By: Katie Kwiatek, Pre-Kindergarten Teacher at The Lily Garden Child Care
Will your child be five years old before September 1st, 2020? If so, get ready to send them off to kindergarten this Fall!
But, wait!
Since schools and day cares have closed, I’m afraid my child will have a tough time transitioning back to a school setting. What skills do they need in order to be kindergarten ready? There are so many new procedures for children to learn too! How can I help?!
Here’s what you can do to prepare your little one!
Create a daily schedule that mirrors the average school day.
It can be a rough transition from quarantine life to a school schedule. It’s so easy to fall in to the habit of staying in pajamas all day, being a couch potato, eating right when you feel hungry, etc. Once your child goes back to school, they will have to follow a schedule of: when to eat, when to play outside, when to sit still, when to be silly, and when to be serious. For everybody’s sake, create a structured schedule for the typical work week and keep weekends open and fun!
To mirror your child’s average school day, contact the teacher! They’ll be more than happy to send you an outline of a typical day. Make sure to keep your schedule consistent! Children need structure and consistency! They like to know what comes next and what is expected of them. If your child tends to feel nervous/anxious, having a consistent schedule will help ease them. Let your child know before you implement a new schedule- explain the new routine, make a chart together! Here is a resource for parents about creating structure and rules.
For all children’s success in this current pandemic, practice wearing masks at home and getting comfortable with wearing them for extended amounts of time. Practice frequent, good hand washing and reminders to limit touching of their face. We know this is easier said than done! Check back on our blog and social media for upcoming tips and resources around mask/face coverings and remote learning.
This is a challenging time for families and it is hard to know what the school environment and year will be like for your child. With some careful preparations and conversations, your child can have success. By sharing a positive attitude surrounding school, the new rules and the big change to Kindergarten for your child, it will help him/her feel ready to learn and ease some anxiety.
Work on social and emotional skills at home.
Social and emotional skills are a key ingredient for kindergarten readiness. Your child needs to learn how to express and cope with their emotions appropriately and form healthy relationships with their peers and grown-ups. How can you work on social and emotional skills at home? Its very simple! Do your best to keep your own emotions in check and talk, talk, TALK!
Remember, your child is always observing your behavior. Think out loud, show them your thought process when you’re upset. When your child is upset, describe their face & body language, label the emotion, and provide a solution, “I see your body is tense and your eyebrows are drawn. You are frustrated. Lets take 2 deep breaths and do 3 hand squeezes together.” While reading a book or watching a TV show, describe the characters and ask questions, “That man is yelling at that girl and his face is red. He is very angry. How do you think she feels?”
Here is a resource about building social & emotional skills at home:
https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/building-social-emotional-skills-at-home
Click this link for a list of books about emotions:
https://www.pre-kpages.com/books-emotions-preschool/
Encourage your child to be independent!
Being independent and having self-help skills is another key ingredient for kindergarten readiness. Your child will likely be in a classroom with over 20 students and 1 teacher and keeping distance between each other. This requires your child to be as independent as possible.
Here is a resource about self-help skills:
https://childdevelopment.com.au/areas-of-concern/self-care/self-care-skills/
Click this link for the self-help development chart:
https://childdevelopment.com.au/resources/child-development-charts/self-care-developmental-chart/
To promote independence and improve self-help skills at home, work on these tasks:
- Picking out clothes for the day
- Getting undressed and dressed independently
- Putting dirty clothes in a laundry basket
- Brushing teeth & hair
- Take off & put on shoes
- Put on a jacket and zip/button it up
- 100% bathroom independent (potty trained & wipe independently)
- Properly wash hands
- Hang up a jacket & a backpack on a hook
Allow boredom
Why do you want your child to be bored? From boredom comes imagination and creativity! Its essential for every child to have a lively imagination, to think outside of the box, and to express themselves creatively. They’ll be able to carry this trait through school to adulthood. Keep your child’s imagination alive! Provide them with art materials and encourage open-ended art, have them express themselves through music with pots & pans (put on headphones if you’re working from home 😉), encourage them to create puppets and put on a puppet show! Even chores can provide great lessons in executive functioning.
Here is a parent resource to fire up your child’s imagination:
https://www.parenting.com/activities/kids/10-easy-ways-to-fire-your-childs-imagination-21354373/
Make learning fun!
Each kindergarten has different standards and academic requirements prior to starting. Contact your local school district to get more information. Typically, your child should be able to copy upper & lowercase letters, recognize some-most letters, know numbers 1-10, classify objects by shape & size, and be able to use scissors & glue with ease.
Here is a resource of more skills your child should know:
https://www.scholastic.com/parents/school-success/school-life/grade-by-grade/preparing-kindergarten.html
With many kindergarten screenings cancelled this summer, you can use the Easterseals FREE child development screening tool, the Ages & Stages Questionnaire, to help measure and keep track of your child’s growth and development. This is a great tool to provide your teacher and child’s doctor on areas they may need assistance to grow.
How to make learning fun?
Create a pretend classroom for your child to play teacher and you play student! This area can serve as your child’s remote learning area too. This is an opportunity to grow your child’s love of learning. Give them assorted classroom materials: clipboards, pencils, paper, books, alphabet & number cards (use whatever you can find in the house or find free printables online). Are there certain letters, numbers, or shapes they have trouble with? Don’t focus so much on worksheets- instead find fun hands-on activities!
Click this link for letter activities:
https://www.pre-kpages.com/alphabet/
Click this link for number games & activities:
https://www.pre-kpages.com/counting-games-activities-preschoolers/
Click this link for shape activities:
https://www.pre-kpages.com/shapes-activities-preschoolers/
We know how agonizing the decisions for the next school year are for your family. If your child receives school therapy services, is unable to wear a mask, or if remote learning is not an option for your family, it can feel especially challenging. Whatever decision you make, we are here to support you. Contact our Social Services team for support and resources at socialservices@eastersealsdfvr.org. We will have more information on our blog around these important subjects in the months ahead.
We remain committed to providing the highest quality services to improve the lives of children and those who love and care for them. We understand that a child’s needs to succeed look different for each family. For over 75 years, our clinical team has provided individualized therapy plans to best achieve a child’s goals and support healthy families. This pandemic only solidifies our commitment. Let us know how we can help you in the comments.
Easterseals DuPage & Fox Valley Blog 