My son starts kindergarten in less than 40 days. Yes, we count the days! It is such a bittersweet moment for us. Our first-born is reaching one of the first milestones of his life. Because lets face it, in today’s society kids spend just as much time in school as at home.
As a mom, I am an emotional rollercoaster. It’s my baby that somehow has turned into this boy who is old enough to attend kindergarten despite the fact that I continually told him to quit growing. I am concerned about how he will make it seven hours at a new school with new friends, if I will make it getting him to school every day on time and just the sheer shock because my son will be in the hands of someone else all day.
On the other hand, I can’t wait. He is driving me insane. Moms, you know what I am talking about. My ears hurt by the end of the day because he has shared, asked, told me so much. He can’t sit still for a minute this summer. He expects me to be one of those super moms who has exciting crafts/stories/activities planned for every second of the day. Hey wait, that is what they have in kindergarten! Oh God, please let time speed up.
Being in this new social group now known as “Oh my goodness, my kid is starting kindergarten," I have come to realize that parents, especially moms, stress continually about their kids. I continually hear parents doubt their kid’s readiness, stress over teaching them and so forth. So I decided to compile a list of what kids need to know before kindergarten to help prepare those with preschoolers and kind of give you a benchmark for your child’s readiness. Remember, there is no perfect formula to determine if a child is truly ready for kindergarten. This is just a list of skills that will help them be successful in school.
Learning
The following questions are guidelines to make sure your child is on the right page to be able to learn.
Can your child pay attention for short periods? Can they match two like pictures, recite familiar nursery rhymes, work simple puzzles with at least four pieces and identify or point to five colors? Can your child repeat a series of four numbers without practice such as “Say after me 4-3-9-5?" Can your child repeat a six-word sentence if you say it once? For example, “The girl ran to the mall." Finally, can they follow two to three directions after being told once, (of course, this is if they are not fussy) such as “bring me that book, put up that toy and shut your door?"
Reading Readiness
These questions will give you an idea on how ready your child is to learn how to read. Many kids are at different reading levels when entering kindergarten. Some can already read, some cannot. Check with your local district to determine how they handle different reading levels. You do not want your child grouped with someone who is at the sixth grade level unless he or she is on that level. It will leave them frustrated and unconfident. The same is true with grouping them with lower level children.
Can your child recognize his/her name in print? Write letters in his/her own name? Recognize environmental print on familiar signs like McDonald’s, Coke, HEB and Wal-Mart (my son can do this in his sleep-yes, I am a sad parent)? Can your child look at books at home and enjoy them? Can your child pay attention to a short story when it is read and answer simple questions about it?
Math Readiness
Can your child count up to five objects, identify or point to three shapes, count in sequence from one to ten?
Social & Emotional
The first few questions are essential just for safety reasons. So my advice is if your child cannot perform these tasks, you work with them over the summer.
Can your child say his/her first and last name when asked and identify parent’s first and last name? Can your child be independent in personal care such as toileting and washing hands? Can your child separate from parents by appearing comfortable and secure without parent? Can your child be separated from you for about seven hours without being upset? Does your child share with others, recognize authority and follow rules?
Physical Development
This will probably be one of the most important. Kindergarten opens a whole new world to kids from P.E. to computers to recess. It is important that kids are physically prepared.
Can your child use writing/drawing tools, draw and color a picture beyond a scribble, stand on one foot for five to ten seconds, hop, jump and run?
Again all of these are just guideline. Kids are sponges and will pick up a lot of these skills before they even start. A friend recently told me that educationally kids do fine, but what they have the most problem with is lunch. Being able to push their straw in their juice pouches, opening Ziplocs, etc. My advice is to just take a deep breath and enjoy the remaining days-because your baby is no longer a baby and there is no turning back.
