Wow! Kindergarten! A rush of emotions and a load of skills that we KNOW our kids need to begin if not master during this crucial time. We are here to help with our opinions and teaching experience.
Kindergarten Readiness
When preparing your child for Kindergarten or to begin elementary school, practice giving multi-step directions (1-take your clothes upstairs, 2-put your shirt in your closet, 3-put your shoes under your bed). Make sure your child can perform self care tasks such as dressing themselves, cleaning up their own mess after eating, blowing nose, wiping face, and putting on shoes, etc.
Kindergarten Math
Children are working on building a concrete understanding that the number symbols (1,2,3) represent objects (the symbol number 3 means 3 objects) . Sequence of numbers and the concept of one more or one less (1 more than 3 is 4 and one less than 3 is 2) can be discussed and manipulated with everyday objects at home. Discuss measurement with your child in simple terms (which is longer/shorter, which one weighs more/less).
Kindergarten Reading
In Kindergarten, children need to build a strong connection with letters and sounds so that they can begin to put sounds together. This is where they will begin to read. Blending sounds together along with creating a memory bank of sight words sets your child up to succeed in becoming a fluent reader for years to come. Separate each sound in words (C-A-T) and then have your child blend them together (CAT). Also give your child a word such as – SAT- and have them break it down into sounds (S-A-T). Building word families is another important skill. For example, if your child can spell cat, he/she can spell mat, sat, rat. You can easily practice this on a sheet of paper and/or while reading.
Here are some links to a few resources that we feel will help you and your child during Kindergarten time
Scholastic resources
As educators, there are not enough good things we can say about Scholastic! Wonderful products!
Brainquest workbooks and question cards
Brainquest is a great resource as well! Here are a few workbooks and question/answer cards. The question deck is great to have around. It provides wonderful teachable moments and learning for the whole family. It’s interesting to discover what they know about and what they need a little bit more “work” on.
*We included the “in between” year workbooks to adequately challenge or catch up your student as you see needed.*
