Coming up next on Learning Curve, we're talking about early learning and getting ready for VPK.

With our expert guests, we'll dive into the foundational importance of the first five years the power of play based learning, and the crucial role parents play as a child's first teacher.

It's everything you need to know to give your child the best possible start.

That's next on learning Curve.

Welcome to learning Curve.

The first day of VPK is a big milestone for a child and their family.

How can you make sure your little one is ready?

Today we're talking to a couple of experts about preparing for VPK.

From the importance of play based learning to the key skills that will help them succeed.

My guests are Kaylee Dawkins, the director of the Educational Research Center for Child Development at the University of West Florida, and Bruce Watson, the executive director of the Early Learning Coalition of Escambia County.

Welcome, both of you.

I appreciate your time very much.

And, before we get into a whole lot of stuff we want to discuss, let's just talk a little bit about your organization so people understand exactly where you're coming from.

Kaylee, why don't we start with you, the director of the Educational Research Center for Child Development.

Yeah, that is a mouthful.

Tell me what you all do.

It is a mouthful.

We a our child care provider on the university West Forest campus.

We serve children of the ages of six months all the way up to five.

We have eight classrooms and enroll about 113 kiddos each year.

And stay really, really busy.

Stay.

You always heard?

Yes.

Very busy.

Okay.

No doubt.

And and Bruce, the executive director of the Early Learning Coalition of Escambia County.

Tell us a little bit about that mission.

We're one of 30 coalitions in the state.

Our primary job is to be the funding and oversight agency for child care providers here in Escambia County.

We're single, county coalition in that regard.

And, one of our biggest missions is to train people like Haley and her staff and get them ready to teach our children.

And so while they teach the children, we teach the adults how to teach the children.

Gotcha.

So we have a very cooperative relationship.

No doubt about it.

Both, of course.

Vitally important.

So let's just talk about those children.

And I want to talk a little bit about the first five years.

And Bruce, why don't I start with you here?

Why is it that the first five years are so foundational for child's development?

What is it about that amount of time?

Well, I actually took courses when I was in college years ago, on child development.

And at that time, we were trying to prove everything through longitudinal studies.

I'm happy to say the modern science has proven what we all knew but couldn't necessarily quantify, you know, 40, 50 years ago.

And that is our brain develops critically in those first five years of life.

If we don't use all of our billions of cells that we're born with, we lose them and we lose them permanently.

However, we don't have to lose them.

We have to.

We can retain them if we stimulate, if we, you know, work with our children, talk to our children, educate our children, engage our children, their brains will develop and they'll keep it for life and become very productive citizens.

And that's why, you know, we hear it.

How many times have we heard that?

0 to 5.

They're like sponges.

They're like sponges.

I mean that I'm sure you must see it constantly with all the children that come through.

What?

You run.

We do.

0 to 5 is definitely the timeframe where they are.

Their language is developing and their vocabularies increasing.

Every day.

They're learning problem solving skills, how to interact with one another and just a social interaction.

So I think that 0 to 5 age is more than just academically, but also social, emotionally and a child.

Yeah.

I mean, of course they're 0 to 5.

They haven't done a lot of interacting with other humans.

I should think that that's out there amongst the most important thing they're going to learn in someplace like me.

Back.

Right.

What about, sort of the long term benefits?

I mean, we we've set a few right now, but it sounds to me like these first five years are so crucial, not only because they're sponges and they're just trying to figure out how to how to work in their immediacy.

But is it true and fair to say they're also even at that young of an age, learning things that will matter for them for the rest of their lives?

Is that fair?

Oh, it certainly is.

I mean, there's a lot of good studies out there for every dollar we spend on early education.

We save anywhere from 7 to $16 in adulthood.

One of the biggest reasons is we make them into functional adults.

They get jobs.

They are part of society.

If they don't get all those functions that Haley so accurately described a while ago down pat early in life, they spend the rest of their lives trying to play catch up and understanding why they don't fit.

And then there's all the, you know, negative consequences that happen as a result thereof.

Whereas if we get them young and we get them in there, we can make a huge difference in their adulthood.

I was about to say, you know, conversely, to sort of what you laid out there, I mean, we it can it can obviously go bad if not done well, but if done well, which clearly it is, it, it works the other way and you're just setting people up for success forever, right?

You're the, baseline for that milestone.

So those kiddos are going to, achieve and obtain once they go off, you know, to what we call big school, which is elementary and middle and high and whatnot.

