How to prepare a child for school?

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Permalink Reply by Heidi Scott on February 8, 2010 at 12:24pm

Your question is a good one, yet the answer is not a quick and simple one. There are different theories regarding young children and the developmental processes of early writing. I will only explain a little here, due to other posters may have different and useful info. to share.

Early writing is a completely normal stage of a young child's development. These pre-writings which we call scribbling, are the beginnings of communication and the precursor to reading. That is wonderful news that you have a child heavily involved in this stage of development. You may want to think about providing a multi purpose spot in your home for your child to either sit with you at a table and be allowed to draw on large pieces of paper. You could tape larger pieces of paper on the walls in that same area and allow for your child to use crayons, washable markers, chalk and washable finger paint. If you sit down with your child and engage in this process together by simply coloring a piece of paper and not really drawing anything specific, your child will stay with you in that designated space and you won't have to worry about him/ her drawing in other parts of the house. Getting into a routine will help. Also, I mentioned not drawing anything specific because you don't want to give your child a reason to feel as though their attempts at drawing or writing are wrong. Also, if you have a child size table near a wall, you can hang a mirror next to the table, which will also allow your child to observe their own hand position and watch the marks they make on paper from a different view point.
I know this was a lot. I hope this helps. I'm sure others have even more ideas to share. Good luck and enjoy this stage!

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Permalink Reply by Evette Jasper on February 9, 2010 at 10:41am

Hi Rebecca,

If you haven’t already, I would suggest browsing through our Kindergarten Readiness page under Expert Advice: http://www.earlylearningcommunity.org/page/kindergarten-readiness

It includes our Getting School Ready booklet that provides advice on preparing children for school.

You can also refer to an older post with links to several parenting resources: http://www.earlylearningcommunity.org/forum/topics/early-learning-r...

I hope this helps!

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Permalink Reply by Meggan on May 3, 2010 at 5:02am

There is no checklist of skills to know when a child is ready for school. The only requirement for kindergarten is age and children develop at different rates. The best way to prepare a child for school is to give them experiences in multiple areas. There are five main areas of development. Social/Emotional, Cognitive, Physical Development, Approaches to Learning, and Language. Here are a few ways to give them experiences in each area -
Social/Emotional - talk about their feelings use lots of feeling words such as frustrated, jealous, excited (not just happy or sad), work on social skills like working through disagreements, coversation starters, etc...
Cognitive - Letters , Counting, Sorting, Colors, Shapes, Measurement
Physical Development - (Fine motor)-Cutting, Writing, Puzzles, (Gross Motor) - Hopping, skipping, balancing on 1 foot
(Self Help)- Opening containers/snacks, carrying a tray, going to the restroom independently, zip, button
Approaches to Learning - Encourage curiosity, talk to them about school, explore their interests
Language- Read books together, let them draw pictures then tell you about them or draw about experiences, tell stories

Giving you child experiences and fostering a love of learning is the best way to prepare them for school.

As for drawing on everything - I would let them go to the store w/ you & pick out a journal (sprial notebook). They can write/ draw anything they want in here. Make it very clear drawings go in the journal, not anywhere else like walls, etc...

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