Customer Reviews

What Your Preschooler Needs to Know: Get Ready for Kindergarten (Core Knowledge Series)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My daughter's not in preschool yet (we can't afford it, plus she's not potty trained yet) and I wanted a guide to help her learn while she's home with me (we read a lot, but can get in a rut). The book is nicely divided into sections for songs, poems, science, history, etc. and it's easy to segue into activities from many of the passages. She's learned a lot of songs and rhymes (that I had forgotten about)and it's inspired me to get more poetry and nursery rhymes from the library. A CD might be something to consider for later editions, because if you don't know the tune of the song, nursery rhyme or fingerplay you're kind of stuck. I'll probably buy the curriculum from the Core Knowledge Foundation that you can get to compliment this reader, because I'm also interested in knowing what skills she should be working on. I'm considering homeschooling, and so far, I like what I've seen of this "system".

I will start by saying that this series is excellent. I will add that purchasing this book alone will be little benefit without the activity books What Your Preschooler Needs to Know: Activity Book 1 for Ages 3-4What Your Preschooler Needs to Know: Activity Book 2 for Ages 4-5. I originally purchased just this book, but since I already read, sing and do poetry with my daughter, there wasn't much of an added benefit with this alone. I decided to purchase the activity book for 3-4 to start off and see if I liked it. I'm glad I did.

As a stay-at-home, I sometimes run out of ideas on ways to teach my daughter to prepare her for school. This book has all the basic songs, rhymes and stories that we remember as kids. The activity books expound upon those items by asking your child to think harder about what he/she heard and make observations. Together the books teach pattern recognition, colors, shapes, and encourage imagination. They also are a great help for parents to identify some of the basic needs for children when it comes to education as well as giving various ways the activities can be utilized. My daughter and I have taken several of the activities and built new ones from them.

This is an excellent learning series that I would recommend to anyone.

I received this book as a gift to use with my small children. My children ages 20 months and 3 years thoroughly enjoy it. They like each section, especially the stories, the history and the science. It is presented in a simple format that helps children learn.

The nursery rhymes and stories are great. I was even excited to be reminded of some fond childhood memories of certain nursery rhymes and songs, etc. I agree with the other reviewer, I wish that a CD (or even the sheet music) was included to help with the songs if you do not remember the tune.

If you teach your children using units, this book can be a great resource. For instance, it helped me with a unit we were studying at home about the American Flag. When I ask my 3 year old who was the first to sew an American Flag, she responds "Betsy Ross". She will also tell you that there are 50 stars on the flag, each representing a state in the United States of America. She also has learned that George Washington was the first president of the United States. All of this knowlege is because of this book and because of reinforcing exercises that we do at home.

I would recommend this book to anyone with small children who has the desire to help their children have a love of learning.

I agree with a previous reviewer: where's the companion CD?

If you haven't been working with your child, this book can be a good place to start. If, like me, you have, chances are your preschooler already knows a good many of the songs, rhymes and stories, thus limiting this book's value. My own daughter already knew about half of the songs and rhymes and nearly all of the stories; many of the rest I'll probably skip past.

However, I'm a bit surprised at some of Hirsch's choices. I'm not sure under what criteria he considers such relatively obscure rhymes as The Pancake or Jillicky, Jollicky "need to know", while obvious classics -- Mary Had a Little Lamb, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Three Blind Mice, Humpty Dumpty, Hickory Dickory Dock, London Bridge and more -- are conspicuous by their absence. And in light of classic Hirsch works such as "Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know" and "The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy" I found the paucity of the stories section particularly surprising: Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding-Hood, The Ugly Duckling -- all passed over, in an apparent nod to multiculturalism, in favor of "Why Flies Buzz".

While the stories included are well-told, and my daughter loves the illustrations, the level of English is a bit of a stretch for all but the most precocious of preschoolers. In reading them to my own child, I had to "tone down" the vocabulary, replacing, for example, "shimmy" with "climb".

Properly supplemented, "What Every Preschooler Needs to Know" can make a good compendium of many (though not all) childhood classics. Toss in that companion CD and I'd be happy to give it four stars.

