Jen's Notebook

I remember playing concentration with my mother when I was a little girl and then playing it again with my own children as they grew up. Little did I know at that time, the game of concentration helps build important remembering and recognizing skills. You can buy all kinds of memory game cards at Target, Walmart and even the Dollar Store to play with your children. There are even several great memory games to play.

But if your goal is just too quickly practice this skill due to lack of time or lack of child interest, you don’t need to buy any cards or games. Put a few small items out in your house. (I used a little car, eraser, pencil and penny to start with my grandson). Place the four items under a little box or towel. Tell your child you are going to show them the items under the box but only for a few seconds and after you recover the items you are going to take one away. I usually count to myself to 20 before I cover them up again. I the secretly take one items away and then show the items under the box to the child again. I then ask them to tell me what is missing. The goal before they start kindergarten is to remember 5 or more of 7 items you have placed in the box without having to look a second time.

Other ways you can work on remembering details include:

• Have your child retell you stories you are reading to them. The more language they use that is directly from the story (especially repeated sentences) the better.
• Have them tell you the order of places you went on a day of errands. Or what order you will go about your errands with them.
• Talk about their day at daycare or preschool. Make sure they try to put things in order by when they did them beginning with the first thing of the day.
• And play memory games with the as much as possible. They love to play games and building how many things they can remember in a row is a very important skill

Happy Tuesday and enjoy playing with your little one today.

I don’t mean to literally build anything though! We want your child to look for reasons things are the same and different and then make groups to go with their thinking. And to top that off, we want your child to be able to explain their thinking or why they made the groups they did. Sounds hard? But it really isn’t!

The easiest way I have found to teach this skill is with buttons. Get a small bag or cup of buttons. Have your child sort them by:

• Size
• Color
• Number of button holes
• Shape

I started out with color since it seems to be the easiest to understand. The first couple of times we work on this skill we have the kids divide the buttons into two groups. An example of my thinking would be: buttons that are blue, and buttons that are not blue. You can do the same thing with each of the ideas. After they have the simpler ideas of grouping things only two ways go on to having them group them in many ways. An example of that would be: Small, medium and large button groups.

The more you can have them talk about their ideas for their groups the better. Question their thinking, see if they can trick you, and talk a lot about the process of grouping items with similar and different attributes.

Other ideas you can use for sorting:

• Keys
• Toys
• Blocks
• Hot Wheel cars
• Super Hero figures
• Barrettes and/or ponytail holders
• Earrings
• Stickers
• Silverware
• Plastic dishes
• Play food
• Clothes/shoes

I remember when my kids were all little, the house was always loud and full of conversions ( a little fighting too). There were 5 of them, something was always going on! Those conversations were just a natural thing in our household and I loved it. I think most families are probably just like ours. Thoughtful, fun conversions from everything about what they did at school today to how their brother took their toy.

With that in mind, some of the things I have found in coming kindergarteners struggling with include being able to come up with a reasonable answer to an everyday problem and being able to talk about the books we have just read. Here are a few ideas that you can use at home during your conversions to help build their language.

• Think of reasonable situations and ask your kids what they would do. Examples I use with my grandson include: What would you do if you were hungry? What would you do if you walked into your bedroom and it was dark? What would you do if you wanted to go outside but it was cold? How can you help your mom at home tonight?
• A second idea is to give them lots of choices. When you are pouring them juice ask them which glass they would like you to use. How would you like me to cut your sandwich at lunch today? Let them pick out their own clothes and then ask them how those clothes are alike and different?
• Every time you read to them ask them who the characters are, what the setting is and what happened in the story. The more detail from the story ( or even exact language) the better. Try to get them to tell you the story in the sequence or order the story actually happened in the story.

Remember the more they talk at a young age the better. Also, the more they hear complex language from you as their model, the more comfortable they will become with using it themselves. Enjoy your family time!

Fine motor skills cover a huge range of things we do every day. In school we notice the lack of fine motor skills through coloring, writing and cutting. We look at both the product that each child has produced when they finish a project as well as how your child grips a pencil or crayon and how they hold the scissors when they are cutting. Fine motor skills are built through time and practice. I hope that you already have crayons, color books, pencils, paper, kid’s scissors and lots of other fun art materials that you and your child have been using to make great things for the refrigerator door with. If you can make sure their pencil and scissor grip is good, that is wonderful. If it is not, try and give them a gentle reminder and show them how you would like them to hold each item. I know kids get frustrated with parents over this. Just do the best you can, I don’t want your child to get upset or discouraged. I would rather they enjoy art, writing and cutting all they can at home. If they are frustrated with you trying to help them, here are some sneaky ways you can get them to practice their fine motor skills and not even realize it.

* Work on practicing tying or learning to tie your shoes

* Practice keyboarding on the computer or I-pad

* String beads or buttons together

* Build structures and things with little Legos

* Pick up little objects and put them into groups. I used beans, buttons, little rocks, etc. with my kids

* Make up hand motions to songs and practice them. Or use the good old favorites like “Wheels On The Bus” or “1, 2 Buckle My Shoe”.

* Button or snap their clothes. Even have them button their sweaters onto a hanger when they are helping you with the laundry.

* Get some of the fun art kits at the Dollar Store, Walmart, Target or your local craft store. All of these stores have seasonal art projects for little kids in their dollar or holiday section. My grandson has enjoyed making all kinds of place cards, window decorations, door hangers, etc.

* Decorate cupcakes or cookies. Squeezing the little tubes of icing and placing the little decorations on top is fun as well as good practice.

Remember the more they have to use their little fingers to pick up or manipulate small objects into place the better. And most importantly have fun. If it is great fun you will not only have some fantastic stories for them to talk about, but you will have built wonderful memories while helping their development and they will never be the wiser.

It is amazing how much gross-motor skill children can pick up from playing with a ball. They start out not being able to catch it, than move to the stage where they catch it by trapping it up against their body with their arms. As they progress through the stages they can throw the ball, strike the ball with a large paddle or bat, and kick the ball forward by running up to it. BY the time they are in kindergarten they will begin to and then master being able to catch the ball with both hands, hit a stationary ball, bounce and catch the ball and kick the ball while they are running.

All of these stages come with exposure and repetitive playing with balls, paddle, and bats. I know this is a harder and harder thing for kids to master as our children begin to spend more and more time indoors. But it is well worth the time to take your kids outside and play ball with them. You can pick out which part of the stage they are in from the list above and work on the next part with them.

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.