Pre-kindergarten vs. Preschool: Play by Play

Pre-kindergarten and Preschool. You’ve heard the words used interchangeably, and both terms refer to school that occurs before kindergarten, but the similarities end there. 

 

By design, the young learner’s experience is experiential in nature. Hands-on activities, opportunities for exploring, and learning through play all comprise the preschool and pre-kindergarten experience. Another commonality the two share is the social and emotional growth of students. Relationships are essential for growing children and early childhood teachers thoughtfully craft safe environments in which children thrive, helping teach social skills through interaction, mentoring, and direct teaching.

 

Children who attend preschool learn basic social, emotional, and some academic skills that help lay the foundation for the rest of their education. The preschool classroom provides basic instruction in the alphabet, colors, numbers, and shapes. Pre-kindergarten teachers, however, dive deeper into specific kindergarten readiness skills and engage in activities that involve more structured skill-building that helps prepare students for kindergarten. With these readiness skills, children in pre-kindergarten classrooms are prepared for more advanced learning such as math, structured reading, writing, science, and critical thinking, among others. 

 

Pre-kindergarten programs allow children to develop language and vocabulary skills and introduces them to more collaborative project opportunities with peers. The pre-kindergarten classroom helps children transition from traditional preschool to kindergarten.