Sharing Web Resources: Pre-K Now- Part 3

http://www.preknow.org/

This week I decided to explore the Family section of the website.  Last time, I examined what was available for teachers, but this week I wanted to see what is available to me as a Pre-K parent.  There was a link for parents to find a high quality Pre-K program for their child, information to help guide their child’s learning at home, stories shared by parents of Pre-K students, and the information was even available in Spanish!  The area that caught my attention was this link, http://www2.ed.gov/parents/earlychild/ready/preschool/index.html which took me to the US Department of Education site.  This site helps guide parents with their preschooler.  I looked into the recommended, “Activities” as well as the topic of, “Taking Charge of TV.” There were a lot of activities that could be use in the classroom, and they were even separated by age group.  The US Department of Education said that by the time a child goes to Kindergarten, he has watched an average of 4,000 hours of television!  That was an eye-opening statistic!  I do let my boys watch a lot of television, but my younger son can only watch educational shows.  They did recommend that a child does not spend more than two hours a day in front of the television.  There is so much valuable information here, so I bookmarked this site. 

I have been receiving daily newsletters from this organization.  The popular issue is still education funding being slashed all across the country.  Sadly, there has not been a day since I subscribed that has said otherwise.  In each newsletter, there are also quotes of the day.  One quote that caught my attention was from a Minnesota State Representative.  She said, “Over the next few weeks, our work on the state budget deficit will begin to intensify. It’s important that we do not make cuts in early education that will end up costing us more in the long run.” -Patti Fritz.  I could not agree with her more.  We have so much research to validate the importance of early childhood education, yet it is the first cut to make.  The newsletter does not really increase my understanding of equity and excellence, but the website and their links to other websites do.  I do hope to teach Pre-K again when I return to the states, and I do plan on sharing the website along with others linked to it with my parents.

This organization has helped me stay abreast of current issues and trend in my field.  Our discussion this week involved immigrant families.  I noticed this week that many of the resources are in Spanish.  Ten years ago, I would have never imagined that there would be such a need for it.  This organization is aware of the current issue.  The newsletters are also keeping me informed of what is happening in my state as well as across the country with Pre-K programs.  This week I read that my home state of Texas is voting on whether or not to pass a bill that would eliminate full day Pre-Kindergarten.   I would definitely recommend this site to fellow Pre-K teachers, parents, or advocates.