5 Tips to Prepare Little Joey for Kindergarten

Years ago most children attended kindergarten a few hours a day, learned to share toys and get along well with others. Meanwhile, their teachers sprinkled in letters and numbers and prepared their mind for the first grade teachers to teach reading and math. Those days are gone.

Unlike the good old days where you could wait until the last week of August to start reviewing alphabet and number skills, there is no time to waste in getting your child ready. Today’s kindergarteners have lists of skills they need to acquire, including tasks such as counting to 100 by ones, fives and tens.

As veteran mother of six, with my baby heading off to full-day Kindergarten, here are my Kindergarten-prep tips for other moms and dads, whether it be your first or last:

#1: Practice basic skills!

With Kindergarten looming on the horizon, it’s time to make sure your child has at least a few skills on day one. What to practice? Identifying, writing and knowing letter sounds, upper and lower case, plus numbers 1 to 20. It’s easy enough to get a practice workbook with letters and numbers if your child is independent and interested, but you can also enlist the help of older siblings, cousins, or even your nanny to help. If your child has attended daycare or preschool, they have likely had exposure.

#2: Make it fun!

While we might feel some stress when the Kindergarten screener tells us our child only knew five of 26 letters or could only count to 13, the last thing our kid needs is feeling like a failure. The best thing to do when practicing these new skills is to try to make it a game, or a natural part of conversation. The first few times it might feel forced, but just playing a game like naming an animal or a family member for each letter of the alphabet while driving or reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! (by Bill Martin Jr and John Archambault) is great practice.

#3: Don’t worry!

Look at the list provided by your Kindergarten teacher at orientation, if you’ve already had one. If not, contact the school for a list of Kindergarten skills and see what is ahead. You may be shocked by how much your child needs to know, but it will take all year to accomplish. Then put it away and quit worrying about it. It will all be covered and you will be amazed at how your child progresses over the next several months. Your child may have none, some or nearly all of the skills on the list, but you need not worry about any of it. He or she will be making friends, learning new skills and you will be along for the ride - all soon enough. Enjoy the last summer before school starts!

#4: Involve the family!

Preparing little Johnny, or in my case, Joey, for Kindergarten need not fall just to mom. Most families have other support people who can help, so that it’s not always mom trying to practice letters and numbers. Have dad read a book, or maybe your little one can help with a project that involves measuring or following basic directions. Home Depot Kids’ Workshops are great for this age kid, and many stores have weekly Saturday morning events. If you have older kids, a babysitter or other caregiver, ask them to play educational games like Chutes and Ladders or Candyland or even Memory.

#5: Start NOW!

Kids need 10 hours of sleep and this may require an adjustment in your home, but by the beginning of August, kids should be back on a school timetable. As for academic skills, spending just a few minutes a day reviewing one skill or another really is enough to make it familiar territory for your five year old. Kids are incredible sponges and will soak up every bit of learning, so be sure to use those summer road trips to spot letters, numbers, shapes and colors.

Follow these tips and your child will wow grandma and grandpa and day one of kindergarten is sure to be a complete success, if mom and dad can keep from crying at the bus! For me, as my last baby embarks on his educational journey, I will take many pictures and then celebrate on my porch with a Mimosa or perhaps a Bloody Mary!

Joan Lowell is a mom of six great kids from 5 to 18 years old, a trained educator and certified teacher, as well as Go Au Pair’s Local Area Representative in the Providence, RI area. She has been a special educator and middle level language arts teacher, private, in-home tutor and writer of a local blog for Host Families and Au Pairs. She has three cats and a black lab; baking, gardening, reading and writing are favorite hobbies.