With us For Program Information
If you are looking for a good preschool for your son or daughter, get in touch with the staff here at Brightside Academy Ohio. We have many locations in Ohio to serve our communities. Use our contact form to get in touch with us or call us during office hours so we can speak with you.
Our teachers are excited to work with your child this school year! We’ll be here to partner with you and aid your child in excelling in their future education.
