Jen's Notebook

Last year, I mentioned to my daughter that my four year old grandson needed to start practicing being able to walk on a balance beam both forward and backwards. She looked at me and said, “Really? How am I supposed to help him with that?” I actually had an easy answer for this one. Every time you’re out shopping with him, have him walk up on the curb while you hold his hand. Practice going both forwards and backwards and make it a game. It turned out to be a game he loved.

My daughter and her husband, like so many families where both parents are working, are doing a great job at trying to help their son meet every developmental milestone. But as first time parents, who are trying to squeeze as much family time as they can into every spare moment, it is hard to find the time to work on everything needed. With kids not playing outside as much as past generations, kids are not meeting these skills on their own or with their friends through play.

But don’t worry all is not lost if you haven’t worked on these skills yet! By spending just a few minutes each day running out in the yard or park, walking on curbs, skipping to the mailbox, galloping like a horse , or jumping out the letters in your name, you can help your child meet those developmental milestones quickly and with little to no effort. And your child will love the time spent being silly with you!

Have fun playing!!!

Those good old traveling skills. Something most children are great at. I can’t even put a number to the number of times I told my five children to stop running in the house, or stop jumping up and down the stairs. Little did I know how important those traveling skills they were learning with all that running around being kids would be so important to their kindergarten assessment.

But they are. If your child can move purposely from place to place, showing coordination, and using harder and harder movements, than they are right on track in their development. Some of the skills you can help them practice before they start kindergarten include:

• Running/ while avoiding other people, furniture, and items.
• Climbing up and down stairs using alternating feet
• Rides their tricycle or bike using the pedals
• Gallops and skips easily from one spot to another
• Can jump up and down
• Can change directions by stopping and starting quickly and with ease

I know these all seem like such basic skills, but I am always surprised that each year at least a couple of children cannot run or jump smoothly. And as kids spend more and more time in from of their video games or TV, these traveling skills are becoming harder and harder to accomplish. So, starting today if your child needs to work on their traveling skills, enjoy some time outside in the spring weather, practicing running, jumping and skipping together.

Expectations for taking care of one’s own needs will vary a little in each different classroom, but it really is the basic concept of can you take care of yourself during the school day. I don’t mean take care of yourself as in your on your own, but does your child have those basic developmentally skills that will make their life a little less frustrating while they are without you at school each day. Some of the skills that will help your child everyday at school include:

Being able to zip and button their coat. Every kindergarten classroom has different expectations for this skill. I help kids who cannot zip their jacket or have a friend help them before they go outside. But some of you are going to run into classrooms where your child is going to be going outside without their coat zipped if they cannot do it by themselves. So work on it now so your child can take care of the jackets and their pants.

• Tying shoes. The nice thing about kids shoes is if your child can not tie their own shoe by the time they start kindergarten they can wear Velcro shoes. My own sons absolutely wore Velcro in kinder. Tying shoes is a skill you can continue to work on at home but if your child can not tie before that first day of school I would suggest sending them with shoes that buckle or use Velcro.
• Wash and dry your hands. Can your child be in charge of washing and drying their own hands? This is important for lunch time and art. The district I work for does not allow hand sanitizer, just good old soap and water. So kids need to be able to wash their hands without making to big of a mess at the sink area.
• Putting things away. Practice putting things on hooks or away in cubbie like containers. In my classroom students are required to keep their coats in their backpacks whenever they are not wearing them. (It helps to prevent the spread of lice when they inevitably come around each school year). My students have to be able to get that coat into their backpack, zip it up and put it on the hook by themselves. If this is a rule in your school please practice with them beforehand.
• Takes care of personal belongings and the belongings of others. I always try to discourage students from bringing anything extra to school. It just breaks my heart when they lose it or it is stolen on a bus. But sometimes things show up anyway. Can your child take care of their stuff, understanding that they should not give it to a friend and then expect it back, do they understand not to draw on furniture or cut their own hair with the scissors, etc.
• Clean up after themselves. Can your child help clean up either with a little help or completely by themselves? Examples: putting away their crayons and scissors, closing the glue bottle when they are finished, leaving a paint bush in the pain container.

