Preschool day: A Parent’s Typical Day, as Envisioned by My Child’s Preschool

A Parent’s Typical Day, as Envisioned by My Child’s Preschool

Our 3rd most-read article of the 2022.

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Originally published November 10, 2022.

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I get up at 4:30 a.m. for some pre-dawn food prep. Today, it’s my turn to bring a snack and read a story for my son Ash’s preschool class. The school does not allow nuts, dairy, eggs, sugar, or any pro-oxidant fruit. My snack will be simultaneously nutritious, allergen-free, and appealing to three-year-olds—something like dinosaur-shaped muffins that taste like rainbows but are made of steamed arugula.

While the muffins are baking, Ash wakes up. He is in a great mood after an uninterrupted twelve-hour slumber, eager for another day of joyful learning. He transitions through every part of the morning routine without complaint or delay, and we arrive at school precisely in the middle of the allotted five-minute drop-off window.

The school day starts at 8:45, but snack and story time is not until 9:20, which is the perfect amount of time to not be able to go anywhere or get anything else done. I twiddle my thumbs in the school parking lot for thirty-five minutes before heading inside to hand out muffins. On my way in, I pass the volunteer sign-up sheet for next week’s book fair and put myself down for every open timeslot.

After five minutes of reading to my son’s class, I’m off to work. I am a freelance neurosurgeon, the only job that is both well-paying enough to afford $30,000 in tuition and flexible enough to deal with all the school holidays. School holidays are the three months of summer, plus a week each on Indigenous People’s Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, Presidents’ Day, and Easter. The school is also closed for all federal and state holidays, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Diwali, Lunar New Year, Eid al-Fitr, and seven staff-learning Wednesdays.

At 9:58 a.m., my phone alarm rings. I abruptly leave in the middle of an exam for a patient with intracerebral hemorrhaging, as I have something much more important to attend to. Registration for the preschool’s summer camp (which takes place eight months from now) opens at 10:00 a. m. sharp. If I do not sign up by 10:02, all the spots will be taken and I will have no childcare that week. Or worse, Ash will be stuck doing the inferior leaf collage crafts instead of the coveted Stegosaurus hand-painting crafts, and I will have ruined the magic of childhood for him.

With the summer camp spot secured, I return to my patient with the bleeding brain, who has been kind enough not to code blue during my absence. As a working parent, I’ve learned to be super-efficient with my time, so I also manage to squeeze in a seven-hour spinal cord surgery during the thirty minutes I have before school pick-up.

Today is a regular Tuesday in the middle of a normal workweek, so of course, it’s early school dismissal. I chat with the room mom while we wait for our kids, and she persuades me to help with the school bake sale this weekend that I didn’t know was happening. (Shame on me for not reading the twelve-page weekly emails more carefully.) Luckily, my schedule is wide open at 3:00 a. m. on Saturday for some baking, so I agree to bring six dozen kale triceratops brownies.

This afternoon, there’s a parent-teacher conference. The students aren’t allowed to come along, but no problem; it’s super easy to find a responsible adult who is free at 2:00 p.m. on a weekday for a babysitting job that lasts half an hour. (That’s how long it takes me to get to and from the school and have a twelve-minute chat with the teacher.)

During the conference, the teacher mentions the school’s upcoming silent auction. Since I have nothing else to do for the next twenty weeks, I volunteer to chair the planning committee. This year, the school is raising money for a toddler makerspace. It will be fancier than the lab at my hospital responsible for testing monkeypox samples.

After the parent-teacher conference, I take Ash to the art store to buy craft supplies for a family tree project that was assigned today and will be due tomorrow. We only need two popsicle sticks, but the smallest quantity the store sells is a bag of five hundred. I put the other 498 popsicle sticks in a storage box that also contains 96 cotton balls, 997 plastic yellow beads, and a pair of Uggs I purchased last week because we didn’t have any empty shoe boxes at home to send to school for a different craft project.

