Kindergarteners Face Big Transitions

These young students face a new teacher, a new school and new expectations for learning. Experts say that the easier this transition between school and home, the more likely the child will enter school eager and ready to learn.

Here are 10 teacher-recommended tips to help your new kindergartner—or any young learner — make the transition to school:

1.   Talk about the child's feelings about school. Encourage your child to express both excitement and fear. You can eliminate one fear, says Grand Ledge, MI teacher Becky Elliott, by helping your child memorize his address and phone number.

"Your child will feel more secure if he is armed with knowledge about how to get home," she says. "Although most kindergarten teachers provide name tags including address and bus information, they can get lost." 

2.   Make sure your child's expectations match reality. Ask your child what she expects to happen at school. Listen respectfully to all her ideas. Correct any false rumors she may have heard (thanks to those pesky older brothers!) or misunderstandings she may have.

3.   Begin school routines a week or two early. Get up earlier, go to bed earlier. Eat lunch at regular times. This is especially important for those students who are not "morning people."

4.   Occasionally engage in quiet activity. The demands of kindergarten are much different from home or pre-school, where noisy play is the rule of the day. Although some activities will be playful, your child will be expected to remain quiet for a good part of the day. Practicing such quiet play at home will prepare children to do it at school.

5.   Teach your child to share attention. Young learners often have to wait--for help with zippers, for answers to questions, and to talk in a group. Children from small families often command attention, attention that a teacher of 20 students won't be able to give. Help your child to wait patiently by delaying your responses slightly or encouraging her to look for her own solutions when possible.

6.   Help your child take responsibility, for himself and others. Teach him to put away what he uses and to recognize his belongings. "You would be amazed," Elliott said, "how many kids don't recognize what they have brought from home. They know they have a blue shirt, but beyond that, they don't know how to identify their belongings."

If you really want to keep what you send to school, label it. Also, encourage your child in efforts that help the family. Cooking, clean-up and chores will provide practice in contributing to group efforts at school.

7.   Arouse their curiosity about academics. Continuously attract their attention to print communication. Read together whenever you can, running your finger along the print to introduce the idea that our language is made of words and letters, each having their own meanings and sounds.

When counting with your child, help her develop one-to-one relationships between the numbers she recites and the objects she is counting.

8.   Introduce your child to future classmates and provide opportunities to get together. This is especially important if you are new to a neighborhood, live far from other families, or if your child has spent preschool years in out-of-district daycare. School will be less intimidating among friends.

9.   Go through a "dry run" of the trip to school. Show your child the route she will travel--either on the bus or by foot. Time your activities at home and along the way so you can avoid a rush the first day of school. Then begin your routine--bus, carpool, or walking with friends -- the first day.

As tempting as it may be to accompany your child the first day, that plan can backfire. A child who later wants to recreate that friendly first-day trip with mom or dad will "miss" the bus repeatedly. "It happens more than you would imagine," Elliott said.

10.   Visit the school to introduce yourself to the teacher during the first week. This communicates to your child that school is important to you. Keep the meeting brief! This is not a conference, just an introduction. Come just before or after class to avoid disruption.

If you have specific instructions for the teacher about health issues or special needs, write it in a note. Any information you give during the rush of before- and after-school activity is likely to be forgotten.

A few weeks' effort on the part of parents can reap big rewards for kids who are cool, confident and ready to learn.

Linda Wacyk is a former EduGuide editor from Grand Ledge, Michigan.