Questions from Parents to Preschool Teachers

• How to make friends
• How to communicate needs and desires
• Creativity
• Problem solving: social, emotional and cognitive
• How to take risks with learning and try new things
• Appropriately and effectively communicating needs, wants, and ideas within a variety of social contexts
• Standing up for rights of self/others
• Building content knowledge through exposure, repetition and layered learning (scaffolding)

• Connect with them
• Make time for them
• Believe in all that they are and will be
• Positive reinforcement
• See the world from your child’s perspective, and use it as an opportunity to support them
• Be patient
• Love, love, love them

Taken from Colorado State Standards-Reading, Writing, Communicating; Mathematics, Science and Social Studies

• Draw pictures to generate, represent, and express ideas or share information
• Orally describe or tell about a picture
• Use shapes, letter-like symbols, and letters to represent words or ideas
• Dictate ideas to an adult
• Begin to develop proper pencil grip when drawing or writing
• Write and recognize letters in own name
• Understand the difference between a question and a statement
• Begin to identify key features of reality versus fantasy in stories, pictures, and events
• Identify information that is relevant
• Generate questions and investigate answers about topics of interest
• Gather relevant information and apply it to their problem-solving process or current event
• Seek and generate alternative approaches to solving problems
• Count and represent objects including coins to 10
• Match a quantity with a numeral
• Match, sort, group and name basic shapes found in the natural environment
• Sort similar groups of objects into simple categories based on attributes
• Use words to describe attributes of objects
• Follow directions to arrange, order, or position objects
• Describe the order of common events
• Group objects according to their size using standard and non-standard forms (height, weight, length, or color brightness) of measurement
• Sort coins by physical attributes such as color or size
• Use senses to gather information about Earth’s materials
• Make simple observations, explanations, and generalizations about Earth’s materials based on real life experiences
• Describe how various materials might be used based on characteristics or properties
• Identify, predict, and extend patterns based on observations and representations of objects in the sky, daily weather, and seasonal changes
• Observe and describe patterns observed over the course of a number of days and nights, possibly including differences in the activities or appearance of plants and animals
• Explain that groups have rules
• Recognize interpersonal boundaries
• Exert self-control
• Interact positively with others
• Give examples of some rules that are permanent and some that change
• Recognize membership in family, neighborhood, school, team, and various other groups and organizations
• Name groups to which they belong and identify the leader(s)
• Identify examples of times when people can play different roles and bring unique talents to a variety of groups

• READ, READ, READ! And then read some more! Read the same books to them and let them retell them to you!
• Write down the stories they dictate to you!
• Practice fine motor…holding a pencil
• Expose them to a variety of experiences
• Give them responsibilities at home
• Have fun! They will be in school for MANY years to come!