Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school When to push for harder work at school

Hi folks,

We live in Spain, so things are a bit different here. Kids start school in the year they turn three. I suppose it's like having an integrated preschool.

Anyhow, DD3's class do lot of normal preschool-y stuff like music, painting, gym, etc., but I noticed on her end of year report card that they had things like 'recognises the number one', 'recognises the letter T', etc. Which I guess is normal for preschool.

DD3 can do simple maths, e.g. adding and subtracting up to 30 (possibly beyond that but I haven't tested her - drawing/erasing that many lines is time consuming), and can read simple phonetic words/stories. Both things I showed her once or twice and she enjoyed doing them for a few days, but lost interest after that, so I don't push her with them. But I'm wondering if I should bother asking for a differentiated lesson at school? Or if maybe I should let it slide considering DD3 doesn't speak Spanish yet, so even if she's not learning anything new during maths/literacy, she's still got a lot of learning going on every day trying to learn the lingua franca of her classroom. Her school is technically bilingual English/Spanish but even though half the lessons are delivered in English, she doesn't have any other native English speakers in her class.

Thoughts?

Well I would be concerned if my 3 year old was being assessed on knowing numbers and letters. But I live in NZ where kids start school on their fifth birthday and academic instruction before that is not pushed for most kids. Are there any play based preschools in Spain?

I don't think they do a lot of academics in her class. I think it's the same sort of thing they do in most preschools in Oz/NZ as part of the 'school readiness' program. Mostly they sing songs, paint, dance etc. They're not really assessed on the academic stuff, everything is reported as 'achieved' or 'working towards'. I think they're just trying to get kids familiar with letters, numbers, colours, shapes, etc., before 'real' school starts.

But I'm just wondering if during the academic parts of the day I should ask for something closer to her level? Or let her daydream for a bit.

My kids didn't do any academics at all until 4.5 and I think it was pretty optional. At 3 I would expect her to just be able to wander off and play somewhere else if not interested. I think the kids had a couple of 5 minute mat times where they sang and had stories but that wasn't a problem.
Is your child unhappy about it? I would see if I could get a good idea how much time is structured versus free play and whether the report is just to pacify the more demanding parents.

But honestly most NZ schools do not expect kids to know the alphabet etc when they start. If you ask them what they want the kids to know they usually say "to use the toilet indeoendantly and open their own lunch box".

I would not push for harder work in the pre-school years. I think this is the time for learning through play or because of independent interest. Daydreaming sounds like a wonderful thing for kids!

In fact, I would be a little hesitant to find out what the teachers would do for harder work. I have seen teachers of older students really botch that request up and attempt to force the child to fail at something instead of teaching them at their level.

My experience with my kids is that at this age any kind of academic learning was best at home 1-1 where I could follow their lead. It's a fun age because they really don't need to learn much but instead you can just play with some of these ideas and see what interests them.

At school, just go with the flow...

OK. Cool. Let it slide, it is! Thanks folks

What does she say about it? A 3-year-old is probably old enough to tell you what she likes and doesn't like about school. If she complains about it being boring waiting for everyone else, then I'd talk to the staff about it. If she's having a good time there, I'd let it go.