Nursery School

Montessori Education

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A nursery school provides young children with the op­portunity to begin learning through play. Properly organ­ized schools have well- planned play areas and equip­ment. A lawn helps to limit in­juries.

A nursery school provides young children with the op­portunity to begin learning through play. Properly organ­ized schools have well- planned play areas and equip­ment. A lawn helps to limit in­juries.

Nursery school is a school chiefly for children who are 3 or 4 years old. The youngsters learn through a vari­ety of play and creative activities supervised by specially trained teachers. Nursery school, also called preschool or playschool, helps children develop their intellectual and physical skills and learn to get along as members of a group. Tire school also teaches them good health and safety habits and encourages independence.

Nursery schools differ from day nurseries or day-care centres, which chiefly care for preschool children while their parents are at work. Usually, these centres provide educational programmes similar to those of nursery schools.

Nursery school methods

The children in nursery schools spend most of their time playing or in activities they have chosen instead of doing work assigned by the teacher.

The nursery school has areas called activity centres. Each centre has different equipment and materials for the children to use.

Learning through play. A nursery school features long periods of play because young children learn best by playing. Preschool youngsters cannot grasp the meaning of words that represent unfamiliar objects or situations. As a result, these children learn better by di­rect contact with things than by using words alone. Nur­sery school children learn the names, characteristics, and uses of objects with which they play. The young­sters handle things, compare them, count them, and move them around. These activities help children under­stand directions, distances, numbers, shapes, and sizes.

Nursery school children also develop social skills through play. They learn to get along in a group, to share, and to resolve difficulties in a friendly way. The children also learn to express ideas and to listen to the ideas of others.

A number of nursery schools use a teaching tech­nique developed by the Italian educator Maria Montessori. The Montessori method involves special learning activities that children choose for themselves and work with individually. For more information, see Montessori method.

Dental nurses care for the teeth of children in some countries, usually as part of a school dental service.

A nursery school day lasts two or three hours and provides a balance of active and restful experiences. The children begin a typical day by sitting on the floor or on low chairs talking with the teacher. They might chat about recent experiences or about an object that the teacher or a child has brought to school. The class might also discuss plans for the day.

The children work alone or in groups at activity cen­ters, and the teacher gives individual help. Some chil­dren build with blocks. Others dress up and pretend to be parents, policemen, or other adults. Other children draw, paint, or work with clay. Some youngsters use puzzles, peg sets, or educational games. Still others look at picture books or listen to records. Each of these activ­ities helps children learn in different ways.

After an indoor activity period, the teacher and help­ers assist the children in cleaning up the classroom and putting away their materials. The class then might take a rest, have a snack, or listen to a story.

Many nursery schools also have an outdoor activity period, which helps youngsters develop strength and coordination by climbing, jumping, running, and other forms of exercise. The outdoor area might have boards and boxes that can be combined in different way' for play. Most schools have sandboxes or sand pits, tricy­cles, carts, and a climbing frame or some other struc­ture for climbing.

The day might end with a music and movement pe­riod, during which the children sing, dance, or move io rhythm. When they are ready to go home, the young­sters may get experience putting on their coats and shoes or boots by themselves.

The nursery school teacher

The teacher's role is to provide education, care, and affection. The children receive some education directly, as when the teacher gives them information or tells stories. Other education comes indirectly, such as the cre­ation of a learning opportunity that children can use on their own. Nursery school children are so young that the teacher must provide physical care and protect them from harm. The teacher must also establish a warm relationship with the children and help them to feel good about themselves. Youngsters need much individual at­tention as well.

A person who wants to be a nursery school teacher should like and respect children from all backgrounds. A teacher needs to be intelligent, well educated, and able to relate warmly to young children. The teacher should understand how children develop and how to help them learn. A nursery school teacher also must know how to work with parents and other adults for welfare of children.

Institutions similar to nursery schools were estab­lished during the 1800's under such names as creches, infant schools, and maternal schools. In the early 1900's, two British sisters named Margaret and Rachel McMil­lan set up one of the first institutions in England called a nursery school. Their school, located in a slum area of London, was designed to give poor children the bene­fits that wealthy children received in home nurseries.