My daughter is 20 months old and will be starting preschool in August. At her current daycare we walk her in every day. At her new preschool everyone drops their kids off and the teachers come grab them from our cars. I’m really nervous about this transition. Not only will it be a new school for her but a completely different way of leaving us for the day. Any tips or tricks on how to make that transition easier for her?

My son just turned 3 and he is starting preschool in September! It is M-F and 9-11:30am only. Up until this point he’s only been home with me and my husband (we both WFH) and a few hours each day 1:1 with one of his grandmas. In general he’s a slow to warm kiddo and mostly potty trained (with prompting and reminders) - the school requires this fyi. The preschool he is going to is Reggio Emilia and they do a lot of play and outdoors so I’m not so much asking what he needs to know academically (he’s great at his colors, shapes, numbers, ABC, writing, etc). I guess I am more nervous about him “being on his own” for 2.5 hours without 1:1 from me or my mom. For example, lately I’ve been trying to have him open his own snacks or pull up/down his shorts and undies when he goes potty. What all would you guys recommend to make the transition as smooth as possible in 2 months!?

HOORAY! 🎉🎶 See the world from her treetop branches, swing beneath her limbs, and sing-along as you watch the official music video for “This Ol’ Tree!” 🌳

I have always loved being in the company of a large, majestic tree! No matter what age I was - whether I was a kid or an adult, I have enjoyed and admired trees - they are beautiful and fun! From swinging, reading, climbing, or simply watching and observing its branches and leaves (or all of the insects and animals 🐿️ who call it home), trees are amazing!

Watch the official music video, and make sure to LIKE 👍 and SUBSCRIBE 🔔 for more fun and educational music videos from Cory McAtee!

Hi All!
What is everyone doing with all the black and brown paints?! I went through our art area today and we have 4 containers of black and 5 containers of brown finger paints and 6+ of each in liquid watercolor plus 5-6 bottles of gray and white. I have no clue how to use the white liquid color either.
I wish I could order a multi-pack without black and brown.
Any ideas? We’re going to make a big brown dinosaur tomorrow lol

Hi so i was asking gemini to create monthy learning targets for september to june. I work in Pennsylvania in a preschool classroom. I'm not always great at creating these types of things, but want to ask you guys your opinions on what in came up with so far, and if i need to tweak it.

📅 Monthly Pre-K Learning Targets (September – June)

🎒 September: Foundation & Classroom Community

Focus: Transitions, sense of self, and baseline motor exploration.

• Social Emotional (SED.1 / SED.4): Learns and follows daily classroom routines, expectations, and simple rules with adult support; transitions between activities predictably.
• Knowledge & Skills / Approaches to Learning (AL.1 / SS.1): Identifies self as a member of the classroom community; chooses play materials independently and explores them with curiosity.
• Communication, Language & Literacy (LAN.1): Uses 3- to 4-word sentences to express immediate personal needs and thoughts to teachers and peers.
• Physical Development (HWPD.1 / HWPD.2): Explores gross motor equipment safely (running, jumping)and practices baseline fine motor actions (scooping, pouring).

🍁 October: Feelings & Healthy Habits

Focus: Emotional literacy, self-care, and environmental changes.

• Social Emotional (SED.2): Recognizes and names basic personal emotions (happy, sad, mad, scared) and begins to notice emotions in peers.
• Knowledge & Skills / Science (SCI.1): Uses the five senses to actively investigate natural autumn elements (leaves, pumpkins) and observes seasonal environmental changes.
• Communication, Language & Literacy (LIT.3): Actively participates in whole-group storytime, chants, and repetitive rhyming songs.
• Physical Development (HWPD.4): Demonstrates growing independence in personal self-care tasks, such as washing hands thoroughly and assisting with putting on coats.

🦃 November: Cooperation & Family Identity

Focus: Collaborative play, spatial awareness, and community roles.