Ash and I sit down at the kitchen table and get to work. I make the family tree project, dinner, and some notes about a craniotomy I’m performing tomorrow. Ash makes velociraptor noises.

After dinner and bedtime stories, I grab the car keys and a large Thermos of Red Bull. Tonight, I’m making the five-hour drive to my aunt’s house in Ohio to pick up an heirloom family album. That way, when I return home at dawn, I can cut up vintage 1930s photos of my grandfather into apple shapes to finish Ash’s family tree homework.

Before I leave the house, I ask my spouse to check on Ash’s baby sister, Willow. Willow’s our second-born and not old enough for school yet, so we don’t care about her as much. Still, it would be nice if someone could make sure our six-month-old has been fed and changed at least once today.

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A Preschool Day at CDS

“Play has a threefold relationship to children’s learning. When playing, children are developing their ability to communicate, think, and generalize in relationship to others. Moreover, play experiences build children’s language, and the acquisition of language sets up children’s abilities to control their thinking and their feelings. What this means is that play experiences are understood to be essential to children’s later academic achievement and emotional well-being.”

– David Whitebread, “The Importance of Play”

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  Antonette Greene

  ECP Director

Upon entering a preschool classroom at CDS you will notice the hum of inquiry and play, as children and teachers interact and actively explore projects and materials.

8:00 – 8:25 Morning transition into the classroom

8:30 Morning meeting (depending on activities and projects, morning meeting time will vary)

Includes a good-morning song, attendance, calendar, jobs, discussion about the day’s activities, the current classroom project, and introduction of new songs and activities.

9:00 Indoor/outdoor work time

Children choose from a variety of activities in the curriculum centers, both inside the classroom and outside on the yard. These may include reading, art, dramatic play, science, woodworking, writing, building with blocks, project-related work, and much more. In addition, during this time children may create artwork with one of our art specialists, work in the farm or garden with our environmental education resource teacher, or make music with our music specialist. This time also includes access to a self-help snack.

At CDS, Spanish is a natural part of every preschooler’s day. Each preschool class has at least one Spanish-speaking teacher who integrates common Spanish expressions into the day, including during routines, reading, songs, and work time.

11:00 Lunch

Children bring lunch from home or families can order School Foodies.

12:00 Nap/rest

Children rest on mats on the floor using blankets provided from home.

12:45 Quiet inside work time and/or outside work time

As children wake up, they choose from a variety of quiet indoor activities that may include reading, observational drawing, and construction activities. They may also choose to go outside to play in the outside classroom or on the structure.

2:00 Afternoon meeting

2:15 Dismissal to home or after school program.

2:30 Free play in the yard

3:00 Work time (including a school-provided, self-help snack)

6:00 School closes

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what date is celebrated, the history and traditions of the holiday

Gifts

Congratulations

Words of gratitude

This is a young holiday and it appeared thanks to pedagogical publications. Journalists conducted a survey among the population, during which it turned out that the profession of a teacher is important, and our compatriots are aware of this. After all, kindergartens are the first step in human development. And it is simply necessary to honor the educators.

When is Teacher’s Day celebrated in 2023

The day of the teacher and all preschool workers is celebrated in Russia every year September 27, , 2023 will not be an exception.

History of the holiday

Correspondents of the publications “Kindergarten from all sides”, “Preschool education” and “Obruch” appealed to the people with a request to pay attention to kindergartens. Journalists noted that teachers of preschool education should be respected no less than school teachers. The idea was supported in society, and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a corresponding decree. The holiday appeared on September 27, 2004. It was on this day in 1863 that the first kindergarten was opened in St. Petersburg. nine0003

In general, pre-school education in our country developed slowly. Initially, the nobles believed that they themselves cope with the children. And the poor simply did not have the money to take the kids to special institutions. And only after the revolution of 1917 did kindergartens become more widespread – thanks to state funding. The kindergartens accepted children aged 3 to 5 years. They taught sewing, the development of speech and motor skills and general disciplines for development.