But we get to lay the foundation and that 0 to 5 age range got to be Kaylee.

I mean, I like how you said we get to lay the foundation almost as if it's it's an honor.

And I can see you feeling that way about it.

It is, I my one of my favorite parts is when, you know, our six month old start and then watching them graduate, we can go off to kindergarten and getting to, take a look at all the milestones that they achieved of we went from crawling to walking to saying words, and putting words into complete sentences and communicating effectively, but also, recognizing the letters in our name and, sight words and math problems and the science side of it as well.

So, I feel like I get to be more hands on and what I do every day and get to see that outcome.

It's so cool.

I mean, all the things you just said, you know, it's funny when when you're day to day as a parent, or an educator, I would imagine, you know, you're just what are we doing today?

What are we doing this week?

And, you know, you're getting things done.

But it's hard to see that big picture.

But as you say, when you've got someone from year one of VPK so they're graduating and you can enumerate all the things that have happened.

It's it really is kind of mind blowing.

Like, wow, we have significantly impacted these children's lives forever today or this or the last few years, right?

Yeah.

VPK program here in Florida, the first children are now in in college.

Wow.

And we're making a difference to say the least, no doubt about it.

So here's something I wanna talk about is is you hear this phrase all the time.

Play based learning versus, you know, just play.

I will I will ask you all as experts.

First of all, Bruce, I want to start with you.

What?

Play based learning.

What do we even mean by that?

Well, instead of just open the doors and let the children run out and go over the playground and what have you, a good teacher will take them out and focus their attention and, and have them do things.

And that's on the outdoor activities.

So it's the same thing inside.

Turn it into a song, turn it into a game, turn it into counting through a variety of, different modalities.

I've even seen puppets be used.

Very effective.

There's all sorts of things.

Take the bottle caps off your bottles.

If your mom and dad sit at home and make a game out of it.

But make the children count in the process when they're three, 4 or 5 years old.

It's all part of that.

Engaged learning is what I call it.

So.

So is the idea here.

Essentially.

We they're learning, but they don't know.

It almost.

Is that what we're going for?

Essentially.

So we I was told our parents that are coming to tour the center, for that first time, we're sitting in a new parent orientation of your child's going to go home and say, they played today, and they did, but what did they do?

Right?

And so, like Bruce said, unstructured play is, a child led exploration.

Exploration.

But play based learning is that teacher adding standards or, dimensions and objectives to what we're doing.

So yes, they counted frogs today, but they also identified the colors of a frog or the life cycle of a frog.

And, how many frogs were in that line and made a math problem out of it.

And so that's the goal for our teachers, is to make it fun and let it be play.

But intentional and and those examples make it so clear to the parent or guardian, you know, they weren't just playing with frogs.

You know, there was a lot going on here.

And I can tell you, I can remember I'm sure you both hear this all the time.

Those those drives home from VPK.

It could be so frustrating because you would always say, what did you do today?

What did you learn?

And the answer might be something like play and you said you want to know so much more because you know there's so much going on that is exactly true.

And so we I tell my parents that, you know, instead of asking, what did you do today?

Ask the question of, tell me more about your day.

We send out lesson plans to our parents in advance that do half take home questions of what was that question of the day, that was asked at school so you could ask it at a, you know, at your dinner table at night.

And it kind of sparks a bigger conversation.

So they're saying a little bit more than I just played at school today.

They're now, telling you all about their day.

That's right.

And it's almost like that's a that in itself is a skill you're teaching them.

Early on, you're just you're tugging, you're trying to come up with the right phrasing to give them to say something.

But over the course of a few weeks, they start to understand the game themselves.

And now they can just talk and that that's just another skill they're picking up.

Exactly.

Bruce, I want to talk about years 3 to 5.

You know, what are some for parents or guardians watching who have kids, maybe in year one or VPK two?

Whatever the case early, they're still in VPK.

What are some sort of milestones they can expect and should hope to see from their children during that window of time?

Aside from some of the things we've already talked about actually, Haley, we.

But even better to answer that question because she sees it every day.

Okay, I read the books she puts it into.

Got it look good.

Sure.

So, following two and three step directions, can they go turn the light switch on and close the door and come back?

Right.

That's something we do to, observe them and see if we're meeting that milestone.

But recognizing letters and numbers that are not, you know, letters in their name, numbers at the grocery store out.

