The next school year is not that far away. If you have little kids who will be starting school in the fall or even in a couple of years, these are some things that will help them transition easily. There are quite a few things we as parents can help out with at home to better prepare our children for the start of school. I know that lots of kids attend daycare before school and they will be learning some of these things with their educators. However, we can be doing little things to prepare them for the big transition to school to coincide what they are already learning. When I was in the classroom teaching kindergarten if my students exhibited some of the following skills, I thought that really helped them exceed in the classroom:
Ability to separate from parents/caregivers As a stay-at-home mom I identify with this skill very much. It’s important that we give our children a chance to be away from us occasionally so that the jump to school isn’t such a shock. I don’t have tons of opportunities to be away from my children, except for when we have a sitter for a few hours or visits with grandparents. Any little bit helps. Tears on the first days of school are more than normal, so try not to worry too much.

Putting shoes on/Getting dressed Hey, I hear ya if you’re reading this saying, “doesn’t she know I’m in a rush to get out the door.” I am too and good thing I have an extremely persistent two year old because he does not let me help with shoes, coats, hats, mitts, sandals or anything else really. And you know what, that’s great. It’ll mean he can be independent getting ready at school; which is a huge bonus for the teacher. So, take a deep breath and try and get to the door five minutes early to leave. If your child’s happy to get the help, help them learn how through a game. Race them to see who can get their shoes on first. Velcro makes it easiest for kids to be independent and help them out by pulling the straps so the shoe is roomy for them to fit their foot in. Every single thing they can do on their own is a plus for school.
Proper Hygiene It’s never too early to teach our children how to wipe themselves after going to the washroom, how much toilet paper to use, how to pull up and down their pants/undergarments. It’s also important to teach them how to wash their hands, cough into their arm, wipe their nose and blow their nose (this one is often a late bloomer as it’s hard for them to do, but you can encourage it.)
Reading This is one of the most important aspects of school readiness which actually begins at birth. Instilling a love for reading in our children from a young age will go a long way in helping them learn to read and love to read. It does more than this though, it also instills a love for learning, children learn so much when being read to. Change up what you read to them fromstory books, magazines, newspaper, facts about animals or other areas of interest to both you and your child.
Children are most definitely not expected to be able to read come school, however, they should know how to hold a book, what a title is, the author’s name and illustrators, that you read from left to right, what a word is vs. a letter. If they can identify letters, bonus. If not, it’ll come. There’s no harm in pointing out letters in your environment, they may become interested on their own. If you can work with them on the letters of their name that’s a great start. If your child is interested in reading, writing and letters provide them the opportunity to build on this skill. It’ll sure help them in school.
Problem solving Oh boy. What a dream, to not have to mediate fights anymore, right? Well, this is a skill that we need to teach our children. We have to give them the chance to think up solutions to fixing their problems. Asking them how they think they can fix their problem. This will help them have confidence in their abilities. So, after teaching them ways to communicate with siblings and friends, try and let them figure out some of their problems on their own.
Problem solving is a huge part of every day – the stairs are blocked what do I do? Figure it out – go around or say excuse me and the person will move. Although this seems ridiculously simple to us trust me, kids need to be taught how to do this. It does not always come naturally. Sometimes, it’s quicker to do the fixing for them, but in the long run it really does help our kids out in the real world if we make them ponder their own solutions and figure out some problems.
We all worry about skills like cutting, gluing and coloring, but the truth is kids will be doing this in school. Exposing them to this in your house is great, if you have a child that isn’t interested in these activities, I say don’t force it. Have the materials around for them to explore, try and do some kind of art activities with them occasionally but these skills will also be developed come school. I would say that children who’ve used glue and scissors will have an easier time with these products in a large classroom. So get out to the store and have them on hand. Pull them out on a rainy day. For kids not interested in this kind of activity, it may help to let them do “free art” creating whatever they want rather than a craft where there needs to be an exact product at the end.
Math It is all around us. You can count with your child (the stairs, snacks, people, cars), measure (how long things are, how wide, how heavy), shapes (point them out in your environment) and patterns ((you can create patterns with snacks, colours, toys). These are simple mathematical skills you can do with your child, they will learn them more in depth come kindergarten.
The Parents’ Voice Shawville offers a playgroup every second week on Friday’s with a school readiness component. Erin does an hour of programming two weeks a month for us. She is there from 10:30-11:30 on Friday’s doing songs, activities, stories, crafts and games. Come and join us.
We are working on organizing a parent workshop on school readiness and how to best prepare your child for school. Look for more information on when and where it will be held in the upcoming weeks.