Play Games, Learn Math! Explore Numbers and Counting with Dot Card and Finger Games | NAEYC 

The Case of Brain Science and Guided Play: A Developing Story | NAEYC 

Children learn the more through play than from circle time. If we can expose children to math concepts through play, they are more likely to be interested in the content and remember what they learn. This article has a variety of math games that teach children different mathematical concepts such as dot games, finger games, numeral recognition, and composing and decomposing numbers.

Parents:

1. Entreprener: Ensuring that our school districts and teacher have the resources they need to do their jobs well (ie: money for schools to be safe, efficient, well-staffed, and that teachers aren't digging in their own pockets for supplies for their classrooms.

2. Extension office leader: Support/ Meeting the needs of each students and teachers having the support from admin needed to help meet the needs of their students. Teachers are having to take on the role of too many things such as emotional support, nurse, mediators, etc.

3. Stay at home mom: Unrealistic standards for young children like "sit still and listen" for such a long day. Needing more hands-on learning experiences and more life skills.

4. Stay at home mom: Children need to have a say in what they are learning and how they learn it. I also do not like the number of students per classroom in public schools and having to sit at a a desk for most of the day.

5. Works in a Lawyer's office: having the educational funding to maintain staff and expand school hours/year. It is challenging and overwhelming as the standard school day is not structured to meet the standard work day.

Teachers:

1. Special Education Teacher: Focused on teaching the students the necessary skills to be successful rather than teaching them to pass a test.

2. Middle School- Funding: Voucher systems will gut our public schools and leave our most vulnerable student with little resources. It will also potentially leave our most privileged students out of touch with the real world.

3. Retired Teacher- bringing back textbooks that are put together by people with PHD's in the subject area and get all the extensions that go with it. A teacher with a bachelor's degree does not have the skill set to create curriculum and assessments.

4. 4th Grade Teacher- Funding- teachers need so many materials and better curriculum all which cost money. These things directly effect students learning so they should be high priority.

5. Preschool teacher- I think a big issue is discipline and behavior problems. Even in preschool, I've had issues with children who have special needs, require one on one attention, or have problems at home that affect their behavior at school. Often parents put on blinders and don't want to deal with it.

Admin/Specialists

1. Academic Dean: Social emotional Learning and student mental health is the biggest issue in regard to student learning. These non-cognitive barriers must be addressed in order for students to feel safe and learn.

2. Literacy Coach: I believe we must continue to advocate for DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.) ALL students can learn and have personal leadership skills. We need to bridge gaps and meet students where they are in order in order to best support them as leaners and leaders.

3. Preschool Director: Equal access to quality education to all students regardless of background. There is a strong divide when it comes to education and financial status and background can award you more educational opportunities. All children regardless of should have access to the highest quality of education across the board.

4. Principal 1: No response

5. Principal 2: No response

"Our analysis shows that preschool enrollment improves post-secondary outcomes. Attendance at a public preschool in Boston boosts on-time college enrollment by 8 percentage points, an 18% increase relative to the baseline college-going rate of 46%. Children who randomly win a seat at a Boston preschool are 5.5 percentage points more likely to attend a four-year college by the fall after projected high school graduation and 8.5 percentage points more likely to attend a Massachusetts college. Preschool enrollment leads to a 5.4 percentage point increase in the probability of ever enrolling in college and a 5.9 percentage point gain in the likelihood of ever attending a four-year 3In a review of the US early-childhood educational literature, Cascio (2021) concludes that there is no long-term evidence on the impacts of large-scale preschool programs from randomized social experiments. 3 college. Estimates for college graduation are also positive, though these results are less precise since some cohorts are too young to observe graduation outcomes. To probe mechanisms for these results, we also study outcomes on the pathway to college. We find positive effects on several college preparatory outcomes. Preschool enrollment boosts the likelihood of graduating from high school by 6 percentage points. Preschool also causes a 9 percentage point increase in SAT test-taking and raises the probabilities of scoring above the bottom quartile and in the top quartile of the SAT distribution." (Pathak, 2023)

Boston public preschools are universal meaning they are open to all children regardless of income. Their preschools are in elementary schools or other early learning centers and their teachers hold either bachelor's or master's degree. This study has a sample of over 4,000 randomly selected 4-year-old children in 7 different schools ranging from the year 1997-2003. They have followed these children throughout the years and have data to show through high school and some college. They have data to show increase in high school graduation rates but cannot yet comment on college graduation rates because they have not all reached this point in their life. This study also found that attendance at the preschools had affected boys more than girls.

