Kindergarten

Kindergarten (help info) (German, literally means "children's garden")

is a form of education for young children which serves as a transition
from home to the commencement of more formal schooling. Children
are taught to develop basic skills through creative play and social
interaction. In most countries kindergarten is part of the preschool
system
[1]
of early childhood education. Children usually attend
kindergarten any time between the ages of two and seven years,
depending on the local custom. In most of the United States and
anglophone Canada, as well as in parts of Australia (New South Wales,
Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory) kindergarten is the word
used to describe the first year of compulsory education. In British
English, nursery or playgroup is the usual term for preschool education,
and kindergarten is rarely used, except in the context of special
approaches to education, such as Steiner-Waldorf education (the
educational philosophy of which was founded by Rudolf Steiner).
Purpose
Children attend kindergarten to learn to communicate, play, and interact
with others appropriately. A teacher provides various materials and
activities to motivate these children to learn the language and vocabulary
of reading, mathematics, and science, as well as that of music, art, and
social behaviors. For children who previously have spent most of their
time at home, kindergarten may serve the purpose of helping them adjust
to being apart from their parents without anxiety. It may be their first
opportunity to play and interact with a consistent group of children on a
regular basis. Kindergarten may also allow mothers, fathers, or other
caregivers to go back to part-time or full-time employment.





History


Friedrich Frbel opened the first kindergarten in Germany in 1840.

Many origins are claimed for the first kindergarten. In Scotland in 1816,
Robert Owen, a philosopher and pedagogue, opened an infant school in
New Lanark.
[2][3][4]
Another was opened by Samuel Wilderspin in
London in 1819.
[5]
The first kindergarten in Hungary was founded on 27
May 1828 by the countness Theresa Brunszvik (17751861) in her
residence in the city of Buda under the name of Angyalkert (Angel
garden)
[2][6]
. Soon the concept was reproduced all over the Hungarian
kingdom, becoming a popular institution between the nobility and the
middle class.
Later, Friedrich Frbel (1782-1852) opened the first institute of
Preschool education outside of Hungary, on June 28, 1840 to mark the
four hundredth anniversary of Gutenberg's invention of movable type.
Frbel created the name and the term Kindergarten (Children's Garden)
for the Play and Activity Institute, which he had founded in 1837 in the
village of Bad Blankenburg, in the small, former principality of
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Thuringia, Germany. The success of Frbel's
institute of Preschool education in Germany earned the universal
denomination of Kindergarten for these kind of institutions, with which
it was exported to the rest of Europe and the World.

The first kindergarten in the United States was founded in Watertown,
Wisconsin by Margarethe (Meyer) Schurz (wife of activist/statesman
Carl Schurz) in 1856. It was based on Frbelite principles that she had
learned about in Europe. Schurzs older sister, Bertha Meyer Ronge, had
opened "Infant Gardens" in London (1851), Manchester (1859), and
Leeds (1860). Margarethe Schurz initially taught five children in her
home (including her own daughter, Agatha) in Watertown, Wisconsin.
Her success drove her to offer her education to other children as well.
While Schurz's first kindergarten was German-language, she also
advocated the establishment of English-language kindergartens. She is
credited with converting Elizabeth Peabody to the Frbel philosophy at a
meeting in Boston in 1859.
Later that year, Peabody founded the first English-language kindergarten
in America in Boston, following Schurz's model. The first free
kindergarten in America was founded in 1870 by Conrad Poppenhusen,
a German industcatrialist and philanthropist who settled in College
Point, NY, where he established the Poppenhusen Institute, still in
existence today. The first publicly financed kindergarten in the United
States was established in St. Louis in 1873 by Susan Blow.
Crosscutting issues
In addition to linkages with heath and nutrition, the early childhood
sector addresses several crosscutting issues, including gender and
children with disabilities. The roots of discrimination against girls, the
stereotyping of male and female models of behavior, and the acceptance
of male domination and violence against women are formed very early
within the family. These values are reinforced in the school, community,
and institutions that support children and their families. Since gender-
equity issues in education begin in early childhood, the strategy
suggested is one of informal community-based programs that support the
capacity of families and communities to provide a fair start to girls as
well as boys, and help parents better perceive the capabilities of the girl-
child, thus leading to a longer period of schooling and increasing the
probability that girls will enter and remain in primary school. The term
children with disabilities subsumes a wide range of atypical disorders,
from short-term behavior problems to long-term physical, mental, and
emotional disabilities. In view of this, there is an urgent need to provide
attention to children with these disabilities. The integrated holistic
approach to normal child development provides a unique opportunity to
identify these children early in life and to provide them with early
intervention services. The recommended strategy is to equip
paraprofessionals and families with the skills needed for the early
identification of disabilities and intervention with infants and young
children.
India
In India, pre-school is divided into three stages -Playgroup, Junior
kindergarten (Jr. KG) and Senior kindergarten (Sr. KG).Equlay it is
divided in Two stage - LKG(Lower Kindergarten), UKG (Upper
Kindergarten) Typically, a Playgroup consists of children of age group
from one and half to two and half years. Jr. KG class would comprise
children three and half to four and half years of age, and the Sr. KG class
would comprise children four and half to five and half years of age.
The kindergarten is a place where young children learn as they play with
materials and cope up to live with other children and teachers. It is also a
place where adults can learn; they observe children and participate with
them. It can serve as a laboratory for the study of human relations.
The value of Kindergarten as a laboratory for studying about people will
depend, in part, on the opportunities children may have there for play
and for relationships with others.


