What Makes a Good Kindergarten?
See how to evaluate a program — and how to advocate for your child if his classroom doesn't measure up.
Ideally, kindergarten will be a smooth, sunny introduction to real school for your child, since it sets the stage for the rest of his education. While no program is perfect, some are better than others. Find out what sets them apart, and how you can get the best possible start for your child — no matter what your options are.
Why Kindergarten?
What Does an Ideal Kindergarten Look Like?
Tour a Classroom
What If the Program Is Less Than Ideal?
Why Kindergarten?
First, consider the goal of a good kindergarten program. Why do most children attend, even though it is not mandated in many states? Kindergarten provides your child with an opportunity to learn and practice the essential social, emotional, problem-solving, and study skills that he will use throughout his schooling. These are the foundation for all the big learning ahead.
The development of self-esteem is one of the important goals of kindergarten. This is the process of helping your child feel good about who she is and confident in her ability to tackle the challenges of learning. If your child feels like she can learn, she can!
Kindergarten teaches cooperation: the ability to work, learn, and get along with others. There are many children in a kindergarten class, each with very distinctive personalities. A year in kindergarten provides your child with the opportunity to learn patience, as well as the ability to take turns, share, and listen to others — all skills that he will use throughout his school years.
Most children are naturally curious, but some do not know how to focus or use this curiosity. Kindergarten is a time for sparking and directing your child’s curiosity and natural love of learning. In kindergarten, she learns how to express herself. She learns to communicate and represent her ideas, feelings, and knowledge of the world through beginning reading, writing, math and science skills. Best of all, in kindergarten your child finds out that learning is not only meaningful, but also fun!
What Does an Ideal Kindergarten Look Like?
Ask any number of educators and parents and you will get many different descriptions of the ideal kindergarten. But there are certain basic agreements among educators as to what makes a good program. It should:
Expand your child’s ability to learn about (and from) the world, to organize information, and to solve problems. This increases his feelings of self-worth and confidence, his ability to work with others, and his interest in challenging tasks.
Provide a combination of formal (teacher-initiated) and informal (child-initiated) activities. Investigations and projects allow your child to work both on her own and in small groups.
Keep large group activities that require sitting and listening to a minimum. Instead, most activities feature play-based, hands-on learning in small groups. As the year progresses, large group activities become a bit longer in preparation for 1st grade.
Foster a love of books, reading, and writing. There are books, words, and kids’ own writing all over the classroom.
When looking at programs, keep these elements in mind — as well as the specific needs of your child and family. Not every program is perfect for every child. Some children thrive in a program with more direction, some with less. Talk to your child’s preschool teacher, visit a few schools, and talk to the principal or a kindergarten teacher before deciding.
Tour a Classroom
Let’s take an imaginary walk around a good kindergarten classroom. One of the first things you might notice (and be surprised by) is that not everyone is doing the same activity at the same time! Children are happily playing and working in small groups, or independently, in learning centers around the room:
Four or five children are using math and science skills as they build a complicated structure in the block area.
In the dramatic play area, a small group is creating a pretend restaurant complete with waiters “writing” orders and cooks “reading” recipes.
The book area is filled with children enjoying library books and books written by their peers.
Nearby, some children are writing and drawing in the writing center.
“Hands-on” science is happening at the water table as a group of children investigate which items will float or sink.
In the math area, children sort, classify, weigh, and measure small rocks and stones.
The teacher moves from group to group answering and asking questions, keeping the learning going.
Later the students will all gather together to share what they have learned in the centers, read a story, and practice literacy skills.
This is a setting that does not ask children to fit themselves to the curriculum. Instead, the curriculum meets children where they are and uses their interests and abilities to support the development of the essential creative and critical thinking skills: observation, prediction, experimentation, deduction, and making comparisons.
What If the Program Is Less Than Ideal?
Perhaps you have little or no choice about where to send your child to kindergarten, but you are concerned about its quality. First, give the program and teacher some time to get the year going. If you observed the class in the spring and it seems different when your child starts in the fall, there may be a good reason. Many programs start slowly, taking time to help children separate from their families and feel confident in school before adding learning demands. The beginning of the year may look just like the preschool your child left behind. This is as it should be. A play-based start will help your child feel comfortable in the new larger classroom and school.
If after a few weeks you still have concerns, talk to the teacher. Ask her about her goals and share your expectations. Sometimes an apparent mismatch can be just a difference in approach. Keep the dialogue going. Ask for information, but also be willing to hear the “whys” of the teacher’s philosophy.
Still, there are times when a teacher or her approach is not the right fit for your child. Then it is time to talk with the principal. Come prepared with clear points you want to make. This will help the principal see what the problem is and make suggestions to help your child. Often this conversation can include the teacher, too. Keep the focus on your child and her needs. When everyone in the room is focused on her (instead of the problems with a program or teacher) the results can be positive for everyone.
Sometimes (but rarely) children need to switch to a different teacher or school. This can be the result of many classroom observations of your child by the teacher, principal, and/or another professional. It is important to have group consensus on this decision. Save it as a last resort, using it if all other avenues fail and, most importantly, if your child is not happy. Sometimes a child can be perfectly happy in a program that is not your favorite and can become distressed by being moved.
Ellen Booth Church is a former professor of early childhood education, an education consultant and author.