Holiday traditions

On September 27, , it is customary to congratulate not only educators, but also all employees of preschool education – head teachers, nannies and others. After all, the way the kids grow up depends on their wisdom, patience and perseverance.

Children play the main role in the holiday. The guys prepare concerts, performances, matinees, where they express words of gratitude to the teachers. Songs are heard, poems are read, contests are held, and children’s crafts are demonstrated. In other words, everything that their mentors taught the kids is shown. nine0003

Of course, Teacher’s Day is not complete without the participation of parents. As a rule, representatives of the parent committee resolve the issue with the gift. It can be bouquets of flowers or memorable souvenirs.

In which countries is celebrated

In Ukraine , like in Russia, Teacher’s Day is celebrated on September 27, . True, the holiday was officially approved in 2008.

In Belarus and Kazakhstan there is no such holiday at the official level yet. However, employees of preschool education still arrange matinees and tea parties precisely September 27, . As a sign of solidarity with the fraternal peoples.

In most cases, Teacher’s Day is celebrated together with Teacher’s Day. In Great Britain, Germany, Lithuania – October 5, in Poland – October 14, USA – Tuesday of the first full week of May, in Czech Republic – March 28, in Spain – January 29.

At the holiday of workers of preschool education

Scientific and practical journal
Included in the list of the Higher Attestation Commission under the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation

ISSN 1997-9657

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№1 2007

• Heading:

  — Panorama of events

Full text

Since 2004, a new holiday has appeared in the Russian calendar – the Day of the Preschool Worker. Until that time, employees of preschool institutions celebrated their professional holiday together with teachers. But on Teacher’s Day, they remained in the background, they received undeservedly little attention. But in Russia there are 60,000 preschool children’s institutions and about 1 million workers employed in preschool education. Preschool workers are not only teachers and educators. These are music workers, speech therapists, defectologists and even doctors – specialists who take care of the upbringing of the younger generation, give preschoolers their knowledge and skills, put their soul and skill into work. The date of the holiday was not chosen by chance. It was on September 27, 1863 that the first kindergarten in Russia was opened in St. Petersburg. nine0003

This year the best employees of preschool institutions gathered in the Teacher’s House on Pushechnaya Street. Olga Nikolaevna Larionova, Head of the Department of Education of the City of Moscow, sent a welcome address to the audience, which said: “Today we are celebrating a national holiday – the Day of the Preschool Worker. The first kindergarten was opened by the German scientist Friedrich Froebel, the founder of European preschool pedagogy. He considered the kindergarten to be a model of the structure of the universe, in the center of which is a developing person – a child. Preschool age is a particularly important and responsible period in a child’s life. At this age, his personality is formed and the foundations of health are laid. A prosperous childhood and the future fate of each child depends on the wisdom of the educator, his patience, attention to the inner world of the child. With the help of educators, preschoolers learn the secrets of the world around them, learn to protect and love their Motherland. In the modern fast-paced age, the profession of an educator not only has not lost its relevance, but has also acquired special significance and respect in society, because, equally, together with the family, employees of preschool educational institutions lead the life of a small person, protecting him from adversity and shaping his personality. From the bottom of our hearts we congratulate you on the holiday of all workers of preschool institutions who daily give the warmth of their hearts to children. I am sure that your kindness and pedagogical skill will turn every day of a kindergarten pupil into a day of happiness. The most sincere words of gratitude and appreciation to you, dear employees of preschool educational institutions, for your daily hard work, health, prosperity and happiness to you!” nine0003

As is customary on a holiday, the best workers were awarded certificates.

– It was difficult to choose the best ones, – noted Maria Mikhailovna Tsapenko, Deputy Head of the Department of Preschool and General Education of the Department of Education of the City of Moscow, – creative people, sincerely dedicated, loving children work in the system of preschool education. We are grateful to all professionals working with preschoolers.

The festive concert program was prepared by employees of preschool institutions and their pupils.