Kind of tired of other teachers acting like preschool is just daycare. Maybe if more parents sent their kids to preschool instead of daycare, you wouldn't end up with 4th and 5th graders with no manners who can't stay quiet, or complete any assignments. Please try not to look down on preschool teachers just because we're not K-12! Does this happen to anyone else?

I hear you! I also teach preschool in a tiny district, and I have had to fight to get teachers and admin to remember that the preschoolers are part of the school, so events should include them. I teach a scaled down version of kindergarten, a class I have taught for 7 years, and my students learn a lot about pre-reading and mathematical skills along with social
Skills and SEL. Preschool is truly academic.

Absolutely. I love my kids preschool teachers! They have a very difficult job but you can tell they love what they do. I respect and appreciate them so much.

If it makes you feel better a lot of people thought elementary school was daycare until schools were closed during COVID pandemic.

I could never teach preschool. Middle schoolers are crazy but at least they're able to tie their shoes on their own (for the most part). Ignore the noise - you're a teacher and if they can't see that it's on them.

Every human under 15 years old scares me.
Under 10 especially

I am a Prekindergarten Teacher in a school district and us Pre-k teachers don’t get the respect that the K-5 teachers get! We teach every aspect of development; physical, social/emotional, language, cognitive, fine motor and academics. We teach the “Whole Child “. However, we still hear from many people, including administrators and upper grade teachers “all you guys do in Pre-k is play all day “!

I have been teaching for 40 years. The last 19 have been in Pk. It has changed so much over the years. I had to develop my own program which has been very successful and I always had the K teachers wanting my kids. When we came back in the fall of 2020 it really was one of the best years. I have always had a structured classroom with high expectations. I can honestly say that everyone on my campus knows that it is not play time in Pk.

I am an integrated preschool teacher. The preschool program in the district where I teach exists solely for the purpose of meeting the laws surrounding special education. When a child ages out of Early Intervention, meeting the needs of the child with special needs becomes the school district’s responsibility. We try to get typical peers to enroll in our program, hence the “integrated” part. However, this is a tough sell because or program hours are inconvenient and the cost is not much less than surrounding preschools and child care centers. Nothing about teaching preschool in public school, at least here, is “daycare”. We are considered to be special education teachers, and we serve as such.
That being said, I agree with Eric. If children were being raised in loving homes with caring adults who provide meaningful learning experiences for them- read to them, play with them, take them outdoors to explore and learn, having meaningful connected experiences and were taught social skills within the parameters of home and community, they would not need school until 1st grade. If developmentally appropriate learning was brought into schools starting at grade 1, and the real purpose for education was taught, everything would be much better. But we don’t live in a world that offers many of our children that kind of start in life. It is sad, really.

These are the most critical stages! More attention needs to be given to this age group. Then, maybe we could have students reading before the second grade!

And yet most of the research I have seen shows limited benefit to preschool for children's overall academic progress. Fixing homes and parents to be places and people where learning occurs would be a much better option. Sadly we don't know how to do that. We know what should happen, we don't know how to make it happen. Trying to put the kids somewhere better than home is the next best option. Sadly this will always have limited return because the kid lives at home and only visits school/preschool. That being said, God Bless you,because I couldn't do your job.

I've never thought that. The problem is that for many years is was not mandatory. Poor kids fell behind immediately because their parents could not afford it. Now in CA we have preppy k, where kids attend at the regular elementary school. Ironically, kindergarten is still not mandatory in the state. It comes down to funding, of course. Righties don't want to fund public education. I mean, imagine if a billionaire paid their fair share in taxes. If I'm paying a lot of tax, why does the ex-president get to brag that he only paid $750 in taxes a few years ago?

It's annoying when it comes from other teachers, but if COVID taught us anything, it's that K-12 school is also mostly daycare as far as parents and society are concerned.

We always say how important pre school is but don’t support it and I mean government. My daughter was a pre school teacher then a director, did not make much money and struggled to get aides and things needed. Most she made as a director was about 30 thousand. She is now a young fives teacher

Oh and as a teacher she was lucky to make 20 grand. And she had a masters. She lived pre school but needed to make a living

You are absolutely right. In fact kindergarten became mandatory relatively recently because it took time for politicians to realize some parents are struggling or homeless and don't have the energy or resources to provide needed for experiences for their child. Some parents work in jobs that limits their interactions with kids. PreK TK and HeadStart levels the playing field for all children.

This is an interesting article on the short term benefits of, and long term value for students who had quality preschool. Research has been going on since the the 60s~

https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/untangling-evidence-preschool-effectiveness-report

This is the research that goes with the article

https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/media/315/download?inline&file=Untangling_Evidence_Preschool_Effectiveness_REPORT.pdf

Yeah, I really think we need to educate or remind the public about how rigorous kindergarten is now. Personally, I think preschool is more advanced than kd was when I was young; 1/2 day (story time, playtime, graham crackers and milk, nap, walk home). That was it essentially lol

I do understand how you feel. When I first started in the schools I worked in our alternative high school. I loved it but it wasn’t considered a part of the k-12 district. Years ago, alt ed organized and joined the union. And, even then we were the step-child of the district.