Preparing Your Kids for School

The first week of kindergarten or preschool is very exciting. But if your child is unprepared, it can also be stressful. Here are a few things you and your child can do to prepare for school.

ATTEND ORIENTATION DAY

Orientation day is a great opportunity for you and your child to become familiar with his or her new school. At orientation, you talk to the new teacher and headmaster or director, see the classroom, and have a look around the school. It’s also a great chance to ask questions.

READ BOOKS TOGETHER

One central aspect of kindergarten or preschool is learning to read. This can be a great joy for a child or a great hurdle. One great thing you can do for your child is to have a good variety of books on hand — books you read to them and books they can enjoy on their own. This will help instill a love of reading in them, and ease the process into a more formal education setting that is largely centered on reading and writing.

HELP DEVELOP FINE MOTOR SKILLS

Writing and drawing are crucial activities in any preschool or kindergarten. To help this go smoothly, you want your child to have developed some fine motor skills. Have plenty of paper available, as well as crayons and pencils, so your child can work on this ability. Help your child draw basic shapes and figures. Teach her to spell her name. Continue with some basic words such as Mom, Dad, cat and dog. Encourage your child to draw.

ARRANGE PLAYDATES

If your child hasn’t been attending a preschool, it may be overwhelming for him or her to be surrounded by so many other children. This is especially true if your child is an only child or just has a sibling or two. To help home or her develop social skills to successfully interact with other children, it can be helpful to arrange playdates with other children around the same age.

PART-TIME PRESCHOOL

It’s easier for a new kindergartener to ease into full-time school if she’s spent some time at a preschool. Preschools allow students to attend as regular full-time students or as part-time students. This familiarizes them with the school environment and how to properly interact with teachers and other students.

POTTY TRAINING

Attending kindergarten or preschool will be so much easier for your child and his teacher if your child is fully potty-trained. And of course, this makes life easier for parents as well. Potty-training can be quite a challenging activity but it’s always worth the trouble. Fortunately there are many resources online to help you train your child to successfully use the toilet.

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