This post will finish up the discussion of the area of learning - Math. We will finish the component - Geometry and Spatial Sense and do the component - Problem Solving and Analyzing Data. Remember I am taking my information from the Tennessee Early Learning Developmental Standards (TN-ELDS).
First we will start with the learning expectation: Begins to explore the size, shape, and spatial arrangement of real objects. The first performance indicator is: Notices and copies simple repeating patterns, such as a wall of blocks with long, short, long, short, . . . Again, we have patterns, and as I have said before, children these days struggle horribly with patterns. Unless that child is hardwired for math concepts, which only happens to be about the top 20% of children and mostly the wealthy and privileged, they will not simply recognize patterns from their environment. One of the ugly truths of American education is the fact that two very different realities exist between the haves and the have nots. It really is not dependent on race but has more to do with wealth and power. Even though it probably does affect minorities in higher percentages, it also affects white children in rural and poor urban areas. The haves' educational experience is filled with endless possibilities and resources. The have nots' educational experience is filled with regulations and crazy fads, etc. They tend to be the guinea pigs. However, this experience does not begin when the children start school. It actually starts from birth. The wealthy and privileged tend to have better learning experiences at home and in care. By the time the children start school the gap is so wide that the have nots usually never ever catch up. The children that usually show up on my doorstep are rural lower middle class or middle class children, and if they are older than toddlers when I get them, they are behind the children I have had since toddlerhood. Middle and lower class parents by in large just are too busy making a living to provide good experiences for their children in a home setting. Some stay-at-home moms buck this trend, but others make it worse. See this trend of the have and have nots has been in existence since at least the 1980s and has gotten slowly more pronounced over time. The parents that grew up as have nots usually perpetrate the same cycle of not providing good experiences for their children because to them it is normal. It takes a dedicated individual to break this cycle for his/her children.
The second performance indicator for that learning expectation is: Begins to notice different shapes and identifies big and small shapes. I would love to know where they are finding 3 year olds that notice any type of details in today's culture. It has been my experience that only children that have had adults point out shapes and even the difference between big and small really know what those terms mean. Again, this will fall in the same group as all the other performance indicators affected by language delay, and language delay seems to be the name of the game these days. Children have to be exposed to concepts in order for those concepts to have any meaning to them. Therefore, children with language delays will not notice mathematical details such as shape because they have no foundation for that concept. I have just started another two year old with massive language delays. This poor child might as well be a 20 month old and he is approaching 2 and 1/2. He is pulling up fast with good experiences so we are not dealing with developmental delays just lack of good experiences. However, when his peers hit kindergarten this language delay problem will cause havoc in the American school systems.
Now we will move on to the component - Problem Solving and Analyzing Data. The learning expectation for this one is: Begins to develop foundation for linking concepts and procedures with active experiences. The first performance indicator is: Sorts objects and counts and compares the groups formed. I have a 3 year old that has basically mastered this performance indicator. I have had her since she was 9 months old. I have a 4 and 1/2 year old that just mastered this performance indicator in the last 3 to 4 months. The 3 year old is full-time. The 4 and 1/2 year old is part-time and attends a PreK program at the local school. This 4 year old embodies all the downward trends I have been seeing in children the past several years. The 3 year old is academically ahead of this child, and she will leave him in a trail of dust. She embodies the haves and unfortunately he is have not. Her academic experience already so outdoes his even though they both attend my program that she will be light years ahead of him by the time she hits the third grade. She received the good learning experiences from infancy, and he is playing catch-up hard at the moment. Children that come through my doors at the age of 2 and 3 will not be ready for this concept until after their fourth birthday. However, I will say that my insistence during pick-up times that toys be placed in the right containers actually does more for the children's sorting skills than probably any other activity that I do with them. Even so, counting and comparing still come along slowly for the majority of the children that come in here after the age of 2 years old. I usually have a year's worth of social/emotional and language foundation to lay before we can even begin to cover such topics in earnest.
The last performance indicator is: Builds simple structures with blocks. Most of today's children do not know how to build with basic blocks until an adult shows them how. Even 4 year olds coming into my center for the first time have to be taught to build with basic blocks. Sometimes I believe they have never seen plain wood blocks before in their short lives. Blocks probably represents one of the most important basic toys for all children and a great deal of American homes have no blocks whatsoever. They may have connecting blocks if they have boys, but plain wooden blocks are becoming obsolete. My own granddaughters would never get to play with blocks if it were not for the ones at my house. They do not have any blocks at their house, and they represent the norm. Toys are becoming more and more electronic, and the children are suffering for it. Math and Science development start with children exploring and building with basic blocks. This will come back to bite us hard in the not so distant future if it is not already biting us. Elementary teachers will have to fill in gaps and let children play with blocks when they should have had those experiences in preschool. Meeting ever higher standards and expectations in American schools will soon meet a brick wall called immaturity and lack of experiences.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!! https://linktr.ee/natawade
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