Learning Through Play and the Importance of Early Education

Preschool is important because it promotes the social and intellectual development of children and their language literacy. Preschool offers a place where children can have a sense of community and enables them to figure out how to handle social conflicts. Teachers will help the children find a solution that is acceptable to all participants and offers an environment that offers opportunities for both cooperative and associative play. Preschool is a time for experimentation. The preschool environment should be full of opportunities for the children to work with and figure out science and math concepts. Reading stories aloud and having all types of art materials readily available promotes language skills..

What kind of learning is promoted at Cedar Cross?

Cedar Cross is a developmental preschool with a clear belief that children learn best through play. Our curriculum is set up in a way where the learning experience is embedded in our environment and activities.

For instance, during the month of October some of the activities the children have the opportunity to explore are…

• Playing at the sensory table with dirt, shovels, tiny pumpkins, etc… which enhances their math and fine motor skills. How many pumpkins have you buried in a row? And how many of them will fit in the wheel barrel? Are common questions that are asked to the child to help them bring their experience and learning to the next level.
• Visit a pumpkin patch and draw/dictate memories of their experience. This is a great social development experience and also gives value to the children’s memories and promotes language art skills.
• Graph pumpkins and sizes which again help with building math skills.
• Child does not need to be potty trained
• Listen to books and sing songs, which enhance language arts learning.

Through these activities and many more the children’s learning soars. Connecting all of these skills through different applications that are seen purely as play to the children and having the teacher and parents asking the right questions throughout the process allows for a deeper more enriched learning experience for our preschoolers. 

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What values are derived in the different play centers?

Art Center
Experimentation
Creative expression
Comparison
Sensory exploration
Stimulation of imagination
Development of eye-hand coordination
Small muscle control (prewriting)
Development in three stages of art (manipulation, patterning, and representation)

Dramatic Play Center
Role playing
Expression of feelings
Develops language and imagination (pre-reading)
Develops a sense of real and pretend

Block Center
Sense of position and direction
Concept of space
Balance
Vocabulary development
Problem solving
Patterning (pre-math)
Shape awareness
Role playing

Mathematics Center
Conservation of numbers
Math vocabulary
Comparisons
Following directions
Number/Amount discovery
Matching numerals
Rote counting

Sensory/Play dough Center
Understanding of space, weight and volume
Comparisons
Tactile exploration
Outlet for emotional release
Vocabulary development

Science/Cooking Center
Observation and verbalization skills
Identification and classification
Problem solving techniques
Measurement
Observing element changes
Make meaning for themselves
Seriation – conservation, ordering, ranking and sequential arrangement

Book/Language Centers (along with Circle time and backpack activity) Builds vocabulary
Sense of phrasing, rhythm and rhyming
Sequence of events – logical sequencing
Relate/recount a story
Taking turns
Listening
Dictating stories
Symbol to spoken word representation
Alphabet recognition
Visual skill development
Patterning
Develops word and sentence usage

Manipulative Center
Visual-motor and eye-hand coordination
small muscle development
Patterning
Kinesthetic development
Prewriting

Large Motor Play
Gross motor skills
Sense of balance and coordination
Sense of laterality
Skill in jumping, running, skipping, and hopping
Creative movement opportunity

Music Activities
Sense of rhythm
Rhyming sounds
Form of self-expression
Learning of basic skills (counting, alphabet)
Vocabulary development