Every teacher and/or school will have their own set of standards when it comes to children taking care of themselves and their belongings. If you can find out early what those expectations will be and practice them with your child, it will make their transition into school smoother. If your child is not able to take care of their own needs please talk to your teacher and school honestly from the start. We are there to help both you and your child transition into a formal school setting. We really want to see your child succeed and enjoy their kindergarten experience.

Expectations for behavior, and following or adhering to limits is a very individual skill for children depending on their personalities and the influences they have had from their families. There is no right or wrong here. Whatever is working for your family is great. That said, I do have a but to go with that statement. Your child will need to be able to adapt to classroom behavior and expectations for both the class and the school. Happily, most children have no problem meeting these expectations. The first few weeks are sometimes hard as they learn where they fit in to this new environment, but they almost always find their place to fit in and do a beautiful job of living up to the expectations.

Some conversations you may want to have with your child before they come to school can include: 1.) Remember that we have different voice levels and ideas of ways to sit and walk in class and out on the playground. 2.) Behavior at home will be different in some ways than at home. Children will need to learn how to wait their turn, not interrupt, sit still for periods of time and work as a group rather than as an individual. 3.) Teachers will expect children to move along with activities and transitions. There is always so much to do in a day and never enough time to get it all done.

That all said, please remember we know this is your childs first time in an elementary school setting. We do not expect them to be able to rise up to every occasion beginning on the very first day. Kindergarten has a huge learning curve for little ones. I am always amazed at how much they have grown in just the first month.

Ideas for you to try at home: Show your child different ways you will expect them to act at school and how they differ from home, a restaurant, the park, a store, etc… Take them to your local Libraries children’s program. They can practice sitting, listening and sharing with other kids while listening to great stories. Talk to your child about the behaviors they are likely to be expected to use at school (especially sharing, asking for help from an adult, the difference between tattling and getting help when you have a problem. ( I always tell my kids they need to come to me or another adult at the school immediately if someone is hurting them with either their body or their words). And finally make sure your child knows that there is an open line of communication between yourself and the teacher. That way, students are not surprised when they find out you know they did not meet the expectations at school that day, but it also means that you and the teacher are a team working together for their best education.

I love beginning a part of a families team in education, and so will your childs teacher.

When I sent my first child to Kindergarten many, many years ago, it never crossed my mind what types of developmental skills he had or didn’t have that a teacher would be looking at. I mean, he could read, knew his colors and shapes, and could count. What else could there be? When that same wonderful child was in high school I became a teacher and found out there was a world of skills and experiences that his kindergarten teacher was introducing him to in school that I didn’t ever think of. Don’t get me wrong, my child was top of his class, and had picked up all the skills he needed naturally through play and talking with his family but it wasn’t anything I had taught him. It was just us going along and like all of you, trying the best we could. But in the 25 years since I sent my first child off to school, many, many thing have changed in education. First of all, school is much harder for today’s students than it was for my own. The common core standards have pushed harder skills down towards our lower grades. Can the students live up to these standards? Absolutely, but not on their own. They need guidance and direct teaching both from the school and at home. For the most part, we kindergarten teachers have found that the students that succeed in school now a days come to us with a huge bag of skills on their first day of school.

As a parent in today’s society, I know that you would love to know all of the things a kindergarten teacher is looking for before you take your child to the kindergarten screening required of the school district in august. By the time August comes around and you find out what your child needs to work on there isn’t enough time left to teach it to them before the first day of school. The school districts of my state look not only at reading and math but at social emotional, physical, and cognitive skills and a childs language abilities. I am going to give each of you an inside view of what I look for each August as a student comes to the kindergarten screening. As well as some small, fun activities that you can do with your kids to help them build their skills before that first day in August.

Remember, any skills your child brings with them on that first day is a wonderful gift you have given them and the more they bring the better they will succeed.