You know, there are so many learning opportunities that we can utilize that are just outside of the classroom as well.

Speaking in complete sentences, that's 3 or 4 word sentences and having an exchange with their peers, can they join a group of friends that they have at the park, and not cause a huge disturbance or disruption?

Or does that cause fear in your child?

And, you know, is that something that we should be looking further into, asking the questions of who, what, where, when, why?

You know, are they asking you, where did mommy go or daddy go?

Or why do I have to go to school again?

Or why, you know, asking those questions, can they get themselves dressed?

Can they button and, button.

So those are those fine motor skills.

Are these are these all things that you just said, like, as a parent, I mean, as you lay them out makes perfect sense.

But how does a parent know, like, do you all meet with the parents that here are the things that we're going to expect them to do over the next month, so that then the parents or guardians know exactly what they're looking for?

Is that kind of how the system works?

Right.

So we, provide a stages of development of what should you be looking for?

You know, that birth to one and 1 to 2 with the 2 to 3 and so forth, those age ranges of what should they be doing next and how are we going to grow on that?

So now I can say, you know, ten words, but at some point we want to use 3 or 4 word sentences and have an exchange.

So how are we building on those, foundational skills that they learned young.

And the three, four and five age range?

Gotcha.

I want to talk a little bit about outdoor play and sort of nature exploration.

I feel like these days saying outdoor play to a kid is like a bad word.

It's like, yeah, what are you talking about?

I'm not leaving my house or my room.

But I know that certainly in locations like VPK, that's that's not the case.

I know they're getting some some outdoor time.

So can you tell me a little bit?

And, Bruce, I'll start with you if you've got some info on this on sort of like the advantages that still exist to just getting outside and playing well, you want it to be active.

Well, one of the things I like to do is kind of like, mother, may I and, you know, come on over, that kind of stuff.

In a very benign way.

I want two children to come to me now and get them moving, as well as doing or, you know, and counting and things of that nature.

Scott.

Yeah.

Hopscotch, things like that, where her numbers come into play.

Numbers are really good on the playground.

Because you can count just about anything.

You can even count your fellow students.

You can count the balls that we're playing with.

You can count all the toys you brought out with us, all those kinds of things.

You just get to do it in an outdoor, you know, activity.

One of the advice I have to parents is make sure that when you send your child off to school, particularly VPK, that they're they have the clothes for the to go outside if the opportunity presents itself.

Nothing worse than being a teacher and having to toe, you know, one of the students that can't come out today because they didn't bring the jacket and it's really cold and you don't have any spares to, you know, to offer them that.

That's always, you know, disheartening for both the teacher and the child.

So, parents, you can do yourselves a favor, do your child a favor, make sure they're adequately dressed.

But yeah, there's so many things you can do on the playground with grass.

You can do, look at the birds, count them, count the clouds.

I mean, there's so many kinds of things.

But like I said, a lot of times we'll bring the the toys with us when we go out to make it even easier.

That kind of stuff.

Cool.

Okay, let's talk about literacy, because again, you think back, I think back to my daughters when they were 3 to 5 and sitting there on the couch and teaching them to read it.

What I remember would be we would, we would have two steps forward and one step back, like, she would read a page and I'd be like, oh, she's got it.

And then the next page would have like eight of the ten same words, and she'd have to climb like one page ago, you had it.

What just happened here?

So managing expectations feel is really important when it comes to, to literacy between 3 and 5 years.

So let's talk a little bit about expectations parents should have when they're trying to teach their kids to read at that age and then be maybe what are some some good books or some good things to have their kids start working on?

But let's start with just expectations.

How much time does this really take to to get this all figured out?

Is there is there not?

I know, I know, I've stopped to both young, honest.

I don't know that there's a number.

I feel like it's something that you're.

It's never too early to read to your child.

Right.

And I think that is something that we should go home and do.

Right.

And reading that story before bedtime, you might have read the same story five, six, seven times with your kid.

But that literacy and that repetition and increasing their vocabulary then also feeds into, them reading one day.

So it's not just teaching a kiddo sight words.

It's also how do we sound out the words phonetically and.

Now, a lot of that reading is really the engagement as much as it is, the more the book is a guide, the book will help a parent do something with their child, involves vocal interaction.

A one year old you can teach them while you're reading because they're going to be looking at you.

They're not me watching.

Your lips are going to be tracking your face, your eyes, all that kind of stuff.

