I visited a preschool classroom last year. I visited in May, the kids had started at 2 years old and were all now 3. They devoted maybe 20 minutes twice a week to colors, shapes, weather, and the days of the week, the day I was there the teacher was pointing to a shape on a big colorful picture on the wall and saying, "Aiden which shape is this?". I think they didn't do quiz format every time. But what surprised me was after having been going a year to class only 1 out of 7 kids knew many shapes. Most of the others did appear to be paying attention and trying. There were some really wrong answers too so it wasn't just kids being reticent to speak. A lot of them knew maybe one shape. The teachers privately complimented the boy who knew all his shapes to me, saying "he's really amazing with knowing his shapes isn't he." So I got the sense they felt it wasn't the norm.
When I read the milesone charts its hard to know if they mean "spontaneously" or "if expressly taught". With my preschool visit it was clear that some of the kids weren't able to learn shapes yet even with some teaching.
Its not like those toddlers have no ability for understanding of symbols as they most likely know things like the logo for their favorite TV show or that the car sound in the driveway is their mom or dad arriving home. So I don't know what it is. I don't understand how symbolic learning at this age could be limited to specific things for some kids.
Polly
