Kindergarten Ready with The Basics
Starting kindergarten is a major milestone in a child’s life. Research shows that if children enter kindergarten ready to learn, they are more likely to be on track with reading and social/emotional skills in third grade and eighth grade. They are then more likely to pursue some type of post-secondary degree or credentials. This leads to higher wages over their lifetime. Here are a few tips from The Basics Guilford you can try over the next several weeks to get your rising kindergartener ready for the first day of school:
Maximize Love, Manage Stress Tip
Talk about feelings your child may be having about entering kindergarten. Talk about routines that you all can put in place that could help ease any worried feelings. Assure them that all of their feelings are normal and that you have those feelings a lot too.
Talk about what the school day is like. Riding the bus to school? Sing The Wheels on the Bus! Go by their school and see if you can get a tour before the big day or just look outside at the entrance and the playground areas.
Counting and numbers are a big part of kindergarten. Practice counting to 10, then 20, then 30! Work on grouping items to see things that are similar or different. Start using words like more, less greater than, and less than.
Explore Through Movement and Play Tip
Get outside! Summer is a great time to explore the outdoors. Using any free time to get outside will help with your child’s brain development. Try to limit screen time and instead use that time to play. Finding neighborhood friends who also may be heading to school and organizing an outside playdate will be a good way to build social skills as well.
The more time children spend exploring books, the more they will be comfortable reading in school. Always have a book available so any down time can be used interacting with a book. Check out what your local library has to offer for free summer programming!
There are many great online resources that provide guidance about getting a child ready for kindergarten. Take a look at them here and download the August Kindergarten Readiness Calendar from Ready for School, Ready for Life and the Guilford County Partnership for Children.
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