Friday, August 10, 2012

Preparing for 1st Grade


The transition from kindergarten to 1st grade can be a big one for kids.  It means a full day of school versus a half day, lunch time with the big kids, and being away from mom.  All these can lead to some very understandable anxiety for your 1st grader.
There are a few things that you can do as a parent to help the transition go smoother for your 1st grader and yourself.
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  • If they are still taking naps start weaning them off now so they can get used to the full day schedule. 
  • Start going to bed and getting up at the time you will be when school starts to get your kids in the habit early.  This will make will make it so much easier when they actually have to get ready for school in the morning.
  • Create a routine and go over it with your child.  Talk about and/or write out the morning checklist of how their routine will go (make bed, get dressed, breakfast, brush teeth, backpack, etc.)  The more they know what to expect the less anxious they will be.
  • Talk to your 1st grader about some of the differences with the new full day of school (recess, lunch, snack time, start and end time, homework, etc.) This will help them know what to expect and help you as a parent learn what their biggest concerns are.
  • Address anxiety or concerns in a positive way.  Help them feel like a “big kid”. Let them know that their worries are valid and talk about how they can work through them.
  • Get them excited now! Discuss positive changes. Especially if they are getting nervous about going to 1st grade.  Let them know about all the other positive things that will happen.  Talk about what else will happen during the new school year such as, “When you are a first grader you’ll get to...( stay up a half hour later, play T-ball, take gymnastics class, get your own library card etc.).
  • Find other kids that will be in their class and go on play dates.  Having a familiar face in the classroom will help make the transition easier.
  • Make contact with the teacher.  Take some time before the start of school and send your new teacher an email introducing yourself and your child and letting them know any concerns you might have.
  • Give them control over what they want to wear.  Especially if they are nervous this little bit of independence can help them boost the confidence they need.
  • Talk to other parents about how they handled the transition with their children.  You might get some really great ideas from parents who have already gone through the same situation.
First grade loveliness.
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Sources:
Charlotte Parent
Yahoo

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Preparing for Kindergarten


Starting school can be very stressful for a 5 year old, especially if they are not emotionally and mentally prepared for this huge transition.

After doing a little research, we have found some ways you can help your child prepare for the rigors of Kindergarten!
  • Read, read, and read some more! This is one of the most crucial actions that parents can take toward giving their children a head start in school. It has been proven over and over again that a child's scholastic achievement is directly correlated with the amount of hours their parents read to them.
  • Help your children recognize the sounds that letters make, as well as the letters that make up their name.
  • Practice sight words; most Kindergartens recommend that children practice sight words before starting school. Sight words include: the, he, she, and, it, etc.
  • Help your child practice writing their name and sounding out the individual letters.
  • Let them practice writing with different tools: pencils, crayons, maybe even a pen. This strengthens their fine motor skills as well as their little finger muscles.
  • Along the lines of fine motor skills, children should be able to button their own buttons and tie their own shoes (if they have laces). Children and teachers can both get frustrated from untied shoe laces.
  • It is a smart idea for children to memorize their home phone number and address, just in case they get lost or there is an emergency.
  • You can help their emerging math skills by giving them adding/subtracting and sorting activities. Let them help you sort the laundry, M&Ms, or other items. If they seem ready, show them how you can add or take away items to change the amount of the original group.
  • Refer to the calendar frequently, and help them understand days of the week.
  • Start getting into the schedule of school by going to bed and waking up at the same time each day.
Hopefully this has given you some new ideas on how to better prepare your child for this school year, and for our experienced mothers, we would love some feedback!

What advice do you have? What has worked for you and what hasn't?

Sources:

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Preparing for Preschool


Preschool - For many kids this is their first experience in a large social setting, let alone a school setting! The important thing to remember about this age is that children preschool age are still in the process of developing a long term memory system; so you will feel like you’re repeating yourself 100 times and that is because you are, but to the child it’s like it is their first time hearing this instruction. What preschool tries to do is get them into a routine; if you have the same routine day in and day out, with the same expectations for behavior they will eventually remember it. This initial learning about school routines and social behavior are two of the biggest reasons for preschool. So what can you do to help prepare your child for preschool? Since I have been teaching in a preschool that prides itself on being developmentally appropriate, I will tell you what we expect children to be able to do and let you decide what to do from there.


We do lots of creative expression activities in preschool.  We color, paint, cut, and glue to make representations. We also practice expressing ourselves through pretend play (this could be a short formal play), moving our bodies to music (representing actions in a song or freestyle), and we give them lots of opportunities to play with instruments (playing with rhythms and beats).


