Pre k child: Enroll a Child in Pre-K

Why is Pre-K Important? — Child Care Services Association

Pre-K helps children begin to associate more with their peers, and it focuses some on academic topics, but more on helping children learn how to relate to one another, how to follow a daily schedule, how to perform self-help tasks such as tying on shoes, putting on jackets and sweaters, handwashing and other things that children will need to be able to do in kindergarten.

NC Pre-K has some helpful information for families about the curriculum. They also broadcast shows for children and their parents to show what kinds of lessons they will be learning, on your local PBS stations or streaming on the PBS app.

• Classroom Connection features PBS KIDS favorites alongside North Carolina educators. This short-form learning series will deliver engaging math and literacy lessons developed by and featuring North Carolina teachers, aimed at Pre-K through third grade students to support their at-home learning.

• Classroom Connection airs math lessons Mondays and Thursdays at 8 AM and 9 AM on PBS NC, and literacy lessons Tuesdays and Fridays at 8 AM and 9 AM on PBS NC.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) says that kindergarten readiness is not just about knowing the ABC’s and 123’s, or other academic measures of preparation for pre-K aged children. “People used to think children were ready for kindergarten if they could say the ABC’s, count, identify colors, and write their first name. Readiness was always more complicated than that, and new brain research is helping us understand what readiness really is. Readiness doesn’t mean just knowing the academic basics. It means a child has a willing attitude and confidence in the process of learning: a healthy state of mind.”

NC Pre-K aims to bridge the gap for children who have not had previous child care or preschool experience and make sure that all children have a good start once they reach kindergarten. According to the Learning Policy Institute, “Students who attend preschool programs are more prepared for school and are less likely to be identified as having special needs or to be held back in elementary school than children who did not attend preschool. Studies also show clear positive effects on children’s early literacy and mathematics skills.”

Not only does enrollment in pre-K help children prepare for kindergarten, but it can also empower the family to have more earning power, whenever a parent who has been caring for a child at home is able to enter the job market when their child starts pre-K. The program is a holistic approach to help children attain success in school, as well as to help the family attain success in the community. All parents with eligible children are encouraged to seek out and enroll in the NC Pre-K program in their counties during their county’s application period.

To start your pre-K search, you can get a listing of pre-K programs that meet your family’s criteria by calling our Child Care Referral Central program at 1-855-327-5933, or by going online and conducting a search for pre-K. We are always glad to take your call and can help you identify the pre-K programs that most closely meet the goals you have for your children’s educational enrichment experiences to prepare them for kindergarten.

North Carolina Pre-K Program | NC Pre-K

The NC Pre-K Program is designed to provide high-quality educational experiences to enhance school readiness for eligible four-year-old children. The program typically follows the local public school calendar and operates for 6.5 hours per day, Monday-Friday, 180 days a year.

Is My Child Eligible for North Carolina Pre-Kindergarten?

The child must be four-years old on or before August 31st of the program year.  A child that meets the age requirement is eligible for NC Pre-K if the child is from a family whose gross income is at or below 75% of the State Median Income (SMI).  Children of certain military families are also eligible without regard to income.  In addition, up to 20% of age eligible children enrolled may have family incomes in excess of 75% SMI if they have documented risk factors in specific categories including developmental disability, Limited English Proficiency, educational need, or chronic health condition.

Although a child may meet one or more eligibility factors, placement is not guaranteed in an NC Pre-K classroom. Waiting lists exist in counties when funding is not sufficient to serve all eligible children.  Childcare Network directors can provide families with specific information about the enrollment process in their county.

The NC Pre-K Classroom

The NC Pre-K program aims to prepare children in all five of the developmental domains that are critical to children’s overall well-being and success in reading and math as they enter school:

• Approaches to play and learning
• Emotional and social development
• Health and Physical Development
• Language development and communication
• Cognitive development
• Teachers

Each NC Pre-K classroom at Childcare Network may have a lead teacher and/or an assistant teacher. Each teacher must have passed both state and federal background checks and must be over 21 years of age. Lead teachers are required to have (or by working toward) North Carolina (NC) Birth through Kindergarten (B-K) or Preschool Add-on Standard Professional II licensures and assistant teachers must hold, or be working toward, a minimum of an Associate Degree in early childhood education or child development (ECE/CD) or a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential.

NC Pre-K Curriculum

The NC Pre-K curriculum that we use at Childcare Network has undergone review and been approved by the North Carolina Division of Child Development. It incorporates large group, small group, outside time, center time, story times, phonological awareness, music and movement, and large group literacy throughout each day. NC Pre-K programs must also use the North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development. Teaching staff must use these early learning standards to guide and inform their planning and facilitation of comprehensive, developmentally appropriate, high-quality prekindergarten learning experiences for children, and in their work with families.

NC Pre-K Healthy Meals

A USDA approved healthy breakfast, lunch and snack will be provided for your child during their day. We do not allow children to bring food into the school. lf your child has special diet requirements related to medical or religious reasons, we encourage you to speak to the director of the school. You can learn more about our USDA Food Program here.