The main objectives of kindergarten school are:
To develop a good physique, adequate muscular co-ordination and
basic motor skill in the child.
To develop good health habits and to build up basic skills
necessary for personal adjustments such as dressing themselves,
toilet and eating habits.
To develop emotional maturity by guiding the child to express,
understand, accept and control his feelings and emotions.
To develop good desirable social attitudes, manners and to
encourage healthy group participation.
To encourage aesthetic appreciation (art, music, beauty, etc.)
To stimulate the childs beginning of intellectual curiosities
concerning his immediate environment.
To encourage the childs independence and creativity by providing
him with sufficient opportunities.
The school is an opportunity for progress of the student. Each one is
having the freedom to develop freely.
In most cases the pre-school is run as a private school. Younger children
may also be put into a special toddler/nursery group at the age of 2. It is
run as part of the kindergarten.
After finishing Senior kindergarten, a child enters Class 1 or Standard 1
of primary school. Often kindergarten is an integral part of regular
schools, though sometimes they are independent units and are often part
of a larger chain.
Remember when kids went to Kindergarten to color? Those days are in
the past and many school districts want entering 5-year-olds to already
have skills, like knowing their A, B, C's. If the child has not gone to
preschool they may not have these skills down and that is where you can
come in with a new business idea. Learn how you can start a
Kindergarten Preparatory School.
Instructions
Things You'll Need:
Dedicated space in your home
Basic School Supplies
1. Step 1
Prepare an area in your house where you will be able to teach a group
of children, with the option of offering one on one tutoring. You will
need an area where children can sit on the floor comfortable and see
flash cards and material that you will be holding up. You will need a
comfortable chair to sit on. If the child is required to write, then you
will need a large table where a group of children can sit down and
write.
2. Step 2
Contact your city and see if there is any specific requirements for
starting a boot camp and purchase your business license. Decide what
name you will be giving your business and if you will be offering
classes once a week or every morning for 8 weeks. Decide on a fair
rate.
3. Step 3
Go to your states department of education website and learn what
each child is required to know before entering kindergarten and use
this as your guideline as to what you will be teaching in your classes.
Follow up with a phone call to schools in your area and ask them
what is required academically for an entering kindergartner and what
they will learn while in kindergarten. Some local school list all this on
their website.
4. Step 4
Prepare your curriculum and write it down. Borrow some
preschoolers from family and friends and smooth out what curriculum
works well and what doesn't. Be prepared to alter your ideas and
possibly purchase more supplies.
5. Step 5
Once you have everything worked out, start advertising your
Kindergarten Prep School or Kindergarten Boot Camp through word
of mouth and advertising on craigslist.com. Also, when you get your
business license, find out if there will be any business fairs coming up
and/or start attending the local business meetings

Developmental areas
The areas of development which preschool education covers varies from
country to country. However the following main themes are represented
in the majority of systems.
[6][7]

Personal, social and emotional development
Communication, including talking and listening
Knowledge and understanding of the world
Creative and aesthetic development
Physical development
Mathematical awareness and development
Playing
Self-help skills
Social skills
Allowing preschool aged children to discover and explore freely within
each of these areas of development is the foundation for developmental
learning. While the National Association for the Education of Young
Children has made tremendous strides in publicizing and promoting the
idea of developmentally appropriate practice, there is still much work to
be done. It is widely recognized that although many preschool educators
are aware of the guidelines for developmentally appropriate practice,
putting this practice to work effectively in the classroom is more
challenging. The National Association for the Education of Young
Children(NAEYC) published that although 80% of Kindergarten
classrooms claim to be developmentally appropriate, only 20% actually
are.
Age and Importance
Preschool is generally considered appropriate for children between three
and five years of age, between the toddler and school stages. During this
stage of development, children learn and assimilate information rapidly,
and express interest and fascination in each new discovery. It is well
established that the most important years of learning are begun at
birth
[8]
. A child's brain at this age is making connections that will last the
rest of their life.
[citation needed]
The environment of the young child
influences the development of cognitive and emotional skills due to the
rapid brain growth that occurs in the early years. Studies have shown
that high quality preschools have a short and long term effect in
improving the outcomes of a child, especially a disadvantaged
child.
[9][10]

