Erika Christakis’ new book, The Importance of Being Little, is an impassioned plea for educators and parents to put down the worksheets and flash cards, ditch the tired craft projects (yes, you, Thanksgiving Handprint Turkey) and exotic vocabulary lessons, and double-down on one, simple word:NPR EDWhy Kindergarten Is The New First GradePlay.That’s because, she writes, “the distinction between early education and official school seems to be disappearing.”

If kindergarten is the new first grade, Christakis argues, preschool is quickly becoming the new kindergarten. And that is “a real threat to our society’s future.”If the name sounds familiar, that’s likely because Christakis made headlines last October, writing an email that stirred angry protests at Yale, where she is a lecturer at the Yale Child Study Center. The Importance of Being Little. What Preschoolers Really Need from Grownups by Erika Christakis Hardcover. When a campus committee sent students a memo urging restraint in choosing Halloween costumes and asking them to avoid anything that “disrespects, alienates or ridicules segments of our population based on race, nationality, religious belief or gender expression,” Christakis wrote a memo of her own. She lauded the committee’s goals of trying to encourage tolerance and

Source: What Kids Need From Grown-Ups (But Aren’t Getting) : NPR Ed : NPR