Where to start

[Lucinda]

Where am I to start? I want to make sure my son is ready for kindergarten next year. He will be 5 next month.

Thx u
Lucinda

[Lorina]

Hi Lucinda,

Welcome to the forum!

Before your son heads off to kindy there are a few basic skills that he can develop in order to make the transition to school an easier one.

Social Skills - since he will be interacting and engaging with other children and teachers it's a good idea that this year he gets involved in different activities with different children so he can socialise. Also he should be able to cope with you not being around.

Use pencils, crayons, scissors etc. - he will begin to use these for writing in kindy so he should be able to hold a pencil correctly and know the correct method for using scissors. You could also provide him with tracings, dot to dots, colouring, cutting on lines, cutting out pictures etc. to give him practise and a head start on these skills.

Recognise his name - He should be able to identify his name in writing form as everything he takes will be labelled with his name so he can recognise it.

Dealing with conflict - your son will develop friendships with others and then there will be some children he wont agree with. He needs to be able to understand how to deal with conflict if it does arise. You can discuss it, read stories, role play.

Lunch box - he may be taking a lunch box to school so he should be able to open it.

Follow and understand directions and rules - he should be able to understand and accept rules and follow the teachers direction in the classroom.

I also wrote an article for teachers who are running a school readiness program that offers different strategies and suggestions to those I had included above. I'll add that link here so you can read it as well. This will help you to understand what teachers do at this time:

School Readiness Program

Most important of all, spend as much time with your son as you can. Next year when he starts school he will begin to change and he won't be that "little boy" anymore. So, it's really your last year to cherish your time together before he matures and grows up way too fast!

Hope this helps,

,
Lorina

[Lorina]

Forgot to add - in regards to numbers, shapes, colours, letters and concepts such as opposites etc, it will be a good idea if he has basic knowledge and understanding in these. It will make it easier for him to deal with class work. So, it's a good idea to start introducing letters, numbers (1 to 10) etc.

,
Lorina