• Social Emotional (SED.3 / SS.2): Shares materials and play spaces cooperatively with a peer; talks about personal family dynamics and unique household routines.
• Knowledge & Skills / Math (MA.4): Identifies, names, and compares standard geometric shapes (circles, squares, triangles) found within the classroom environment.
• Communication, Language & Literacy (LIT.1): Demonstrates basic concepts of print, such as holding a book right-side up and turning pages carefully from front to back.
• Physical Development (HWPD.1): Exhibits strong spatial awareness, navigating indoor and outdoor play spaces safely without colliding with obstacles or peers.

❄️ December: Textures, Sizes, & Fine Motor Control

Focus: Hand strength, measurement attributes, and self-regulation baselines.

• Social Emotional (SED.1): Begins to practice simple, teacher-guided self-regulation strategies (e.g., deep breathing, taking space) when experiencing big feelings.
• Knowledge & Skills / Math (MA.3): Compares objects by measurable physical attributes, utilizing descriptive vocabulary such as bigger/smaller, longer/shorter, or heavier/lighter.
• Communication, Language & Literacy (LIT.5): Dictates stories, ideas, or descriptions for an adult to write down underneath their drawings.
• Physical Development (HWPD.2): Manipulates smaller tools with increasing finger dexterity (tweezers, lacing cards, large buttons) to build hand strength.

⛄ January: Persistence & Early Patterns

Focus: Problem-solving in play, early patterning, and phonetic curiosity.

• Social Emotional / Approaches to Learning (AL.2): Demonstrates focus and persistence when facing a challenge during self-chosen play tasks (e.g., rebuilding a fallen block tower).
• Knowledge & Skills / Math (MA.1 / MA.5): Counts a concrete set of objects up to 5 with accurate 1-to-1 correspondence; identifies and duplicates simple, repeating AB patterns.
• Communication, Language & Literacy (LIT.2): Begins to recognize and isolate the initial beginning phonetic sound in highly familiar spoken words (like their own name).
• Physical Development (HWPD.2): Shows a developing preference for a dominant hand and practices snipping scrap paper with child-safe scissors.

🌱 February: Cause, Effect, & Number Sense

Focus: Scientific predictions, stable 1-to-1 counting up to 10, and conflict words.

• Social Emotional (SED.3): Navigates minor peer play conflicts by using simple words (e.g., "Please stop, I'm using that") before seeking immediate adult intervention.
• Knowledge & Skills / Math & Science (MA.1 / SCI.1): Masterfully counts concrete object sets up to 10 with 1-to-1 correspondence; verbally formulates basic "what if" predictions before starting simple sensory experiments.
• Communication, Language & Literacy (LIT.4): Identifies and names several uppercase and lowercase letters, focusing first on the letters within their own name.
• Physical Development (HWPD.2): Transitions from a palmar grasp to a mature, functional tripod grasp (pinching with thumb and index finger) when using markers or crayons.

🌦️ March: Inquiry & Peer Collaboration

Focus: Group project coordination, environmental print, and stable line cutting.

• Social Emotional (SED.3 / AL.3): Enters peer play groups smoothly and collaborates with 2–3 classmates to execute a shared play goal (e.g., building a shared dramatic play scenario).
• Knowledge & Skills / Social Studies (SS.1): Identifies community helpers, explains their occupations, and connects them to the broader neighborhood community.
• Communication, Language & Literacy (LIT.1 / LAN.2): Recognizes familiar environmental print (signs, logos, classroom labels) and asks open-ended questions to expand conversations.
• Physical Development (HWPD.2): Uses the non-dominant hand to stabilize paper while using scissors to cut forward along a straight line.

🌸 April: Advanced Number Sense & Plant Life Cycles

Focus: Rote counting 1–20, life cycle sequences, and complex storytelling.

• Social Emotional (SED.2): Demonstrates perspective-taking by recognizing and verbally acknowledging that a classmate might have different preferences or feelings than their own.
• Knowledge & Skills / Math & Science (MA.1 / SCI.2): Rote counts numbers from 1 to 20 smoothly in sequence; observes, documents, and describes the basic lifecycle stages of plants or insects.
• Communication, Language & Literacy (LAN.1): Uses complex, descriptive sentences with adjectives and adverbs to retell past events or tell detailed stories.
• Physical Development (HWPD.1): Coordinates upper and lower body movements efficiently to master complex gross motor tasks like galloping, hopping on one foot, or pedaling.

