In preschool, children mainly play flexible hours, even though school is not strict, teachers support and do many things for children.
However, in elementary, the schedule is quite fixed, children get used to academic content, have to sit in one place for a certain period, class discipline is stricter, teachers focus more on learning and teaching, and expect students to be independent and autonomous in most self-service activities.
In grade 1, children have to study 8-9 compulsory subjects (depending on the school), each subject has requirements to meet that require teachers to ensure, so it also puts a certain pressure on children. This can make many children feel that primary school is a ‘no fun’ place and insist on going back to kindergarten to study again.
Parents with children in grade 1 may feel ‘sorry’ when their child ‘swims’ between subjects and is not cared for as well as in preschool. Many children entering grade 1 still do not know how to go to the toilet by themselves, change their clothes and feed themselves, can’t sit still for more than 5 minutes, just like to run and jump but don’t want to learn letters or do the math…All that unpreparedness causes a child’s confidence and academic performance to be negatively affected. Parents and teachers are stressed.
Besides, in preschool, the assessment is not heavy, if some skills are not achieved, it will not affect the child’s application file when entering grade 1. However, in grade 1 onwards, the very seriously assessed, recorded on the report card, followed the child through elementary school and influenced the ability to get into a good school at a later grade level.
The noise about the first-grade Vietnamese language program in the past has made parents worry a lot. The program has changed compared to before in that it requires the development of all four skills of children listening, speaking, reading, and writing, so teachers must distribute the time evenly, not just focus on reading and writing as before.
Therefore, many children may need extra help from their parents to memorize sounds and rhymes and speed up reading and writing correctly.
Crowd psychology also has a great influence on parents. Seeing other people go to school, parents worry that their children are inferior, so they also push their children to go to all kinds of schools.
How to make parents less worried?
Most education administrators and teachers in grade 1 reassure parents that if children do well in kindergarten, they are ready to enter grade 1, without taking any extra classes outside. in addition to Vietnamese or math.
Preschools introduce children to writing and math from the lower grades. If your child can recognize letters, hold a pen to ‘draw’ letters, be interested in books and stories, recognize numbers, know basic shapes, compare more-less, big-small, tall-short, and be able to sit in one place for 15 minutes to complete his task… was quite secure academically when he entered grade 1.
Grade 1 standards are not difficult to achieve, students in remote areas and ethnic minorities still read, write, and do addition and subtraction according to the program. Teachers of schools can flexibly arrange to prioritize reading and writing if needed.
Additional activities in sports, music and English are optional, if children are interested, they can participate. However, parents must ensure that these activities are really fun and help children develop motor skills, social skills, confidence, and self-control. These may not be part of the 1st-grade curriculum but help children develop a variety of skills to meet the academic requirements of 1st grade.
Parents should understand that many children may not be able to read or write at the beginning of grade 1, so their children learn more slowly than their peers. However, if your child has good social skills, self-service skills, and discipline, in the later stages, he will get ahead very quickly.
One thing is for sure, preschoolers need to be well prepared before entering 1st grade, but not in the way that many parents are doing by cramming their children into school, which scares them into elementary school.
On the contrary, children need to feel excited because they are about to experience new things in 1st grade and be filled with confidence that they can do well. The early learning experience is very important, leaving an echo for many years to come. Therefore, parents should let their child’s journey to grade 1 be light and fun.
Session – GET READY FOR GRADE 1
The above interesting stories were also mentioned specifically by Doctor Education Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen, Principal of the Bilingual Canadian International School (BCIS) in the topic GET READY FOR GRADE 1 – held at the Canada – Vietnam Kindergarten (CVK) recently.
Besides “tips” to encode kids’ expressions and gestures of their child, Dr. Huyen gives many useful tips to help parents be confident to prepare for the whole family’s activities when their kid enters grade 1. The basic information about the elementary program of BCIS was also shared by Dr. Thu Huyen and the teachers of BCIS elementary.
(Reference & Summary from the article of Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen on Tuoitre.vn)
