Durham Partnership for Children
Even though your family may not be thinking about kindergarten, it’s never too early to begin supporting your child’s school readiness -- beginning now through the summer months -- to help transition your child from pre-K or home to kindergarten.
Oftentimes, parents ask what is required to be “ready” for kindergarten. For typically developing children, parents and caregivers often are more focused on preschoolers’ ability to recognize colors, alphabet characters, numbers and shapes than social skills such as group play, following directions and actively participating in class activities. Both areas, known as domains of learning, are important basic competencies that enable children to start on the right track.
Knowing that school readiness is a communitywide endeavor, here are some tips to help families of preschoolers begin to prepare for school:
Set consistent routines and daily activities
Licensed child-care programs follow daily routines. If your child is in regulated care, work with his or her teacher to find out more information for you to talk about the day’s activities at home with your child and try to follow a similar routine on the weekends. If your child is cared for at home, make sure your child is spending time every day reading, playing outside, socializing with other children and expressing himself or herself verbally. Make time have meaning so that your child has an understanding of general times of day, especially mornings, afternoons and evenings and can associate these times with activities, such as breakfast and bedtime.
Read to your child every day
Spend time reading to your child every day. Reading and discussing stories with your child instills a lifelong love of books and helps your young child develop language skills that will turn them into confident readers when they enter school. Make trips to the library and check out books about going to kindergarten.
Practice independence
Have your child practice brushing teeth, buttoning shirts, pants, coats and zipping up zippers. Encourage your child’s independence by having him or her help you with daily activities, such as packing lunches or preparing meals. Help your child learn to listen by giving two- or three-part directions to follow. For example, brush your teeth, put on your pajamas and pick out a story to read.
Support new exposures to learning
Limit television and find new “hands-on” environments for learning. Take a nature walk along the Eno River. Visit the Museum of Life and Sciences. Even routine trips to the car wash, grocery store and playground can be learning labs if you talk about the sights and sounds with your child. These experiences are opportunities to introduce new words and talk about what is happening in our community.
By following some of these easy tips, you can help support your child’s cognitive, physical, emotional and social development.
For the past 15 years, Durham’s Partnership for Children has worked to make sure its investments in Durham’s early childhood system help young children and their families in a variety of ways. Partnership programs range from enhancing the quality of child care programs to enabling child care teachers to access professional development and continuing education to supporting families with consultation services for children with special needs and parenting classes for young children with challenging behaviors. The partnership is working to ensure families can access high-quality early learning and understand the importance of supporting their children’s healthy development.
Marsha Basloe is the executive director of Durham’s Partnership for Children. She can be reached at marsha@dpfc.net. This is the eighth of 12 articles published in Schools and More on the last Tuesday of each month.