☀️ May: 1:1 Counting to 20 & Emergent Writing

Focus: High-number counting sets, letter-like writing, and social boundaries.

• Social Emotional (SED.1 / SED.3): Consistently sets firm, respectful personal boundaries with peers and independently respects classmates' requests for personal space.
• Knowledge & Skills / Math (MA.1): Expands 1-to-1 correspondence skills to accurately count larger concrete sets of items up to 20 objects.
• Communication, Language & Literacy (LIT.5): Demonstrates emergent writing skills, moving from scribbles to producing recognizable letter-like forms or conventional letter strings to represent words.
• Physical Development (HWPD.2): Uses refined fine-motor control to accurately trace basic geometric shapes, intersecting lines, and zig-zag paths.

🌳 June: Reflection, Transition, & Closure

Focus: School readiness, emotional resilience, and milestone celebration.

• Social Emotional (SED.1): Demonstrates high emotional resilience and cognitive flexibility when navigating unexpected end-of-year schedule modifications or field trips.
• Knowledge & Skills / Approaches to Learning (AL.4): Reflects on past classroom learning experiences, proudly pointing out their own academic growth and artistic creations over the year.
• Communication, Language & Literacy (LIT.1): Demonstrates complete concepts of print (identifying title, cover, left-to-right tracking) when enjoying books independently.
• Physical Development (HWPD.4): Demonstrates complete independence with personal school-readiness routines (managing outerwear, cleaning personal spaces, and packing backpacks).

If you have one similiar and would love to share you, please do.

My child seems incredibly curious about everything lately and asks questions about almost every object, animal, or place we come across. I love the curiosity, but I sometimes struggle to keep feeding it without falling back on YouTube or educational videos. Books help, but I have noticed that exploring things in the real world seems to hold their attention much longer. Things like walks, museums, nature outings, and letting them ask questions about things they discover seem to create much more engagement. I have been trying to find more activities that encourage exploration and curiosity instead of simply adding more screen time.

For parents of preschoolers, what activities or approaches have done the best job of keeping your child curious and excited to learn?

We're trying to decide between two preschool programs and I'd love to hear from parents who have been in a similar situation.

Option 1: A district preschool that meets 4 days a week, 2.5 hours. It has one teacher and two paraprofessionals for 12 students and would offer access to IEP services if they were ever needed. However, there are no opportunities for parent involvement, and the drop-off/pick-up process isn't ideal.

Option 2: A church-based preschool that meets 2 days a week this year 2.5 hours (then 3 days next year). It has two teachers for 15 students, much more parent involvement, a smoother car line for drop-off/pick-up.

My biggest question is: Does attending preschool 4 days a week make a significant difference compared to 2 days (then 3 days the following year) when it comes to kindergarten readiness?

As far as cost goes 4 day a week program is $175 a month and the church based program is $180 per month for 2 days. This is my son’s first experience outside the home, he’s been cared for by family up to this point.

I'd love to hear your experiences and recommendations!

About 7 months ago, my son (4 y/o) and 2-3 other kids his age were briefly left unattended during their bathroom break. Unfortunately, he got his hand stuck between the restroom door (automatic closure) and hinge which resulted in a fractured finger.

Of note, this is the inaugural year so the school is currently renting rooms from a church.

Since the incident, he has undergone 2 surgeries and countless sessions of occupational therapy with many many more to come. After the first surgery, he was in an arm cast for 6 weeks. Second surgery was required bc he had very limited mobility of the digit (despite OT) and the surgeon recommended going back in breaking up the scar tissue. His digit has been essentially immobile since November, hence the countless hours of OT. After that second surgery, he had terrible post anesthetic delirium, bit his lip, and now has been severely constipated (pain meds) with intermittent bleeding bc of small tears in that region, requiring stool softeners (which don’t seem to be helping). To add, he’s on antibiotics for postop infection.

