Esteban Rosas looks every bit the chef in his billowy white hat and red apron as he painstakingly prepares a meal of plastic fruits and vegetables on the small wooden table. He picks up a play telephone and says, "Let's eat," to his friend, Albino Corrales, who is standing only inches away from him. Albino grabs another toy phone and replies "Okay."
Melanie Mendoza and Albino Corrales learn how to work cooperatively at Tlaquepaque Head Start Center in Coachella.
The two boys hang up and head for the table. They are joined by Melanie Mendoza, who immediately takes over the food preparation. When they protest that she is being bossy, she tosses plastic eggs at them.
"Melanie, play with them, don't hit them with eggs," admonishes teacher Linda Vasquez at the Tlaquepaque Head Start Center in Coachella Valley. Soon the trio is the epitome of cooperation as they serve, "eat" and even clean up after the pretend meal.
Play is a necessary part of learning, says Vasquez, a member of the Coachella Valley Teachers Association. "Even if they are pretending, they are learning socialization skills, language skills, problem-solving skills and how to get along with others. They are learning leadership and making choices."
Vasquez, a preschool teacher for 15 years, has seen the accountability movement filter down to preschool level. "We're becoming more academic, but we don't want to become too academic," she says. "We're really into literacy, reading and the love of books. We have standards to help children become ready for kindergarten. We give homework for five minutes a day, which gets them into the habit when they start kindergarten and reinforces what they are taught here. But we also have playtime, because children grow and learn through play. We can have both academics and play. We can be flexible."
When it comes to defining quality programs for early childhood education, balance is often a word that comes to educators' lips. Many fear that, without balance, youngsters may be turned off to learning before they get started.
"In a quality program, children gain experience at many levels, including social development, language development, physical motor skills, nutrition and hygiene," says Cheryl Johnson-Jones, a preschool teacher in Los Angeles and member of CTA's Early Childhood Education Committee. "By the time they attend kindergarten, they should be able to write their name, know numbers up to 30 or 40, identify shapes, tie their shoes and have enough hand-eye coordination to use scissors. They should also know how to treat adults, how to get along with their peers and how to resolve problems."
"Play is an important part of how they learn," says Johnson-Jones, a member of United Teachers Los Angeles. "They act out what they see. Parents say they don't want children to play, but they don't understand how important it is. They take what they have heard and act it out, and then learning begins."
"Play is the core of everything and it slowly brings children into the academic world," agrees Diana Beutler, a prekindergarten teacher at Sullivan Creek School in Sonora and a member of the Curtis Creek Faculty Association (CCFA). "I try to teach academic subjects in a fun environment, so it seems like play instead of work. You can't push preschoolers too hard. When they have had enough, you have to just stop, because you are not going to get anything else from them. You have to let them work at their own pace and remember that not all children develop at the same rate."
"A good quality preschool has well-trained people who understand what is developmentally appropriate and what isn't. Or it may be staffed by people who don't understand how children learn," says Diana Decker, a special education preschool teacher who teaches community college classes in early childhood education.
"It's important to have qualified teachers, because half of what children learn in their lifetime will happen within the first five years of life. Children this age learn by doing, not by being told what to do. They need a stimulating, creative environment with lots of hands-on activities that is very nurturing and accepting of them as human beings. There should be lots of language-based activities and quality literature. And there should be face-to-face interaction with teachers and lots of opportunities for conversation."
The state Department of Education recently released the Prekindergarten Learning and Development Guidelines, a set of standards for those teaching children ages 3-5. Skills children should acquire in prekindergarten were identified and linked with the state's language arts and math standards for upper grades, and were distributed to school districts, licensed child care centers and family child care providers.
Standards and standardized testing for preschoolers are controversial. They were hotly debated at the November meeting of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. While many attending the conference felt prekindergarten children were far too young for standards and assessment, others felt such measures were helpful for educators to build and measure "underlying knowledge" that is necessary for success in upper grades.
"We have standards now, but I know in my heart that some kids aren't ready developmentally," says Elaine Emmons, a prekindergarten teacher at Sullivan Creek School in Sonora and a CCFA member. "I would love it if we didn't expect kids to read until they were ready, but that's not the way it is." Her school gives students the Brigance Test to evaluate achievement.
"Standards are not necessarily bad, but you have to look at each individual child," says Emmons. "So much is expected of them in kindergarten that teachers need to have standards in preschool to get them ready. Most kids will rise to whatever level is expected of them, if given the opportunity."
Standards and assessment won't make little adults of preschoolers, she adds. "The best thing about working with them is that they are open, eager and excited about learning. When they learn something new, you can see it in their faces and know that it brings joy to their day. This is a wonderful age group to work with."
