District 54 is so excited to partner with you as your child prepares for this important next step in their learning journey! The transition to kindergarten is filled with curiosity, growth and joy. As you count down to the start of the school year, we encourage you to return to this website to help your child develop skills that will set them up for success in kindergarten and beyond. So what can you, as your child’s first teacher, do to help them be successful in kindergarten?
Most importantly, TALK with your child; LISTEN to your child; READ with your child; and RESPOND to your child’s natural curiosity.
There are also some basic skills that you can help your child begin to develop at home.
Want some help teaching these skills? Check out our Kindergarten Readiness playlist on the District 54 YouTube channel.
Children need to develop socially and emotionally to be successful in the world. To help make your child’s transition to kindergarten successful, provide opportunities for your child to be part of a peer group.
Plan activities for your child to interact with others to learn
Help your child develop independence
In order for children to communicate effectively, they must have many experiences. It is important to listen and talk with your child. Here are some other ways you can foster your child’s speech and language development.
Reading
Take time to read with your child every day. In addition to reading fictional children’s books, expose your child to the following types of literature:
Enhance your reading time.
Talking/Listening
Playing Games
Traveling
Take your child to places, such as libraries, zoos, museums, parks and live performances.
Throughout your child’s school years, you may want to create a portfolio. Portfolios are collections of your children’s work, that helps you see how they grow as learners. You may want to include some of the following:
As you are your child’s first teacher, we value your partnership. The best advice we can give you is to be active in knowing your child and prepare to have fun with your child.
You can encourage learning by being involved.
You can encourage learning by helping your children at home.
These Kindergarten Readiness Activities are designed to help you support your child’s development through fun, simple experiences at home.
Each activity builds skills that help children feel confident and ready to learn — from practicing independence and following routines, to developing language, early literacy, math and social skills. The best part? Most of these activities fit naturally into your everyday routines like cooking, playing and reading together.
We’re inviting you and your rising kindergartner to join our Kindergarten Readiness Challenge by engaing in fun ways to practice skills and build confidence before the first bell rings.
If you prefer, you can also print out our Kindergarten Readiness Activities Board to track your activities.
Tying shoes can be fun! Practicing how to tie shoes at home helps your child feel confident and ready at school!
It’s also important to have your child practice zipping up their coat.
Washing your hands is an important part of staying healthy at school and at home. Talk to your child about how to properly wash their hands.
A little lunchbox practice goes a long way! Helping your child learn to open their lunchbox and containers at home makes lunchtime easier and more fun at school.
Knowing how to hold a pencil is the first step toward writing. Try this hair tye pencil grip trick.
Write your name with different materials! Try writing in sand, shaving cream, with paint or using chalk!
Ready to turn your driveway or sidewalk into a giant, colorful canvas? Grab that big box of sidewalk chalk and take learning outside! While they jump, encourage your child to say the number or letter they see.
Grab some different letters and sort them in different ways. Think about sorting by uppercase and lowercase, color, match the upper and lowercase letters, make a word, make your name and more!
Playdough is fun…and can help us learn! Use playdough to make the first letter of your name, make a shape, build a number, show a number or make a pattern!
Need some links to other fun, free resources in our community?