What If I Need Care For A Full Day?

Childcare Network offers an extended day program with wrap around care for families that need care for their children, longer than the 6.5 hours allotted for the Pre-K program.  Parents with children enrolled in this program will have care available from open until close, depending on the hours of your location. Pricing is different per location, so please ask a Childcare Network director during your tour to get more information.

9 ways to “get through” to a child

“My child does not hear me”, “I have to repeat everything several times”, “He is distracted from his affairs only when you shout at him” – quite often one can hear such complaints from adults kind.

But, trying to “get through” to the child, parents use “adult” methods that the baby is not yet able to understand. Therefore, in order to be heard, it is necessary to explain everything in a language accessible to the baby.

This is where moms and dads run into problems because they can’t find the right approach. As a result, someone turns to psychologists for help, someone seeks advice on the forums, someone follows the instructions of the older generation.

In this article, we have collected recommendations from child psychologists that will allow parents to communicate with children without screaming and unnecessary nerves.

• 1. Eye contact
  The child is immersed in play. At the same time, one of the parents asks him to do something. An adult in full confidence that the baby hears him. However, if the child heard something, he did not attach much importance (after all, the game is much more interesting), and continues to go about his business. Then the adult has to repeat again and again, switch to shouting, so that the baby finally “deigns” to be distracted and listen. But all because there was no eye contact between him and the parent.
  Therefore, first make sure that the child hears and listens to you exactly (look into his eyes, touch him, you can even take his hand), and only then state your desires or instructions. For complete confidence, you can ask the baby to repeat what he was instructed (in this way, he will give, as it were, an instruction to himself, and in this case he will fulfill it much more willingly).
• 2. All at once
  Returning from a walk with the child, the parent addresses him: “Undress, wash your hands and sit down to eat.” For an adult, the phrase is quite common, but the kid is at a loss: while he was aware of one order, he was given two more. As a result, he stands in the hallway, not knowing what to do next. And then it begins: “Didn’t you hear?”, “Will you wait a long time?”, “Should I repeat it again?”.
  Perhaps the child would gladly do everything he was told, but if the tasks were set sequentially, one after another. All instructions given to the baby immediately, in passing, only mislead him. Therefore, it is recommended to break the instruction into several, and give the next one only after the previous one has been completed (“Undress”, “Well done, go wash your hands”, “Okay, now eat”).
• 3. No ambiguity
  “Do you like to wear a soiled jacket?”, “Are you going to walk around the house in dirty shoes for a long time?” – such phrases are clear and understandable to adults, but not to kids. They do not yet know all the intricacies of language and speech, so they perceive similar phrases literally, that is, as an approval, and not as a hint of termination.
  In order for a child to finish doing something, you need to tell him about it directly, clearly, clearly, without ambiguity. “Change your jacket”, “Take off your dirty shoes” – everything is accurate, without hints.
• 4. Extra words
  “Immediately stop playing around when you eat! Have you forgotten the last time you spilled soup on your pants? Do you want to get dirty again?” Of course, the desire of parents to stop the mischief of the baby is understandable – the consequences are obvious, and this is not the first time it has been repeated. However, the child simply forgets, trying to perceive such a large amount of information, what was originally discussed and what should be done.
  Therefore, there is no need to remember the past or frighten with the future – it is much better to evaluate and give advice on current actions. The child lives in the present – it is much easier for him to understand information related to a particular situation – and draw conclusions from it.
• 5. Raised tone
  The adult repeats his request several times, but the child does not respond and continues to do his own thing. The parent, angry with the behavior of the child, goes on shouting. The stunned kid says that he understood everything, he will do everything and that this will not happen again. In fact, his goal is to stop the cry of the elder and ward off possible punishment from himself.
  Everything that was said to him, most likely, will remain so in words, because shouting only aggravates the situation: it causes anxiety, fear, which partially block mental activity (remember your state when your boss starts screaming – as if you fall into a stupor, get lost). Therefore, the desired result is quite difficult to achieve by raising the voice.
  In addition, seeing such a reaction, the child can deliberately provoke, “lead to emotions.”
• 6. Lead time
  In the view of an adult, any of his requests must be fulfilled by the child immediately. Only here we forget again that we are not dealing with a peer, but with a baby who needs a little time to start doing it.
  And just this time for “switching” adults often do not give the child. For example, a baby is rolling down a hill when parents say it’s time to go home. An interesting activity for the child will have to be interrupted, but he does not want to do this at all. So he continues to ride until his parents get angry and take him down the hill by force. The result – tears, screaming, spoiled mood.
  However, if you give the child a little time to do what was said (in this case, you can be allowed to slide down the hill a few more times, and then go), everything can be resolved peacefully.
• 7. Particle “not”
  “Don’t run through the puddles!”, “Don’t touch the dog!”, “Don’t eat dirty fruits!” – most of the instructions of adults begin with the particle “not”. However, it is known that the children’s brain unconsciously skips it. Therefore, the child is happy to perform a completely reversed call to action. In turn, parents regard this behavior of the baby as done “for evil”, contrary to the words of the elders, and the child sincerely cannot understand what is wrong and why adults scold him. The way out is quite simple: just remove the “not” particle from the ban and rephrase it a bit: “Will you help wash the fruit?”, “Let’s go around this big puddle along this narrow curb.” As a result, both the baby is safe and adults are calm.
• 8. Overprotectiveness
  “Don’t go there…”, “Don’t touch this…”, “Don’t run there…”, “Get down immediately…” — overprotectiveness is not uncommon, as parents are afraid for the baby and turn their fear into in constant control. Of course, constantly hearing certain instructions, the child eventually simply gets used to them, regarding them as a background. As a result, they all go unnoticed.
  This does not suit adults, and they begin to “teach” the unfortunate baby. In this situation, you can try to begin to control yourself, count how many comments you make to the child in a certain time (per hour, during a walk on the street, per day). Perhaps there are too many of them in the life of a baby. If the fear for him is so great, then it would be better to just be there when the child is active: hold him when he climbs the hill, when he feeds the ducks. This is much better than constantly pulling back.
• 9. Listen and hear
  Let’s imagine a situation: on the playground, the children are passionate about the game, and the mothers are talking about something. One of the kids found a beautiful stone and hurries to share his joy with his mother. But the woman does not want to be distracted – she is absorbed in conversation: “Go, take a walk, do not interfere with adults.” The frustrated child has no choice but to go back to the children.
  This is a very common situation: busy parents do not want to pay attention to the baby. But they forget that children copy the behavior of their parents. Therefore, let them not be surprised if the next time the child ignores their request (that is, he does the same as the parents do). I’ll have to repeat it more than once, perhaps yell at him to turn his attention to them. And what does it cost for adults to be distracted for a minute, to listen, to rejoice with the little things with the baby?
  After all, having seen the “correct” model of behavior, the child himself will immediately respond to the requests of the elders. Remember that education should begin with an assessment of one’s own behavior.

