Preparing for Kindergarten

We know how important parents and families are when it comes to preparing students for Kindergarten.  There are many activities and experiences you can provide your child that will help them develop school readiness skills.  Here are our top 5 suggestions for preparing your preschool child for success in Kindergarten:

#1: Read to your child daily

Reading to your child will help them develop language skills and motivation to want to learn to read.  Try a variety of books including story picture books, non-fiction, poetry, magazines, etc.  Talk about the story as you read it and encourage your child to ask questions and discuss how they feel about each story and share what they've learned.  The most important thing you can do for your child to prepare them for learning is to read to them 20 minutes or more every day.

#2: Develop fine motor skills

Fine motor skills play an important role in helping your child to function as a writer in kindergarten.  Allow them access to school tools to help develop motor skills (pencils, pens, crayons, scissors, glue, etc.).  Drawing, coloring, cutting and writing are important skills that require practice before coming to kindergarten.  It is helpful to have your child know how to write his/her name when they come to kindergarten.  Encourage your child to write his/her name using a capital letter for the first letter and the rest in lowercase.  There are several fun and playful ways to help your child strengthen finger muscles (fine motor skills).  Please see the attached document for ideas.
DEVELOPING FINE MOTOR SKILLS

#3: Letter knowledge

Although we do not expect students to come to us knowing how to read, it is helpful for them to be familiar with letters and letter names.  Through reading with your child, you can help them to recognize that letters and words have meaning.  When helping your student learn letters, start with the letters in his/her name and keep sessions of practice short and playful.  Building letters out of dough or blocks, finding them around the house or town, tracing them and writing them are all good ways to help students become familiar with letters.  Once your child is comfortable with letter names, you can help them in learning the letter sounds.  Visit our page for more resources and online games to help develop Letter Skills.

#4: Introduce numbers and early math skills

Your home is a great place for you to begin to explore and talk mathematics with your child.  Incorporate math skills into your daily routines to help your child see how math works in everyday life and develop number sense.  There are many games and activities to help develop math skills such as sorting, matching, comparing, arranging, etc.  Help your child recognize numbers and where they are in the environment.  Here are some guidelines for what math skills students should know before kindergarten:
*Counting from 1-10
*Recognizing some of the numbers 0-10
*Counting sets of objects up to 10 (one-to-one correspondence)
*Spatial relationships (over, under, up, down, in, on, above, below)
*Familiar with shapes and names of shapes (circle, square, triangle, rectangle)
*Familiar with colors and color names
*Can compare items (same, different, bigger, smaller, longer, shorter, etc.)
*Can sort objects by color, size, and shape

#5: Increase vocabulary and oral language skills

Talking to and with your child is important in developing important communication skills.  Reading books and talking about what is read will help develop these skills, as well as talking to your child throughout the day.  Find ways to introduce your child to various vocabulary terms and different ways to say things.  For example, think of other ways to say, "Pick up your toys";  "Time to tidy up the room", "Remove your toys from the floor", "This room is a disaster, so we need to fix it", etc.  There is a lot of research on the importance of talking to young children and the role it plays in helping them develop into better reader and writers with command of the language.  See this research and intervention for more information: The Talking Cure.  

Preparing for Kindergarten Links and Documents

Creating a Literate Home Environment- 17 tips and ideas for creating a literate home environment.

Reading Skills PowerPoint for Parents- Shared at some of our elementary school Kindergarten orientations about the reading skills we teach in Kindergarten.

Kindergarten here we come! Presentation- PDF Presentation created by the state office on ways to help your child prepare for kindergarten.  Includes some resources and tips.

Kindergarten here we come! Pamphlet- Printable pamphlet that can be used as a guide to support your child's learning before entering kindergarten.

Kindergarten Readiness Checklist- UEN resource for specific skills to practice and improve on.  Skills and suggestions taken from the here we come pamphlet.

Reading Tips for Reading with Preschoolers- Reading Rockets has 10 suggestions to improve your daily reading time with your preschool child.