This mess could have been avoided if #1. The school had taken proper precautions in placing barriers at the hinge or any other site prone to accidents and #2. The teacher was present and paying attention.

We love the school for many reasons and understand accidents happen but now im pissed. I’m pissed bc my son has suffered with pain, inability to use digit to full capacity, has undergone countless hours of OT, and still MAY NEVER regain full ROM of finger.

I’ve emailed the school regarding tuition forgiveness but after admin went to board, their offer was to pay for medical expenses related to the accident. This isn’t enough - the suffering and pain my child has gone through, the time spent driving to and from therapy and doctor’s appointments, missed classes and extracurricular activities has a cost.

What are my options if I still want to have my children attend the school next year?

Hi all,
My daughter just started at preschool. She is 3. We toured the school a few months ago and thought it seemed great. It costs $1400 a month for full time. Supposed to have a lead teacher, secondary teacher, assistant teacher. They have a cook and all meals are included (you’re not allowed to pack lunch) and we were told they were healthy and balanced and they encourage eating veggies and stuff.

So fast forward to now - kid just started but the summer is considered “camp session” and not “school year session” which is different and we did not understand that. The kids will mostly stay the same and go into the September school session. The lead teacher does seem to always be there, but there are other random camp staff that change every day so care is not consistent. At pickup the staff member did not know my kid’s name (ok it’s only been a couple days but still) and she couldn’t tell me a single thing about how my kid’s day was. She was also just super frazzled in general which isn’t a good feeling to get from the person taking care of your kid.

Nobody has ever asked me anything about my kid - like if she wears diapers or if she needs help using the toilet. My kid has told me she did not pee at all for 4 hours of being there (I’ve been doing pickup early for the start of the session) and nobody required her to try to use the toilet. Do I need to pull a teacher and let her know my 3 year old can’t wipe herself??? I don’t feel like I should need to specify that… she’s 3. What if she were staying for nap? Would they not have her pee before? Not ask if she needs a diaper for sleep? Seems weird.

The food is just processed stuff. Yesterday chicken nuggets as the main, today a corn dog. They offer something with it like carrots or a fruit cup. Not sure why they need a cook for that… they also told us they have morning snack, but from 8:30-12:00 (when they do lunch) they did not offer any food. Seems like a long time for 3 year olds to go without anything. The afternoon snack listed for tomorrow is just dry Cheerios. So that means from 12:00 to 5:00 they only get dry cereal???

At this point I am blaming the issues I have on the fact that it’s “camp” and not “school year” but still, I feel confused. At least the issue with the constant different staff is due to it being camp, so I’m setting that aside.

Is this what I should expect for $1400 a month? I know my standards are very high and I’m aware I can’t expect the same standard of care as a $2000+ school. Just wondering how other people would feel and get a feeling for if I’m being too picky.

At this point I’m setting aside anything to do with how they really teach and set boundaries and handle conflict and stuff and just hoping they are true to their word. My kid has had no complaints and had a blast (yay) but bc some of the stuff isn’t the way they claimed it would be, it makes me question everything else.

Edit to add - potty trained is not required. My kid is potty trained but would need help to wipe #2. Many kids are 2.5 going on 3 by September and still in diapers. So I think they should have at least asked me about bathroom stuff

I know it might be a very provocative statement, but for me personally, I think bedtime stories influence a child's growth more than toys.

I love toys. I think that playing is important for a baby’s development. But toys are only fun and amusement for your children.

At the same time, stories have a different effect.

While a toy can captivate a kid for an hour, a good story will stick in their memory forever.

Stories teach kids how to deal with fears, kindness, friendship, disappointment, courage, and empathy. They are able to see the world from different angles and to understand that heroes make mistakes and overcome difficulties.

What is more, reading stories allows parents to connect with their children in a special way that toys cannot replace.