As we see, in order to be heard by a child, it is not at all necessary to shout at him, pull him up or repeat several times. It is enough to find the right approach. This, of course, will save both strength, and time, and nerves. And not only adults, but also the baby himself.

Vladimir Manulenko

Yearly monitoring program for a child up to one year old – FMC Zdravitsa

In the first year of life, the baby’s body develops rapidly, so it is important to be under the supervision of experienced doctors. The pediatrician becomes the main medical adviser to parents, especially new ones. He is well acquainted with the baby, knows the heredity and lifestyle of the family. The pediatrician leads the work of a team of narrow specialists and selects the most appropriate observation tactics. In an emergency, it is easier for him to navigate and give the best recommendation.

Toast programs are designed for the convenience of parents in organizing the process of medical supervision of their baby. We suggest adding all the necessary visits and procedures to the calendar for the year ahead – nothing will be missed. The task of parents is to arrive on time for an examination or to see a doctor at home, take tests, undergo an ultrasound scan, and the clinic specialists will take care of the rest.

Different children after birth have different rates of development, features of adaptation and different needs for observation. For the comfort of parents of a newborn child, we offer three packages of programs. Observation programs include all the necessary services for a child under one year old: specialist consultations, ultrasound, laboratory tests, maximum attention to the child, assistance in caring for him after discharge from the maternity hospital, visiting a pediatrician at home.

The “Light” program includes the minimum necessary monitoring of the baby with all the laboratory tests recommended by the Russian Ministry of Health, ultrasound and functional diagnostics.

The Standard program is designed for parents who are worried that the minimum attendance may not be enough. Unlimited pediatrician appointments at the center and several times at home. The doctor will come to you with a height meter and scales to measure the baby.

“Comfort” is a great advantage for parents who prefer to consult with a specialist on all matters of concern – the number of appointments in the centers is unlimited. A pediatrician under this program can come home a large number of times. We recommend choosing this program based on the mobility of parents if they prefer home doctor visits.

Monthly examination by a pediatrician, the optimal number of consultations of narrow specialists provides an assessment of the development of the child in dynamics. All recommendations and appointments, the vaccination plan and the plan for further monitoring of the child will be reflected in the advisory opinion.

Benefits of the annual monitoring program for a child up to a year in Zdravitsa:

• Supervising doctor will monitor the baby’s health in dynamics throughout the year
• Specialists take into account the peculiarities of family health, the course of pregnancy and childbirth in the mother
• The baby will not be prescribed unreasonable treatment or research
• Accurate adherence to the schedule of medical supervision and procedures
• Convenient time to register a child with specialists
• We are where you and your baby feel comfortable: in the clinic or at home
• Medical documents and research results are available for you in the application’s personal account and on the clinic’s website

The website shows the cost of programs calculated for the first zone of distance from the centers.