Letter from preschool?

Question

I received a letter home from my daughters preschool yesterday asking what my aims and aspirations are for my child this year. She is my only child and is 2 and a half years old what should she be learning and what should she know during this year. She already knows her abc's and can count to 16. I was thinking maybe learning to write her name. What do you think?

Answer 1

social interactions with other children and adults

gross and fine motor skills

listening and following directions

just to name a few things.

Answer 2

Social skills are the most important at this developmental stage! Just interacting with children her age, learning how to share and take turns is always the first step. I strongly believe that once children get the social skills down everything else will fall into to place. Children learn best through active play. You would be surprised at how much young children  learn just playing. Young children need a safe, warm, nurturing environment.

As far as learning to write her name children go through several developmental stages such as just holding a pencil or crayon,  scribble writing, letter like forms and then of course writing. This should not be a concern at this age. Let her be a child and have fun.

Just a thought you might want to see what your preschool teachers qualifications are. You could always check into local Head Start program to see if your child is eligible.

Good Luck and hope I was helpful.

Answer 3

2 year olds should be able to:

-recognize shapes, colors, and numbers

-tell the difference between big and little

-learn and repeat familar songs

-be learning how to pedal a tricycle

-begin potty training, if not a little earlier than 2

-scribble

-climb on mats and kick balls

-ask and respond to simple questions

Just a few examples...if you need more I have a list. I evaluate my kids twice a year on what they can and cannot do yet. She probably won't be able to write her name yet (that's more at 3 1/2), but she could practice doing things like writing the first letter of her name. Keep in mind though, every child is different! They don't always move at the same pace.

Answer 4

2 1/2 is very young - how about interacting with other children and learning to share and take turns. Or listening when the teacher is talking.

Answer 5

I think this is over the top- "Aspirations and Aims". Come on. She is only 2 1/2 for goodness sakes. I think you just want her to go and have a good time and learn to get along with others. I don't think you should expect them to be teaching her to write her name at such a young age. That is not important at this age. Allow her to be a child and play and use her imagination. Do art, get messy and just play. There is plenty of time for academics later on.

Answer 6

Don't limit your dreams and aspirations for your daughter to rote counting and singing the alphabet.  What do you want in the future for her?  Do you want her to be able to be an active learner?  Be able to have the social skills that will get her around in life?  Does she need to develop her fine motor or gross motor skills?  What kind of person do you want her to be?  These kind of questions and more will help you see the real skills you want her to learn in preschool- where socializing, learning to take direction, spatial awareness skills, fine motor skills, gross motor (large motor) skills, and many other critical developmental milestones happen.  Learning to repeat rote information will come in time for all children, but more critical now is the learning that will come from play.  Learning to be a good citizen in a classroom and a good friend on the playground are far more important at this age than being able to regurgitate information.

At 2 1/2 years old, learning to write her name is not appropriate.  There are many other skills that have to happen before she will be anywhere near developmentally ready to write her name.  Forget this aim for now, and focus on developing her other skills first.

Answer 7

I think that writing her name is a little much for the typical two year old.  You may want to start by working on her fine motor skills (manipulating  small objects with her dominate hand). If you want her to work with her name you may want her to identify her name in a group ( that is something that many children love to do because there name is special).  Those are just a few suggestions.  

I hope this helps.