Every year when a new group of children assemble, there is always the worry that a child simply won't fit into the school. Most children do, but some don't. So for the first month, teachers work with each of the students, both in a group and individually to decide what each student actually knows and to experience each child's behavior. Getting to know every child is the first step in being able to determine whether his time at the Garden School will suit him, and the other children. This is always a busy time.
One of the determinants is family life. Children from solid family homes do better than children who are pushed and shoved from place to place without a bed of their own. Children who are an afterthought to their parents often find it difficult to relate to the steadiness of a routine, meal times, and the idea that what they do matters. These children are often lost from the beginning.
Parents who discipline their children will find the Garden School on their same wavelength, and then school becomes an extension of home. When parents refuse to discipline their children, refuse to guide their children in strong values and making the right choices, children again are lost at the Garden School.
Brain power has little to do with our willingness to include a new child at school. In the past we have had children who have been tested and have scored far below acceptable mental standards for regular classes. When they graduated from the Garden School they went to regular public school classes. So tests don't impress us. We are much more likely to make our own judgments and find a breakthrough scheme of teaching than rote public school with too many children.
Disorders like attention deficit, hyperactivity, bi-polar, processing problems, and other so called difficulties don't phase us either. I would rather have a hyperactive child who is loved than a neglected child who is not - any day. You can train any loved child; you can't train a child who is neglected because a child who is neglected is looking for something they will never find - affection from the parent - and they will search for this first and often furiously, and everything else will be unimportant.
And speaking of brain power, proud parents often bring a new child to school saying, "Oh, he knows his letters and can count to 20!" We smile and nod, and then we go find out. Mostly, a child will be able to say a reasonable rendition of the alphabet song and will be able to say a string of numbers missing many and climb his way to maybe twenty. What parents don't know is if a child says, "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, ten, eleven, twelve, fifteen," he can count to eight. With numbers, it's not about kind of or sort of, it's about getting it right.
But getting it right is for us to do. That's what we get paid for, but teaching is only one of the things that must be accomplished before a child is ready to learn. Play is one of those things and typically, most children who come to school really don't know how to play unless they have older siblings. As an example, a child will pick out a toy he likes and then carry it around the school. This is play, it's first stage building. It is what a child should do at eighteen months, not three, four or five.
Some children will gravitate towards the toy that seems to attract the largest crowd, and then find a single piece and protect that piece until it's time to put everything away. They would rather sit with a piece of unused toy than find something they actually know how to use and really play with it. This is the ultimate time waster and the beginning of peer pressure. We discourage this whole hog.
Another scheme is to take two unrelated toys and beat them together. This is a one year old game. I often say, "If you can't think of something better to do with that dinosaur and that cat, I will." Often the remark flies over the child's head like geese.
The next regression is for one child to become a two year old and roll around on the floor. This is of course a safety learned in toddlerdom. It takes not a single brain cell to accomplish. This, of course, is not acceptable play for a five year old.
It takes about three months for all the children to find toys to really play with, and set play schemes that work, and here is where the caring loving parent comes in. A good parent talks with their child about the child's day. This is what makes teaching so much easier. These are the children who grace the Garden School.
One of the play schemes teachers teach is how to build for a purpose. Some children will love this and others will not be able to find the reason for putting blocks on one another. Building is math and logic, and it's also order and discipline. Your best builders will be your best math students. Without building, a child loses the sense of being able to accomplish a dream with his hands. Children deprived of blocks will always have life issues with building his life an most of what is in it. All children should have blocks and be encouraged to use them with their dolls as well as their other toys. One of the great toddler toys is the can shelf in the closet. A two year old should be allowed to stack all the cans in the kitchen because this is a great start to his math skills.
The next social issue is training the children to sit with criss cross legs with hands in laps. This pose helps children keep hands and feet to themselves. This is the first attempt at teaching personal space in a group. Children think it's great fun to fall on one another, sit on one another, put their hands on one another, and if allowed, most children will "wallow" with one another on the floor. Integrity of body or one's own space keeps children from distracting themselves or others while they are learning to listen.
Listening is the first and most important thing a child will learn in preschool. Learning to listen and then listening to learn is the name of the preschool experience. Some children will do this from the beginning, and some will never learn how to listen. Again, it depends on family. People who talk to one another and listen to the responses, will have children for whom listening is second nature. Parents who never talk to their child will have a child who lives most of his life in la la land.
You can't teach a child to listen. You can either draw in a child in or fail trying. It's really that simple. Children are not used to being corralled to think about something as a group. So what a teacher says has to be interesting enough that all the children are willing to let go and turn to a teacher and listen well enough to answer questions. Some teachers can take a group, keep them interested in just about anything for just about any length of time, and some can't. It's learned and it involves knowing your audience and having a real repertoire and a plan and a scheme.
But no matter the lesson, the teacher, or the group, every child is different and needs different approaches to learning. Not all children will learn at the same rate, or the same way, or the same things the same day. Some children will learn when music is applied. Some will learn through categorization, through art, nature, and a host of other formats. The key is to find that one path in to where the child is, and use it every day if possible, and that is something we find out.
Between home and school, there should be few gaps. A child is loved, respected, and cared for at home and ditto at school. Those are the children who grace our school.
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