When my child was little, I think the preschooler volume of this series had not yet been written, so I started with the Kindergartner volume, and each year bought the next volume of the series. He loved this series, and it gave him a huge advantage in our deficient school system. By 6th grade the standardized tests showed him so far advanced in knowledge that the principal had Johns Hopkins University contact us. They asked for him to have him take the SAT at the beginning of 7th grade. He scored at the average level of a graduating high school senior in verbal, and well above the average of graduating seniors in math.

In 8th grade, when we enrolled him in a private school, we discovered that the English teacher was using this series to bring all her students "up to speed" in cultural literacy. Our son went on to graduate as Valedictorian of his high school, and was accepted by 11 tier one universities. Last spring, he graduated from college with an outstanding average in a very difficult major.

If you want to give your child a boost to his education and confidence, this series is THE BEST! Every family should have this series in the home and read a few pages every night!

I bought this for my 2 yr., 9 mo. old. We have literally hundreds of highly recommended read-aloud stories which she loves, so I wasn't sure what to expect when this book arrived. She picks it up multiple times a day and asks me to read her a story or poem and always ask for more. I had to run around the house yesterday for a long time as "the big bad wolf" blowing her houses down after reading The Three Little Pigs. Unlike the other books in the Core Knowledge Series, this book has no activities that go along with it. There are read-aloud questions to ask your child in the margin, but no activities which is why they must have created What Your Preschooler Needs to Know: Activity Book 1 for Ages 3-4 and What Your Preschooler Needs to Know: Activity Book 2 for Ages 4-5. If there had more activities in the book, I would have given it 5 stars. An excellent book for a preschooler!

I bought this book in the spring, and my son entered preschool this fall. Since I'm a working parent, he has been in daycare since infancy, but I wanted to help him learn more at home. Also, many daycares do not teach curriculum over the summer so this was a good way to keep him engaged at home during those months.

The book is great - he loves every section. The pictures are colorful, vibrant, and interesting, and as a parent, I really appreciate the variety and level of information included. The stories are written at a pretty high literacy level, so you might find it hard to read the whole story in one sitting. I do this at bedtime when my son is calmer and more likely to listen. I also have to explain a lot of the words, but I have read that hearing a wide range of new words is good for kids at this age, so don't let that intimidate you.

There are lots of fun nursery rhymes, poems, and songs. The history section is excellent - my son now understands all about George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Betsy Ross, and Martin Luther King, Jr. We also have fun with the science section, where there is an explanation of how plants grow, the different forms of water (liquid, solid, gas), information about our bodies and about people in general. The art section doesn't hold his attention as well, but it's one of the smallest sections in the book so that doesn't really detract from the overall quality of the book.

There's also an appendix at the end of the book that recommends bedtime stories, songs, and activities to do with your child, as well as a checklist for kindergarten readiness. This book is an outstanding supplement for parents of children who are attending preschool, or even for 3 year olds just getting ready, and I highly recommend it.

I love this series of core knowledge books. The new preschool book contains everything from nursery rhymes and other simple poems, delightful stories from around the world, simple science, history lessons (LOVE the history!) to pictures of famous artworks and recommendations for preschool music and more. It's a great beginner's guide to start a preschooler on a lifetime journey of being in love with learning.

If you are looking for wonderful literature, Poems, Songs, and basic Science and History, this is it. You read right out of the book. My kids love the well illustrated stories. However, if you are looking for a checklist of what they need to know-this is not your best option. It also has some great book lists.

We've been using this book series since our oldest child (now in 5th grade) entered Kindergarten. We've now gone back and purchased this book for our 4-year-old.

We send our kids to the local public schools, and I find these books to be a fantastic supplement. Reading these books with my older son has made it so much easier to find out where there are holes in his education, and have sparked some very interesting conversations. I quickly figure out where he's picked up some misconceptions, and I'm able to dispel those easily, especially since the books often have exactly the information he's looking for.

Don't be surprised if your child is confused by the rhymes at first. With enough exposure, they'll start to understand them. But the sentence structure of poetry, and its subtle messages, take a while for young children to appreciate. The pictures certainly help.

These books can also be used as the basis for a home school curriculum as there are several citations of outside resources that can be used to expand upon topics introduced in the book.

Fantastic series!