Welcome to kindergarten!

Welcome to Bradt Primary School! We are looking forward to getting to know you. Kindergarten is an exciting time! Since you are your child's first and most important teacher, you might be wondering about the kinds of activities you could be doing at home to help your child get off to a great start in kindergarten. This information has been prepared as a source of suggestions and ideas. Make your time exploring these activities fun and engaging. Happy learning!

Social Skills

• Practice turn taking while playing games.
• Help your child learn to initiate a conversation. Example: May I play with you? Can we share the blocks? Would you like a turn?
• Role-play peaceful solutions to conflicts that could arise. Examples: talking it over, sharing, taking turns.
• Make sure your child has contact with other children his/her age.
• Encourage and practice cleaning up after play.
  
  

Independence

• Be sure your child has had time away from you. Example: daycare, nursery school, library story hour, etc.
• Help your child learn to dress him/herself:

• putting on sweaters and jackets
• fastening or tying boots
• changing from boots to sneakers and back
• zipping jackets
• independent toileting
• zipping and unzipping a backpack
  
  

Attending Skills, Listening Skills and Following Directions

• Read to your child each day
• Listen to tapes and CD's of children's music, and sing along
• Help your child follow simple two-step directions. Example: Go to your room and get your pajamas.
• Limit TV, VCR and video game time
  
  

Speech and Language Development

• Encourage your child to ask questions
• Talk about everyday experiences
• Use describing words. Example: This pear is juicy. Find your purple shirt with the white stripes.
• Help your child classify objects. Example: toys, animals, etc.
• Help your child learn his/her full name, address, and telephone number.

Motor Skills: Fine and Gross

Fine Motor:

• Use a variety of art materials. Example: crayons, markers, scissors, playdough, paints, etc.
• Do puzzles.
• String beads on laces.
• Practice using a glue stick

Gross Motor:

• Practice going up and down a slide safely.
• Teach your child to pump his/her legs while swinging.
• Practice throwing, catching, and kicking a ball.
• Jump rope to jump rope rhymes.
  
  

Reading and Writing Readiness

Many children now begin kindergarten with some letter knowledge. Here is how you can help your child.

• Read to your child each day. Encourage your child to chime in. Ask questions such as, "What do you think will happen next?" and "Why do you think he did that?"
• Sing the alphabet song and read alphabet books.
• Match letters to their sounds.
• Play alphabet games and engage in alphabet activities such as those listed at the end of this section.
• Recite nursery rhymes and sing rhyming songs.
• Encourage your child to experiment with print in writing. Have a writing area set aside -- or put together a writing briefcase or suitcase. Include markers, pencils, stamps, stencils, and special paper.
• Put a wipe-off message board on your child's door and write messages to him/her each day. Put one on your door as well and encourage your child to write back.
• Put magnetic letters on the refrigerator and let your child experiment with word making.
• Make collages of words and letters cut from magazines.
• Encourage children to write letters or send e-mail to relatives.
• Help your child write his/her name correctly: first letters capitalized and the rest in lower case letters.
• Help your child locate print in the environment (Stop signs, familiar store and restaurant signs, etc.)
• Join our 1,000 Book Club at Bradt School!
• Attend our Preschool Story Hour sessions in March and April. Call the school at 356-8400 for further details.
  
  

Math Readiness

• Whenever you use math, talk about it. Example: I am cutting the apple in half. We need to buy six oranges -- can you help me count them? I see three horses.
• Read nursery rhymes and storybooks that incorporate numbers.
• Count whenever you can, anything you can!
• Practice one-to-one correspondence by letting your child set the table or hand out snacks.
• Play games that incorporate math such as "Chutes and Ladders" and other board games. Playing cards are also great for matching games and for ordering numbers.
• Set the timer for an activity to give your child a sense of how long it lasts.
• Give your child a snack that's easy to count. Have him/her count the pieces and subtract them as they are eaten.
• Whenever you check your child's height to see how much he/she has grown, talk about measurement.
• Start a penny jar. Use this for counting and estimating. Example: We have 10 pennies in the jar-- is that enough to buy a piece of candy that costs five cents?
• Have your child sort toys by size, color and/or shape.
• Point out shapes around the house and when doing errands.
• Let your child help with the measuring when cooking or baking.
• Put a large wipe-off calendar on the refrigerator and mark down special events. Count down the days to each of these occasions. Recite the days of the week, and stop when you get to the day you are on.
• Toward the end of the summer, begin a countdown to the first day of kindergarten!
  
  

Separation Issues

Be sure to talk to your child in a positive manner. If you are worried, your child will pick up on your anxiety. If you are at ease, your child will likely be so too. Let your child know that the teacher and principal will take good care of him/her during the school day. If separation issues do arise (and sometimes they do, despite our best efforts), be sure to contact your child's teacher for support.

We hope this information is helpful. We will see you at school for screening, kindergarten tours, and our orientation at the end of the summer. Welcome to kindergarten! We are going to have a wonderful year!

Diane McIver, Principal at Bradt Primary School;
The Beginnings Connect for Success Committee; and
The Bradt School Kindergarten Teachers

Registration/Orientation Dates for Incoming Kindergartners (9/06) & Their Parents

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