               * *Hint: try to help them feel comfortable in doing things like this by giving them similar experiences at home. We know that glue and paint can be messy but if you show and tell them what they can do with those items they really can do it and it can be such a wonderful experience for developing their small motor skills (preschool obviously helps to develop these skills but preschool can be so much more meaningful and full of learning if they already are in the process of developing these skills).


Believe it or not we also practice MATH skills in preschool! But it’s not the math worksheet math you’re probably thinking of. We practice our counting and recognizing numbers. We also focus on making comparisons and the development of questioning skills. Again, they will learn these skills in preschool, but they will learn so many other valuable skills if these skills have already been being practiced at home. They can learn the meaning of numbers (matching a numeral number 5 to  5 objects); they can learn and identify sequences and patterns; and they can even learn what happens when we join to a set (add) or separate from a set (subtract)!



Writing and Literacy. This is a large part of a preschool day; because it is such an integral part you will see large growth in their skills. Especially if it is reinforced at home. We give them lots of opportunities to write and recognize their name as well as their classmates names. We practice rhyming and the recognition of beginning word sounds (relating sounds to letters). As far as reading goes, we want them to realize that books/print is read from left to right and top to  bottom.


                
**Hint: the most useful thing you can do to help your child with writing and literacy is to read with and to them (giving them opportunities to ‘read’ as well).


Last, but definitely not least is the development of social skills. We covered this pretty well already with last week’s post. A large focus of preschool is giving children opportunities to express their feelings in acceptable ways (getting them to use their words). We give encouragement to interact with their peers and demonstrate how (this can be through role play; or by telling them what they could say if they want to ask if they can join in a play setting; or by asking our friends/classmates at large group time about a problem like hitting, and what we could do instead to solve our problems).  If your child has siblings there will be lots of opportunities for practice and reinforcement at home; if not, no worries, preschool will likely be able to develop these skills but a playgroup setting or time at a local park to also practice these skills will be helpful.  The second biggest thing with social skills is sharing. This is second biggest because they need to be able to use their words to ask if they can use a tool or toy AND they need to be able to use their words to say “yes”, “no”, or “I am using it right now, but you can have it when I’m done”. As parents when a child asks for something nicely we usually give it to them immediately; we can help them learn how to emotionally regulate their  feelings by saying what we expect them to be able to say: “yes”, “no”, or “I’m using it, but you can have it after me”. Any response other than “yes” will be unexpected for them, so giving them practice at home before going off to school will help them know how to deal with the situation rather than being surprised and then angry.

Good luck and enjoy this fun period where there is so much learning, growth, and development taking place!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

The Week of Back to School!


It's that time of year again: backpacks, notebooks, uniforms, and fall sports.

Here at Help Me Grow we have decided to make a whole week of ideas for back-to-school preparation.

We will break down the areas into Preschool (Monday), Kindergarten (Wednesday), and First grade (Friday). We will be compiling tips from experienced moms and educational websites, just to make sure we cover everything.

If you are sending your child off to school this fall you don't want to miss these posts!

Before we start the week, here are some fun ideas for any grade:

First Day of School Pictures

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Yearly photo idea. Too cute!!

Back to School Fairy

From "Happiness Is..."

 A bag full of back to school goodies, all delivered by the "Back to School Fairy."
The bag could include:
Crayons
Markers
Notebooks
Waterbottle
Lunchbox
Stickers

Social Skills Review
I was actually homeschooled my entire elementary education, but my mom still went through all the steps of school preparation; buying new pencils, notebooks, curriculum, and charts.
The most memorable part to me was my dad's preparation (he wanted to make sure we had adequate social skills). He would pull out his Dale Carnegie book How to Win Friends and Influence People and give us a brush up on the most important steps of socializing with other people. I felt that it made a huge difference in my life, especially when I started attending public school in 8th grade.
Unlike popular belief, kids aren't born with the natural ability to socialize, and most teachers don't have Social Skills 101 on their agenda. Children need to be taught how to properly interact with other children and adults.
Here are the most important points that should be reviewed every year:
  • When you want to play with someone, ask them! Start with "My name is ______, what is your name?" and then, "Can I play with you?"
  • The best way to make friends is to be interested in them; ask questions about them: "What do you like to play?" "What is your favorite movie?"
  • You need to obey your teacher, sit quietly in your seat and make sure you raise your hand if you want to ask a question.
  • Kids may say mean things to other kids, or even you. This is not nice and you should never call people names other than their own.
  • Always use your words; do not hit, push, bite, or scratch. If you are upset at another child you must tell them that you are upset and why, do not hit another child because you are mad at them.
 As adults, these are no-brainers! But for children these skills do not come naturally. Communicate with your child how to make friends and how to be a good friend.