Here are definitions of terms professional preschool teachers use. You don’t need to use these words to describe learning taking place in the home. I’m sharing them with you because when I was teaching my preschool at home, if someone was observing, it would look as if most of the day was play. And it was! That’s the way it should be!
But it helped me to know that what I was doing with my child was more than “just playing.” These were actually learning activities that have a name and are given credit as a learning activity in the world of classroom preschool teachers.
Some of the terms are linked to articles to give you more information or examples.
Active learning – the child is involved in what is being learned as opposed to just being told facts
Collaborative learning – Learning with others to get something done or solve a problem, like building a block tower with a sibling or a friend, or playing a game with friends or family.
Cognitive development/skills – how children learn to think, such as making predictions, thinking through a problem, understanding a pattern, using logic to understand cause and effect (since rain makes things wet and I am outside without a jacket or umbrella, I am going to get wet)
It includes things like critical thinking and problem solving. It also includes things like counting, memorizing (ABCs, numbers, shapes, nursery rhymes, Bible verses), and following multiple directions.
Cooperative play – two or more children playing together. Ex. building the same building with blocks or planning a pretend party for a stuffed animal.
Community Helpers– this is usually a theme where the child learns about people who are helpers around them – firefighters, farmers, police, doctors, veterinarians, or mailmen. This can be done by learning about various community helpers all at once or individually. For instance, taking more time to learn about veterinarians if your child shows a particular interest.
Constructive play is when a child builds with something such as blocks, Legos, or Magna Tiles…those couch cushion forts would be considered constructive play.
Curriculum – Curriculum is any resource you use to teach your child the things you want them to learn. Resources like books, games, toys, a pet, or trips can all be part of your curriculum.
Daily/Weekly Routine – the order things get done in the day, on a somewhat regular basis, so your child can learn to expect what’s next. For instance, they get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, read a story, play, get ready to go to the library on Monday and co-op on Thursdays.
Dramatic Play – make-believe, dress up and pretend, acting out real life – fireman, police, a mommy, or acting out a story, pretending to be an animal. Can include props like a play kitchen or things the child uses as imaginary items, like a jump rope for a fishing pole. It can also include puppets or stuffed toys acting out things.
Emotional Skills – understanding emotions for example: recognizing feelings in people (real or in stories), developing a sense of humor, comforting someone who is sad, using words to describe their feelings, managing their emotions in a healthy way ( using words when angry instead of throwing a tantrum)
Environmental Print – Words your preschooler sees around them that they can probably “read” – examples would be store names or restaurants – Target, Walmart, Chick-fil-a, things on boxes or containers – Cheerios, Milk, or things they see often like EXIT signs.
Expository play – play with something to see how it works – rolling a ball through a tube, blowing bubbles, playing with kinetic sand, or magnets are examples.
Fine Motor Skills – things they do with their finger or hands. This would include hand-eye coordination skills: stringing beads or lacing cards, playdough, tearing, cutting with scissors, coloring, writing, drawing, zipping, and buttoning.
Inquiry-based learning – asking a question and then finding the answer (reading, asking someone who knows (Bugs – exterminator)
Gross Motor Skills – anything that gets their body moving, running, jumping, throwing, climbing
Kinesthetic Learners– children who learn best with hands-on activities and being physically active while learning.
Manipulatives– small items that can be used to teach math concepts like counting, sorting, and simple adding.
Open-ended questions – a question where a child has to think of a longer answer than just yes or no. Open-ended questions are a great way to interact with your child as they play. So examples might be: What are you building? Where can we put this? What do you think will happen if…?
Parallel play – this is when your child plays side by side with someone else, with the same things or in the same area, but not together. Ex. Two children are playing with blocks, but each building their own thing.
Phonics- the sound letters make
Print awareness – print has meaning, they can first discover this from familiar things like seeing their name, cereal boxes, restaurant, and store signs.
Scaffolding- building on what the child already knows and adding help and guidance to build on that knowledge or skill.
Sequencing – putting events in order. For instance, what happened first in the story? and then?…and then?
Self-regulation – basically controlling themselves and using good manners, using words to get what they want. Ex – not hitting their little brother when he takes a toy but asking for it back, sharing with a friend, asking for something instead of just taking it.
Social skills – by this, preschool teachers pretty much mean what we as adults think of as social skills, basically teaching your little one how to properly interact with those around them. This would include how they should or shouldn’t interact with their family, friends, people at church, older folks, younger kids or strangers. Teaching manners and how to follow rules would be social skills.
Spatial positions / relationships – the position of things: front, back, up, down, in front of, behind, next to. Puzzles are good for building spatial skills
Sustained silent reading (SSR) – time alone with books (even if they can’t read by themselves yet) Ex. your child curled up on a couch “reading” a book by themselves
STEM Activities -any activity that combines any of these two areas: science, technology, engineering, and math. An example would be baking cookies. It combines math (measuring) with science (chemistry)
STEAM Activities: any activity that combines any of these two areas: science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. By art, they’re referring to ‘the arts’, which could include things like arts and crafts, puppets, drama, music, dance, storytelling, or designing something with playdough.
Themes – any topic, anything, and everything can be a theme; it’s whatever your child is interested in. it can be broad, like bugs, or more specific, like ants.
Transition – moving from one activity to another. For instance, leaving the playground to go home would be called a transition time. Going from lunch to storytime(transition) to nap (another transition)
