How Do I Prepare My Child for Kindergarten?
Are you concerned for your child entering kindergarten?
Many parents are nervous and excited when their child finally enters kindergarten, and they start to wonder, “Are they ready?”
Perhaps they’ve heard that kindergarten is different these days.
It sure is! I have known some children who started kindergarten with little to no letter knowledge and they did fine. They were a sponge! They learned letters and sounds within the first month.
HOWEVER, unless we’ve tried teaching letters and sounds with our children, we don’t really know if they will be quick to learn them or not. If you wait for the kindergarten teacher to do it, you might find your child is struggling. Not to mention, when you send your child to school, there could always be a hiccup like a teacher out on maternity leave or a substitute teacher due to teacher shortages.
So, you’ve probably guessed,
1.ABCs and letter sounds is the first thing you should try teaching your child before kindergarten.
2. Teach your child their full name and parents’ names, along with other important information.
You can work on this information in the years leading up to kindergarten, but also in the summer time if you haven’t done it yet. This is common sense. This is safety, but sometimes we forget if our children are with us all the time! If you talk with your children and drive around with your children, they should at least know their street name. Learning the number should be fairly easy. Write it out and stick it on the refrigerator.
3. Teach your child to accurately count objects at least up to 20!
The higher you go, the more likely you are to miscount, but you can show your child how to count to ten and then ten again when sorting objects. The teens can get tricky as you count to 20, but there are songs easily found on youtube that will help your child remember. When you have your child count (pennies or blocks or chocolate chips or Cheerios), you can try showing them how to put together two groups or take away some, which is exposing your child to the idea of subtraction and addition without it being formally taught.
Are you curious what standards are taught in Kindergarten and what they mean?
Try my digital course,
Kindergarten Made Easy.
4. Teach your child how to properly dress and use the restroom appropriately (including washing hands).
This seems like common sense, but if you’re sending your child to school, it is imperative that he or she can snap, button and zip their pants. If it is difficult, practice more until your child gets it and dress them in elastic pants. Considering many children cannot tie shoes at this age, it is wise to not send your child in shoes with strings at this age.
You want your child to be self sufficient and clean when it’s restroom time. Teach your child proper hygiene at home so that when they are not with you they can continue in the best practices for cleanliness.
5. Teach your child to say “please” and “thank you,” looking for ways to help others.
Practice using manners and showing appreciation, but also practice going the extra mile to help someone. Talk aloud to your child about how important it is to help others and allow them to see you help people as an example. This will help your child develop appreciation and friendships.
6. Teach your child stranger danger and what is or isn’t acceptable.
We have to be on guard so much these days. You can never have too many stranger danger talks or book reads with your child about how to handle an unnerving situation. Tell your child that they should not keep secrets from you and that you love them. Your job is to take care of your child. At school, your child will be around other adults that you do not know throughout the day, so be sure to caution your child about what is or isn’t acceptable behavior from a grown-up.
7. Teach your child to sit and listen to a story and think about it.
What a blessing it is to read to our children! There are so many benefits, but one of them is to help our child learn that sometimes we need to be still and quiet and think. That behavior will come in handy in a school environment.
8. Teach your child to take turns and share.
Playing family games together and having play dates will help your child learn to share and take turns. In school your child will have to wait their turn to talk to the teacher. It takes practice—especially if your child is not used to sharing at home. Learning before kindergarten will save your child some stress. If your child is an only child, you can send your child to pre-school, go to a story hour or even a Sunday school class at church for some practice.
9. Teach your child to hold a pencil correctly, use glue, and use scissors.
You can easily find examples of proper pencil grasps online. There are incorrect ways of holding a pencil that will cause fatigue quicker and make neat handwriting nearly impossible. If you don’t think this is important, talk to a math teacher in upper elementary grades. Writing neatly to work multistep math problems is essential! At school, a teacher has around 20 children to work with. At home, you can work with your child one-on-one or hire outside help if there is a concern.
10. Teach your child to color and take pride in his/her work.
This includes knowing the colors. (I know that sounds simple and common sense, but I feel the need to say it anyway). My children didn’t always like to color, but I sat and COLORED WITH THEM. I printed off coloring pages of some of the things THEY LIKED. For one of my children, I broke crayons in half to color with to help his pencil grasp. Some children will only scribble and move on (and in a classroom setting get in trouble). Teach your child to take pride in their work. You can still leave room for artistic expression. You don’t have to tell your child to color all trees brown and green. Just encourage more than 30 seconds.
11. Teach your child to eat independently and clean up.
Think ahead on this one. It includes carrying a plate, balancing a drink on the plate as well as a fork and napkin. It also includes being able to open up some food packages (especially anything you send with your child). Lunchtime is short, and if your child has to wait on a grown-up to open items, it will be even shorter! Think through lunchtime, and how your child will need to throw their lunch trash away.
There will be plenty more skills your child will need to learn in a group setting, such as lining up or raising their hand to speak. Learning these 11 skills (or even MOST of them) will empower your little one as they walk in on their very first day.
Did I leave something out that you think would be helpful? Leave it in the comment section below.
Do you have a specific question?
Message Rebecca@TheParentTeacherBridge.com
Remember, YOU are your child’s most influential teacher!