And they're learning to vocalize just by watching what your lips do when a certain sound comes out, all of that happens.

That's why you can't wait till they're three and four.

When I think they're ready to, you know, to read.

No, you have to start very early on.

Just get the age appropriate books.

Sure.

Keep it simple.

Lots of colors, those kinds of things.

But it's the engagement back and forth.

Eventually your child will pick up on the words, and then as they do start, they need to start emphasizing the words themselves.

What are the excuse me?

What are the letters?

What is the meaning?

Those kinds of things.

It's a stair step and the child will take you in the right direction.

Believe it or not, you just get out there as a parent and talk, talk, talk, read, read, read.

And your child will go where you want them to go.

It's that sponge thing that we talked about right off the top, that 0 to 5, they're soaking it in.

But when you do hit the moment of okay, now I want them to start like seeing if they can learn these words and actually begin to read.

Are there are there's other than just age appropriate, are there specific books that you know, or series that, you know, like, have worked well or made great for this, or is that too many to enumerate or books that have repetition and rhyming in them?

So rhyming books, something we recommend to some of our parents that their kiddos are ready to read is the Bob books.

Oh, okay.

And starting those and they come in different sets and, you know, growing with your kiddo there, but finding what your kid interested in.

Yeah.

You know, if we're really interested into dinosaurs, let's, collect or buy more books that are geared towards dinosaurs.

So making reading fun as well, and not so much of a dreaded, topic, because when we are learning to read and we were so confident on page one and then page two comes and we don't know those words again, how do we take the pressure off of our kids?

Yeah, I mean, listen, to this day that works.

I mean, if I'm reading something that it's a topic I love, it's give me the next page.

Can't wait versus if it feels like a chore or homework.

Right.

Yeah.

No, no doubt about it.

All right.

So I want to talk a little bit specifically about VBC because I'm sure a lot of parents guardians are watching who maybe have a child going into VPK for the first time.

So it's it's happening right now.

So let's talk about some common misconceptions.

What do you hear from parents or guardians that you think, gosh, I don't know where you got that, but that's not right.

Anything come to mind that were daycare.

Well what do you mean by that.

So I think a lot of parents say my child's going to daycare and they just think that we as providers and, you know, our coalition partners are just there to take care of their kids.

We're just there to babysit.

But so much more happens within those four walls all day, right?

We are learning this is their first time in school.

And so changing that stigma from daycare to a child care provider or a school setting, I think that is the biggest stigma or the misconception I get most of once we start giving out reports of look where your child is on a state, level with some of the testing that we do, then it's an moment for that parent.

There's so much more going on here than just they must be thrilled.

They must be like, oh yeah, you're not just babysitting my, my, my, my child can read.

How did that happen?

I don't know where.

Yeah.

Even the facilities that are in all day child care facility doing early learning, they stop the clock and they start to clock on VPK.

There's actually a formal transition that happens during the three and a half to four hours that they do VPK every day, even if the child is going to stay there, or if the child does get up and gets picked up and goes home after the four hours, they formalize it so it feels real.

It feels like what it is an educational environment.

Your child's first day in school.

Yeah.

Regardless of what the school house looks like, whether it's one of our Escambia County public schools, whether it's your facility, one of the smaller facilities, they all do that same rigid.

You know, I want to say rigid, but, you know, it's very open.

Make sure there's formality doing it.

And my staff has to go out and make sure they're doing it continuously and, you know, consistently.

Is it a curriculum like are they all sort of on the exact same you know this this week we're doing this.

Is that true across the board.

Right.

So we all have a curriculum.

And those are the standards for four year olds.

And we at our center use a creative curriculum.

So it's more of that play based learning.

So it feeds into the VPK standards that we also have to teach.

And those milestones, that we're working towards.

How might a parent know, if, if their, their child, needs a little extra help or maybe isn't catching things as quickly, are there clear and obvious signs?

And at what point is it even fair to look for those?

Can you know that immediately, or does that take time to sort of figure itself out?

Or there's three big signs, and the fact that we require all of our providers to do three assessments throughout the year and tell the parents what the results were.

And so we look at a child, the first assessment is, I think, even more critical than the last assessment, you know, the last assessments indicating how well we did in progressing the child.

But the first one indicates to our teachers what is this child's needs?

Where are they breaking out?

Where are they developmentally?

What can I focus on.

