Kindergarten Skills Development: Month 9

Kindergarten Skills Development

Skills to Practice this Month

• Praise your child for having good manners, using common expressions of courtesy, and cooperating with others. Upon entering kindergarten, your child should be able to interact with other children and adults in a cooperative and courteous manner.

Activities

• Practice your P's and Q's! Create a game about courtesy by writing the words "please" and "thank you" on index cards. On other cards write the names of the people in your home or that your child interacts with daily, like parents and siblings. On others write down people whom your child may only interact with occasionally, such as a store clerk, a librarian, or another family member. Put the "people cards" in one pile and have your child choose one from the pile and tell how he has been courteous in the past or could be in the future with that person. For example, your child chooses "nurse at the doctor's office" from the people pile. He tells about how he once asked the nurse for a sticker by saying "please", or how he might tell the nurse "thank you" for being so nice the next time he goes to the doctor. This activity is a great way to build vocabulary and narrative skills as well.

• Model good manners for your child by making sure you use good manners and expressions of courtesy yourself.

• Create a Courtesy and Appreciation Box in your home by cutting a slit in the top of a shoebox. Each day, once a week, or as frequently as you decide, ask family members to write on slips of paper how other family members were polite, courteous, cooperative, and showed good manners. Once a week, read these aloud to share these examples of courtesy.

• Talk to your child about what it means to cooperate with others. Discuss ways to get along with others.

Books for Children

• Please Say Please!: A Penguin's Guide to Manners by Margery Cuyler
• Excuse Me! by Lisa Kopelke
• The Little Piggy's Book of Manners by Madeline Allen
• Lady Lupin's Book of Etiquette by Babette Cole
• Rude Mule by Pamela Duncan Edwards

Books for Parents

• Taking Turns by Janine Amos
• A Little Book of Manners for Boys by Bob and Emilie Barnes

Getting Ready to Read

Skills to Practice this Month

• Make book sharing time a special time for you and your child. Children who enjoy reading will want to learn how to read. The single most important activity for building knowledge required for eventual success is reading aloud to children. This is especially true during the preschool years.

Health and Wellness

Skills to Practice this Month

• Help your child choose a backpack and practice using it safely. Backpacks that are too heavy or worn incorrectly can cause problems for children. Improperly used backpacks may injure muscles and joints and lead to back, neck, and shoulder pain, as well as posture problems.

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