Investing in our children’s future means making the right decisions: undoubtedly, one of the most important ones is choosing what educational facility they’ll be a part of.
A high-quality preschool offers excellent programs that will stimulate a child’s learning process, but this is not the only aspect to look for.
All the aspects involving a good preschool are going to have a major influence on children’s development and how they will turn out later in school and adulthood.
Keep reading to learn key points to help you find the best preschool for your child!
Why Does Quality Education in Preschool Matter?
Investing in quality education for children plays a big role in their future.
The world is changing and requires that we keep up its fast-paced rhythm. This means learning how to embrace new technologies, recognizing how local conflicts create global impacts, dealing with the climate crisis and acknowledging the value of different cultures and perspectives.
We can’t expect to make sense of these and other major social influences only as we get to adulthood. Learning how to navigate through these perspectives takes time and requires a diverse repertoire.
The sooner kids start to build that, the better. And this begins with ensuring they have the right educational resources to help them build these important competencies as they grow.
How to Identify a High-quality Preschool?
Look for well-prepared Teachers and Professionals
Preschool teachers and their closest family members fill a very important role in children’s development. As kids will start spending a great amount of time in the preschool environment, it’s very important to look for well-prepared professionals in an institution.
Good teachers will assist kids by teaching them about following rules, managing emotions, dealing with conflicts and stimulating their independence. Daily, you can see if a teacher is able to deal with a child by observing their interaction: how do they speak with children? Do they lower themselves to communicate eye to eye with kids? How do children respond to their presence?
Remember that these professionals will be the child’s main reference for how to behave with others and respond to different stimuli. Make sure they have proper qualifications and experience in the field.
Check the School Reputation
The best way to find a high-quality preschool is to check its reputation. While doing so, evaluate positive and negative aspects to then make the best choice of institution for your children.
When checking a preschool’s reputation, verify if the institution has received any awards. The nomination is a sign that the preschool has achieved excellence in the services offered.
Also, you can check what the media says about the institution: look for mentions on TV channels and the local newspaper.
If you want to go beyond, check the opinions of other parents and the community. They will probably give an honest point of view without sugarcoating any information. Extra references are always good!
Learn about the School Programs
The programs they offer are the key to your child’s education.
A preschool program is based on a curriculum and aims to teach a variety of useful information and abilities to our young children.
Social, emotional and cognitive skills are approached in an environment that includes activities and interaction with peers and learning tools. Along with these, Science, Technology, Arts, Engineering and Math are other major themes to have in their learning process.
To learn more about the school programs, talk to the staff and check if the programs meet the points mentioned above.
Find Out How They Manage Relationship With Parents
A strong sign of a quality preschool is how the teachers and management communicate with parents.
Keeping a good relationship with the child’s caregivers is a way to check on the child’s development process and any problems that may occur. Open and honest communication is essential to build a trustworthy relationship between the two parties.
It’s interesting to visit the preschool unit at the time the school hours are starting or finishing, as you can see some real-life interactions between the staff and the parents.
What Do Children Learn in a High-Quality Preschool Program?
First of all, keep in mind that every school adopts its own school curriculum and methodologies.
Our advice as early childhood educators is that parents take a careful look at how schools structure theirs, making sure it aligns not only with what parents believe in, but how the schools claim that it benefits children.
Having said that, here’s what Amazing Explorers Academy chooses to implement as part of our educational curriculum.
Playing as an Educational Approach
That expands classroom content while still reinforcing what children learn during class.
Before & After School
A program created to assist working parents: our students engage in school assignments while still learning according to the STEAM methodology. Mom and Dad can rest assured their child is being well taken care of while they’re at work!
Summer Camps
Learning doesn’t stop during Summer! Every day is a good day to improve yourself and learn something new, so our Summer Camps are focused on activities better enjoyed in the outside or groups, and with strong educational value.
Read more about AEA’s Summer Camps!
Expanded World View
AEA carefully tailors its signature programs to prepare children to interact with different world views.
That includes introducing the children to different languages and cultures (Spanish Studies), working on the concepts and importance of equity and inclusion (Sign Language), as well as acquainting them with the most relevant technology (Robotics & Coding).
Read more on why to enroll your kids at AEA!
How to Communicate
When your child is introduced to a dynamic setting, with lots of friends to spend their time with while joining group activities, they’re definitely expanding their vocabulary and communication skills.
Additionally, preschool educators play a big role in helping children process their feelings and express themselves to their peers to get something done — which could be as small as adapting to a specific playtime activity or even solving a conflict.
Process Their Feelings
Speaking of the importance of school’s monitors and educators, they also have a part in helping children understand and cope with their feelings.
Having them around means our young students will always have the reassuring presence of an adult in their time of need. By assisting our Little Explorers, we expect to help them grow self-confidence and self-esteem — personal traits that we hope they will carry throughout their lives and apply whenever they have a challenge ahead of them.
Benefits of a High-Quality Preschool
Better School Performance
Learning starts in the early years of a child. As children are in the process of brain development, when they get stimulated, the new information processed makes their little brains build new neural connections and change their physical shape.
The more they learn, the faster, more intelligent and perceptive they become. Basically, preschool plays a significant role for better performance later in school and in adulthood.
Greater Enthusiasm for Learning
Young years are the best time for exploring as kiddos see a whole world of possibilities right in front of them.
Stimulating their learning process will enhance their curiosity and help them become problem solvers — skills very well required for their success later in life!
Although children learn a lot at home — and parents should be a part of that — a preschool environment is extremely beneficial for their learning process.
High-quality preschools follow efficient learning methodologies (such as STEAM), build their activities using a good curriculum, and have the right tools to make the process of learning enticing.
Enhancement of Social Skills
A healthy and loving relationship between the child and their parents is crucial for their development: but going beyond their family field, preschools are essential for fostering social skills in children.
Socializing with their peers brings a variety of situations, conflicts and interactions for kids to deal with. Through them, children can learn empathy, patience, collaboration with others and working in a team.
Here is an example: let’s say your child wants to play with a toy that another kid is playing with. Usually, this situation results in conflict, and one of them cries, right?
However, this interaction is the perfect opportunity for them to learn to share objects, to wait, to take turns and even play together.
It’s also worth considering that children need to deal with individuals of the same hierarchy, as they will learn to assert themselves without an imbalance in the power dynamic. After all, the way they behave with other kids is going to be different than the way with their parents or teachers, for example.
Development of Emotional Skills
Expanding emotional skills in the young years can be a pathway for a successful career and strong relationships in the future.
Stimulating emotional self-awareness means feeling emotions, understanding how they got triggered, identifying them and managing them the best way possible.
It might sound like a lot for kids to learn, and it really is. But that’s why this process is done slowly with a lot of modeling from parents, teachers and caretakers.
Anger is a very common emotion, as children show their frustration for not getting something their way. This is natural and there is nothing wrong with being angry. The best way a caretaker can help a child process this emotion, is to listen with empathy and start explaining about body symptoms and ways to respond to it.
When visiting a Preschool, ask and pay attention to how the teachers deal with this kind of situation in class.
We Pride Ourselves in Providing High-Quality Education
While all of this advice has been carefully tailored and is based on our real-life experience, nothing beats seeing it all applied for yourself.
Visiting a preschool is an opportunity to learn how the facility operates and what methods are applied. An in-person visit allows parents to check their infrastructure and meet the staff who will be interacting with their children.
We’re waiting for you! Schedule a guided tour at the nearest Amazing Explorers Academy unity and learn more about our preschool programs.
