Have you ever stopped to think about the differences between Kindergarten when you were a child and Kindergarten today? Have you ever thought that behavior problems, hyperactivity, and low academic achievement seem to be growing problems in the early elementary years? Have you ever noticed that kids are supposed to be reading at a younger age than they were, say, twenty years ago? Many school systems have been trending toward higher academic rigor in their curricula, and pushing younger and younger children to develop early literacy and numeracy skills. Is this what is best for children, for their brain development, for their social skills, and for their well-being?
Today I would like to share this important article about the value of play and its disappearance from many school settings. It seems that play is being passed over because of an emphasis on academic rigor, which at times is not developmentally appropriate for young children. Young children learn through play, and play has incredible, long-lasting, brain-boosting benefits in many domains, including language, reasoning, empathy, and behavior. The article states: Research shows that children who engage in complex forms of socio-dramatic play have greater language skills than nonplayers, better social skills, more empathy, more imagination, and more of the subtle capacity to know what others mean. They are less aggressive and show more self-control and higher levels of thinking. The article goes on to say that overemphasis on teaching literacy and math skills at a younger age yields some short-term improvement in discrete skills, such as phonics, but does not improve higher-level skills, such as reading comprehension, in the long run. Play, on the other hand, does! Follow the link, read the article, and give it some thought! www.imaginationplayground.com/images/content/2/9/2963/crisis-in-kindergarten.pdf
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AuthorHi, I'm Brie Krentz, and I'm the School Psychologist at HGECC. I care about the social, emotional, behavioral, and mental health of all of our children, and I believe in Conscious Discipline as a way to minimize behavior problems and to help children connect meaningfully with others. Archives
October 2021
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