Tips!

How can I best prepare my child for kindergarten?

Below is an excerpt from an article we found on the PBS website by Ann C. Barbour, author of Learning at Home - PreK-3. She has great tips for helping your child successfully transition to Kindergarten.

There are many components of kindergarten readiness, most of which are not generally considered to be "academic"; even though they directly influence how children learn. These include:

• Self-care, self-help and motor skills (for example, dressing oneself,holding a pencil, and cutting with scissors)
• Playing well with others, relating positively to adults, and using language to express needs and wants
• Curiosity and eagerness to learn
• Self-regulation skills (for example, controlling imposes, paying attention, following directions, handling frustrations, and negotiating solutions to problems)
• Letter, shape, color, and rhyming word recognition, counting objects to 10, writing own first name

Given these skills, you'll be supporting your child's readiness when you:

• Talk often with him/her and respond to their questions
• Encourage active play, especially pretend play with other children
• READ, READ READ to your child every day! Talk about the words in books, ask him/her to predict what will happen in the stories and to make up stories of their own
• Provide pencils, markers, crayons, and blank paper for drawing and "writing"
• Make things together out of empty food containers, markers, tape and glue
• Play guessing games with him/her
• Go places together, encourage him/her to notice things in their surroundings, and talk about all the interesting things there are to see and do
• Use everyday activities to point our words and numbers
• Encourage their independence in managing daily tasks and helping with household chores like setting the table
• Limit screen time (TV and video games) to allow time for more active learning experiences

You can also help your child prepare for the actual transition to kindergarten by talking about what will happen. What will his/her routine be like? What friends will also be there? Reading library books about starting kindergarten can start conversations about this step in your child's life. Encourage their questions and expressions of feelings, but be careful not to transmit any anxieties you may have. Children can easily "catch" adults' emotional responses.

Travel the route he/she will take to and from school, and arrange a visit. Most schools encourage this. Take your child to play on the school playground, and if possible, arrange play dates. If your child's teacher is available during the summer, schedule a time to meet one on one at school. These will all help ease your child's worries and fears prior to the first day of kindergarten.

--Ann C. Barbour, author of Learning at Home - PreK-3