Information Skills We Need to Teach Today’s Children

While success means something different to each and every one of us, children who develop the right foundation early on will have the tools and skills they need to achieve personal success. This kind of foundation – one that empowers children to become people who love who they are and what they do – requires skills beyond just traditional academics.

In the last few years, studies have started to profile the importance of skills considered nonacademic but essential to success. These are skills such as leadership, problem solving, emotional intelligence and teamwork. They go by many different names in the education world, such as 21st century skills, soft skills, executive functioning, and social and emotional skills, but regardless of how you refer to them, they are critical for children to find success later on in life. Primrose has always recognized the value of such skills, which is why they are woven into our Balanced Learning® curriculum and nurtured equally alongside subjects like math and literacy.

Edudemic, a website for information on teaching, learning and how technology positively shapes education, recently published an article titled “The 8 Skills Students Must Have For The Future.” The article explores skills beyond the “3Rs” – reading, writing and arithmetic – that are necessary to succeed in the 21st century. Following are the skills listed in the article and how Primrose nurtures their development in our students.

Leadership: Opportunities for leadership are built into Primrose classrooms through small and large group activities as well as life skills activities, like classroom helpers. Children are encouraged to take on special leadership roles, such as “snack helper” and even “classroom ambassador,” who greets classroom visitors and helps new students feel welcome.

Digital Literacy: Students use technology like computers and iPads to research information, explore, answer questions, participate actively in small and large group lessons, and to complete theme- and skill-based projects.

Communication: Children practice communication skills by sharing opinions and thoughts, solving problems, asking and responding to questions, and interacting with peers through multiple classroom experiences, including Circle Time discussions, small group time, and defined classroom areas for child-initiated play called children’s choice learning centers.

Emotional Intelligence: Through Primrose character development programs, teachers nurture traits such as empathy, kindness, compassion and generosity in students. Learn more about the important role social-emotional skills play in raising happy, successful children.

Entrepreneurship: Children are encouraged to explore and satisfy their natural curiosity, creativity, and desire for independence through purposeful play, helping to develop a lifelong love of learning. You will often find children designing and inventing as they play in the block or manipulative learning centers.

Global Citizenship: Today it is essential for students to understand the larger world around them. Primrose children learn about different cultures and regions around the world through social studies lessons, global curriculum themes, and our U.S. Child Sponsorship pen pal program with Save the Children.

Problem Solving: Children are provided multiple opportunities for problem-solving throughout the school day. Children’s choice learning centers and group play outdoors provide students with organic opportunities to resolve conflict and solve problems.

Teamwork: The balance of small group time, large group instruction, and open-ended learning centers provides opportunities for students to work together as a team to accomplish a goal, complete a task, or learn new information together.

As the world evolves around us, so do the skills our children need to navigate it. At Primrose Schools®, we help young children develop a balanced foundation by nurturing their creative, cognitive, social-emotional and physical development, giving them the tools and skills they need to become happy, confident learners and achieve their vision of success later on in life.