There are no screens, distraction, or rush anymore. For a while, there are just a child and a parent sitting together. And I'm sure those special moments are always remembered much more than particular toys that once existed.

Recalling my childhood, I really do not remember many toys I used to have, but some stories are still in my mind.

It may be an exaggeration, but if I were to choose what I would prefer to give my child: one toy or one more year of bedtime stories, the latter option would win.

And now I wonder what parents' opinions about this topic are.

Are you on my side or toys are undervalued here?

Planning to admit my son to LKG next year at Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Kottayam.
If anyone has kids studying there (or knows someone who does), how has your experience been?

We have to choose between two preschools and are torn. The first one my now 3 year old child has attended for the last year. We have liked it overall quite a bit. They have small classroom sizes, very nurturing staff, and a nice outdoor area with a playground, trees, and a large garden. My child has made several friends there. The drawbacks of this one is that it is very expensive and the schedule is not ideal (shorter hours, many closures throughout the year).

The 2nd preschool is about half the price and the hours are much better. It gets good reviews from people we’ve talked to. However, the classes are much bigger and there is not natural elements in the play area (no trees, no garden. There are nice play structure, a sandbox, a small grassy area, and a pool for the summer camp). It is also a little further from where we live. The second one is also more of a “traditional” curriculum and the first means more towards more Reggio inspired.

Which would you choose?

How do parents feel about this? Screen time is a constant battle and I believe playing and books teach so much more than anything on a screen. There has always been a computer in the classroom but now there are tablets they have the option of playing with during morning drop off if they want to. I don’t agree with this and don’t know what to do. Very frustrated!

Hi All,

I have a 2 yo little guy who has been stuck to me like glue since he arrived. We spend all of our time together and rarely use babysitters. My husband works full-time, and it is the three of us on the weekends.

I have insane student loan debt and can no longer afford to take off, so I am going back to work. I have been looking for the right kind of job for me and recently found a job as an assistant teacher at an amazing preschool. This school had a massive waitlist and we were 80th on it. I was recently offered this job and it allows for him to move right into the 2s class, pays me (very little - but something), and gives us a $300 a week discount on his tuition. It's an amazing deal for all of us, except for one thing. He has to go to school for the entire day - 8:00 to 4:30.

I have gone back and forth with my husband about this and I feel like crap that he has to go to school for this long, but it seems like our only financial option, and while I won't be in his class, at least I will be at the school if needed.

I am trying my best to make this the best possible transition, and I would love tips on anything I could add to this list to make it easier on both of us.

What I am doing so far -

1. I am taking him to the school regularly to play on the playground and walk around the campus to get used to the space, and will continue this until he starts in early August.

2. I have taken pictures of him in all of the different spaces that he is going to be in, and am making a book to walk him through it.

3. I have also purchased several other books that talk about school (Preschool is Cool, The Kissing Hand, Llama Llama Misses Mama) and am reading them to him regularly.

4. I am starting my gym membership up July 1st and at my gym they have a childcare area that can be used 2.5 hours a day. I will take him their while I work out 5 days a week so that he can get used to having a variety of different adults taking care of him (we did this in the past and he hated it, but he was much younger then and I have since learned the more skilled staff members are there in the morning when we will go).

5. We are doing swimming lessons where I am not in the pool to also help him have other adults in his orbit.

6. He currently naps from 11-2 (3 hours) in a pitch black room with a sound machine. I am moving his nap to match the school nap (12:30 - 2:15) and letting more light into the space so he is used to a less dark room.

7. His favorite food is peanut butter and he eats it constantly, but it is a nut-free school, so I am slowly moving over to sunflower seed butter.

Anything I'm not considering that helped your family? Any teachers out there who have seen this go well vs. poorly - tips?

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone! I’m wondering if any parents here currently have, or previously had, a child in the toddler room at Preschool Canada in Pickering. My baby got a spot and she will be starting on her 17 months. I’d love to hear about your experiences and any feedback you may have. Thanks so much! 😊