Frequently Asked Questions

about Nature Preschool

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Nature Preschool Philosophy

• How do we “teach” children to read?
• How do we “teach” math?
• How do we “teach” skills?
• How do we “teach“ children to follow directions?

• How do we “teach” children respect?
• How do we handle discipline?
• How is the second year of preschool different from the first year?
• How do we “get children ready” for kindergarten?

1. How do we “teach” children to read?

• We read to them

• We speak in complex language to them –
  they hear that words have meaning

• We sing together – rhyming, phonetics

• We encourage book handling and model writing

• Story dictations

• Journaling

• Cooking

• We write in front of children

• We use children’s names, the most familiar word
  to them

• We play guessing games involving names, pieces of language and words

• Unlimited writing and reading opportunities, in context, self-motivated

• We play/use different languages in the classrooms

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2. How do we “teach” math?

• Water table – measuring

• Manipulatives – patterns, sizing, grouping

• Counting, within context (counting children and/or
  if there is enough of something for everyone), emotional need (counting how many crackers one can have for snack)

• Cooking – transformations, 1st, 2nd, 3rd

• Snacks – sorting, one-to-one correspondence,
  table setting

• Who’s missing – group names

• Scales—more or less

• Sorting of materials

• Measurement

• Songs with counting

• Comparing

• Pointing out time

• Board games

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3. How do we “teach” skills?

(When referring to skills, parents often mean empathy, self-help skills, coordination, cutting, sitting still, attention span, waiting in line, following directions, sharing, communicating, and social skills.)

• Unlimited opportunities

• Mixed ages, teaching each other

• Make choices and experiencing consequences of choices

• Time to work on projects/skills

• Allow problem solving

• Making things interesting, but not entertainment (sitting still)

• Having children wait in line in context (when there are limited resources, i.e., two sinks and ten kids need to use them)

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4. How do we “teach“ children to follow directions?

• Large group experiences

• Reasonable expectations

• Cooking

• Handling animals safely

• Within context of safety

• Having reasonable requests or rules

• Experiencing consequences

• Being clear between requests and directions

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5. How do we “teach” children respect?

• Modeling

• Giving reasons

• Expressing our own feelings

• Admitting our own mistakes

• Acknowledging feelings

• Caring for animals and plants

• Using an authentic voice

• Teachable moments, context

• Having high expectations for how people are treated here

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6. How do we handle discipline?

• Follow through to the end

• Respect and everything from #5

• Put in context of relationships

• Supporting relationships with parents

• Being clear about expectations

• Seeing good in all children

• Making up with children after you have had trouble/starting new

• Accommodating personal needs

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7. How is the second year of preschool different from the first year?

• Importance of repetition/spiral learning model

• Deeper questions

• Level of expertise

• So many experiences—you can’t do it all in one year!

• Different social interactions

• Mastery

• Outdoors provides constant challenges

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8. How do we “get children ready” for kindergarten?

• Problem solving

• Prioritizing social/emotional development

• Numbers 1 – 7 above

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A Cooperative Program of

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