Kindergarten Skills Development: Month 7

Kindergarten Skills Development

Skills to Practice this Month

• Talk to your child about different cultures and provide opportunities for your child to learn about other cultures. Explore the holidays, foods, and traditions of different cultures. Listen to music and explore the instruments used to make music in various cultures.

Activities

• Set aside one night a week to experience a new culture. Choose a culture to explore, cook its food, play games from the area, make decorations that represent the culture, and share facts you and your child have learned.

• The library has many, many books with folktales from around the world. Check some out to share together.

• Explore with your child a holiday that you might not normally celebrate. Learn about the holiday, who celebrates it, where it is celebrated, how it is celebrated, what foods are eaten, what gifts are given, etc. and celebrate the holiday together.

• Do you know a family whose culture is different from your own? Invite them over for dinner or to play and have the children share information about themselves, their families, and their lives. Children will learn about a new culture, discover how much they have in common, and make new friends.

Books for Children

• World Holidays: A Watts Guide for Children by Heather Moehn
• Holiday!: Celebration Days Around the World by Deborah Chancellor
• Holiday Cooking Around the World complied by Kari A. Cornell
• Hispanic Holidays by Faith Winchester
• Moonbeams, Dumplings, and Dragon Boats: A Treasury of Chinese Holiday Tales, Activities, and Recipes by Nina Simonds

Books for Parents

• The International Cookbook for Kids by Matthew Locricchio
• The Book of New Family Traditions: How to Create Great Rituals for Holidays and Everyday by Meg Cox

Getting Ready to Read

Skills to Practice this Month

• Practice dialogic reading to teach new words. How you read to children makes a difference in how ready they are to learn to read. Ask "what" questions. Follow your child's answers with another question. Repeat what your child says and expand on it.

Health and Wellness

Skills to Practice this Month

• Insure that your child receives medical care when he is sick. In the months leading up to your child's entrance into kindergarten, it is important that he is well and in optimal health.

More information available at http://www.getSet4k.org