Preparing Your Child for Kindergarten

Congratulations! Your child is going to Kindergarten. There are many ways to prepare your child for Kindergarten. It's wise not to let your child know you are nervous or afraid, because that negative will channel through you to them, and make them nervous as well. You want to try to make the transition as positive and natural as possible, even though on the inside you may be feeling an overwhelming mixture of pride, happiness, with a touch of sadness and worry.

There are a few books you can read to your child before the First Day of School to help ease their worries about this new adventure they will be embarking on. Check out these books at the library and read a new one to your child. They will help create a comfortable feeling for this new transition from home life to Back-To-School Life. The books are: The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn, First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg, Countdown to Kindergarten by Alison McGhee, and The Night Before Kindergarten by Natasha Wing.

You want to set a good foundation for your child's learning at school. This means begin by teaching simple things at home that the child will be learning in school. It doesn't matter if the child masters the skill or not, at least he/she will get enough practice to become familiar with the motions. For example, read to your child often, try to teach your child how to print their own name, make alphabet characters to try and create excitement for learning letters, buy finger paints and an easel to help the child become comfortable with the texture and to let their creature juices flow. You can help your child draw and color a picture book about what they expect on the first day of school, what they like, and how they feel. Just get a lot of blank paper together, staple it and let the creativity take flight. Let them practice with safety scissors to create fine motor skill and comfort using a pair of scissors.

Try to increase your child's confidence by teaching them how to look both ways before crossing the street, and teaching them how to clothe themselves, tie their own shoes, also washing hands, brushing teeth. Have your children clean up after themselves to get used to this standard Kindergarten routine. Also try to increase your child's social skills by monitoring how they interact with other children in play dates or on the playground. Teach them manners and sharing skills.

Get your child sleeping early on weekdays and waking early as well to get them used to this. Also, cut any bad habits, like late night TV watching.

There is a great website that created a calendar to prepare your child several months in advance for Kindergarten. This website is:

On each day of the Calendar month, there is a Kindergarten related activity for you to do with your child. They are relatively simple, but will help get your child in that mindset of going to school. This website even offers free Alphabet flash cards you can print out to help accelerate your child's interest in learning letters.

It is very important to have a one on one talk with your child about what Kindergarten is, what is going to happen, and its extremely important to find out how they feel about it, and how they can be more comfortable with what's going on. Show excitement and enthusiasm about all the fun things he/she will get to explore. Don't downplay Kindergarten, but don't make it into a fearful thing.http://kindergartenkiddos.myteacher.dvusd.com/stories/storyReader$23