And so if I'm a teacher and I got 20 children in my class and I know these three scored low, I will naturally focus a little extra time and attention to bring those three up to where the rest of them are, not at the expense of the other, you know, 17 children, but I know where my classes.

I know where I can jump into my curriculum and where I need to put the emphasis to ensure that everybody gets what they need, not those assessments.

The very same way that a parent might understand if their child was maybe sort of ahead of the curve and was was a little bit quicker.

Right.

So the same assessment, will show if we are have delays, but also if we're at it.

Yeah.

A little bit above for meeting those expectations.

And at that age, whether there are delays, whether a year a little bit faster or whatever the case does anything, does it do you, let's say a child who's just sharp as a tack, they just does it change how you then are teaching that specific child or that age?

Does everyone kind of still stay the same?

We use small groups.

So like Bruce had said of those kiddos that need a little bit of extra more time, we break our kids out into small groups.

So we have a large group lesson in the morning, right?

Everyone's learning that same lesson, but then they'll break off into small groups and that small group might be doing slightly different things that my more advanced small group might be doing.

Oh, it's circle time in many cases.

Okay.

Yeah.

And that's one of the reasons any of our classes have more than 11 children have a teacher and an aide, which are both teachers.

It's just formal, you know, formal, sure.

Labeled teacher an aide, but, it makes all the difference in a way I can imagine.

Okay, so here's this.

Just a specific thing that I know for a fact comes up that, that I'm curious, parents are gonna deal with.

I want to know when you have a child who is extraordinarily clingy and dropping them off, they lose it, and they lose it every day.

And you think tomorrow's better, and then tomorrow's not better, and they lose it again and again.

Those are.

It's hard to walk away when you're the parent.

And that's occurring.

How do you how do you what do you tell parents and how does it usually go?

Is it every figure yourself out?

It will figure itself out.

But repetition and the continuity of your schedule makes the biggest difference.

And so we tell our parents of keep the same schedule in the morning, if you are going to get up every morning and read a book, then read that.

Make that time right for your kiddo.

Because when you change it, then it does make the drop offs harder.

But I also tell our parents it's going to be okay.

And so, you know, leave and call me back.

I'm not going to let your child cry all day, you know?

And typically, by the time the parents get out the front door, we've already moved on with our day, and we are happy, and we're in, you know, our next morning center.

Moving on.

And we've forgotten.

But I do agree, it breaks a parent's heart walking down the hallway.

Well, yeah.

In your mind, it never stops.

Like, do you drive to work every day?

They just never stop crying when, of course, usually they stop pretty quickly because something fun comes along at VPK, right?

And now they're just engaged.

We're we're running low on time.

But I do want to ask, about any emerging trends and and Bruce, I'll ask you just does anything stand out that you see coming in terms of, the way children are taught at this age, that's differing any emerging trends that stand out to you?

Well, a lot of our children are definitely, I think, heavily ingrained in portable devices, you know, smartphones, tablets, all that kind of stuff.

And there's a lot of great opportunity there.

But there's also a lot of distraction.

And, almost all of our VPK classrooms for that reason, kind of tend to go away from technology.

Technology will come now sometime for person person engagement, teacher to teacher interact, you know, teacher to child interactions, those kinds of things.

That makes all the difference.

I'll give you each 30s, to wrap things up.

And, Kelly, I'll start with you.

If there was, if there was any one thing that or what is the one thing that you regularly tell parents who have, first timers in VPK?

What is that?

To be present, you know, put put the phone down in the afternoon, and meet your child where they are, meet with your child's teacher if you have concerns.

And how to best, to give your child the best resources so they're successful.

Okay.

Going forth, we have them for four hours out of the 16, they're awake.

You have, the other make the most of the opportunity.

It's a gift.

The gift grows old really fast.

And they're gone.

And talk, talk, talk, talk, talk every chance you can to talk to your children.

You cannot talk too much.

Such, such great advice.

And and you're right.

As I heard before, either my children born and it's been so true.

It's going to go so fast, it's going to go so fast.

And it does seem to go so fast.

What incredible insights from both of you.

Kaylee Dawkins, director of the Educational Research Center for Child Development, and Bruce Watson, executive director of Early Learning Coalition of Escambia County.

Thank you both.

My pleasure.

Yeah.

Thank you, thank you.

Well, that will do it for this month's learning curve.

Thank you so much for taking the time to watch for our executive producer Jill Hugs I'm Christian Garman.

We'll see you next month.