Blog 16: Answer 2

1. What is your EQ?
    What is the most important skill a child develops in preschool that helps them best excel
    academically in kindergarten?

2. What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)
    The most important skill a child develops in preschool that helps them excel academically are
    fine motor skills; they are a collective skills and activities that involve using the hands and fingers,
    there are several explanations as to why fine motor skills might predict academic achievement:
    common neuronal wiring, experience, and direct classroom benefit.

3. What is your second answer? (In complete thesis statement format)
    Another important skill a child develops in preschool that is a predictor of success in school are
    executive function skills; an umbrella term for the management (regulation, control) of cognitive
    process, including working memory, reasoning, task flexibility, and problem solving as well as
    planning and execution.

4. List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.
    o It helps a child's ability to self-regulate
       - I noticed at my mentorship that the kids who had good reasoning skills had an easier time
         controlling their emotions and behavior, so they had an advantage when it came to focusing on
         tasks.
    o Good executive skills have a long term affect
       - A study done in 2008 has proven that poor executive function is associated with high dropout
         rates, drug use and crime.
    o Positive behaviors are developed
       - A Montessori belief is that children need to be able to develop positive behaviors by themselves
         but with adult help. At my mentorship Ms. Chami does this by promoting teamwork and leader-
         ship among the older and younger kids in the classroom.

5. What printed source supports your answer?
   Spiegel, Alix. "Old-Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills." NPR. NPR, 08 Feb. 2008. Web. 08 Jan.
    2015. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19212514>
    o Talks about the psychological aspects of letting children play and how it builds self-regulation
       skills.

6. What other source supports your answer?
     Information gathered from my interview 3 with a Kindergarten teacher from Sultana Elementary
     school in Ontario.

7. Tie this together with a concluding thought. 
     The reason I believe that executive function skills are essential in a child's early learning stage is
     because in a rush to give children every advantage, our culture has unwittingly compromised one
     of the activities that helps children most.