Article

The Long-Term Effects of Universal Preschool in Boston

Gray-Lobe, Guthrie ; Pathak, Parag A ; Walters, Christopher R

The Quarterly journal of economics, 2023-02, Vol.138 (1), p.363-411

Peer Reviewed

Open Access

Universal preschool and cognitive skills-the role of school starting age as a moderating factor

"Our results suggest that enrolling preschool one year earlier can have a significant and meaningful positive impact on the cognitive skills of children, as long as it does not lead to earlier primary school enrollment. Well-funded preschool expansions are therefore likely to have a positive impact on children’s cognitive skills since we do not expect them to lead to earlier enrollment into primary school. The de- tails of implementation are key: expansion must involve true capacity increases and funding needs to be sufficient to enable the provision of high-quality services. Investments need to include funding for staffing, fair teacher compensation, curriculum requirements, credential requirements, continuous training, and child assessments." (Horn 2023)

In this article the authors focused on a school in Hungary. In their studies they observed that starting universal preschool one year earlier increased reading (math) test scores in grade 10 by 5.6 percent. Their main results indicated that starting preschool one year earlier had a significant positive effect on reading and math test scores in 6th grade of 9.0 percent. The main thing that they discussed was not only was being enrolled in a universal preschool program important, but so was the age that you started attending elementary school. Universal preschool was only seen to have a significant impact on children that delayed starting elementary school early because of age differences and maturity.

Szabo-Morvai, Agnes; Horn, Daniel; Lovasz, Anna; De Witte, Kristof

Early Childhood Research Quarterly; 2023; Vol. 64; pp. 278 - 289

Open Access

The Importance of Universal Preschool

Step 2: Know Your District

All of the head starts or preschool programs in our local districts public school systems are primarily made up of low income or "at risk" children who are seen as needing more guidance or help being prepared for elementary school. Yet, we have so many children coming to kindergarten having not had any exposure to a school setting and being "shell shocked."

According to the NCSL( National Conference of State Legislators) to qualify for HeadStart or assistance paying for early childhood education the parent must house a household income at or below federal poverty level, be receiving public assistance, or the children must be experiencing homelessness, have a disability, or the children be in foster care.

Step 3: Know Where You Stand

Making Preschool affordable and accessible to all families, not just low income or "at risk" children. I know myself and many other parents have struggled to pay for our children to attend quality preschool programs because we do not meet the qualifications for government assistance or other guidelines put in place. Preschool is so important for children's development as a whole with a variety of different skills and research has been done that it even makes a difference into adulthood.

Several states are starting to offer a universal Pre-K which is a state funded preschool program where age is the only criteria for eligibility. This doesn't mean that every child gets in, but if they fill out an application, they are eligible for a lottery for the said number of spots.

Step 4: Know the Decision Makers

The federal government is the major source for funds related to early childhood education programs. The state roles vary depending on the program. Some programs such the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), allow states to set eligibility rules. Other programs, such as Head Start, have funds that come directly from the federal government to local agencies or providers without the state's involvement.

To offer a universal preschool program we would have to contact officials at the state or local level since this is a not a federally funded program. The state of Kentucky does not have a plan like this in place but in March of this year the Mayor of Louisville started taking steps to make this happen in their city by creating a new nonprofit called "Thrive By Five."

Step 5: Know How to Contact Decision Makers

The current mayor of Paducah is George P. Bray. His phone number is 270-444-8504 or he can be reached by email at mayor@paducahky.gov. I have found that the best way to contact him would be by email and to let him know what topic you would like to discuss, and an appointment could be arranged.

Step 6: Know the Calendar

Kentucky's statewide general election is November 5, 2024.

Step 7: Know How to State Your Case

It seems that the best route to go would be to first form a committee and then present concerns/findings to the city council at the public meetings or planning a time to meet with the mayor.

Step 8: Know How to Reach the Public

I would start by reaching out to parents, teachers, and administrators that I know and asking them if they would be interested or knew anyone that might like to join us in advocating for a universal preschool program in our area. Every person brings a unique set of skills and voice that would help turn our ideas into actions.

Step 9: Know Role in Electoral Process

It is important to do your research and learn as much as you can about each candidate. After researching the candidates, the next step would be to inform everyone else about your findings. You cannot tell people who to vote for but you can educate the community on what you know and let them know that their vote makes a difference.

It is common knowledge that children who are read to know more developmentally when it comes to language and communication. This article explains while we can't expect toddlers to know how to "read", reading with them strengthens their vocabulary by exposing them to knew words and teaches them that pictures symbolize words. Not to mention that reading with children increases one on one time and strengthens that relationship and makes reading an enjoyable activity of them. Families should be given materials and told just how big of a difference reading can make in their child's life.

Children do not spend enough time playing outside whether it be at home or at school. The importance of nature in a child's development goes all the way to the beginning of the 19th century, when Friedrich Froebel a German Scholar came up with the term kindergarten and recognized the importance of children and nature and said that humans and nature are connected on a spiritual level.