However, some more recent studies dispute the accuracy of the earlier
results which cited benefits to preschool education, and actually point at
preschool being detrimental to a child's cognitive and social
development.
[11][12]
A study by UC Berkeley and Stanford University on
14,000 Kindergarteners revealed that while there is a temporary
cognitive boost in pre-reading and math, preschool holds detrimental
effects on social development and cooperation.
[13]

The Universal Preschool movement is an international effort to make
access to preschool available to families in a similar way to compulsory
primary education. Various jurisdictions and advocates have differing
priorities for access, availability and funding sources. See kindergarten
for details of pre-school education in various countries. There has been a
shift from preschools that operated primarily as controlled play groups
to educational settings in which children learn specific, if basic, skills. It
examines several different perspectives on teaching in kindergarten,
including those of the developmentally appropriate practice, the
academic approach, the child-centered approach, and the Montessori
approach to the curriculum.

Methods of preschool education
Some preschools have adopted specialized methods of teaching, such as
Montessori, Waldorf, Head Start, HighReach Learning, High Scope,
[14]

The Creative Curriculum,
[15]
Reggio Emilia approach, Bank Street,
Forest kindergartens, and various other pedagogies which contribute to
the foundation of education.
Creative Curriculum has an interactive website where parents and
teachers can work together in evaluating preschool age children. The
website is very user friendly and prints off many reports that are helpful
in evaluating children and the classroom itself. The web site has a
variety of activities that are targeted to each of the fifty goals on the
continuum.
The International Preschool Curriculum adopted a bilingual approach to
teaching and offers a curriculum that embraces international standards
and recognizes national requirements for preschool education.
[16]

In the United States most preschool advocates support the National
Association for the Education of Young Children's Developmentally
Appropriate Practices.
Family childcare can also be nationally accredited by the National
Association of Family Childcare if the provider chooses to go through
the process. National accreditation is only awarded to those programs
who demonstrate the quality standards set forth by the NAFCC.
[citation
needed]

Funding for Preschool Programs
While a majority of American preschool programs remain tuition-based,
support for some public funding of early childhood education has grown
over the years. As of 2008, 38 states and the District of Columbia
invested in at least some pre-kindergarten programs, and many school
districts were providing preschool services on their own, using local and
federal funds.
[17]

The benefits and challenges of a public preschool are closely tied to the
amount of funding provided. Funding for a public preschool can come in
a variety of sources. According to Levin and Schwartz (2007) funding
can range from federal, state, local public allocations, private sources,
and parental fees (p. 4). The problem of funding a public preschool
occurs not only from limited sources but from the cost per child. The
average cost across the 48 states is $6,582 (Levin and Schwartz, 2007).
There are four categories that determine the costs of public preschools:
personnel ratios, personnel qualifications, facilities and transportation,
and health and nutrition services. According to Levin and Schwartz
(2007) these structural elements depend heavily on the cost and quality
of services provided (p. 14). The main personnel factor related to cost is
the qualifications each preschool require for a teacher. Another
determinate of cost is the length of a preschool day. The longer the
session, the more increase in cost. Therefore, the quality of program
accounts presumably for a major component of cost (Levin and
Schwartz, 2007).
Collaboration has been a solution for funding issues in several districts.
Wilma Kaplan, principal, turned to collaborating with the area Head
Start and other private preschool to fund a public preschool in her
district. Were very pleased with the interaction. Its really added a
dimension to our program thats been very positive (Reeves, 2000).
The National Head Start Bureau has been looking for more opportunities
to partner with public schools. Torn Schultz of the National Head Start
Bureau states, Were turning to partnership as much as possible, either
in funds or facilities to make sure children get everything necessary to
be ready for school (Reeves, 2000, p. 6). The goal for funding is to
develop a variety of sources that provide for all children to benefit from
early learning within a public preschool.
Special Education in Preschool
In the United States, students who may benefit from special education
receive services in preschools. Since the inception of the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Public Law 101-476 in 1975
and its amendments, PL 102-119 and PL 105-17 in 1997, the educational
system has moved away from self-contained classrooms and progressed
to inclusion. As a result, there has been a need for special education
teachers to practice in various settings in order to assist children with
special needs, particularly by working with regular classroom teachers
when possible to strengthen the inclusion of children with special needs.
As with other stages in the life of a child with special needs, the
Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or an Individual Family Service
Plan (IFSP) is an important way for special education teachers, regular
classroom teachers, administrators and parents to set guidelines for a
partnership to help the child succeed in preschool.